A lifetime of Islands: Island 76 - Brownsea Island, Dorset

Brownsea Island is the largest island in Poole Harbour and the only one that is accessible to the public. It has been owned by the National Trust since 1962 and passenger ferries to it can be caught from Poole and Sandbanks. I have been to Brownsea Island three times - in April 2007, early October 2015 and September 2019.

Stone commemorating the world's first scout camp, held on Brownsea in 1907

The island was granted to the monks of Cerne Abbey by Henry II and they built a small chapel on it in the 9th century. By the 14th century there was a monastic community on the island, which lasted until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536/7. After the Dissolution Henry VIII, realising Brownsea's strategic location at the entrance to Poole Harbour, had a blockhouse built on the island. This was a ruin by 1576. During the English Civil Wars of 1642-51 Parliament had a garrison at the castle.

The island had a succession of owners until it was bought in 1726 by William Benson, an architect, botanist and former MP. He rebuilt the castle as his private home and planted many trees. It was later owned by Sir Humphrey Sturt, a local MP, who enlarged the castle and created a formal garden. In the 1842 a coastguard station was built near the castle to guard against smugglers.

In 1852 the island was bought by an ex-Indian Army Officer, Colonel William Petrie Waugh and his wife Mary. They built St Mary's Church in the Victorian Gothic style and reclaimed land from the sea on the north east side of the island by constructing a brick wall across St Andrew's Bay. This area was flooded in the 1930s and is now a seawater lagoon. They also extended the castle and added a Tudor style facade, a gatehouse with a clock tower and a pier with castellated watchtowers.

Pottery: The Waugh's thought they had discovered a supply of valuable china clay with which they could make high quality porcelain. They constructed a large three storey pottery on the south shore, which included a brick works. There was a horse drawn tramway to transport the clay from the north of the island. A village called Maryland (named after Mrs Waugh) was constructed at the west end of the island for the pottery workers. At its height the Branksea Clay and Pottery Company employed over 200 people, many of whom rowed across to the island from Studland each day. However the clay was not suitable for making porcelain. Terracotta chimney pots and pipes were produced but production was unprofitable and the pottery closed down after only 5 years. The Waughs were bankrupt and emigrated to Spain. Broken bits of pottery still litter the shore at the western end of the island.

From 1873-1927 there were 4 more owners. In the 1870s the island was owned by George Cavendish-Bentinck MP. He concentrated on improving agriculture on the island and brought over Guernsey and Jersey cows. Arable crops such as maize, barley and oats were grown. He died in 1891 and Brownsea was bought by Major Kenneth Balfour. In 1896 the castle was destroyed in a fire but it was soon rebuilt.

In 1901 Brownsea was sold to the van Raalte family, who hosted many parties there for distinguished guests, including royalty. One of the guests was Gugielmo Marconi. In 1907 Robert Baden Powell was invited by the Charles van Raalte to hold the world's first scout camp on the island. This led to the formation of the scouting movement.By the 1920s the estate was producing vegetables, dairy products and daffodils.

In 1927 Brownsea was sold to the eccentric and reclusive Mary Bonham Christie, who banned visitors and let nature reclaim the island. During the Second World War Brownsea was used as a decoy location to deceive German bombers into thinking that it was Bournemouth or Poole. The cottages at Maryland were damaged by bombs and later demolished. After Mary Bonham Christie's death in 1961 the island was accepted by the Treasury in lieu of death duties and they gave it to the National Trust, who then had to raise £100,000 endowment for it. It was opened to the public in 1963. Dorset Wildlife Trust leases part of the island from the National Trust. There is an additional charge to walk around the DWT nature reserve.

Terns and wading birds breed on the island, which has a variety of habitats including pine & mixed woodland, healthland, seashore, reed beds, a seawater lagoon. Red squirrels and peacocks roam free on the island and are easier to spot than the very shy sika deer who are also there. That said on my first visit my friend spotted a red squirrel but by the time I had turned round to look it had vanished and we didn't see another one for the rest of the day. By contrast on my second visit, which was at peak nut collecting time for squirrels, in the area around the church and the entrance to the Dorset Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve, red squirrels were impossible to miss. I have seen them before several times in Scotland and on the Isle of Wight but only one at a time. On Brownsea I saw half a dozen at a time - a wonderful sight. Brownsea's squirrels are not afraid of people but neither did they seem in the least interested in us - they were focused on collecting nuts for their winter stores.

There is a National Trust Café at the Quay. They get a gold star from me for selling the ever excellent Purbeck Ice Cream (gold star removed in 2019, as they now sell Marshfield Farm ice cream, which is good, but not as good as Purbeck).

Branksea Castle on the island is not open to the public. It is rented by the John Lewis Partnership as holiday accommodation for their employees. The John Lewis Partnership donated money to the endowment fund in 1961.

A main track runs in a ring around the centre of the island, which is criss-crossed by smaller paths. There are loops off the main path to the beach on the western and southern sides. Although the island is only 1.5 miles long by 1 mile wide, if you walked all the loop paths and the ones that cross the middle by the end of a day's visit, you would probably have walked about 8 miles. The soil is sandy and well drained and the paths are for the most part well surfaced. When we visited in October 2015 the coastal path on the south west side of the island was officially closed, due to coastal erosion. However from the Pottery Pier end there were no notices saying this and we found it was passable with care. By September 2019 much of the path had disappeared into the sea but at low tide it is possible to walk along the beach around part of the south west corner of the island.

Robert Baden Powell is waiting for the ferry at Poole Quay

Arriving on Brownsea

St Mary's Church - built in 1853

Interior of St Mary's Church

Memorial to George Cavendish-Bentinck in St Mary's Churchyard

Pottery Pier at the west end of the island

- it is currently unsafe and therefore off limits

The ruins of Maryland village

Looking north up the west coast from Pottery Pier

North west coast of Brownsea Island

West coast of Brownsea

Shaggy parasol

North coast of Brownsea

Looking north from Pottery Pier

Broken pottery on the beach

Memorial to a fallen giant - c1687 to 6th January 2014

Pottery Pier

Site of Baden-Powell's Camp in 1907

- time for a new flag perhaps?

Pond at the site of the 19th century pottery

Scouts from all round the world come to Brownsea and it is traditional for them to leave a wooden signpost with their home town on it, presumably pointing in the right direction.