CONTENTS:

Part 1: INTRODUCTION TO BROWNSEA ISLAND - A NATIONAL TRUST PROPERTY

Part 2: STRATIGRAPHY OF BROWNSEA ISLAND

Part 3: LOCATION - Brownsea Castle and Church Area

Part 4: LOCATION - Southeast Cliffs

Part 5: South Shore - Copperas Industry

Part 6: Southwest Pottery Area

Part 7: LOCATION-Pottery Pier and Maryland Areas

Part 8: LOCATION-Offshore of Brownsea Island Part 9: Wytch Farm Oilfield under Brownsea Island

10. Acknowledgements

Bibliography and References

Topographic Maps

The most suitable topographic map for Brownsea Island is the Ordnance Survey, Outdoor Leisure Sheet 15, Purbeck and South Dorset. Scale 1:25,000.

INTRODUCTION continued:

Aerial Photographs

INTRODUCTION continued:

Geological Maps

This is an old geological map from Woodward (1907).

It is recommended to purchase the current geological map of the British Geological Survey. This is the Bournemouth Sheet, 329, Geological Map - 1:50,000 Solid and Drift Edition.

Melville and Freshney (1982) have provided a good brief and useful introduction to the region. Much more useful for serious study and technical details is Bristow, C.R., Freshney, E.C. and Penn, I.E. (1991). , which is strongly recommended for purchase from the British Geological Survey. It is a very good memoir, full of useful information.

INTRODUCTION continued:

Access to Brownsea Island

See the The National Trust, owners of the Island for details. Check whether the island is open on a particular day. Note that usually the last ferry back is at about 5 pm but check whether this is the case for the day that you intend to visit.

See: Getting There - Brownsea Island, National Trust.

Brownsea Island, which The National Trust, is most easily reached by taking a ferry either from the end of the Sandbanks Peninsula or from Poole Quay. The Sandbanks crossing is shorter, although it can be difficult to find places to park at times. In summer the ferries depart at about every half an hour. The last ferry usually leaves from the island at 5pm, but check the times when you take the ferry out (or obtain details from the The National Trust).

Note that you have to pay the ferry fare and then when you arrive at Brownsea Island you pay an entry fee, unless you are a member of the The National Trust. It is an interesting place in many respects and well-worth the payment. Note that the castle is not open to the public but the island is an excellent place to explore.

On arrival by ferry, the Tudor castle, formerly protecting the entrance to Poole Harbour, is seen as a dominant feature. It is now owned by the John Lewis organisation, and used for company holiday. At the landing stage you are welcomed by National Trust staff and toilets and other facilities here. Try to obtain a map of the island because you will need one once you have left the main facilities.

From here you walk westward on the main path, passing a bird observatory. Soon you are on grassy lawns with peacocks and chickens running free, and with pine forest around. The path continues on westward but with various branches. The areas of geological interest are mainly on the south coast, and after a stretch of walking you will find a small branching path to this area. You can then explore various parts of the coast and forest. Few people will be seen and it does give a feeling of exploration on a small scale. Although actually very close to Poole and Sandbanks it seems as though it is quite a remote place.

INTRODUCTION continued:

General Aspects

Brownsea Island is the largest and most interesting island in Poole Harbour. It is a former hill standing above river valleys when sea-level was lower, and separated as an island when flooding took place during the Flandrian Transgression after the Pleistocene Ice Age, and Poole Harbour was formed.

In the 16th century it was first of significance as a defencive area at the entrance to Poole Harbour. Soon it became important for mineral workings and processing (see Copperas below). Later it was a private island, a type of stately home and park, but with a pottery industry at the eastern end. It had no public access and has retained an almost 19th century character. It became famous for the initation of the Baden-Powell Scout Camps. Relatively recently it has been taken over by the National Trust. More detail on the history is given below.

As you walk through the woods look out for the red squirrel, Sciurus vulgaris. Elsewhere in Dorset has been replaced by its larger, tougher and more confident, American relative, the grey squirrel. The grey species has not managed to get on to the island.

INTRODUCTION continued:

A Brief Summarised History of the Island

(this is not a complete list of owners and not detailed, see the literature given in the reference list for more information. This is merely background to the geological description of the island.)

1015: The first incident of note recorded concerning the Island is that Canute landed upon it. Canutus having spoiled the church and monastery of Cerne, took the haven and sailed thence to Branksea. His force, being laden with the spoils of the monastery, doubtless found the little island a safe retreat. Here they could, without fear of molestation, mature plans for further marauding expeditions. The above event is placed A.D. 1015. (Bennett, 1881)

1154: King Henry II granted to the Abbot of Cerne the right of wreck on the Island. Leland says - " the Island had in it "no building save a chapel only, for an hermit, it longeth to Cerne Abbey." The chapel was dedicated to St. Andrew. (Bennett, 1881)

1540: Henry VIII built a substantial blockhouse with a moat. The king granted the Island, and the water surrounding it, to John, Earl of Oxford.

In the 9th year of the reign of James 1. this Island and the bill or town of Poole, late the possessions of Charles Brook, were granted to Robert, Earl of Salisbury.

In the reign of Charles II it belonged to Sir Robert Clayton.

1726: It was purchased about 1726 for 300 pounds, by 'Villiam Benson, Esq., auditor of the imprest, and known as "Mad" Benson. There were tales of Black Magic on the island.

1762: The Island was conveyed to Sir Gerard Napier and Humphrey Sturt, Esq., to the last of whom, upon the death of the former, the whole property devolved.

Lady Albinia Foster held the island before the Waughs.

1852: Colonel Waugh and his wife Mary Petrie Waugh bought Brownsea Island. They initiated the pottery industry. They left the island in 1855 leaving 665,000 pounds in dept.

