Up until 2007 no one had really tackled the above question. We know that the Purbeck born and bred Pike Brothers ancestors came from Devon where Ball clay extraction was well known, but why would someone in the great city of London come to Purbeck to extract clay? Surely they had better things to do.

With these questions unanswered we set about a search using several resources including the Dorset History Centre and the Internet. We have been kindly contacted by others who have supplied some missing links. We know for certain he was not a London Potter! We know he was a very powerful merchant with friends and relatives in high places. We found a great deal of information and we now know far more about the "Who was he?" and we now think we can answer "Why did he come to Purbeck?"  We are writing a book to tell the story of all those involved in the extraction of Purbeck Ball Clay. Unfortunately it will take a long time to complete, but will be worth waiting for.