Investigations on the South Shore of Brownsea Island by the Dorset Alum and Copperas Industries Project

Abstract

Archaeological investigations carried out on behalf of the Poole Harbour Heritage Project initially identified a possible seventeenth-century copperas works on the south shore of Brownsea Island as part of a project researching the Dorset Alum and Copperas industries. The remains of a rectangular brick-lined ‘tank' and brick surface exposed by coastal erosion were excavated and fifteen test pits were dug in the surrounding area to discover other associated features. Both structures were constructed of late-eighteenth- or early-nineteenth-century bricks. The bricks in the tank appear to be reused and include specialised gutter bricks. A series of earthworks, a large clay pit and a sand pit were recorded. Historic maps suggest that all these features formed part of a brickworks of late-eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century date, rather than part of the seventeenth-century copperas works.