How ball clay mining shaped Dorset's landscape and economy

The heathland stretches from Wareham to Corfe Castle and the northern slopes of the Purbeck Hills. This is one of only a small number of areas in the world where there are rich seams of the finest quality ball clay. Open pit extraction of this rare and much sought after commodity continues to this day. This is because ball pit clay offers plasticity, unfired strength and very light (even pure white) colour on firing - qualities required in the manufacture of ceramic whiteware and sanitaryware. However, there is now little sign of the huge scale of earlier extraction activities in this area. Long gone is the large network of narrow-gauge railways that criss-crossed the heath, taking clay from the mine shafts to various processing and shipping points for onward distribution to customers around the world. The last of these railways closed in 1970 after a long period of decline. The last operating mines closed around 25 years ago.

Former clay miners Micky White (left) and Brian Biles being interviewed in the minseshaft at the Purbeck Mining Museum for Channel 5's Dorset: Country and Coast television series last year. (Image: Courtesy of Purbeck Mining Museum)

History books reveal how the mining industry transformed the local economy and employment prospects in this remote Dorset community. Looking over the heathland today, rich with rare flora and fauna, it’s hard to believe that this was once a desolate lunar-like landscape of sticky hillocks and mining spoil.

Perhaps the most familiar landmark attributed directly to earlier mining activities is the Blue Pool, a popular visitor attraction near Furzebrook. This former clay pit is now the most beautiful turquoise lake, its colour is due to light diffracting from miniscule particles of ball clay suspended in the water.

Corfe River viaduct (circa 1907). Tiny the Lewin engine built in Poole in 1868 heading towards Goathorn Pier taking trucks loaded with ball clay. (Photo: Purbeck Mining Museum) (Image: Courtesy of Purbeck Mining Museum) Celtic potters during the Roman period were the first known users of Purbeck ball clay. Significant exploitation of this precious natural resource only began in the late 1600s when the Hyde family of Poole dug clay from under cotton grass bogs at Arne, thus becoming the leading exporters of pipeclay. Over the next two centuries the industry flourished and expanded to take advantage of the seams of ball clay running under the heathland.

Thanks to the efforts of countless volunteers over the past 20 years, the area’s mining heritage and its role in shaping the landscape we see today is now celebrated in The Purbeck Mining Museum at Norden, near Purbeck Park.

Former clay miner Brian Biles is one of the many volunteers at the Purbeck Mining Museum. (Image: Andrew PM Wright))

Recreating Purbeck’s Mining History

The Purbeck Mining Museum began with just a few mining tools and some equipment salvaged from the surrounding area. Now it provides a fascinating insight into life in a clay mine. This lesser-known Dorset treasure is housed in a genuine mine building which has been relocated next to Norden Station on the Swanage Railway near Purbeck Park. The museum, which features a recreation of a timber-lined and iron-arched mineshaft, provides a fitting showcase for a myriad of artefacts, displays and special events.

A large section of one of the narrow-gauge railways that served the mines for well over a hundred years has also been restored, with periodic demonstrations of engine and wagon movements, running alongside the heritage steam and diesel trains of Swanage Railway, bringing the sight and sound of the clay mining industry back to life.

‘For me, it’s like stepping back in time,’ says Brian Biles, a former Purbeck clay miner who recently joined Purbeck Mining Museum’s team of volunteers. ‘The museum is an authentic recreation of a mine; it has all the paraphernalia and equipment we used to extract the clay, as well as showing how we would communicate between the pit head and mine-shafts.’

Former clay miner, Brian Biles, demonstrates the primitive communication bell used by miners. (Image: Courtesy of Purbeck Mining Museum)

Biles and his fellow miners would work from 7.30am to 4pm, five days a week. ‘Each tunnel was worked by a team of two. One of us would use a pneumatic spade to cut out large square chunks of clay, while the other loaded the clay onto wagons and pushed them out to the haulage point at the head of the shaft. We would dig around 18ft into the clay face, install three sets of heavy wooden pit props and extract around 20 tonnes of clay every day!’

