Furzey Island

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Furzey Island
GreenandFurzeyIsland.jpg
Looking south-west from Brownsea Island - Furzey Island is centre, with Green Island directly behind, to the left
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Furzey Island
Location within Dorset
OS grid reference SZ011870
Civil parish
Unitary authority
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Police Dorset
Fire Dorset and Wiltshire
Ambulance South Western
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Dorset
50°40′57″N1°59′01″W / 50.682527°N 1.98372°W / 50.682527; -1.98372 Coordinates: 50°40′57″N1°59′01″W / 50.682527°N 1.98372°W / 50.682527; -1.98372

Furzey Island is an island in Poole Harbour in the English county of Dorset. The island lies to the south of the larger Brownsea Island. Seen from the water, or adjoining land, the island looks like another wild pineclad island. However, hidden in the trees are twenty-two oil wells split into 2 well-sites for the Wytch Farm Oil Field, which is linked by pipeline to Hamble on Southampton Water. The rarely seen tall oil rig can sometimes be a big landmark of Southern Poole Harbour and the main landmark between Brownsea and Furzey. [1] The well-sites are staffed 24 hours a day.

Contents

Furzey Island lies within the civil parish of Corfe Castle. The parish forms part of the Dorset (formerly Purbeck local government district). [2]

History

Furzey Island is believed to have been part of a much larger island around two thousand years ago, encompassing the entirety of Green Island. The name "Furzey" means "Furze island". [3] In February 2004, Channel 4's archaeological television programme Time Team found evidence of Iron Age commercial activity on Green Island. The remains of an Iron Age furnace were discovered, along with evidence of the production of shale jewellery. However, due to the lack of shale jewellery found in the surrounding Dorset area, archaeologists theorized that Green Island was a centre of production that exported its goods to continental Europe. This theory lends further evidence to Green Island having once been an important port.

Related Research Articles

Corfe Castle (village) Village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset

Corfe Castle is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. It is the site of a ruined castle of the same name. The village and castle stand over a gap in the Purbeck Hills on the route between Wareham and Swanage. The village lies in the gap below the castle and is around four miles (6.4 km) south-east of Wareham, and four miles (6.4 km) north-northwest of Swanage. Both the main A351 road from Lytchett Minster to Swanage and the Swanage Railway thread their way through the gap and the village.

Poole Town in England

Poole is a large coastal town and seaport in [Dorset]], on the south coast of England. The town is 21 miles (34 km) east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council which is a unitary authority. Poole had an estimated population of 151,500 making it the second-largest town in the ceremonial county of Dorset. Together with Bournemouth and Christchurch, the conurbation has a total population of nearly 400,000.

Kimmeridge Human settlement in England

Kimmeridge is a small village and civil parish on the Isle of Purbeck, a peninsula on the English Channel coast in Dorset, England. It is situated about 4.5 miles (7.2 km) south of Wareham and 7 miles (11 km) west of Swanage. In 2013 the estimated population of the civil parish was 90.

Brownsea Island Human settlement in England

Brownsea Island is the largest of the islands in Poole Harbour in the county of Dorset, England. The island is owned by the National Trust with the northern half managed by the Dorset Wildlife Trust. Much of the island is open to the public and includes areas of woodland and heath with a wide variety of wildlife, together with cliff top views across Poole Harbour and the Isle of Purbeck.

Studland Human settlement in England

Studland is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, England. The village is located about 2 miles (3.2 km) north of the town of Swanage, over a steep chalk ridge, and 3 miles (4.8 km) south of the South East Dorset conurbation at Sandbanks, from which it is separated by Poole Harbour. The parish includes Brownsea Island within the harbour. In the 2011 census the parish had 182 households and a population of 425, though many of the houses in the village are holiday homes, second homes, or guest houses, and the village's population varies depending upon the season.

Poole Harbour Natural harbour in England

Poole Harbour is a large natural harbour in Dorset, southern England, with the town of Poole on its shores. The harbour is a drowned valley (ria) formed at the end of the last ice age and is the estuary of several rivers, the largest being the Frome. The harbour has a long history of human settlement stretching to pre-Roman times. The harbour is extremely shallow, with one main dredged channel through the harbour, from the mouth to Holes Bay.

Isle of Purbeck Peninsula in Dorset, England

The Isle of Purbeck is a peninsula in Dorset, England. It is bordered by water on three sides: the English Channel to the south and east, where steep cliffs fall to the sea; and by the marshy lands of the River Frome and Poole Harbour to the north. Its western boundary is less well defined, with some medieval sources placing it at Flower's Barrow above Worbarrow Bay. According to writer and broadcaster Ralph Wightman, Purbeck "is only an island if you accept the barren heaths between Arish Mell and Wareham as cutting off this corner of Dorset as effectively as the sea." The most southerly point is St Alban's Head.

