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Top 10 Unbelievable Facts about Chesil Beach

Chesil Beach by BennH from

Chesil Beach (also known as Chesil Bank) is one of three major shingle beach formations in the United Kingdom. It is located in Dorset, England. It comes from Old English, which means “gravel” or “shingle.” It stretches from West Bay to the Isle of Portland and is up high and broad in spots. The Fleet is a tiny tidal lagoon behind the shore. Both are part of the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and comprise an SSSI and Ramsar Site when combined.

Chesil Beach (also known as Chesil Bank) is one of three major shingle beach formations in the United Kingdom. It is located in Dorset, England. It comes from Old English, which means “gravel” or “shingle.” It stretches from West Bay to the Isle of Portland and is up high and broad in spots. The Fleet is a tiny tidal lagoon behind the shore. Both are part of the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and comprise an SSSI and Ramsar Site when combined.

1. For a long time, the origins of Chesil Beach have been debated

Beach material was thought to come from the Budleigh Salterton pebble deposits in the west, and later from Portland in the southeast. Because the variations between the stones on the beach and surrounding sources are now attributed to the Flandrian isostatic sea level rise, the feature might be classified as a barrier beach or bar connecting the mainland to an island rather than a ‘real’ tombolo.

Tombolos are frequently formed as a result of the island’s impacts on waves (via refraction) and sediment transfer, which results in a beach that is perpendicular to the mainland rather than parallels to it.

2. Chesil Beach has seen several shipwrecks, especially during the period of sail

Chesil Beach has seen several shipwrecks, especially during the period of sail. Within the English Channel, the beach was particularly perilous because it creates a long lee shore during south-westerly gales. To be safe, a ship approaching the Channel had to pass through Portland Bill, yet the wind and tide would be driving it northwards into Lyme Bay.

When sailing ships were prevalent, Chiswell, Wyke Regis, Chickerell, Langton Herring, Abbotsbury, East Bexington, Burton Bradstock, and West Bay all had coastguard lookouts and houses along the shore. There are now no manned Coastguard lookouts along the beach, however, the National Maritime Operations Centre in Fareham provides coverage as needed.

3. The beach is heaped up against the rock from West Bay to Cliff End

Near Cliff End, a depression forms behind the beach, and at Abbotsbury, the Fleet Lagoon, a stretch of saline (or brackish) water, begins. This is up to 3 meters deep. Many wading birds and the Abbotsbury Swannery call the Fleet home, and fossils can be found in the sand and muck. Ferry Bridge connects the Fleet to Portland Harbour. Until the first bridge was built in 1839, a ferry boat was used to connect Portland to the mainland. This was replaced with an iron bridge in 1896, which was then rebuilt by a concrete bridge in 1985.

4. There’s a gap between the mainland and the beach 

The distance between the mainland and the beach may be seen on the zoomed out map below on the beach location map.

5. It is a pebble and shingle tombolo

Chesil Beach stones by Rosser1954 from

Chesil Beach is 18 miles (28 kilometres) long, 160 meters broad, and climbs to a height of 12 meters. It’s a pebble and shingle tombolo that runs from Portland to Abbotsbury, then north-west to West Bay in Bridport. The Fleet is a tidal lagoon with a shallow depth of roughly 3 meters.

6. All types of pebbles exist

The pebbles are graded in size from fist-sized near Portland to pea-sized at Bridport. The pebbles are mainly a mix of flint and chert, with some quartzite pebbles from Buddleigh Salterton.

7. Much of the villages of Fleet and Chiswell were destroyed in the Great Storm of 1824

Chesil Beach waves by Rosser1954 from Wikimedia Commons9

Chiswell had fought the sea for generations and was frequently inundated during severe winter storms. The sea would flow over the upper half of the bank during storms, thus efforts to drain the Fleet were scrapped in 1630. The community was devastated by the great storm of November 1824, an event from which Chiswell would never entirely recover. Various defences have been built since then to help the community, most notably the sea wall and promenade, which began construction in 1958 and was finished in 1965.

8. The Weymouth to Portland Railway was built along the southern end of the shore in 1865 and inaugurated in 1866

It was first closed to passengers in 1952, then to all traffic in 1965. A viaduct was built across Ferry Bridge as part of the route. Several plans to build a railway across the length of Chesil Beach from Weymouth to Bridport have been made throughout the previous 150 years.

A line was built from Upwey to Abbotsbury, but it was never completed due to a lack of funds. A line from Maiden Newton to Bridport and then on to West Bay was also built. A light railway connecting Weymouth and West Bay was proposed more recently.

9. On Chesil Beach, near Ferry Bridge, a rifle range was erected around 1907

It was built in 100-yard intervals up to 800 yards, and some remnants may still be seen today. For many years after WWII, the Royal Navy had a minesweeping testing range off the coast of West Bexington. In the mid-1980s, it was decommissioned. The cables were laid beneath the beach at the West Bexington car park, and the range control house can still be seen behind the car park today, while one of the theodolite stations is near the Cogden Beach car park’s entrance.

10. Chesil Beach and Fleet Lagoon are both designated as Special Scientific Interest Areas

Chesil Beach and the Fleet Lagoon are both designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest, and Country Life magazine named the view of the beach from Abbotsbury Britain’s third finest vista.

The Fleet Lagoon and Chesil Beach are featured in J. Meade Falkner’s novel Moonfleet (1898), in which the fictional settlement of the Moonfleet is modelled on the Fleet.

In case you visit the place then it is important to note that walking the length of Chesil Beach, at 18 miles, would be a long day out. This trek, which begins at Langton Herring, is shorter and more manageable for a day hike. From across the Fleet Lagoon, the route follows the South West Coast Path and provides spectacular views of the famed pebble beach.