185 Million Years in 95 Miles of Coast Line

Jurassic Coast becomes England’s only natural World Heritage Site

On the 13th December 2001, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee announced that the Dorset and East Devon Coast is now officially listed as a natural World Heritage Site - the only one in England.

The site is spectacularly beautiful, but this is not the main reason for its new status. The coast has become a World Heritage Site due to its outstanding geology, which offers a complete record through 185 million years of Earth History.

The whole of this geological story is accessible to all of us through the 95 miles of beautiful landscape which makes up the Site. The range of features – landslides, beaches, bays and cliffs – is “probably unparalleled anywhere else” according to the International Association of Geomorphologists.

Parts of the coast are already famous for their fossils and even after over 200 of collecting, discoveries new to science continue to be made. This years finds include an exceptionally well preserved dinosaur from Charmouth and the first dinosaur trackways ever discovered on Portland.

Geology in the Landscape

Purbeck is a classic place to see how the underlying rocks control the development of the landscape and coastline.

Around Lulworth, hard bands of Portland Limestone form a barrier to the sea but once breached, the softer rocks behind are eroded away to form a bay.
Eventually a number of bays join together leaving fragments of the limestone in the sea. Stair Hole is the start of the process, Lulworth Cove is a perfect cove while Man O’ War Cove is formed from a number of bay’s that have joined together.The beautiful arch of Durdle Door is carved from a fragment of the hard limestone.

Inland, the underlying geology controls the form of the landscape. A huge fold in the rocks runs between Lulworth and Ballard Down, creating a striking chalk ridge upon which Corfe Castle is built.To the north, younger sands and clays give rise to the heathland character around Poole Harbour.

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