1870: Lord Eversley, Secretary of the Admiralty, inspected Brownsea Island, then up for sale, with a view to building the Naval College here. In the end it was built at Dartmouth.

1871-1891: Rt. Hon. George Augustus Cavendish Bentinck, M.P. for Whitehaven, owned the island. He tried to revive the pottery with little success. He brough Italian and Venetian items to the island. (Moore, 2003).

1891: Major Kenneth Robert Balfour owned the island. He established a peat-cutting industry. Large quantities were cut and transported to London. It was sold in its natural state to Charlton Xavier Hall who lived on neighbouring Green Island (Battrick, 1978). The peat has not been mapped on the island on the British Geological Survey maps (either old or new edition). Where were the deposits? There is a very small amount of peaty ground on the beach of the South Shore but no substantial deposits are obvious. A much more likely area is low ground in and around St. Andrew's Bay. It would expected in alluvium near sea-level. Peat excavations would now be ponds or lakes.

1901: Charles and Florence van Raalte, with great wealth from cigar manufacturing in Holland, bought the island as a country estate. A 9 - hole golf course was established; there was much shooting, with 2000 pheasants bred each year. Most new male employees had to be musicians and were required to play in the Estate Band. Mr. van Raalte employed 71 servants and workers including a professional golfer and 12 crew members for his two steam yachts. He kept a four-in-hand carriage at Sandbanks. Baden-Powell held his camp on the island while it was owned by the van Raltes. See Moore (2003).

1907: Baden-Powell first scout camp took place on Brownsea Island. More details are given below. The van Raaltes still owned the island at this date. See more details below regarding this event.

1925: Sir Arthur Wheeler, a wealthy stockbroker bought the island for 60,000 pounds. He planned to use the Castle as a hotel and to flood St. Andrew's Bay, then still reclaimed pastureland (Moore, 2003).

1927: Mrs Mary Florence Bonham-Christie bought the island and became an eccentric recluse. The former inhabitants were sent off the island. People landing on the shore were thrown into the sea. The keeper fired blanks over the heads of people approaching in boats. Mrs Bonham-Christie was totally opposed to all forms of blood sport, animals in captivity and performing animals Battrick (1978) . She was, however, so extreme that even bait digging for worms was banned. The island became wild and overgrown. Mrs Bonham-Carter was remarkably successful in creating one of the most heavily-populated bird and animal sanctuaries in Britain. The present fame of the island as a nature reserve and a National Trust visitor site is partly dependent on Mrs Bonham-Carter's absolute conservation in the past.

For much more information see the booklet: Moore, P. 2003. For Nature not Humans - Recollections of Brownsea Island under the Ownership of Mrs Bonham-Christie.

INTRODUCTION continued:

History continued - Baden-Powell and the Scout Camp -1907

Here is the southwestern corner of Brownsea Island, about 200 metres beyond the original Scout Camp Site of Baden Powell. The great Scout Movement started here. Even now the area seems suprisingly remote for a place so close to the town of Poole and the urban development of Bournemouth. The south and southwestern coast of the island gives a good view southward or southwestward across part of Poole Harbour. The Purbeck Hills stand out as a ridge of nearly vertical Chalk. It can be seen why this area was chosen for the trial Scout camp that was to be start of the Scout movement.

The Brownsea Island Scout camp was a boys camping event on Brownsea Island in 1907. It was organised by the famous soldier of Mafeking, Lieutenant-General Baden-Powell to test his ideas for his book "Scouting for Boys: Handbook for Instruction in Good Citizenship". Important guidance on personal character and the outdoor life is given. In addition there are some aspects of the book which seem very strange now, but undoubtedly reflect the culture of the time. Some examples are shown below.

Lieutenant General (later Lord) Baden-Powell was said to be a "little man with large freckles, a bony nose and thinning hair, a sandy-coloured moustache and twinkling blue eyes" (Battrick, 1978). With his friend, Major Kenneth McLaren, he set up the camp above the south shore of the island under a flagstaff flying a Union Jack. Mrs van Raalte had given permission in the absence of her husband. The van Raaltes had offered the experimental campsite after meeting Baden-Powell when he was on holiday in Ireland (Battrick, 1978).

Twenty boys from different social backgrounds participated from 1 August to 8 August 1907 in activities around camping, observation, woodcraft, chivalry, lifesaving and patriotism. Recognised as the world's first Scout camp, the event is regarded as the real origin of the worldwide Scout movement. This great youth activity started as a very small camping event here on the southern part of the island.

Up to the early 1930s, camping by Boy Scouts continued on Brownsea Island. In 1963, a formal 50-acre (200,000 square metre) Scout campsite was opened by Olave Baden-Powell, when the island became a nature conservation area owned by the National Trust. The camp site was at the same place on southern side of the Island and the location is still used for modern scouting activities.

The booklet shown below provides a good brief account of Baden-Powell and the Brownsea camp site, with some excellent old photographs of Baden-Powell (in his trilby not scouting hat).

In the 1950s, Donald Payne (1953) met the boatman Bill Harvey, who took Baden-Powell and his boys across to Brownsea Island (we still travel there by Harvey Boats). Here, for interest, is an extract from Payne's record of the meeting [pp. 29-30]:

STRATIGRAPHY:

Introduction

2 - STRATIGRAPHY continued:

The Parkstone Clay - Introduction

Underlying much of area around Poole Harbour is the Poole Formation. It formed in or around the Poole Delta about 45 million years ago when the climate was subtropical here, although only at a palaeolatitude of about 40 degrees north.

