Tutors

Friends

Places to stay

The Stone Centre is part of a larger project known as the Purbeck Keystone Project, largely funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. They identified within Purbeck a need for a  facility to promote traditional stoneworking skills and to allow greater accessibility for recreational carvers to pursue their interests.

Some of the original objectives are described below:

• Re-engage the local and visiting population in the working of stone from quarrying to carving;
• Establish a shared facility for the only vocational and recreational access to stone working in Purbeck;
• A facility for local masons and sculptors to initiate and locate training workshops and courses;
• Reinforce Purbeck’s reputation as a centre of excellence in stone working;
• Integrate with other relevant local, regional and national initiatives and institutions.

Why Burngate? Well the reason this site was chosen is that it's a truly amazing place for it to be situated; it occupies a plot which includes some original 19th century quarry buildings, it's right in the heart of the Purbeck quarrying region, and has beautiful views down to the coast. The stone walls of the Centre are all in their original positions, although some have been fully or partially dismantled and rebuilt or have been raised slightly to achieve workable roof heights. The most original part of the site is the main banker workshop which has really only had it's walls raised and a new roof put on. If you look closely at the walls you should be able to identify some stones that display tool marks from where the stone was split using hand tools.

Directly behind the Centre lies the underground for the quarry (an 'underground' is a local term for a mine). The underground is mostly hidden behind bushes and trees in summer but is more visible in winter when the foliage dies back *. At the top of the slide (the slide is the slope that connects the underground to normal ground level) would have been a capstan that helped pull the stone up to the surface. We're lucky enough to have an original capstan post on our site, which was very kindly donated by a local house owner in Acton. If you'd like to know more about the features of a traditional Purbeck quarry then come and visit our Centre and I'll be happy to show you around and give you more detail. Additionally, the museum at Langton Matravers has got loads of information and lots of fascinating exhibits including a complete Capstan, and I highly recommend a visit! Here's a link to their website.

The land on which the Centre resides belongs to the National Trust with whom we have a long term lease agreement.

IMPORTANT MILE STONES:

May 23rd to 31st 2009 - Burngate set to be a venue for Purbeck Art Week

April 2009 - 'Official' Opening Day

October 2008 - The first course is run with great success!

August 2008 - The Centre is kitted out and is ready to rock 'n' roll by the end of the month.

July 2008 - Building work is all but completed at the Centre.

Jan 2008 - The site is cleared and building work begins.

* Although the underground is not gated, access to it is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. The mine is home to a variety of species of bats, including the Greater Horseshoe, and disturbing these protected species is a criminal offence. Bats aside, undergrounds are extremely dangerous places especially when they've not been maintained for several decades, and only the seriously foolhardy would consider investigating them. No poking around!