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Chesil Beach, sometimes called Chesil Bank, in Dorset, southern England. is one of three major shingle structures in Britain,1 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 Portland Bill, giving the appearance of a tombolo. The shingle beach is 29 kilometres (18 mi) long, 200 metres (660 ft) wide and 15 metres (50 ft) high. The beach and the Fleet are part of the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the location for a book ("On Chesil Beach") by Ian McEwan.
At the eastern end of the beach at Chesilton, against the cliffs of the Isle of Portland, the beach curves round sharply to form Chesil Cove. This part of the beach protects the low-lying village of Chiswell from flooding. Westwards the shingle forms a straight line along the coast, enclosing the Fleet, a shallow2 tidal Lagoon.
The beach provides shelter from the prevailing winds and waves for the town of Weymouth and the village of Chiswell, which would otherwise probably not exist.
Varying with the Bank's unbroken increase in height to 14.7m above mean high water, the size of the flint and chert shingle varies from pea-sized at the north-west end (by West Bay) to potato-sized at the south-east end (by Portland). It is said that smugglers who landed on the beach in the middle of the night could judge their position by the size of the shingle.3
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The Fleet Lagoon
From West Bay to Cliff End the beach is piled up against the cliff. At Cliff End a hollow forms behind the beach and at Abbotsbury a stretch of saline (or brackish) water called the Fleet lagoon begins. The Fleet is home to many wading birds and Abbotsbury Swannery, and fossils can be found in the sand and mud.
Because of the low population density of nearby areas and their proximity to the naval base on Portland, the beach and the Fleet were used for machine gun training and bouncing bomb testing for Operation Chastise in World War II.
Both Chesil Beach and the Fleet Lagoon are a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and the view of the beach from Abbotsbury has been voted by Country Life magazine as Britain's third best view.
Origin
The origin of Chesil Beach has been argued over for some time.4 Originally it was believed that beach material was from the Budleigh Salterton pebble beds to the west and later from Portland to the south east. The differences between the pebbles on the beach and nearby sources is now put down to the Flandrian isostatic sea level rise, so the feature could also be considered a barrier beach or bar, that happens to connect the mainland to an island rather than a 'true' tombolo. Normally, tombolos are created due to the effects of the island on waves (through refraction) and to sediment transport, which usually produces a beach perpendicular to the mainland rather than parallel to it.
See also
Notes
- ^ A. P. Carr and M. W. L. Blackley, "Investigations Bearing on the Age and Development of Chesil Beach, Dorset, and the Associated Area" Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, No. 58 (March 1973) pp. 99-111.
- ^ The lagoon is 3m at its deepest (Carr and Blackley 1973:99.
- ^ Portland history
- ^ The extensive literature was reviewed by W.J. Arkell, "the geology of the country around WeymouthSwanage, Corfe and Lulworth," Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, 1947, and again, briefly, by Carr and Blackley, 1977.
Photographs
- Weymouth Pictures - Chesil & Portland
- Chesil Beach Photographs
- South West Coast Path, showing shingle grading
 Shoes show size of shingle (chert and flint) |
 Chesil Cove at the Portland end of Chesil Beach |
External links
- Website for Chesil Beach and a number of associated organisations
- Southampton University - Information and Photos
- Denver University - Overview
- Fleet Study Group
- Chesil Beach & The Fleet Special Protection Area
- The Fleet Observer - A Local Charity site providing information on the area
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 28 November 2008, at 15:14.
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