Pike Brothers
1760 The clay firm was started in Chudleigh by the father of the Pike Brothers.
1780s In the later part of the decade, his son William came to Purbeck to dig clay.
1862 W. and J. Pike, of Wareham
The name Pike Brothers did not appear until the late 1800s.
By the end of the century they were supplying pipe clay to Josiah Wedgwood in Staffordshire, who mixed it with china clay from Cornwall to make his distinctive ware.
1840 A clay tramway system was built by Pike Brothers. It began in about 1840 as a literally straight line from pits at Furzebrook to a quay on the River Frome at Ridge. The first pits were just to the south of the pit now known as the Blue Pool, which was dug some time after 1843. The gradient of the line was such that loaded trucks could descend by gravity to the wharf, where the clay was tipped into barges.
1949 Merged with B. Fayle and Co Ltd as Pike Brothers, Fayle and Co.
1960s Acquired by ECC