Island 37 - Portland, Dorset

The Isle of Portland is joined to the mainland by a tombolo created by Chesil Beach and by a road.  The fleet is tidal, so I consider it to be an island.  Portland is located to the south of the seaside town of Weymouth and has been inhabited since the Mesolithic period (Middle Stone Age). 

There are 2 prisons on Portland –

• The Verne Prison opened in 1949 on the site of a former military barracks dating from the end of the nineteenth century. The prison, which sits high above the harbour on the Isle of Portland off the Dorset coast, is a Category C Training Prison for adult males.

•  Portland opened in 1848 and held convict adults until 1921, when it was converted into a Borstal.  It has been a Young Offender Institution since 1988, and today holds young men aged 18 to 21.

Portland Castle is in the care of English Heritage.  It was built by Henry VIII to defend England and it also played a part in World War I and II.

 Portland Castle

The South West Coast Path runs round the perimeter of the island.

Tout Quarry is well worth a visit.  This abandoned quarry has been used as a sculpture park since 1983 and is free to visit.  The island is covered in quarries and several of the abandoned ones are now nature reserves. 

 Owl Sculpture in Tout Quarry Sculpture Park

Portland stone, which is a type of Jurassic limestone, is good quality building stone and has been quarried for centuries.   It was used to build St Paul’s Cathedral, New Scotland Yard, Waterloo Bridge, the Cenotaph, the United Nations Building in New York, the new British Museum, the Parliament Building in Northern Ireland, the new Stock Exchange and the Bank of England.
 

 Quarryman Statue at Verne

 

 

 Old quarry crane at Verne

Portland Museum at Easton is small but very interesting.  It covers the island’s history of smuggling, shipwrecks and quarrying and has a collection of fossils found on the island.

 Portland Museum, Easton

 The Avalanche Memorial Church on Portland is dedicated to those who perished in 1877 on the Avalanche, wrecked on Chesil Beach.  The Avalanche was a 3 masted iron clipper on its way to New Zealand.  106 people died.

In addition to several quarry railways Portland had a branch railway for passengers, which ran to Easton.  It closed to passengers in 1952 and goods in 1965.  It is possible to walk along part of the track bed on the eastern side of the island.

Portland Bill

The current Portland Bill Lighthouse was built in 1906.  It is on the southern most tip of the island.  There is a bird observatory nearby in the Old Lower Lighthouse.

Portland Bill Lighthouse

 

Portland Bill Lighthouse

Lighthouse at Portland Bill from Pulpit Rock
The stone obelisk on the right of the picture was built in 1844 as a daymark to warn of a low shelf of rock extending 30 metres into the sea.

Church Ope Cove

 Chesil Beach from Chiswell

Olympic Rings at Verne

 Pulpit Rock, Portland Bill

 Old Higher Lighthouse, Portland Bill
This lighthouse was built in 1716.  It was a summer residence for Dr Marie Stopes in the 1920s and is currently privately owned.

 

Old Higher Lighthouse, Portland Bill

Old Lower Lighthouse

This has been a Bird Observatory since 1961.

Lower Lighthouse/Observatory

Chesil Beach

West coast of Portland looking south

 

Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy



 Rufus Castle, Church Ope Cove

 The eastern end of Chesil Beach at Chiswell