Furzebrook is a small
village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...
on the
Isle of Purbeck, in the county of
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...
in the south of
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It is about south of
Wareham and northwest of
Corfe Castle, and is in the
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
of
Church Knowle.
The name Furzebrook derives from the furze/
gorse
''Ulex'' (commonly known as gorse, furze, or whin) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. The genus comprises about 20 species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are n ...
and a brook. The first use of the name was probably by Furzebrook Farm. Furzebrook became the centre of the clay industry as all the local
Purbeck Ball Clay was taken there to ripen by exposing. The clay was repeatedly turned for six months. As the ball clay ripened it acquired plasticity and became suitable to mix with various other clays which made them more plastic.
At Furzebrook there are several narrow-gauge railway tracks; these converged from outlying local mines and claypits, the
Furzebrook Railway. A further narrow-gauge line ran to
Ridge
A ridge or a mountain ridge is a geographical feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for an extended distance. The sides of the ridge slope away from the narrow top on either side. The line ...
Wharf.
As the Wareham to Swanage branch line of the
London and South Western Railway was built it passed through Furzebrook and therefore a lot of clay was transferred via the mainline trains. Furzebrook is now well known as being the railhead for the oil extracted from the local
Wytch Farm oil well.
See also
*
Blue Pool is part of the Furzebrook area
*
Furzebrook Railway, also known as the Pike Brothers' Tramway
References
External links
{{authority control
Isle of Purbeck
Villages in Dorset