Wareham, Dorset Human settlement in England

Wareham is a historic market town and, under the name Wareham Town, a civil parish, in the English county of Dorset. The town is situated on the River Frome eight miles (13 km) southwest of Poole.

Purbeck District Non-metropolitan district in England

Purbeck was a local government district in Dorset, England. The district was named after the Isle of Purbeck, a peninsula that forms a large proportion of the district's area. However, it extended significantly further north and west than the traditional boundary of the Isle of Purbeck which is the River Frome. The district council was based in the town of Wareham, which is itself north of the Frome.

Arne, Dorset Human settlement in England

Arne is a village and civil parish in Dorset, England, situated 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Wareham. The local travel links are located at Wareham railway station. Bournemouth International Airport is 11 miles (18 km) away. The main road through the village is Arne Road connecting Arne to Wareham. The village is situated on the Arne Peninsula, which protrudes into Poole Harbour opposite the town of Poole.

Wytch Farm Oil Field & Processing Facility in Dorset, UK

Wytch Farm is an oil field and processing facility in the Purbeck district of Dorset, England. It is the largest onshore oil field in western Europe. The facility, taken over by Perenco in 2011, was previously operated by BP. It is located in a coniferous forest on Wytch Heath on the southern shore of Poole Harbour, two miles (3.2 km) north of Corfe Castle. Oil and natural gas (methane) are both exported by pipeline; liquefied petroleum gas is exported by road tanker.

History of Dorset Aspect of history

Dorset is a rural county in south west England. Its archaeology documents much of the history of southern England.

Geology of Dorset

Dorset is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. Covering an area of 2,653 square kilometres (1,024 sq mi); it borders Devon to the west, Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north-east, and Hampshire to the east. The great variation in its landscape owes much to the underlying geology, which includes an almost unbroken sequence of rocks from 200 to 40 million years ago (Mya) and superficial deposits from 2 Mya to the present. In general, the oldest rocks appear in the far west of the county, with the most recent (Eocene) in the far east. Jurassic rocks also underlie the Blackmore Vale and comprise much of the coastal cliff in the west and south of the county; although younger Cretaceous rocks crown some of the highpoints in the west, they are mainly to be found in the centre and east of the county.

Green Island (Dorset) Human settlement in England

Green Island is an island in Poole Harbour in the English county of Dorset. It lies in the central south part of the harbour, south of Brownsea Island and Furzey Island. The island is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Protection Area (SPA).

Round Island (Dorset) Human settlement in England

Round Island is an island in Poole Harbour in the English county of Dorset. It lies just off the shore of the Arne Peninsula in the south-west of the harbour, and is separated from the nearby uninhabited Long Island by a narrow channel only a few feet wide.

Lilliput, Dorset District of Poole, Dorset, England

Lilliput is a district of Poole, Dorset. It borders on Sandbanks, Canford Cliffs, Lower Parkstone, and Whitecliff and has a shoreline within Poole Harbour with views of Brownsea Island and the Purbeck Hills. Brownsea Island stands opposite Lilliput's harbour foreshore and is famous as the birthplace of Baden Powell's International Scouting Movement. Lilliput itself was host to a number of early scouting camps. During the Second World War at one stage it provided Britain's only civilian air route: Poole Harbour was temporary home to the Imperial Airways/BOAC flying boat fleet, which had its passenger HQ at Salterns Marina.

Long Island (Dorset) Human settlement in England

Long Island is an uninhabited island in Poole Harbour in the English county of Dorset. It lies just off the shore of the Arne Peninsular in the south-west of the harbour, and is separated from the nearby, and inhabited, Round Island by a narrow channel only a few feet wide. The island covers approximately 30 acres at low tide, reducing to only 9.5 acres (38,000 m2) at high tide. Long Island lies within the civil parish of Corfe Castle. The parish forms part of the Purbeck local government district.

Hampshire Basin

The Hampshire Basin is a geological basin of Palaeogene age in southern England, underlying parts of Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Dorset, and Sussex. Like the London Basin to the northeast, it is filled with sands and clays of Paleocene and younger ages and it is surrounded by a broken rim of chalk hills of Cretaceous age.

Geography of Dorset

Dorset is a county located in the middle of the south coast of England. It lies between the latitudes 50.512°N and 51.081°N and the longitudes 1.682°W and 2.958°W, and occupies an area of 2,653 km2. It spans 90 kilometres (56 mi) from east to west and 63 kilometres (39 mi) from north to south.

Dorset Heaths

The Dorset Heaths form an important area of heathland within the Poole Basin in southern England. Much of the area is protected.

References

  1. "Brownsea Island - What to see and do - Viewpoints". National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty. Archived from the original on 27 September 2006. Retrieved 29 August 2006.
  2. OS Explorer Map OL15 - Purbeck & South Dorset. Ordnance Survey. 2006. ISBN   978-0-319-23865-3.
  3. "Furzey Island Key to English Place-names". The University of Nottingham. Retrieved 10 December 2020.