Verwood

Verwood is a town in eastern Dorset, 10 miles (16 km) north of Bournemouth and 13 miles (21 km) north-east of Poole as the crow flies. It sits on the River Crane, which later becomes the Moors River. The civil parish, which includes the extended village of Three Legged Cross, had 15,172 residents at the 2021 census.

The name goes back to 1288, when the place was recorded as Beau Bois in Norman French, and by 1329 it had become Verwood. The East Dorset pottery industry, known as Verwood Pottery, thrived on the clay soils nearby with plenty of firing material to hand. Production methods had not varied since Roman times: the clay was trodden by foot and the kilns were wood-fired. Hawkers known as higglers took the pots over a wide area of southern England, and they were exported to Newfoundland through the port of Poole.

The Verwood Heathland Heritage Centre, at the Potters Wheel on Manor Way, has preserved a pottery workshop of this kind and shows exhibits on the Dorset heathland and local crafts. It opens on Monday to Saturday mornings.

Moors Valley Country Park and Forest, over 800 acres at Ashley Heath on the Dorset and Hampshire border, is a short drive away.