Biles joined Pike Bros, Fayle & Company in 1967 as a 17-year-old. He spent ten years working in the firm’s mines, mainly at Greenspecks, Aldermoor, and the deepest of the Purbeck mines at Creech Barrow, which was around 800ft underground.

‘It was physically hard and back-breaking work,’ he recalls. ‘And it was very claustrophobic and dirty down the mine. However, there certainly was a knack to the work and a real sense of camaraderie as everyone looked after each other.’ Miners were pretty well paid for that time (around £10/week in 1964), and there were additional payments depending on the distance from the clay face to the haulage point. This could be as far as a quarter of a mile in some cases.

Fayle's office and weighbridge at Norden Heath circa 1900 showing the extensive clay workings. (Image: Courtesy of Purbeck Mining Museum)

‘We would typically have a modest lunch at the clay face, and we would drink cold tea to stay hydrated. There were no washing facilities or toilets, so we had to ensure our constitution was under close control!’ Biles smiles. ‘Mind you, we made the most of our wages on a Friday night when many of the miners retreated to locals like the old Pure Drop, The Antelope and The Horse and Groom in Wareham.’

Communications from the clay face to the pit heads were primitive. A miner would hang a simple metal disk on a nail as they clocked in at work to go underground. Coloured peg markers were clipped onto the wagons to advise those at the head of the pit which gang was responsible for each wagon, and the quality of the clay being extracted. And a simple series of coded bell rings and a wind-up field telephone were used to relay messages between surface workers and those at the clay face.

‘It does bring it all back to me when I hear children ringing the mine bell in the museum,’ adds Biles. ‘It’s so rewarding to know that my memories as a miner are still of interest to people – young and old, and from all corners of the world.’

Fayles Horse Drawn Plateway - Dorset's first railway, built by Benjamin Fayle in 1806. A waggon train of loaded ball clay waiting to depart. (Image: Courtesy of Purbeck Mining Museum)

Although Health and Safety measures were very modest compared to today’s standards, the only potential safety issue that Brian Biles personally experienced was when he turned up for work one morning to a flooded mine, which had to be pumped out. However, he does recall an occasion when a cow fell down a mine air shaft. Surprisingly it was unhurt. ‘The only way to return the startled cow back to the farmer’s field was to strap it to a flat-bedded wagon - no mean feat in a mine tunnel - and pull it along the track through the tunnel and out to the pit head!’

Following a record-breaking year for visitor numbers and donations in 2023, the Purbeck Mining Museum is marking its 10th anniversary in 2024. But this attraction could not operate without volunteers like Brian Biles. As Purbeck Mining Museum’s chairman, Peter Sills explains, they play a vital role in telling the story of this area of Purbeck. ‘We are always on the look-out for more material, personal stories and other areas of support to extend our displays at the museum, and to deliver a first-class experience for visitors. We are very keen to get more people involved with the venture. So, anyone who enjoys meeting people and has an interest in local history, local wildlife, pottery, geology, Dorset railways or just the Purbeck countryside will be given a very warm welcome.’

Interested in joining the team? Email purbeckminingmuseum@swanagerailway.co.uk.

Volunteer, Paola Hobson, provides group visitors with a detailed explanation of the various exhbits at the museum.  (Image: Andrew PM Wright))

Let’s Go! 

Purbeck Mining Museum is open Tuesday to Sunday, 11am – 4pm (last entry 3.30pm) until September 29, then weekends throughout October. There is no admission charge to the attraction which is run entirely by volunteers and relies on donations. Nwe for this year, visitors can enjoy walking trails and viewpoints created through 25 acres of the adjacent woodland to Purbeck Mining Museum, previously untouched for 50 years. These footpaths provide a gateway to longer walks to Corfe Castle and along Corfe Ridge. The museum is next to Swanage Railway, so why not fold in a trip on one of their steam-hauled trains which run between Swanage and Corfe Castle. More at purbeckminingmuseum.org follow on FB @purbeckmineralandminingmuseum.