Durdle Door

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Durdle Door
Durdle Door Overview.jpg
Durdle Door in Dorset
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Durdle Door
Location in the UK
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Durdle Door
Durdle Door (the United Kingdom)
Location Jurassic Coast
Nearest town West Lulworth
Coordinates 50°37′16″N2°16′37″W / 50.62114°N 2.27699°W / 50.62114; -2.27699
Width100 ft (30 m)
Elevation200 ft (61 m)

Durdle Door (sometimes written Durdle Dor [1] ) is a natural limestone arch on the Jurassic Coast near Lulworth in Dorset, England. [2] It is privately owned by the Weld Family who own the Lulworth Estate, [3] [4] but it is also open to the public.

Contents

Geology

The form of the coastline around Durdle Door is controlled by its geology—both by the contrasting hardnesses of the rocks, and by the local patterns of faults and folds. [5] The arch has formed on a concordant coastline where bands of rock run parallel to the shoreline. The rock strata are almost vertical, and the bands of rock are quite narrow. Originally a band of resistant Portland limestone ran along the shore, the same band that appears one mile along the coast forming the narrow entrance to Lulworth Cove. [6] Behind this is a 120-metre (390 ft) band of weaker, easily eroded rocks, and behind this is a stronger and much thicker band of chalk, which forms the Purbeck Hills. [5] These steeply dipping rocks are part of the Lulworth crumple, itself part of the broader Purbeck Monocline, produced by the building of the Alps during the mid-Cenozoic. [5] [7]

A 'back view' of the Durdle Door promontory from the east, showing the remnants of the more resistant strata in Man O'War Bay Durdle Door from the east - geograph.org.uk - 14.jpg
A 'back view' of the Durdle Door promontory from the east, showing the remnants of the more resistant strata in Man O'War Bay

The limestone and chalk are in closer proximity at Durdle Door than at Swanage, 10 miles (16 km) to the east, where the distance is over 2 miles (3 km). [8] Around this part of the coast, nearly all of the limestone has been removed by sea erosion, whilst the remainder forms the small headland which includes the arch. Erosion at the western end of the limestone band has resulted in the arch formation. [5] UNESCO teams monitor the condition of both the arch and adjacent beach. [9]

The 120-metre (390 ft) isthmus that joins the limestone to the chalk is made of a 50-metre (160 ft) band of Portland limestone, a narrow and compressed band of Cretaceous Wealden clays and sands, and then narrow bands of greensand and sandstone. [7]

In Man O' War Bay, the small bay immediately east of Durdle Door, the band of Portland and Purbeck limestone has not been entirely eroded and is visible above the waves as Man O'War Rocks. [10] Similarly, offshore to the west, the eroded limestone outcrop forms a line of small rocky islets called (from east to west) The Bull, The Blind Cow, The Cow, and The Calf. [10]

As the coastline in this area is generally an eroding landscape, the cliffs are subject to occasional rockfalls and landslides; a particularly large slide occurred just to the east of Durdle Door in April 2013, destroying a part of the South West Coast Path. [11]

Etymology

There is a dearth of early written records about the arch, [12] though it has kept a name given to it probably over a thousand years ago. [10] In the late 18th century there is a description of the "magnificent arch of Durdle-rock Door", [10] and early 19th-century maps called it "Duddledoor" and "Durdle" or "Dudde Door". In 1811 the first Ordnance Survey map of the area named it "Dirdale Door". [12] Durdle is derived from the Old English thirl, meaning to pierce, [10] bore or drill, [13] which in turn derives from thyrel, meaning hole. [14] Similar names in the region include Durlston Bay and Durlston Head further east, where a coastal stack suggests the existence of an earlier arch, and the Thurlestone, an arched rock in the neighbouring county of Devon to the west. [10] The Door part of the name probably maintains its modern meaning, referring to the arched shape of the rock; [12] in the late 19th century there is a reference to it being called the "Barn-door", and it is described as being "sufficiently high for a good-sized sailing boat to pass through it." [10]

People on the beach show the scale of the arch. The Isle of Portland can be seen on the horizon. Durdle Door (1877).jpg
People on the beach show the scale of the arch. The Isle of Portland can be seen on the horizon.

Music videos have been filmed at Durdle Door, including parts of Tears for Fears' "Shout", Billy Ocean's "Loverboy", Cliff Richard's "Saviour's Day" [13] and Bruce Dickinson's "Tears of the Dragon".