This Eocene unit was formerly known as the Pipe Clay Series, and was part of the Bagshot Beds (an old name, not in use now). The Poole Formation is about 160 metres thick. The uppermost part of the Poole Formation is a clay, the Parkstone Clay Member. This is of Bracklesham age from near the middle part of the Eocene. The Parkstone Clay is only 7 metres thick on Brownsea Island, although elsewhere in the region it can reach 14m or 22m Bristow, Freshney and Penn (1991). The reduced thickness on Brownsea Island may be due to downcutting by the erosional base of the Branksome Sand. The Parkstone Clay is well-exposed in the southern cliffs of Brownsea Island.

Although there is little doubt that, in general terms, the Parkstone Clay is Bracklesham in age, its exact position within the Eocene is not so well-established because of general lack of marine fossils. It may be Lutetian (perhaps Upper Lutetian or Auversian) in age. Its facies is like that of the laminated carbonaceous clays of the Marsh Farm Formation (Bracklesham Group) of the Southampton Area (Edwards and Freshney, 1987). The dinoflagellate cyst Kisselovia cf. coleothrypta was recovered from the Parkstone Clay.

In terms of lithology the Parkstone Clay is a is is a brown silty, slightly carbonaceous clay. Although it is structureless in part, it is often shows lamination, and this is very noticeable in the cliffs of Brownsea Island. The clay is quite sandy and silty. It contains impersistent sand layers ranging from 0.5mm to several millimetres thick Bristow, Freshney and Penn (1991). Scattered beds of fine-grained sand up to 8cm thick also occur. Laminations and thin beds of sand more common towards the base. Clay layers have sharply defined tops and bottoms. Much of the Parkstone Clay is quite dark in colour because of a content of lignite (plant material) and and pyrite. In places in the Poole area there are much lighter-coloured beds of pipe clay or ball clay. This can be light grey and seem almost white by comparison with dark grey clay. The pipe clay or ball clay can be of economic importance for the manufacture of pottery.

On Brownsea Island the Parkstone Clay that is exposed in the cliffs is mostly dark grey and carbonaceous. White pipe clay does not seem to be exposed at present, even if it is present at all above sea-level. The dark grey type of Parkstone Clay is well seen in the low cliffs on the south side of Brownsea Island. Examined in detail this can be seen to be a dark, very pyritic and carbonaceous clay with sand laminae in places. It contains many plant fragments and some tree trunks in lignitic form. Fossil leaves have also been found in these strata.

The weathering of the pyrite content is responsible for the development of encrustations of sulphate minerals discussed below. The sulphate rich waters give off an acidic odour like that of sulphuric acid.

Many sections on Brownsea Island expose the junction of the Parkstone Clay and the overlying Branksome Sand. This is easily seen and often abrupt. In some place, though, it rather transitional with a progressive increase in sand.

The clay breaks off in layers giving a shaley appearance, except that it is quite soft and poorly consolidated. The laminated character results from sand linsen which occur in a clearly heterolithic sequence. It probably originated on tidal flats in the Eocene delta or estuary. A somewhat restricted environment with freshwater inflow accounts for the lack of typical marine fossils. It also accounts for the lignitic plant content.

Bristow, Freshney and Penn (1991) recorded the following westernmost section at map reference SZ 0104 8798.

Pleistocene river gravel - 1 to 2m.

Branksome Sand

Sand, medium to very coarse grained, tabular bedded on a decimetre scale. About 3m. from the top there is a 0.1m thick brown silty clay underlain by a grit band. Total thickness present - c 5.0m.

Poole Formation - Parkstone Clay

Clay, brown silty, slightly carbonaceous, structureless in part, but also with common lamination. Impersistent sand layers ranging from 0.5mm to several millimetres thick. Scattered beds of fine-grained sand up to 8cm thick also occur. Laminations and thin beds of sand more common towards the base. Clay layers have sharply defined tops and bottoms.

2 - STRATIGRAPHY continued:

The Parkstone Clay - Pipe Clay or Ball Clay

Light grey to white Pipe Clay or Ball Clay is more important because it can be used for pottery. This is present underneath the grey clay and fairly deep under most of Brownsea Island. The main mining area for this is the Seymour district in the north of the island as shown in the map and photograph above.

In the mid 19th century Colonel Waugh, the owner of Brownsea Island hoped to make hugh financial returns from the economic resources of the Parkstone clay. Finding good pipe clay or pottery clay was part of the plans of this enterprise.

The pipe clay or ball clay is not well seen (if at all) at the surface but was expected beneath the grey clay. There are two borehole indicated on the 1857 map of the Island and perhaps it was discovered in these. Mines was dug in the northern part of the Island in the Seymouth area. Pipe clay or ball clay mining took place actually under Poole Harbour (White, 1917) in the north adit shown on the map above (Battrick and Lawson, 1978). Fossil leaves were found in it.

There is a strange story about the finding of the pipe clay. It seems doubtful as to whether good white ppipe clay was exposed anywhere at the surface of the iIsland, but it is not impossible. Most of the Parkstone Clay at the surface is not pipe clay but is grey lignitic clay; the mine shafts for ball clay went down 63 feet before adits were driven off north and south. Geologists, though, who had studied the local area in detail would know that pipe clay does occur beneath the grey clay (upper part of the Parkstone Clay) at Parkstone, just across the water.

The Castle is situated at the westernmost part of the Island at the junction of the Parkstone Clay outcrop (to the south) and the Holocene shingle deposits of the spit which extends northwards and partly encloses St. Andrew's Bay. The castle has been extended and enlarged by various owners of the island and the original small castle of King Henry VIII is concealed within it.

This is the well head which marks the burial site of George Augustus Cavendish Bentinck and his wife. It is of Italian marble, a pozzo of great antiquarian value, bearing the crest of the Leza family, and dating back to 1497 (Battrick, 1978). The pink marble was polished and the iron work repainted annually for many years after the death of Cavendish-Bentinck. However, it is in poor condition now.

The well-head has a superficial appearance of slightly weathered, grey limestone. In fact, as shown in the photograph above, is a nodular pink marble or hard, non-porous limestone, perhaps originally a polished griotte.

