Stone, creativity and community - the Isle of Purbeck

A recent visit to the Isle of Purbeck showed how geology, stone and creativity can be deeply embedded in the life of a community.

The Etches Collection in the village of Kimmeridge displays a spectacular collection of fossil life from the Jurassic Kimmeridge Clay. I looked at the museum with an appreciation of creative materials and design. The overall impact is a venue of high quality, deserving of the public attention stimulated by the BBC documentary ‘Attenborough and the Giant Sea Monster’. The building is beautifully constructed with an appropriate use of local Purbeck stone. The 'title' work outside shows insightful creative choices, with lighter stone for sky and darker stone for water. The ’cut’ lettering in lighter stone contrasts nicely with the 'relief' lettering in darker stone, and the living creature above the waterline contrasts nicely with its skeleton below the waterline. Inside, the hand-written letters on the museum labels are more vibrant and engaging to the reader than monotonous computer fonts or machine lettering.

A walk along the Quarry-to-Castle trail revealed a profusion of active quarries on a variety of scales. The trail was created by Professor Patrick Corbett as a homage to his homeland and loops through exposures of interesting shallow-water strata. Quarrying in Purbeck has evolved from hazardous manual underground mining to open cast methods with heavy machinery. The stone yards and limestone dry stone walls scattered across the landscape are almost works of art in themselves, evocative of the constructions of Andy Goldsworthy or Julie Brook. This has inspired the work of dry stone waller Jon ‘Baz’ Foot including a dry stone giant egg found outside the iconic Square and Compass pub in Worth Matravers. The pub has a room devoted to an amazing fossil collection of owner Charlie Newman; this was started by his father Raymond as recognised by letters cut in a plaque of the local shelly ‘grub’ stone by local stonemason Val Quinn.

The Burngate Stone Centre in nearby Langton Matravers has been developed on the former site of decommissioned underground stone mining. The centre is set up for teaching stone carving to people of all ages and abilities, with courses focusing on creative carving and sculpture, the traditional skills of masonry and the discipline of lettercutting. There are many skilled tutors, some of who led a stone carving workshop as part of the ‘Earth’s Canvas’ event in 2024. I gave a talk at the centre on the book ‘A Suitable Stone’ , which included a recognition of the Purbeck beds as the youngest (Early Cretaceous) of the British stones regularly used for letter cutting and fine carving. These rocks, often shelly, were deposited in lagoons in fresh or brackish water, and can be used for letter cutting and fine carving, but the underlying older marine Portland Stone has a finer grained consistent texture and is generally more amenable. Howard Gladden was an enthusiastic volunteer host and knowledgeable participant in dialogue. Anna Bowen, the local artist in residence at the centre, sent a list of stones she has worked with.

It was exciting to be in living, breathing museums and centres hosting work in the heart of a historical stone production area. As a wise friend remarked, geology is in the blood of these Dorset communities, even if not all may be fully conscious of it.