Purbeck Mineral & Mining Museum (2025)

Ball clay is rare and is only found in a few places in the world. It is valued for its whiteness and its special properties when fired, which mean that it is ideal in tableware, bathroom ceramics and in situations where it needs to cope with high temperatures.

Open cast, and later, underground shaft and adit mines appeared wherever the clay was available across north Purbeck. These were served by a network of narrow gauge railways, with steam locomotives introduced during the middle of the 19th Century. Steam was still being used when most of the lines closed in the 1950s. Underground mining ended in 1999, although open cast mining continues on several sites today.

The clay industry was a major employer in Corfe Castle and the surrounding villages from the end of the 18th Century. At times half of the population of some villages were supported by clay work. Clay mining ran in families for generations, with some members then going on to work on the Railways with the arrival of the Swanage Branch line.