- Jarosite of the Parkstone Clay

The Parkstone Clay is very pyritic in part, especially where it is very dark in colour, and has some well-developed incrustations of yellow jarosite on a certain bed. Jarosite is a common efflorescent mineral that occurs on the surface of pyritic and parts of the Parkstone Clay. Jarosite, elsewhere, has sometimes been wrongly referred as "sulphur" because of its bright yellow appearance but, in fact, it is an iron-bearing sulphate, not sulphur.

Jarosite is the yellow colouring matter in alum shales and alum clays. It is not true alum, which is a white substance, containing aluminium. Jarosite has no Al content only Fe and some other cations. However, like alum, it is a sulphate and the shales or clays in which it occurs can be converted by the correct processes into true alum.

The most pyritic parts of the Parkstone Clay are usually lignitic because the pyrite owes its origin in Eocene times to sulphate-reducing bacteria in the presence of organic matter, which in this case was plant debris.

The mineral jarosite is a hydrated sulphate of iron with either potassium (most common), sodium (natrojarosite) or ammonium (ammoniojarosite). It is an iron analogue of alunite. The formulae of the varieties of jarosite are given as follows:

The jarosite and associated melanterite, discussed below, and the pyrite from which they are derived have been noticed long ago, although not, of course, understood as at present.

Here, for interest, is an account of the pyritic Parkstone Clay from a Victorian guide book to Poole and Brownsea Island by Brannon.

5 - LOCATION SOUTH SHORE continued:

Celia Fiennes Visits the Brownsea Copperas Workings in 1682

The Pottery Works, 19th Century

The Parkstone Clay (originally know as part of the Bagshot Beds) of the Eocene, Poole Formation Brownsea Island has been worked in the past for pottery. The clay occurs on low ground on the south and north sides of the island, beneath the Branksome Sand. The history of the pottery industry here is of interest. Colonel William Waugh bought Brownsea Island in 1852 for £13,000, a high price at the time (Legg, 1989). His wife was an amateur geologist who noted the presence of clay on the island. A professional geologist, asked to investigate, reported a most valuable bed of the finest clay worth at least £100,000 an acre, but this was an unduly optimistic report. Waught, however, was convinced that fine porcelain would be made and raised money for development. Brownsea Pottery was built at the southwest corner of the island, opposite Furzey Island, and produced pottery, bricks and tiles. There is a good map of this area, made in 1857, in Battrick and Lawson (1978) . A tall chimney above the main set of kilns was a harbour landmark. In the middle of the northern shore was main clayfield where numerous shafts were sunk. There was also a brickworks. A mile-long tramway connected the various workings (Legg, 1989). Waugh had arranged large loans for the enterprise through the London and Eastern Banking Corporation of which we was a director. He also spent large sums of money on other, rather pointless schemes. Unfortunately for Waugh, the bank came to the brink of insolvency and shareholders demanded that Waugh repay the debts. The Brownsea clay had proved unsuitable for fine porcelain and was only of use for terracotta and bricks and Waugh could not make the repayments. He became bankrupt and fled to Spain. In 1870 the island was sold to Augustus Cavendish Bentinck for £30,000. He ran the pottery industry until 1887 with the working force declining from 300 men to only 100 men at the close. (See Legg (1989) for further information and a reproduction of an old etching of the "Branksea Pottery Works".)

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The Harbour Floor around Brownsea Island

The southern half of Brownsea Island lies above part of the Sherwood Sandstone reservoir (the lower reservoir) of the Wytch Farm Oilfield. The Bridport Sands reservoir approaches the south shore of the island. Across the channel to the south of Brownsea Island is the Goathorn Peninsula. Here the Extended Reach Drilling Borehole of BP has broken records for lateral drilling. Boreholes penetrate the Sherwood Sandstone reservoir from beneath and extend more than 10 km. eastward into Poole Bay. The terminate south of Bournemouth, not far from Bournemouth Pier. The Goathorn drilling rig can be seen from Brownsea Island with the naked eye but it is at a moderate distance and is not conspicuous or obtrusive. The photograph above was taken with a low-power telephoto lens. It is looking southward to the BP drilling rig from the B-P (Baden Powell) Scout Camp area of Brownsea Island. Beyond are the Purbeck Hills of Chalk. From Brownsea Island the rig is just a subject of interest projecting above the forest. Little else of the Wytch Farm oilfield is visible from here, even though Furzey Island, just to the southwest of Brownsea Island has many boreholes and is a major terminal for oil wells. Almost everything is concealed by coniferous trees.

Some Summarised Data on the Wytch Farm Oilfield

(this is merely to give the general picture for educational purposes and is not necessarily up-to-date from a commercial point of view.)

Bridport Reservoir: (Bridport Sands, Upper Lias, a blue-grey marine sandstone, weathering yellow, exposed at West Bay, Bridport, Dorset). Marine sandstone. Depth to crest - 887 m. Oil column 10 to 32m. Permeability in millidarcies - 0 - 300. Production: 2500 bpd. This reservoir was the one original discovered. It is largely produced by beam pumps ("nodding donkeys"). Water injection is used to maintain pressure in the reservoir. Water from Poole Harbour is pumped down.

