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You will find the Blue Pool tucked away on the Furzebrook Estate between Corfe Castle and Wareham. Visitors
can wander at will in an oasis of peace and tranquility which changes with the seasons and they can sit by the
pool itself whose colour changes by the minute in harmony with the variations in the weather and the light.
 The
Blue Pool was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1985 in order to help protect the wide variety
of rare plants and animals that can be seen here. Squirrels, rabbits, badgers, Sika deer, the Green Sand Lizard,many
species of birds, dragonflies, rare mosses and fungi are all here somewhere and share the site with those who sit
quietly on one of the benches provided or the occasional artist trying to catch the atmosphere on canvas.
But there is more to the Blue Pool than this. There is a museum which traces the development of the local clay
industry (for it was this industry which accounts for the pool itself and its ever changing colours). A collection
of Chinese porcelain testifies to the many ways in which the Isle of Purbeck has fitted into the wider world.
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The Blue Pool
Furzebrook, Wareham,
Dorset.
Tel: 01929 551408
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Next door to the museum is the tea room where you can take refreshments and, before you go, you can visit the gift
shop or even buy a plant for your garden by the main gate.
THE CLAY INDUSTRY
Dorset ball clays (possibly so called because the spade used to dig them was called a 'tubal') were formed in
the Tertiary age about 50,000,000 years ago. A river, which would have flowed from the west country down to the
Isle of Purbeck, brought with it the sediment which went on to form the clay most of which can be found to the
north of the Purbeck Hills on the heath near to Corfe.
Ancient Britons would use the clay to make their boats more seaworthy and there is some evidence of trade with
the Phoenicians. Nearer to Wareham a site was excavated in 1986 which proved the existence of the Roman clay industry.
Later, in the middle ages, the clay was used for domestic purposes and it was often monks who were the craftsmen.
Three families have owned the land around the Blue Pool over the last 400 years. It is not known exactly when
the mining of clay began here but it was well established by the 1660s when the clay extracted was being sold to
make clay tobacco pipes.
Today there is no mining of clay at the Blue Pool. But it is still there. Having arrived 50,000,000 years ago,
today it is the same clay particles suspended in the water which account for the changes in the colour of the pool
and which makes it somewhat unique as a place to visit in the area.
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