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Freshwater Bay, Portland

Isle of PortlandJurassic Coast
Freshwater Bay, Portland, Dorset
Freshwater Bay, Portland, Dorset

Freshwater Bay is a bay on the east side of the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England, south from Church Ope Cove and between the villages of Wakeham and Southwell. It forms part of the Jurassic Coast. Freshwater Bay takes its name from a freshwater spring which emerged at the bottom of the cliff. An Admiralty pumping station was built on the clifftop in the 19th century for supplying fresh water to the naval base and to the harbour's breakwaters during their construction. Cheyne House was built for the attendant of the station. The man-made tunnel for the pumped water was known as Cheyne Tunnel, and in 2011 this was blocked by a rockfall.For many decades and through to the second half of the 20th century the bay was in regular use by commercial fishermen.The Great Southwell Landslip, Britain's second largest recorded historical landslide, occurred in 1734, between Durdle Pier and Freshwater Bay, along a length of 1.5 miles (2.4 km).Freshwater Bay is reputed to be one of the best places on Portland for fossil locating. The area is known to be popular for fishing, and the cliffs of the bay are also popular with rock climbers.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Freshwater Bay, Portland (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Freshwater Bay, Portland
Southwell Road,

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Wikipedia: Freshwater Bay, PortlandContinue reading on Wikipedia

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Latitude Longitude
N 50.5301 ° E -2.4373 °
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Southwell Road

Southwell Road
DT5 2EF , Portland
England, United Kingdom
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Freshwater Bay, Portland, Dorset
Freshwater Bay, Portland, Dorset
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Rufus Castle
Rufus Castle

Rufus Castle, also known as Bow and Arrow Castle, is a partially ruined castle overlooking Church Ope Cove on Portland, England. Its name derives from King William II, known as William Rufus, for whom the original castle was built. The existing structure dates largely from the late 15th century, making it Portland's oldest castle. Built on a pinnacle of rock, some of the original structure has been lost to erosion and collapse over the years. The remaining castle appears to have been the keep of a stronghold, the foundation of which was much above the top of the church tower of St Andrews which lay in the valley below. The pentagonal tower of the castle has late Medieval gun holes, but rests on an earlier foundation to the north and stepped plinth to the west which may have been a 12th-century keep. Remains include parts of the keep, sections of wall with gun ports and a 19th-century round-arched bridge across Church Ope Road. The castle, including its bridge, has been a Grade I listed building since January 1951. It is one of three buildings on Portland to be Grade I listed. In addition to this, the castle has become a scheduled monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.Rufus Castle looks out over the Shambles sandbank, approximately 3 miles (5 km) out to sea, one of the most feared navigational hazards in the area. It was here in 1805 that the East Indianman, the Earl of Abergavenny, foundered and eventually sank, killing 263. Among the dead was the captain of the ship, John Wordsworth, brother of the Romantic poet William Wordsworth. The poet immortalised the catastrophe and death of his brother in his poem: To the Daisy. It was beyond the Shambles that the Battle of Portland took place in 1653 between the English navy led by General at Sea Robert Blake fighting the Dutch Navy led by Lieutenant-Admiral Maarten Tromp. There is no public access to the castle as it is privately owned, though it can be seen well from public footpaths along the coast.

Cave Hole, Portland
Cave Hole, Portland

Cave Hole is a large cave on the south east side of the Isle of Portland, a large peninsular in Dorset, England. It has a blowhole and a wooden crane, known as Broad Ope Crane on the cliff top. It is 1⁄2 mile (800 m) north-east of Portland Bill, has an interior measuring 50 feet (15 m) square and 21 feet (6.4 m) high. Cave Hole was earlier known as Keeve's Hole and regularly featured in recorded history and wider lore of smuggling. It is made up of a series of caves with steep roof sections, tunnels and ledges, and represents the first stage in cave collapse. The cave and its surrounding area is frequently used for deep-water soloing. The cave's blowhole, which stretches far into the solid rock, was formed when the roof of the cave was broken through to the surface. For the protection of people looking down into the cave, an iron grill has been installed across it. Whenever a powerful easterly gale occurs, the sea shoots up through the fissures.Various small craft have been driven into the cave by east and south easterly gales, the largest of which was a 40-ton vessel from Cowes in 1780. Frank and Ann Davison were shipwrecked at the cave in 1949. The pair had set sail for the West Indies. Frank drowned but Ann managed to scramble ashore. A local tale has long reputed that the cave is home to Roy Dog - a black dog, "as high as man, with large fiery eyes, one green, one red". It is said that the creature emerges from the watery depths to seize any traveller passing by Cave Hole and drags them down into his dark watery domain.