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Chesil Beach

Beaches of DorsetGeography of Weymouth, DorsetIsle of PortlandJurassic CoastLagoons of the United Kingdom
Nature Conservation Review sitesRamsar sites in EnglandSites of Special Scientific Interest in DorsetSpecial Protection Areas in EnglandSpits of EnglandTombolosUse British English from June 2017
ChesilBeach
ChesilBeach

Chesil Beach (also known as Chesil Bank) in Dorset, England is one of three major shingle beach structures in Britain. Its name is derived from the Old English ceosel or cisel, meaning "gravel" or "shingle". It runs for a length of 29 kilometres (18 mi) from West Bay to the Isle of Portland and in places is up to 15 metres (50 ft) high and 200 metres (660 ft) wide. Behind the beach is the Fleet, a shallow tidal lagoon. Both are part of the Jurassic Coast and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and together form an SSSI and Ramsar Site. The beach is often identified as a tombolo, although research into the geomorphology of the area has revealed that it is in fact a barrier beach which has "rolled" landwards, joining the mainland with the Isle of Portland and giving the appearance of a tombolo.The beach curves sharply at the eastern end, near the village of Chiswell, and forms Chesil Cove against the cliffs of the Isle of Portland, and this protects the low-lying village from flooding. It has been the scene of many shipwrecks and was named "Dead Man's Bay" by Thomas Hardy. The beach provides shelter from the prevailing winds and waves for the town of Weymouth, Dorset and the village of Chiswell on Portland. Simon Jenkins rates the view of Chesil Beach from Abbotsbury along the coast to Portland Bill as one of the top ten in England.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Chesil Beach (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 50.604 ° E -2.516 °
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Chickerell


, Chickerell
England, United Kingdom
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ChesilBeach
ChesilBeach
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Nearby Places

Fleet, Dorset
Fleet, Dorset

Fleet is a small, scattered village and civil parish in south Dorset, England, situated approximately 2.5 miles (4.0 km) west of Weymouth. It consists of the small settlements of East Fleet, West Fleet, Fleet House, and Fleet Common, all of which are close to the shore of The Fleet, a brackish lagoon behind Chesil Beach. The name "Fleet" is derived from fleot, Old English for an inlet or estuary. Dorset County Council estimated that the population of the civil parish was 60 in 2013.The Great Storm of 1824 caused waves to breach Chesil Beach, and many of the buildings in the village were destroyed, including the nave of the original parish church. An eye-witness described the event: At six o'-clock on the morning of the 23rd I was standing with other boys by the gate near the cattle pound when I saw, rushing up the valley, the tidal wave, driven by a hurricane and bearing upon its crest a whole haystack and other debris from the fields below. We ran for our lives to Chickerell, and when we returned found that five houses had been swept away and the church was in ruins. A new church, Holy Trinity, was built a short distance inland and only the chancel of the old one stands today.J. Meade Falkner's smuggling novel Moonfleet is set in the village. There is a brass memorial to Falkner in the old church, together with brass plate memorials to members of the Mohun family whose name was used in the novel. Moonfleet Manor Hotel is a Georgian building in the west of the parish on the shore of The Fleet, previously called Fleet House. The bouncing bomb, designed by Barnes Wallis and immortalised in the film The Dam Busters, was tested on the waters of the Fleet.