Purbeck Ball Clay

Approximately 45 million years ago (in the Lutetian stage of the Eocene epoch) the climate was tropical and an ancient River Solent washed kaolinite (formed from decomposed granite) from its parent rock on Dartmoor.

Purbeck Ball Clay has been used for thousands of years, but large scale commercial extraction began in the middle of the 18th century and continues today.

Originally the clay was taken by pack horse to wharves on the River Frome and the south side of Poole Harbour.

The Plateway connected clay workings in the Corfe Castle area, to a wharf on Middlebere Creek in Poole Harbour.

With the coming of the London and South Western Railway line from Wareham to Swanage in 1885, much of the ball clay was dispatched by rail.