Dancing Ledge

The Priest's Way is the historical route taken by clergy from St Nicholas's, Worth Matravers to St Mary's Church, Swanage in the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset. The track arose as a result of St Mary's being a chapel of ease to St Nicholas's, and followed the route priests took to say mass in Swanage. A modern footpath and bridleway follows much of the route.

The Halsewell was an East Indiaman that was wrecked on 6 January 1786 at the start of a voyage from London to Madras. She lost her masts in a violent storm in the English Channel, and was driven onto the rocks below a cliff on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, England. The vicar of nearby Worth Matravers recorded the event in his parish register: On the 4th, 5th and 6th day of January, a remarkable snow storm, sometimes a hurricane, with the wind at south. On the latter day, at two in the morning, the Halsewell East Indiaman, 758-tons burthen, commanded by Captain Richard Pierce, bound for Bengal, was lost in the rocks between Seacombe and Winspit quarries in this parish. Never did happen so complete a wreck. The ship long before day-break was shattered to pieces... Of over 240 crew and passengers, only 74 survived. The shipwreck shocked the nation. The King visited the scene of the tragedy. The wreck of the Halsewell was the subject of poems, paintings and an orchestral symphony. Many years later Charles Dickens described the wreck in a short story.

Langton Matravers () is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Purbeck, in the county of Dorset in the south of England. It is situated about 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Swanage town centre and 5 miles (8 km) south-east of Corfe Castle. In the 2011 Census the civil parish had 381 households and a population of 853.

Durnford School was an English preparatory school for boys which opened in 1894 on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset. The school occupied Durnford House, in the High Street of the village of Langton Matravers near Swanage, and was notoriously spartan and uncomfortable. Ben Macintyre described Durnford as "a traditionally brutal prep school [which] epitomised the strange British faith in bad food, plenty of Latin and beatings from an early age". "Strip and swim" was the morning ritual for the boys – watched by headmaster Thomas Pellatt – into the sea from Dancing Ledge on the coast in 1898. Later, Pellatt had quarrymen blast out a pool in the rocks of Dancing Ledge, for his pupils to swim in. Pellatt, who co-wrote plays that appeared on the London stage under the pseudonym Wilfred T Coleby, published his reminiscences in 1936.The School closed at the onset of the Second World War and the Durnford boys were transferred to another prep school in the village, the Old Malthouse. In 1939 the site became a ramshackle out-station of the Telecommunications Research Establishment, where Britain's radar systems were devised from 1940-42. The school's location is shown on a map of radar sites scattered throughout Dorset during the period.In 1948, when the British army gave it up, Durnford House was acquired by the owners of the Old Malthouse. The main buildings were variously pulled down or sold, leaving the Old Malthouse with the grounds, which were levelled for playing fields. Durnford House itself still stands.

The Old Malthouse School (The OMH) was a preparatory school in the village of Langton Matravers near Swanage in the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, United Kingdom. The school was founded in 1906 by Rex Corbett, an ex-England football player, and started with ten pupils in a building that was formerly a brewery. Tom Pellatt, his brother-in-law who ran Durnford School at Durnford Court in the same village had blasted out a swimming bath in the rocks at Dancing Ledge, a mile and a half away on the coast and the pupils of both schools used this daily in the summer term. Durnford's most famous former pupil is Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond novels and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. In 1939, the school was sold by Corbett to Victor Haggard (H) and Evan Hope-Gill (Hopper) who inherited 37 boys. Durnford was requisitioned by the army later that year and the Durnford boys transferred to the Old Malthouse. Durnford was acquired by the owners of the Old Malthouse when the army gave it up in 1948. The main buildings were variously pulled down or sold, leaving the OMH with the grounds, which were levelled for playing fields. A third joint headmaster Peter Mattinson joined after World War II and the triumvirate ruled until 1974 when the school, then with about 80 boys, was sold to a Trust under the headmastership of Quintin Ambler. Ill-health led to Ambler's early departure to be replaced as headmaster by Patrick Jordan in 1975 who expanded the school by adding a pre-prep department in the early 1980s. In 1988, Jon Phillips took over as Headmaster, remaining for 15 years. During this time the school became fully co-educational. Richard Keeble became Headmaster in January 2004 and left the school in July 2006 handing over the reins to longtime deputy Moira Laffey. Through the 1970s and early 80s the school expanded to about 100 pupils but declining enrollment and increasing losses led to the decision to close the school in 2007. In April 2007, the local press reported that the school would close at the end of the 2007 summer term and the school subsequently closed its doors at the end of the summer.

Spyway is an isolated property in the parish of Worth Matravers in Dorset and is owned by the National Trust. It is located on the route of the Priest's Way. It is notable for having 140 million-year old dinosaur footprints.

Leeson House is a field studies centre in the village of Langton Matravers in the heart of the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, England. The Isle of Purbeck forms part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, designated in 2001. Run as a day and residential centre by Dorset County Council Outdoor Education Service it has been providing environmental education since 1966.

Acton is a hamlet in the parish of Langton Matravers, on the Isle of Purbeck, in the county of Dorset in the south of England. The hamlet of Acton was built as living quarters for the quarrymen working at the local quarries. The name “Acton” is derived from the Old English for “farm for young sheep”, the first element of which is *tacca. The hamlet was documented in the Domesday Book as Tacatone.

Belle Vue Quarry (grid reference SZ014782) is a 3.2 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Dorset, notified in 1977. It is used as a roosting site by Greater Horseshoe bats.

Winspit is a disused quarry on the cliffs near Worth Matravers in the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, England. To the west and east are the hills of West Man and East Man. Until around 1940 Winspit was used as a stone quarry, providing stone for buildings in London. During World War II it was used as a site for naval and air defences. After the war the caves were opened to the public.The quarry is now a lesser-known tourist attraction. Recently many of Winspit's caves have been closed off for public safety and bat conservation.In March 2022, it was announced that the National Trust had purchased the 350 acre Weston Farm, including Winspit and its bat caves, adding to its other landholdings in the village and its vicinity such as Spyway.

The Swanage Railway is a railway branch line from near Wareham, Dorset to Swanage, Dorset, England, opened in 1885 and now operated as a heritage railway. The independent company which built it was amalgamated with the larger London and South Western Railway in 1886. The passenger service was withdrawn in 1972, leaving a residual freight service over part of the line handling mineral traffic. After the passenger closure, a heritage railway group revived part of the line; it too used the name Swanage Railway and now operates a 9.5-mile (15.3 km) line which follows the route of the former line from Wareham to Swanage with stops at Norden, Corfe Castle, Harman's Cross and Herston Halt. It provides a regular park-and-ride service, normally steam-hauled, from Norden to the sea at Swanage including Corfe Castle village and ruins of Corfe Castle. In 2023, regular trains ran through from Wareham (with National Rail connections) to Swanage.

The Square and Compass is a Grade II listed public house in Worth Matravers, Dorset. Built in the 18th century as a pair of cottages before becoming a public house, the Square and Compass got its name in 1830 from a landlord who had been a stonemason. The building includes a museum of fossils and other local artefacts and the pub is one of only five nationally that has been included in every edition of CAMRA's Good Beer Guide since 1974. In 2015, the landlord built a sculpture of tree trunks, dubbed Woodhenge. He was told to take it down by the local council, but after an online petition he was allowed to keep it standing for two years. As of December 2020, Woodhenge remains standing.