Sherwood Reservoir: (Sherwood Sandstone, a red desert, fluvial sandstone of the Trias, exposed in cliffs at Sidmouth, Ladram Bay and Budleigh Salterton, Devon). Main reservoir. Depth to crest - 1585 m. 4 to 29m. Permeability in millidarcies - 0.1 - 7000. Triassic fluvial sandstone reservoir, with top reservoir at ca. 1585 m-TVDSS (true vertical depths subsea) with a maximum 110-m column of oil bearing sand above the oil/water contact. The western part of the field lies onshore (below Poole harbour and surrounding area) and the eastern part of the reservoir lies offshore towards Bournemouth Pier. Over half of the Sherwood reserves lies in the offshore area, which necessitated the drilling of ERD (extended reach drilled) wells beginning 1993. Production from Sherwood reservoir accounts for 85% of total WYF production. Normally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) is present with the produced fluids and causes complications when retrieving downhole completion and the handling of retrieved ESPs during teardown. The Sherwood reservoir is under almost twice the pressure as the Bridport reservoir. It is not produced by beam pumps ("nodding donkeys") as is the Bridport reservoir.

For more on petroleum geology of Poole Harbour go to: Petroleum Geology, South of England.

10 - ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I very much appreciate the help of Alan Holiday in kindly providing oblique aerial photographs of Poole Harbour and Brownsea Island (taken in June 2011). I am particularly grateful to Alan Hawkins and the other, very enthusiastic members of the Poole Harbour Heritage Trust (PHHP) who kindly arranged a specific visit to part of Brownsea Island where copperas workings seem to have taken place. I very much appreciate the helpful discussions of the group and I thank Dr William Sheldrick for copies of his paper and other publications. Geological aspects of the copperas site on Brownsea Island are considered here to some extent; for archaeological information follow the activities of the Poole Harbour Heritage Trust. I much appreciate permission from David Cousins to reproduce his excellent macro-lens photographs of jarosite etc from Brownsea Island. I very much appreciate permission to use aerial photographs and the courteous assistance of the Channel Coastal Observatory ,Channel Coastal Observatory, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, Southampton University. I particularly thank Travis Mason for help and advice. I am grateful to Dr. Ken Collins for very helpful information on the pyrite pipes of Poole Bay. I must thank Sarah Gardiner of the School of Civil Engineering and the Environment, Southampton University, and whom is researching the sediment budget and geomorpholical history of Brownsea Island, for helpful discussion in the field. I am very grateful to the members of the Open University Geological Society who participated in a meeting on Brownsea Island on the 20th June 2010, and who kindly agreed to be in photographs used on this webpage. I thank Jeremy Cranmer for organising the field trip and John Chaffey for leading half of the party.

. 11 - BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES

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Battrick , J. and Lawson, G. 1978. Brownsea Islander. Poole Historical Trust. 175pp. Hard Cover, ISBN 0 7137 0990 1. By Jack Battrick as told by Gail Lawson. [This has many old photographs, a lithograph of the pottery and its pier (p.17) and a fine detailed map of Branksea Island, dated 1857.]
Extract:
Introduction: Some years ago now Jack looked after my parents' garden in Sandbanks. In those carefree days I longed for Saturday mornings to arrive when I could chatter to him and persuade him to tell me more about the "Forbidden Island". Brownsea Island, his beloved homeland, lay across the thin strip of twinkling sea which separated Brownsea from the peninsula of Sandbanks.
In Jack's stories, Brownsea held a magic all of its own and its owners and workers attained a fascination which enthralled me.
In later years, as Jack grew older, I began to fear that these tales of the life on Brownsea might be lost for ever. Suzanne Sieger and I had been very close to Jack over the years and were able to persuade him to retell us his stories.
This little book is the result. We very much hope that we have succeeded in letting others feel the charm of Brownsea and the flavour of life as lived on the island. If we have succeeded we shall have enhanced the pleasure of a visit to this peaceful and beautiful sanctuary, and we shall be well pleased.
Jack died this year. We are so sad that he did not live to see the book which he had inspired, for he had so looked forward to seeing it in print.
Gail Lawson, 1978

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Bennett , T. 1881. A Sketch of Brownsea Island. 24 pp. Poole, 1881. By Theophilus Bennett, M.A., Vicar.
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Betley , J.H. 1982. The production of alum and copperas in Southern England. Textile History, 13, (1) 77-88.
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Brannon, P. [date 18??]. The Town and Harbour of Poole, the Isle of Branksea and the Surrounding Scenery. Part 2 of: The Illustrated Historical and Picturesque Guide to Bournemouth and its Neighbourhood. By Philip Brannon, Architect etc.. Poole. Published by R. Sydenham, Longman and Co., London.
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Bigham , J.M., Nordstrom, D.K. 2000. Iron and aluminum hydroxysulfates from acid sulfate waters. In: Alpers, C.N., Jambor, J. L., Nordstrom, D.K. (Eds.), Sulfate Minerals - Crystallography, Geochemistry and Environmental Significance. Reviews in Mineralogy & Geochemistry (40), 351-403.
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Braye , J. 1890. Swanage (Isle of Purbeck): Its History, Resources as an Invigorating Health Resort, Botany and Geology. 2nd Edition. William Henry Everett and Son, Salisbury Square, Fleet Street, London, 119 pp. (John Braye). Price One Shilling.
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Bristow , C.R. and Freshney, E.C. 1987. Geology of Sheet 98NE and parts of SY98NW, SW, SE and SZ08NW and NE (Arne - Wytch Farm , Dorset). Report WA/87/28.

Bristow , C.R., Freshney, E.C. and Penn, I.E. 1991. Geology of the Country around Bournemouth: Memoir for 1:50,000 geological sheet 329 (England and Wales). British Geological Survey, London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 116 pp. ISBN 0-110884377-X. Paperback. (Relevant to Tertiary strata of Brownsea Island.)
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Bruce , P. 1989. Inshore along the Dorset Coast. Boldre Marine, Lymington. 115p + charts.
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Brunsden , D. and Goudie, A. 1981. Classic coastal landforms of Dorset. Geographical Association, Landform Guides, No. 1, 39 pp.
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Calkin , J.B. 1968. Ancient Purbeck: an account of the geology of the Isle of Purbeck and its early inhabitants. The Friary Press, Dorchester, 61pp. With 48 illustrations. Paperback booklet. Price 6 shillings. By J. Bernard Calkin, M.A., F.S.A. [With notes and illustrations regarding dinosaur footprints, fossil leaves, Roman mosaics, Purbeck Marble, Kimmeridge oil shale objects etc.]
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Canning , A. D. and Maxted, K.R. 1979 (reprinted 1983). Coastal Studies in Purbeck: A Geographical Guide. Printed and Published by the Purbeck Press, Swanage, Dorset. 86 pp., paperback, ISBN 0 906406 07 2.
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Chandler , M.E.J. 1962. The Lower Tertiary Floras of Southern England. 2. Flora of the Pipe-clay Series of Dorset (Lower Bagshot). British Museum (Natural History), London.

