Jurassic Coast

Rousdon is a village in East Devon off the A3052 road between Colyford and Lyme Regis in Dorset. The clifftop but well set back village developed as the main settlement, within its ecclesiastical parish Combpyne, which otherwise has only a few houses by its church and scattered farms. It did so north of Sir Henry Peek's grand house, billiard house and separate stable courtyard chiefly in the early 19th century. A boarding school called Allhallows moved there from Honiton in 1937 and closed in 1998. Adjoining the small fields to the south are the coastal cliffs which lie above the Axmouth to Lyme Regis Undercliff Nature Reserve that forms part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. It is a green wilderness littoral forest strip with many rugged parts and ruins of farmhouses formed largely from a landslip (major cliff erosion) in 1839. The South West Coast Path crosses it for some miles. No public right of way links Rousdon directly, nor any adjacent area, to the path below along Charton Bay which links the foot of the Axe estuary south of Axmouth (at the western edge of Seaton Seaton to Ware, immediately south-west of Lyme Regis, on the Dorset border.

Combpyne Rousdon is a civil parish in the East Devon district of the county of Devon in England. As well as the villages of Combpyne and Rousdon, it contains the hamlet of Pinhay. In the 2001 UK census its population was recorded as 231 persons, living in 88 households, increasing to 362 in the 2011 Census.

Combpyne railway station was the intermediate station on the Lyme Regis branch line in East Devon, England. Serving the village of Combpyne, it was sited high on the sharp bend that changed the course of the line from south to an easterly direction.

Pinhay Bay is a bay in Devon, on the south coast of England, about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) southwest of Lyme Regis and about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) east of Seaton. The bay receives its name from the hamlet of Pinhay which is situated slightly inland. Approximately 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) further west, toward Axmouth and Seaton, lies Charton Bay, with a wider expanse of shingle beach than Pinhay Bay and the Axmouth to Lyme Regis Undercliff stretching in a large terraces inland. This is accessible from Charton Goyle at the top of the cliff via a slightly arduous and worn path with many flights of wooden steps. This route was once popular but is long since abandoned after the demise of the village earlier in the 20th century. The surrounding terrain is rugged. To the west are Pinhay Cliffs and to the east Ware Cliffs. Pinhay Bay is part of the Jurassic Coast.

Combpyne is a hamlet in East Devon, England, off the A3052 road between Colyford and Lyme Regis in Dorset. Combpyne is situated within a remote Devon combe, and features a medieval manor house, a 12th-century church housing wall paintings and ancient bells and a village pond known as 'The Harbour'. It is in a parish that also includes the village of Rousdon to the south. The former railway station at Combpyne was a part of the Lyme Regis branch line and closed in 1965, along with many other small branch lines across the county. Traces of the dismantled railway, including the large Cannington Viaduct, can be seen nearby. The former stationmaster's house is now a private residence.

The Axmouth to Lyme Regis Undercliffs, also often referred to in the singular as the Undercliff, is a 5-mile (8.0 km) long landscape feature, National Nature Reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest that connects Seaton and Axmouth with Lyme Regis on the south-west coast of England. Like its namesake on the Isle of Wight, this feature arose as a result of landslips, where a slump of harder strata over softer clay gave rise to irregular landscapes of peaks, gullies and slipped blocks. Because of the resulting difficulty of access and change of land use, the undercliff has become densely vegetated, and has become a rare and unusual habitat for plants and birds.From west to east, the undercliff forms part of the civil parishes of Axmouth, Combpyne Rousdon and Uplyme, all in the county of Devon. At its eastern end, it also stretches a short way into the town of Lyme Regis, in the county of Dorset. It forms part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site and the South West Coast Path runs through it. The footpath stretches for 7 – 8 miles (13 km) and is not accessible except at each end. It is not permitted to leave the path due to the nature reserve status and the dangerous terrain.Some of the landslips that created the undercliff took place within historical record. Recorded slips took place in 1775, 1828, 1839 (the Great Slip) and 1840. The 1839 slip was especially well-documented since the geologists William Buckland and William Daniel Conybeare were in the area to survey it. A large tract of land below Bindon Manor and Dowlands Farm slipped, creating the features now called Goat Island and the Chasm. It took with it an area of sown wheatfield which remained sufficiently undamaged for the wheat to be harvested in 1840, when the slip was a popular visitor attraction.The undercliff was formerly open rough pasture, grazed by sheep and rabbits, including features such as Donkey Green (an area of turf used for picnics and sports), Landslip Cottage (which used to sell teas to visitors), and Chapel Rock (where, according to tradition, Tudor religious dissenters met). However, it became heavily overgrown in the 20th century following the cessation of sheep farming and the decline in rabbits due to myxomatosis, and access is now difficult, the terrain being treacherous due to its unstable cliffs, deep gullies and dense undergrowth.Sabine Baring-Gould's 1900 novel Winefred, a story of the chalk cliffs is set in the Undercliff area, with the Great Slip as its climax. The undercliff was also one of the settings for the novel The French Lieutenant's Woman and a location for its film adaptation.

Pinhay is a hamlet in the civil parish of Combpyne Rousdon in the East Devon district of Devon, England. The hamlet lies approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south-west from Lyme Regis, its nearest town. Pinhay is home to Pinhay Bay, a large face of cliffs which lies along the Jurassic Coast. To the eastern side of Pinhay Bay are the Ware Cliffs, which also gives its name from its hamlet.

Holcombe is a hamlet in the district of East Devon in the English county of Devon. Holcombe is located northwest of the town of Lyme Regis about a mile west of Uplyme. The Iron Age "Holcombe Mirror", now in the British Museum, was found on a farm here in 1970 by Devon Archaeological Society when excavating the site of a Roman villa.

Furzehill Plantation is a woodland in Devon, England, near the village of Uplyme. It covers a total area of 1.22 hectares (3.01 acres). It is owned and managed by the Woodland Trust.

Ware Cliffs are a set of long cliffs which stretch westwards from the town of Lyme Regis in Dorset to the Ware hamlet in the East Devon district of Devon, England. They are situated near Pinhay Bay and their highest point is the Black Ven, which reaches a height of approximately 137 metres (449 ft). The exposed rock formation dates to the early Jurassic period around 199-189 million years ago and many fossils have been found along the beaches.

Ware is a hamlet in the East Devon district of Devon, England. The hamlet lies approximately 0.8 miles (1.3 km) south-west from Lyme Regis, just off the Jurassic Coast.

Monmouth Beach is a pebble and rock beach stretching approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) westwards from the harbour at Lyme Regis, West Dorset to Pinhay Bay, East Devon. It is part of the Jurassic Coast, situated below Ware Cliffs, and includes Poker's Pool, Virtle Rock and Chippel Bay. Virtle Rock is the farthest islet from the coast in Poker's Pool. The name derives from the landing here of Duke of Monmouth in 1685 during his attempt to take the crown from King James II. Following the defeat of the Duke of Monmouth, twelve locals were hanged on the beach on the order of the notorious "Hanging Judge" Jeffreys.