| Furzebrook | |
Furzebrook Village Hall |
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Furzebrook
Furzebrook shown within Dorset |
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| OS grid reference | SY930837 |
|---|---|
| Parish | Church Knowle |
| District | Purbeck |
| Shire county | Dorset |
| Region | South West |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | WAREHAM |
| Postcode district | BH20 |
| Dialling code | 01929 |
| Police | Dorset |
| Fire | Dorset |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| EU Parliament | South West England |
| UK Parliament | South Dorset |
| List of places: UK • England • Dorset | |
Furzebrook is a small village on the Isle of Purbeck, in the county of Dorset in the south of England.
Furzebrook is about 2 km south of Wareham and 5 km west of Corfe Castle.
The name Furzebrook derives from the furze/gorse and a brook. The first use of the name was probably by Furzebrook Farm. Furzebrook became the centre of the clay industry as all the local Purbeck Ball Clay was taken there to ripen by exposing. The clay was repeated turned for six months. As the ball clay ripened it acquired plasticity and became suitable to mix with various other clays which made them more plastic.
At Furzebrook there are several narrow gauge railway tracks, these converged from outlying local mines and claypits, the Furzebrook Railway. A further narrow gauge line ran to Ridge Wharf. As the Wareham to Swanage branch line of the London and South Western Railway was built it passed through Furzebrook and therefore a lot of clay was transferred via the mainline trains. Furzebrook is now well known as being the railhead for the oil extracted from the local Wytch Farm oilwell.
Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Furzebrook Furzebrook] at Wikimedia Commons