Chandler, M.E.J. 1963. The Lower Tertiary Floras of Southern England. 3. Flora of the Bournemouth Beds; the Boscombe and the Highcliff Sands. British Museum (Natural History), London.

Chandler, M.E.J. 1964. The Lower Tertiary Floras of Southern England. 4. A Summary and Survey of Findings in the Light of Recent Botanical Observations. British Museum (Natural History), London.

Chandler, M.E.J. 1978. Supplement to the Lower Tertiary Floras of Southern England, Part 5. 47p. Tertiary Research, Special Paper 4.
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Cochrane, 1970. Poole Bay and Pubeck 300BC -AD1660. Printed by the Friary Press, Longmans Ltd., Dorchester. 9pp. Paperback. By Mr. C. Cochrane of Bournemouth, also the author of: The Lost Roads of Wessex. [This is a good book with much useful detail on the area. It has a short bibliography and some maps, both old and new.]

[Example extract - p.9 - The Borders of Poole Harbour, introductory part.]

"Nowadays, in the 1970s, it would be hard to find a vacant plot of land from the Haven Hotel at Sandbanks, where the car ferry plies its incessant passage to Shell Bay, to Fleets Corner beyond Poole, or inland to Wimborne and Christchurch. Westward there is a slight gap between Lytchett Matravers and Sandford (for the lately vacated Admiralty cordite factory at Holton has not yet been turned over to building), but from Sandford the new housing estates run through to Wareham and Stoborough.

Only there, and thanks to the Purbeck landlords, can be found recognition of the open heath that still surrounds Corfe Castle and isolates Swanage; and that till lately provided the rather dreary, sometimes foreboding, background to the entirety-ninety-odd miles - of Poole Harbour. Till lately. . . the peninsula of Sandbanks, the North Haven as it was known, must include today some of the most expensive residential property in all England. Sixty years ago the whole spit of land was on offer for (could it be?) a thousand pounds. That is the measure of it.
Across the harbour entrance from Sandbanks, at Shell Bay or South Haven as is its proper name, there remains mile upon mile of untouched heath, a potential klondyke at which many a land speculator must have pursed his lips. The privately-owned toll road, built with the car ferry in the 1920s, runs from the point towards Studland. An unambitious building or two provide teas for summer visitors. A few houseboats nestle out of sight in a harbourside creek. The walker can wander some three miles along the broad sandy coastline to Studland; five miles, finding his way from track to track, to Corfe Castle; or eight to nine or more in a determined ankle-testing foray to Wareham. Away from the beaches he will meet little company other than an occasional farm or forestry worker, or naturalist. For this is a country beloved of botanists and birdwatchers whose rather pompous "keep off" signs are more plentiful than pedestrians."
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Dana , E.S. 1932 ed. (early edition 1922, based on Dana edition without Ford 1898), revised by W.E Ford. A Textbook of Mineralogy with an Extended Treatise on Crystallography and Physical Mineralogy. John Wiley and Sons Inc., New York, 851pp. By Professor Edward Salisbury Dana, late Emeritus Professor of Physics at Yale University, and Professor William E. Ford, late Professor of Mineralogy and Curator of the Mineral Collections, Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University. [This is a version of Dana, E.S. an old classic mineralogy textbook, revised by Ford, W.E., and very good for mineralogical reference, although not with as much information as the full Dana Mineralogy]
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Dorset's Important Geological Sites Group (DIGS) . 1997. The Geology of Brownsea; Incorporating a Guide to the Geology Trail. 12pp. with a location map. Brochure, 30 pence from the National Trust on Brownsea Island. Prepared by Dorset's Important Geological Sites Group.
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Diver , C. 1933. The Physiography of the South Haven Peninsula, Studland Heath, Dorset. Geographical Journal, 81, p. 404 et seq. (Classic work on the growth of the peninsula. The key maps of this have been much reproduced elsewhere, and can be seen in Arkell, 1947, for example.)
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Fiennes, C. 1699. In Sydenham, J. 1839. History of Poole. By Celia Fiennes [also available on the internet, and there is an extract in Cochrane, 1970.].
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Haigh , M.J. 1975. A biogeographical reconnaissance of the coastal marshlands of Poole Harbour, Dorset.
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Harris , S. (Steve Harris). 2007 (reprinted 2007 and 2008). Scout Island!. The Story of the World's First Boy Scout Camp, and More ... Lewarne Publishing, London. 56 pp. A paperback booklet that can be purchased from the National Trust on Brownsea Island, 5 pounds, 99 pence in 2010.
"Introduction: Most people today know the name Baden-Powell. Born 150 years ago, his legacy is the world-wide youth movement for boys and girls of practically all ages, religions, classes and cultures. But to children and adults living in the reign of Queen Victoria, B.-P. (as he came to be affectionately known) was not the founder of a youth movement but a famous soldier. There were cadets and various boys' brigades but no such thing as a Boy Scout movement..." [continues].
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Ordnance Survey , 1:25,000 maps, Outdoor Leisure Series, 15, Purbeck and South Dorset. A specially designed map of this popular recreational area. This is the recommended topographic map for geologists using the area. Aerial photographs are also available from the Ordnance Survey.
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Legg , R. 19??. Brownsea: Dorset's Fantasy Island. (History of the island, where Tertiary pottery clay was once worked)