The landscape around Durdle Door has been used in scenes in several films, including Wilde (1997) starring Stephen Fry, [3] [13] Nanny McPhee [3] starring Emma Thompson, the 1967 production of Far From The Madding Crowd [13] (the latter also filmed around nearby Scratchy Bottom), [15] and the Bollywood film Housefull 3 . [16] In 2022, Durdle Door was where the Thirteenth Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) regenerated into the Fourteenth Doctor (David Tennant), in the Doctor Who episode "The Power of the Doctor". [17] Ron Dawson's children's story Scary Bones meets the Dinosaurs of the Jurassic Coast creates a myth of how Durdle Door came to be, as an 'undiscovered' dinosaur called Durdle Doorus is magically transformed into rock. [18]

Dorset-born Arthur Moule, a friend of Thomas Hardy and missionary to China wrote these lines about Durdle Door for his 1879 book of poetry Songs of Heaven and home, written in a foreign Land: [19]

Shall the tide thus ebb and flow forever?
and for evermore
Rave the wave and glance the ripple through the
rocks at Durdle Door?

Durdle Door panorama.jpg
View from cliffs above Durdle Door at dusk with rain approaching over the sea

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jurassic Coast</span> World Heritage Site on the coast of southern England

The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. It stretches from Exmouth in East Devon to Studland Bay in Dorset, a distance of about 96 miles (154 km), and was inscribed on the World Heritage List in mid-December 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lulworth Cove</span> Cove on the Jurassic Coast, England

Lulworth Cove is a cove near the village of West Lulworth, on the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, southern England. The cove is one of the world's finest examples of such a landform, and is a World Heritage Site and tourist location with approximately 500,000 visitors every year, of whom about 30 per cent visit in July and August. It is close to the rock arch of Durdle Door and other Jurassic Coast sites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Discordant coastline</span> Type of coastline

A discordant coastline occurs where bands of different rock types run perpendicular to the coast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isle of Purbeck</span> Peninsula in Dorset, England

The Isle of Purbeck is a peninsula in Dorset, England. It is bordered by water on three sides: the English Channel to the south and east, where steep cliffs fall to the sea; and by the marshy lands of the River Frome and Poole Harbour to the north. Its western boundary is less well defined, with some medieval sources placing it at Flower's Barrow above Worbarrow Bay. John Hutchins, author of The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset, defined Purbeck's western boundary as the Luckford Lake steam, which runs south from the Frome. According to writer and broadcaster Ralph Wightman, Purbeck "is only an island if you accept the barren heaths between Arish Mell and Wareham as cutting off this corner of Dorset as effectively as the sea." The most southerly point is St Alban's Head.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Concordant coastline</span> Type of coastline created by the folding of differing rock layers parallel to the coast

In coastal geography, a concordant, longitudinal, or Pacific type coastline occurs where beds, or layers, of differing rock types are folded into ridges that run parallel to the coast. The outer hard rock provides a protective barrier to erosion of the softer rocks further inland. Sometimes the outer hard rock is punctured, allowing the sea to erode the softer rocks behind. This creates a cove, a circular area of water with a relatively narrow entrance from the sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Purbeck District</span> Former non-metropolitan district in England

Purbeck was a local government district in Dorset, England. The district was named after the Isle of Purbeck, a peninsula that forms a large proportion of the district's area. However, it extended significantly further north and west than the traditional boundary of the Isle of Purbeck which is the River Frome. The district council was based in the town of Wareham, which is itself north of the Frome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Harry Rocks</span> Coastal chalk formations in Dorset, England

Old Harry Rocks are three chalk formations, including a stack and a stump, located at Handfast Point, on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, southern England. They mark the most eastern point of the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Lulworth</span> Human settlement in England

West Lulworth is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset, situated on the English Channel beside Lulworth Cove. In the 2011 census the civil parish—which includes most of Lulworth Camp army base—had 291 households and a population of 714. The village is a gateway to the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site and is a popular tourist destination, especially for day trips.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geology of Dorset</span>

Dorset is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. Covering an area of 2,653 square kilometres (1,024 sq mi); it borders Devon to the west, Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north-east, and Hampshire to the east. The great variation in its landscape owes much to the underlying geology, which includes an almost unbroken sequence of rocks from 200 to 40 million years ago (Mya) and superficial deposits from 2 Mya to the present. In general, the oldest rocks appear in the far west of the county, with the most recent (Eocene) in the far east. Jurassic rocks also underlie the Blackmore Vale and comprise much of the coastal cliff in the west and south of the county; although younger Cretaceous rocks crown some of the highpoints in the west, they are mainly to be found in the centre and east of the county.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Purbeck Hills</span> Chalk ridge in Dorset, England

The Purbeck Hills, also called the Purbeck Ridge or simply the Purbecks, are a ridge of chalk downs in Dorset, England. The ridge is formed by the structure known as the Purbeck Monocline, and extends from Lulworth Cove in the west to Old Harry Rocks in the east, where it meets the sea. The hills are part of a system of chalk downlands in southern England formed from the Chalk Group which also includes Salisbury Plain and the South Downs. For most of their length the chalk of the Purbeck Hills is protected from coastal erosion by a band of resistant Portland limestone. Where this band ends, at Durlston Head, the clay and chalk behind has been eroded, creating Poole Bay and the Solent. The ridge of steeply dipping chalk that forms the Purbeck Hills continues further east on the Isle of Wight.

