Purbeck

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Purbeck District
Shown within Dorset
Geography
Status:	District
Region:	South West England
Admin. County:	Dorset
Area: - Total	Ranked 117th 404.40 km²
Admin. HQ:	Wareham
ONS code:	19UG
Demographics
Population: - Total (2005 est.) - Density	Ranked 345th 45,100 112 / km²
Ethnicity:	98.8% White
Politics
Purbeck District Council http://www.purbeck-dc.gov.uk/
Leadership:	Leader & Cabinet
Executive:	Conservative
MPs:	Annette Brooke, Jim Knight

Purbeck is a local government district in Dorset, England, named for the Isle of Purbeck. Its council is based in Wareham.

The district was formed under the Local Government Act 1972 on April 1, 1974, from the former municipal borough of Wareham, Swanage urban district and Wareham and Purbeck Rural District.

Its name is recorded in 948 AD as Anglo-Saxon Purbicinga = "of the people of Purbic", where Purbic may be a former Celtic name, or may contain a supposed Anglo-Saxon word *pur = "male lamb".

1 Purbeck stone
2 Purbeck Ball Clay
3 Settlements
4 Places of interest
5 External links

[edit] Purbeck stone

Purbeck stone is a hard semi-metamorphosed limestone, formed of shells of freshwater and brackish snails, which can be seen in cut slabs. The stone is hard enough to take a fine polish, giving it the name of "Purbeck marble", even though it is not metamorphosed by sufficient heat and pressure to have been converted into true marble. In seams of the stone, which lie between layers of softer marine clays and mudstone, laid down in repeated marine ingressions, mineral impurities give some Purbeck stone fine red and green varieties. Purbeck stone was first quarried in medieval times and can be seen in virtually all the cathedrals of the south of England, in columns and slab panels and flooring.

[edit] Purbeck Ball Clay

Ball clay is an extremely rare mineral found in very few places around the world. The Purbeck blue clays of the Bagshot Beds found around Wareham are of the finest in the world. The main concentration of ball clay in Dorset is to the north of the Purbeck Hills centred around Norden. Ball clays are sedimentary in origin. Approximately 45 million years ago (in the Lutetian stage of the Eocene epoch) the climate was tropical and an ancient river Solent washed kaolinite (formed from decomposed granite) from its parent rock on Dartmoor. As the streams flowed from upland areas they mixed with other clay minerals, sands, gravels, and vegetation before settling in low-lying basins to form overlaying seams of ball clay. Ball clays usually contain three dominant minerals: from 20-80% kaolinite, 10-25% mica, and 6-65% [quartz]. In addition, there are other 'accessory' minerals and some carbonaceous material (derived from ancient plants) present.

Purbeck ball clay has been used for thousands of years, but large scale commercial extraction began in the middle of the 18th century continuing to the present day. Large quanties were ordered by Josiah Wedgwood from 1771 and this led to the construction of Dorset's first railway in 1806 - the Middlebere Tramway. Approximately 80% of the ball clay extracted has been exported all around the world. The ball clay is processed today at the Furzebrook plant of Imerys.

[edit] Settlements

Settlements with a population over 2,500 are in bold.

Affpuddle, Arne
Bere Regis, Bloxworth
Chaldon Herring, Church Knowle, Coombe Keynes, Corfe Castle
East Lulworth, East Stoke
Kimmeridge
Langton Matravers, Lytchett Matravers, Lytchett Minster
Morden, Moreton
Steeple, Studland, Swanage
Turners Puddle
Wareham, West Lulworth, Winfrith Newburgh, Wool, Worth Matravers
Upton

[edit] Places of interest

Ballard Down, Blue Pool, Brownsea Island
Chaldon Down, Chapman's Pool, Clouds Hill, Corfe Castle
Dancing Ledge, Dunshay Manor, Durdle Door, Durlston Country Park
Godlingstone Heath, Godlingstone Manor
Hambury Tout
Jurassic Coast (A World Heritage Site)
Lulworth Castle, Lulworth Cove
Kimmeridge
Nine Barrow Down
Old Harry Rocks
Poole Harbour, Purbeck Heritage Coast
Smedmore Hill, South West Coast Path, St Aldhelm's Head, Studland Bay, Swanage Railway, Swyre Head
Tyneham
Worbarrow Tout, Wareham Forest, Winspit, Wytch Farm

[edit] External links

Districts of South West England
Bath and North East Somerset \| Bournemouth \| Bristol \| Caradon \| Carrick \| Cheltenham \| Christchurch \| Cotswold \| East Devon \| East Dorset \| Exeter \| Forest of Dean \| Gloucester \| Isles of Scilly \| Kennet \| Kerrier \| Mendip \| Mid Devon \| North Cornwall \| North Devon \| North Dorset \| North Somerset \| North Wiltshire \| Penwith \| Plymouth \| Poole \| Purbeck \| Restormel \| Salisbury \| Sedgemoor \| South Gloucestershire \| South Hams \| South Somerset \| Stroud \| Swindon \| Taunton Deane \| Teignbridge \| Tewkesbury \| Torbay \| Torridge \| West Devon \| West Dorset \| West Somerset \| West Wiltshire \| Weymouth and Portland
Counties with multiple districts: Cornwall - Devon - Dorset - Gloucestershire - Somerset - Wiltshire