Legg, R. 1989. Purbeck Island. 2nd Revised Edition (first published in 1972). Dorset Publishing Company at the Wincanton Press, Wincanton, Somerset. ISBN 0 948699 08 6. 230 pp. (Much useful historic and topographic and some geological information. Short sections on dinosaur footprints, quarries etc).
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Mansel-Pleydell , J.C. 1888. Meeting at Poole; account of the geology of the district. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, 9, xxxv - xxxviii. With notes by Mr. W. Penny.
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Moore , P. 2003. For Nature, Not Humans - Recollections of Brownsea Island under the Ownership of Mrs Bonham Christie. Collected and editied by Peter Moore. Poole Historical Trust, 2003, 79 pp. Peter Moore has been a Voluntary Warden on Brownsea Island for 30 years. He interviewed 30 people who had connections with Brownsea Island during the ownership of the reclusive Mrs Bonham Christie. From these interesting - and in some cases unbelievable, anecdotes he has compiled this book. Paperback booklet, price 9 pounds, 99 pence from the National Trust, Brownsea Island in 2010.
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National Trust . 19??, Brownsea Geology Trail - Leaflet. Available from the National Trust Office, Brownsea Island.

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Ord , W.T. 1910. In: Hovenden, F., Monkton, H.W., Ord, W.T. and Woodward, A.S. Excursion to Swanage, Lulworth Cove and Bournemouth. Report by the Directors. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 21, 510-521.

Ord, W.T. (Dr William T. Ord) 1914. Geology. Pp. 303-356 in: Morris, D, 1914. (Editor - Sir Daniel Morris, K.C.M.G, J.P., M.A., D.C.L., D.Sc., F.L.S., F.R.H.S., President of the Bournemouth Natural Science Society). A Natural History of Bournemouth and District; including Archaeology, Topography, Municipal Government, Climate, Education, Fauna, Flora and Geology. By the Members of the Bournemouth Natural Science Society. 400pp. Published by the Natural Science Society. Sold by Horace G. Commin, 100, Old Commercial Road and Bright's Stores Ltd., The Arcade, Bournemouth. [This is an interesting account written when much was still visible in the cliffs and with some good points not discussed much elsewhere.]
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Osborne , R. 1999. The Floating Egg: Episodes in the Making of Geology. 272 pp. By Roger Osborne. Pimplico Edition 1999, Pimplico, Random House, Vauxhall Bridge Road, London. First published in Great Britain by Jonathon Cape Ltd. 1998. [This very interesting book does not mention Brownsea Island but provides good information on the manufacture of alum and the alum industry of Yorkshire.]
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Papike , J.J., Karner, J.M., Shearer, C.K. 2006. Comparative planetary mineralogy: Implications of martian and terrestrial jarosite. A crystal chemical perspective. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (70), 1309-1321.
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Payne , D. 1953. Dorset Harbours. Christopher Johnson, London. 156 pp with photographs and diagrams. By Donald Payne, with a foreword by Vernon C. Boyle. [See the interesting chapter on Poole Harbour, pp 11-33, with discussion of the pirates, Newfoundland shipping business and pipe clay etc.]
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Perkins , J.W. 1977. Geology Explained in Dorset. David and Charles, Newton Abbot, 224 pp. ISBN 0-7153-7319-6. A good explanation of Dorset geology with well-labelled diagrams. Out of print but may be obtainable through Amazon.
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Poole Harbour Heritage Project . See the article below by Sheldrick.
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Reid , C. 1898. Geology of the Country round Bournemouth. Memoir of the Geological Survey. Sheet 329 (England and Wales). By Clement Reid. This was the first edition. See also the later editions: White (1917) and Bristow et al. (1991).

