Ridge is a

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 ...

in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 ...

. It is situated on the south bank of the River Frome, about half a mile due south east of the town of Wareham. Ridge forms part of 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 ...

Arne Arne may refer to: Places * Arne, Dorset, England, a village ** Arne RSPB reserve, a nature reserve adjacent to the village * Arné, Hautes-Pyrénées, Midi-Pyrénées, France * Arne (Boeotia), an ancient city in Boeotia, Greece * Arne (Thessa ...

, within the Purbeck

local government district The districts of England (also known as local authority districts or local government districts to distinguish from unofficial city districts) are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the st ...

. A

wharf A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring locatio ...

on the River Frome at Ridge was once a major transhipment point for

Purbeck Ball Clay Purbeck Ball Clay is a concentration of ball clay found on the Isle of Purbeck in the English county of Dorset. Geology The main concentration of ball clay in Dorset is to the north of the Purbeck Hills centred on Norden. Ball clays are sedimenta ...

. The clay was brought to the wharf by the

Furzebrook Railway The Furzebrook Railway, also known as the Pike Brothers' Tramway, was a narrow gauge industrial railway on the Isle of Purbeck in the English county of Dorset. It was built by the Pike Brothers, to take Purbeck Ball Clay from their clay p ...

, and transferred to

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

s for the voyage to

Poole Harbour Poole Harbour is a large natural harbour in Dorset, southern England, with the town of Poole on its shores. The harbour is a drowned valley (ria) formed at the end of the last ice age and is the estuary of several rivers, the largest being th ...

. The railway is now abandoned, and the wharf has become a

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships o ...

External links

Isle of Purbeck Villages in Dorset {{Dorset-geo-stub