- Henry De La Beche, Duria Antiquior (A More Ancient Dorset), 1830 1
The Dorset coastline is a charming and curious place. It's geology rose to fame in the early nineteenth century, of course, when Mary Anning's youthful and critical eye uncovered a world of pre-historic treasures. Her discovery of the first complete ichthyosaur fossil sparked metaphysical wonder which rippled through the kingdom and threw a thick veil of mystery over our primeval past:
'It is about five foot and a half long, has two immense sockets for the eyes, a long snout, a series of the finest vertebrae that have ever been seen in so small a creature, claws, fins like wings, and some beautiful fluted thorns like those of the ray'
- Yorkshire Gazette, 1830 2
The coastline was admired long before then. The Isle of Purbeck was a hive of Roman activity, famously the region's raw materials transformed the area into a pottery powerhouse for the Romano-British empire. Black Burnished ware pots, made in South Eastern Dorset, have been found as far as Hadrian's Wall on the Northern Roman frontier. The rudimentary geological makeup of these ceramics (clay, iron ore, and quartz) made them resistant to the constant heating up and cooling down of domestic cooking. The sites of Black Burnished ware production resided on the fringes of Poole Harbour, one of the largest and shallowest natural harbours world wide. Pottery making coincided with Poole salt production (making the pots a vessel for salt distribution and preserved goods), and so they were carried en masse by the Roman army to strategical locations such as Exeter and Northern England 3.
The northern English border seems a moderate distance for the systematic transportation of items in the pre-modern era; however, Dorset's rock has strayed further than perimeter of the British Isles. The Romans marched west from Poole to Portland, where they harvested Portland limestone to craft sarcophagi and monuments for fallen leaders and soldiers throughout the empire. Since then, Portland limestone has been the rock of choice for buildings and monuments such as the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Belgium's Cassino Kursal, and the UN building in New York.
Why use this particular limestone when, for example, the UN Great Assembly is much closer to other inexpensive American quarries, where the limestone is denser and stronger than Portland's relatively 'soft' porous rock? Other than it's aesthetic light colour and coastal location making it easy to transport worldwide, it has a unique structure. Water runs in and, crucially, through the rock, whereas other limestone retains water where it freezes, expands, and over time damages structural integrity of buildings 4. Portland limestone is soft enough for a stonemason to have at it (see the Cenotaph in London), and tough enough to stand the tale of time, outlasting even granite.
- Tower of London (built 1077-1110), 15th century medieval painting, British Library 5
***
During the regency era, King George III oft paced up and down Weymouth bay, sometimes wading into the shallows to the tune (quite literally and epically) of 'God Save the King'. In an attempt to save the declining mental state of the mad king, Dr Crane proclaimed the benefits of swimming in, and even drinking Weymouth sea water 6.
Weymouth of late years has been much frequented for its commodious Sea-Bathing, which it furnishes, in a manner superior to any other in the Kingdom…I do not wonder at its being the Resort of many people of the first Distinction.
- Dr John Crane, 1795 7
The reasons precipitating this conclusion, that Weymouth was an ideal location for 18th Century R&R, was fundamentally a geological and meteorological one. He stated "The sands under foot are soft yet firm, and entirely free from obstruction. The declivity is so gradual as to be almost imperceptible" moreover "the bay is so well sheltered by nature, that for tranquility it surpasses what I have ever seen" 6. Across the bay, Portland juts out quelling the rough ocean approaching Weymouth from the Western direction, causing the bay to maintain relatively calm waves all year round. To this very day, such a climate contributes to a thriving tourism industry for the best part of the summer.
- Stockdale F W S, Weymouth, 1822, 8.
***
Geology aside, today, there are few things which put Dorest on the layman's map. With little urban infrastructure, no motorways, and a population sub 500,000, it is dwarfed under the cider-drinking West Country giants of Somerset and Devon. Thus it is the natural landscape which has come to define this small county in the contemporary day.
The Dorset coast line, stretching from Lyme Bay to Poole Harbour covers a mere 0.4% of the Great British coastline yet it is home to a disproportionate wealth of pre-historic landmarks. Earning its space on the UNSECO world heritage list due to it’s geological outcrops, fossilised forests, and beaches and lagoons, the coast spans 185 million years of pre history.
Throughout my four years at the University of Bristol, meeting new university students, I have had countless conversations trying to explain to Londoners and the like my hometown. The following conversation about sums it up:
“Where are you from?”
“Weymouth”
“Wheres that?”
“Dorset south coast”
“…”
“Kinda near Bournemouth… olympic sailing…”
“…”
“Do you know Durdle Door?”
“Oh I know, I’ve been there a few times!”
- Durdle Door, Lulworth
Shall the tide thus ebb and flow for ever?
and for evermore
Rave the wave and glance the ripple through the
rocks at Durdle Door?
- Arthur Moule, 1879 9.
The truth is, for decades, geography students from the Home Counties have piled onto sweaty school busses and driven down to Lulworth, braved the 1.3 mile descent from the car park to Durdle Door and sketched the limestone arch, Over the few years I have lived in Bristol, I have become proud (and a little smug): this marvelous view is a mere 10 minute drive from my front door. Ironically (or perhaps I've become increasingly more aware of it), since leaving Dorset I have felt ever more closer to it. Bristol's closest seaside resort, Weston Super Mare, is as close as it gets to a 'beach', although the sea is not really the colour which I associate with the ocean.
Unconsciously, the geology of my coastline has shaped my identity profoundly,
In my opinion, Dorset is often depicted as the reclusive holiday destination, isolated from the rest of the West Country, with only two train lines in and out. It's cute, quiet, quaint. With undulating hills, a hippy albeit rustic population, and secret pubs which only sell (and have only ever sold) the same 3 types of lager. It doesn't immediately turn heads. It doesn't have famous celebrities to endorse it. It doesn't host national conventions - unless you count the Great Dorset Steamfair, a total hoot.
But, tastefully, it has a tentacular influence on a global stage. Portland rock built Ireland's Houses of Parliament in Dublin, and monuments throughout Washington DC. Paintings of it's coastline by the likes of Turner adorn in galleries around the world, not to mention it's perfect meteo-geological conditions to host the London 2012 Olympic sailing. The golden sand cliffs to the west, in Bridport's West Bay, were broadcast internationally by the BBC's Broadchurch production, and to the east Brownsea Island, surrounded by a moat of sea off the coast of Poole harbour, is a safe haven for the native Red Squirrel. If you ever have the fortunate opportunity to hike the Dorset stretch of the coastal path, you'll understand the hype.
Devolution for Dorset anyone?
- William Turner, 1814, Weymouth 10.
References:
1. Henry De La Beche, Duria Antiquior (A More Ancient Dorset), 1830
2. “Fossil Remains,” Yorkshire Gazette, 2 January 1830, p. 3
3. James Gerrard, Feeding the Army from Dorset: pottery, salt and the Roman State, 2008
4. 'Great British stone: Portland limestone', Stone Specialist, <https://www.stonespecialist.com/news/stones-quarries/great-british-stone-portland-limestone> Eric Bignell, 2014
5. Tower of London (built 1077-1110), 15th century medieval painting, British Library
6. 'George III in Weymouth', Regency History <https://www.regencyhistory.net/2012/07/george-iii-in-weymouth.html> Rachel Knowles, 2012
7. Dr John Crane, Cursory Observations on Sea-bathing, 1795
8. Stockdale F W S, Weymouth, 1822
9. Arthur Moule, Songs of heaven and home, written in a foreign land, 1879, p.22
10. William Turner, Weymouth, 1814
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