Reid, C. 1916. Ancient rivers of Bournemouth. Proceedings of the Bournemouth Natural Science Society, 7, 73-82.
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Sheldrick , W. 2006. Poole and the birth of the chemical industry. Dorset Life - The Dorset Magazine, August 2006. 3pp. The Dorset Magazine Ltd. Reprinted by Poole Heritage Project Ltd., 6 Western Road, Poole, BH13 7BN (www.poolemaritime.org). Article by Dr. William Sheldrick who explains how the exploitation of copperas at Poole was the earliest example in England of continuous chemical processing. Copperas is hydrated ferrous sulphate, also known as green vitreol. It occurs naturally in small quantities as melanterite but is usually manufactured. Dr Sheldrick notes that the first large scale plant to produce copperas in England was in Parkstone Poole, in around 1564. In 1535 the greenish crystals of melanterite were being recovered from Durley cliffs near what was afterwards known as Alum Chine. James Blount, 6th Lord Mountjoy had copperas and alum works at Parkstone, Boscombe, Alum Chine and Brownsea Island. See the original paper for further details. [The article has a map, old prints and a photograph of the remains of a copperas plant on Brownsea Island]
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Short , B.C. 1932. History of Poole. By Bernard C. Short.
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Strahan , A. 1898. The Geology of the Isle of Purbeck and Weymouth. Memoirs of the Geological Survey. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London. 278 pages with a map. (Old classic work with some interesting points)
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Sydenham, J. 1839. History of Poole. Reprinted by the Poole Historical Trust.
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Thomas , J. and Ensom, P. 1989. Bibliography and Index of Dorset Geology. Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society. 102 pp. Valuable guide to Dorset geological literature including journal articles, newspaper reports and obscure publications. See also the online version.
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Torrens , H.S. 1977. Copperice at Brownsea. Geological Curators Group Newsletter, 1 (9), p.449. By Hugh Torrens.
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Trimmer , J. and Bristow, H.W. [date not known to me - Victorian; Bristow and Trimmer published Geological Survey maps sheet 16 and 15 in 1855 and 1856]. By Joshua Trimmer assisted by Bristow. This is a report on the economic potential of the clay of Brownsea Island. This is a document of a few pages in the possession of Dr. William Sheldrick. It is an assessment of the Parkstone Clay under Brownsea Island for the purposes of manufacturing alum. It provides analyses of the aluminium oxide content of the clay. On the basis of that and wrongly assuming all the alluminium could be converted into alum it estimates that the clay was of great value. I am very grateful for this personal communication from the chemist, Dr William Sheldrick, who has a copy and who has considered it critically.
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Van Raalte , C. 1906. Brownsea Island. Arthur L. Humphreys, London.
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Welch , S.A., Christy, A.G., Kirste, D., Beavis, S.A., Beavis, F. 2007. Jarosite Dissolution I - Trace Cation Flux in Acid Sulfate Soils. By Susan A. Welch, Andrew G. Christy, Dirk Kirste, Sara G. Beavis, and Fern Beavis. Chemical Geology, accepted manuscript 2007.
Abstract:
In order to determine trace metal release, dissolution experiments were conducted with a natural jarosite-group sample under a range of conditions relevant to acid sulfate soils. The reaction is incongruent with respect to the Fe3+-dominant octahedral cation layer and other elements that substitute for ferric iron. Transition metals that substitute into the octahedral site are almost entirely retained in the solid phase, although when Fe3+ becomes increasingly soluble, Cr3+ concentration also increases. The solubility behaviour of Rb+ and Sr2+ generally follows that of K+, although the heavier cations are liberated faster in the early stages of the reaction. The REE are also large enough to substitute for K+, but their behaviour is more complex. The REE distribution of the solutions, when normalized to Post-Archean Average Australian Shale PAAS), show enrichments in the MREE in the dissolution experiments, despite the fact that the initial starting material is enriched in the LREE. Mechanisms for LREE and HREE depletion in solution are discussed.
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West , I.M. 1980. Geology of the Solent Estuarine System In "The Solent Estuarine System: an assessment of present knowledge", N.E.R.C. Pubications, Series C, No. 22: 6-18. The estuaries of the Solent, Southampton Water and of Portsmouth, Langstone and Chichester Harbours lie at the centre of the Hampshire Basin. They are the latest of a series of shallow-water bodies that have existed here since the relatively deep Chalk sea-floor was uplifted about 65 million years ago. In the Palaeogene Period (Eocene and Oligocene) a wide variety of sediments accumulated in shallow seas, estuaries, lakes and lagoons and these frequently contain abundant plant and animal remains. These deposits now exist beneath and around the modern estuaries. After their deposition there was a long phase of folding, uplift and erosion during the Neogene (Miocene and Pliocene). Relatively recently, during glacial phases of the Pleistocene, the valleys of the local rivers were excavated to well below the present sea-level before being finally flooded during the Flandrian Transgression which thus created the modern estuaries. It is the Eocene, Oligocene, Pleistocene and Holocene (Flandrian) sediments of the region that are discussed in this account. .... continues
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White , H.J.O. 1917. Geology of the Country around Bournemouth: Explanation of Sheet 329 [Geological Survey 1 inch to one mile sheet for Bournemouth]. 2nd Edition. Memoirs of the Geological Survey, England and Wales. Published by order of the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury. Printed by J. Truscott and Son, Ltd, under the authority of His Majesty's Stationery Office. 79 pp. [This is an old edition of the Geological Survey Memoir - see also - Bristow, C.R., Freshney, E.C. and Penn, I.E. 1991. Geology of the Country around Bournemouth. Memoir for 1:50,000 geological sheet 329 (England and Wales). British Geological Survey, London, 116p. There is also the first edition by Reid (1898). Preface to the Second Edition by A. Strahan, Director: "The first edition of this Memoir, which was written by the late Mr. Clement Reid, was exceptionally brief, a general memoir descriptive of the Hampshire Basin as a whole having been at that time in contemplation. Circumstances have prevented the preparation of the larger work, and opportunity has now been taken ot the exhaustion of the stock of the original pamphlet to produce a memoir on the lines of other New Series Sheet Explanations... continues .. Much of the ground has been re-examined by Mr. White in order to bring the memoir up to date, but the map remains unaltered as the edition published in 1895 and colour-printed (Drift) in 1904."]
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Zacke , A. Voigt, S., Joachimski, M.M., Gale, A.S., Ward, D. J. and Tutken, T. 2009. Surface-water freshening and high-latitude river discharge in the Eocene North Sea. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 2009, vol. 166, issue 5, pp. 969-980. By: Anne Zacke, Silke Voigt, Michael M. Joachimski, Andrew S. Gale, David J. Ward and Thomas Tutken.
A shark-tooth apatite delta 18 O [oxygen] record of the early Palaeogene North Sea reflects changes in regional hydrography by showing variable temperatures and salinities. A 2-4 Ma period in the early Eocene was particularly influenced by substantial surface-water freshening, indicated by a 3-4 per thousand reduction of delta 18O values. The magnitude of the delta 18O decrease indicates a depletion in 18O of surface waters by 2-3 per thousand relative to Eocene mean ocean water. This value is lower than that of coeval lakes reconstructed from freshwater gastropod {delta}18O values from the Paris Basin, suggesting that large rivers with high-latitude catchment areas drained into the North Sea. The period of surface-water freshening began close to the Palaeocene - Eocene thermal maximum, when relative sea-level fall, tectonic uplift and basaltic volcanism caused a temporary isolation of the North Sea. North Atlantic and North Sea surface waters became reconnected during a series of early Eocene transgressions.