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Portland Bill Dorset Photographs
Below are the photos currently available. All images are available in larger versions. This site is updated often so please check back soon.
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Title: Small Boats at Chesil Cove
Place: Portland Bill
Prints of this photograph are available to order world wide. Click here to order online now.
About: The small boats on the shingle at Chesil Cove make an idyllic photograph apparently the cove is great for float fishing in the summer evenings and it is possible to catch Scad, Mackerel and Garfish
Photograph Added: 18th February 2010
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Title: West Weare Art in the Environment
Place: Portland Bill
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About: The exposed and rugged countryside of the West Weare's at Portland is a mixture of natural and man made. Quarrying resulted in vast quantities of stone being thrown over the edge. Flowers' Weare pays ......
Photograph Added: 8th January 2010
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Title: Evening at Portland
Place: Portland Bill
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About: Portland is one of our favourite places in the whole of Dorset and our evening visit was magical most of tourists had gone home and we could walk around the rocky headland photographing to our hearts ......
Photograph Added: 8th January 2010
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Title: Chesil Cove under Cloudy Skies
Place: Portland Bill
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About: We have seen lots of small boats and canoes leave from Chesil Cove but apparently the beach is also famous for scuba diving and the fishing is suppose to be good
Photograph Added: 24th December 2009
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Title: Pink Clouds over Portland Lighthouse
Place: Portland Bill
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About: Years ago there was a television programme for children called Portland Bill and we had always assumed that the lighthouse at the end of Portland was out at sea as Portland Bill was often seen rowing ......
Photograph Added: 24th December 2009
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View area map / aerial photograph.
About Portland Bill Dorset.
Portland is called "The Isle of Portland" but it is connected to the mainland of Dorset by Chesil a fifteen mile bank of shingle that forms a narrow neck of land so Portland is technically a peninsula. Today a causeway leads to this beautiful and interesting place. Portland measures approximately 4.5 miles by 1.75 miles and at its farthest point stands Portland Bill where there is a 136 foot lighthouse erected in 1903-06. The sea can be very treacherous around Portland and it is very rare to visit without at least a stiff breeze and quite often a blustery gale blowing around the interesting rock formations. One of these formations is a huge detached block of stone known as Pulpit Rock.
The history and occupation of Portland has been traced back over 7,000 years and it is reported that the Romans called Portland, Vindilis, although no documented evidence has been found to support this. It is known however that Thomas Hardy based The Isle of Slingers on Portland with the Street of Wells representing Fortuneswell and The Beal is Portland Bill. The Portland islanders were referred to as slingers because they threw stones to protect .themselves and their island
Quarrying for Portland Stone was and to a certain extent still is a major industry for Portland. Many famous buildings all over the world including The United Nation Headquarters in New York and St. Paul's Cathedral in London are constructed of the fine white Portland stone.
The citadel or fortress on Portland was built in 1860 ? 72 to house a garrison of 700 men and it was solidly fortified with 30 ton guns. Today Verne prison stands on this spot with impressive defences including deep-stone lined ditches which were left when stone was quarried for the harbour, High Angle batteries close by with large earthworks. Verne became a prison in 1949 and is a class C training prison for adult males.
Thomas Hardy described Portland as a "huge lump of freestone" hardly a complimentary description for so varied a landscape. The best way to view all the interesting scenery the "Isle" has to offer is to walk the coast path that goes most of the way around.
A lot of websites on the Internet give detailed accounts of the "Islands" geology which is so rich and varied that this part of Dorset's Jurassic Coast has been designated a Special Site of Scientific Interest. Rare plants, butterflies and birds also add to the interest and shipwrecks can be seen in some of the small coves.
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