A HISTORY OF DORSET 



Brick-making is the less important of the two 

 industries connected with clay in Dorset, but 

 it is simpler to consider it first. The rapid 

 increase in building, especially in the sea-coast 

 towns and in Dorset's near neighbour Bourne- 

 mouth, has led to a considerable demand for 

 bricks. These are made in various places from 

 the different clays. In the district round Wey- 

 mouth almost all the bricks are made of Oxford 

 clay,^" while the mottled clays of the Wealden 

 beds are used near Swanage, and in the area 

 round Dorchester the best bricks are made at 

 Broadmayne, where a bed of clean loam ten or 

 twelve feet thick occurs in the Reading series." 

 This is used for the ' Broadmayne speckled 

 bricks,' which are employed for building in Wey- 

 mouth and Dorchester.^^ 



In 1728 the clay was worth 30^. a ton at 

 London, this value increased to 50J., but by 1 796 

 it had fallen to 14J or 1 51. a ton.'^ 



Hutchins' history gives a detailed account of the 

 extent and importance of the other branches of 

 the clay industry in his time : — 



Nearly 10,000 tons are annually exported to London, 

 Hull, Liverpool, and Glasgow, etc., but the most 

 considerable part to Liverpool for the supply of the 

 Staffordshire potteries, and to Selby for the use of the 

 Leeds potteries. The principal pits are on the 

 Norden and Wital farms, the former belonging to 

 Wm. Moreton Pitt and the latter to John Calcraft, 

 Esq., and the clay taken from the same is in great 

 repute with the Staffordshire and Yorkshire potteries, 

 from its peculiar excellence, and being the principal 

 ingredient in the ware commonly called Staffordshire 

 ware so universally in use in this kingdom as well as 

 in many other parts of Europe." 



From this time forward the export of clay has 

 always been considerable. In 1831 it 



had extended to 34,290 tons, and in 1 85 1 it reached 

 69,286 tons according to the clearances at the Poole 



'"Mem. Geo!. Surv. 1899, p. 237. 



"Ibid. 1898, p. 46. 



" Geo!. Dorchester {Mem. Geo!. Surz:), 1899, p. 46. 

 The speckled effect is due to the presence of minute 

 nodules of manganese oxide. The method of making 

 Broadmayne bricks is as follows : ' The work begins 

 by the heading of the clay or taking off of the top 

 soil. The clay is dug mostly in the winter months, 

 and cast back loosely or wheeled back into a heap to 

 soak for the coming season of brick-making which 

 begins about March or the beginning of April. The 

 clay is worked (tempered) in a pugmill turned by a 

 horse or donkey, or trodden by men's naked feet. 

 The new-made bricks are wheeled to the drj-ing 

 ground on long barrows and placed in rows (hacks), 

 and when dry enough sent to the kiln. It takes two 

 or three days to bum the bricks, and about as long to 

 cool them.' Barnes, Glossary of tl:e Dors. Dialect, 5 I . 



" Hutchins, Hist, oj Dors. (1796), i, 172. 



'• Poole clay, according to Jewitt, was sent to Selby 

 for the Leeds potteries in 1796. Ceramic Jrt, z6c). 

 It was also used in the body of Swansea ware. Ibid. 

 570. 



custom house ; of this amount about 52,268 tons 

 were employed in the manufacture of the finer kinds 

 of earthenware, chiefly in the Staffordshire potteries, 

 and 16,018 tons for ordinary stone ware, tobacco 

 pipes, alum making, etc." 



In 1878 the amount exported from Poole was 

 73,130 tons, while the total quantity of pottery and 

 other clays produced in Dorset during that year 

 amounted to 79,205 tons of the estimated value of 

 ^19,800.'^ 



At the present time (1907) Messrs. Doulton 

 & Co. alone raise over 1 8,000 tons of clay per 

 annum from their Dorset pits (though this 

 of course forms only a portion of the supplies 

 necessary for the production of their wares at 

 Lambeth). In the raising and export of this 

 clay they employ on an average fifty men per 

 day.^' Besides this London firm, there are 

 Dorset firms which export raw clay, as well as 

 those which have factories in the county. 



The clay is now used in almost every part of 

 the world for the manufacture of fine earthen- 

 ware goods,^* e.g. it is used for all kinds of stone- 

 ware pottery, for bottles, jars, chemical appara- 

 tus, sanitary fittings, electrical insulators, and 

 drain pipes." It is also employed in Dorset in 

 the manufacture of tiles and every kind of archi- 

 tectural potter)'. 



Both Brown Island and Brownsea Island, 

 situated in Poole Harbour, contain clay similar to 

 that found on the mainland ; and both have been 

 the seat of experimental manufactories. Just 



before 1750, a certain Mr. Brock began making 

 tiles on Brown Island."" This attempt to estab- 

 lish the industry was unsuccessful, as was an 

 attempt about 100 years later to make pottery 

 on Brownsea Island,^^ some specimens of this last 

 are preserved in the Geological Museum in 

 Jermyn Street. 



The Architectural Pottery Company was 

 established at Poole in 1854 by Messrs. Thomas 

 Sanders Ball, John Ridgeway, Thomas Richard 

 Sanders, & Frederick George Sanders. In 

 1857 ^■'' Ridgeway retired, and in 1861 

 Mr. Ball, the firm then continuing as Messrs. 

 T. R. & F. G. Sanders. The output com- 

 prised patent coloured and glazed bricks and 

 mouldings ; semi-perforated and pressed, patent 

 mosaic, tesselated, encaustic, vitreous, and other 

 varieties of glazed wall tiles, embossed and 

 perforated tiles, quarries, and fire-clay goods. 



" Catalogue of Specimens, Museum Practical Geology. 



" Hunt, Mineral Statistics (1878), 139. 



''" From information kindly supplied by Messrs. 

 Doulton & Co. 



" From local information. Pipe-clay for local use is 

 obtained in the Dorchester area from Trigon Farm, 

 Sandford (where the beds are 10 ft. thick), and Station 

 Heath. Geo!. Dorchester {Mem. Geol. Surv. 1899), 57. 



" From information kindly supplied by Messrs. 

 Doulton & Co. 



*" Pococke, Travels (1754), 87. 



" Catalogue of Specimens, Museum Practical Geology. 



364 