Purbeck Marble is a fossiliferous limestone found in the Isle of Purbeck, a peninsula in south-east Dorset, England. It is a variety of Purbeck stone that has been quarried since at least Roman times as a decorative building stone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Purbeck Group</span> Stratigraphic Group in England

The Purbeck Group is an Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous lithostratigraphic group in south-east England. The name is derived from the district known as the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset where the strata are exposed in the cliffs west of Swanage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Worbarrow Bay</span>

Worbarrow Bay is a large broad and shallow bay just to the east of Lulworth Cove on the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Man o' War Cove</span> Bay on the Dorset coast in southern England

Man o' War Cove lies on the Dorset coast in southern England and is flanked by the rocky, steep and slightly projecting headlands of Durdle Door to the west and Man O War Head to the east. Its name is believed to be a corruption of the Brythonic 'Men-an-Vawr'

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swyre Head, Lulworth</span>

Swyre Head, Lulworth is a hill and sea cliff which lies on the Jurassic Coast between Bat's Head to the west and Durdle Door to the east, close to Lulworth in Dorset, England. It is located approximately 8 miles (12.9 km) east of Weymouth and 14 miles (22.5 km) west of Swanage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cow Corner</span>

Cow Corner is the north-western end of Worbarrow Bay, a small secluded bay on the south coast of the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flower's Barrow</span>

Flower’s Barrow is an Iron Age hillfort, built over 2500 years ago, above Worbarrow Bay in Dorset on the south coast of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Dorset</span>

Dorset is a county located in the middle of the south coast of England. It lies between the latitudes 50.512°N and 51.081°N and the longitudes 1.682°W and 2.958°W, and occupies an area of 2,653 km2. It spans 90 kilometres (56 mi) from east to west and 63 kilometres (39 mi) from north to south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Pinnacles (Dorset)</span>

The Pinnacles are two chalk formations, including a stack and a stump, located near Handfast Point, on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, southern England.

References

  1. ↑ Crane, Nicholas (2010). Coast: Our Island Story: A Journey of Discovery Around Britain's Coastline. BBC Books.
  2. ↑ West, I.W., 2003. "Durdle Door; Geology of the Dorset Coast Archived 7 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine ". Southampton University, UK. Version H.07.09.03.
  3. 1 2 3 Aislinn Simpson (13 August 2009). "UAE hotel draws condemnation over use of Durdle Door image on website". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  4. ↑ "The Purbeck Gazette". Archived from the original on 15 September 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Nowell, D. A. G. "The geology of Lulworth Cove, Dorset." Geology Today 14 (1998): 71–74.
  6. ↑ "Lulworth Cove & Crumple – a geography pilgrimage". jurassiccoast.org. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
  7. 1 2 Phillips, W. J. (1964). "The structures in the Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks on the Dorset coast between White Nothe and Mupe Bay". Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. 75 (4). 373-IN1. doi:10.1016/S0016-7878(64)80019-5.
  8. ↑ Arkell, W. J., 1947. The geology of the country around Weymouth, Swanage, Corfe, and Lulworth. Mem. geol. Surv. UK
  9. ↑ "Monitoring the coast". jurassiccoast.org. Archived from the original on 8 November 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Ian West. "Durdle Door, West of Lulworth Cove, Dorset. Geology of the Wessex Coast of Southern England". Archived from the original on 29 July 2017. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  11. ↑ "Dorset coast path collapse: 'Massive' cliff fall near Durdle Door". BBC News . 30 April 2013. Archived from the original on 16 October 2021. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
  12. 1 2 3 "Locations: Durdle Door". the dorsetpage.com. 2000. Archived from the original on 5 January 2012. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  13. 1 2 3 4 "Durdle Door". worldheritagecoast.net. Archived from the original on 5 July 2012. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  14. ↑ Patrick Hanks, ed. (1985). Collins English Dictionary. William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. ISBN   0 00 433078-1.
  15. ↑ "Far from the Madding Crowd (1967) — Filming locations". IMDb . Archived from the original on 1 June 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
  16. ↑ "IDWLF on Twitter" . Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  17. ↑ Taylor, Mike (23 October 2022). "Doctor Who: Jodie Whittaker regenerates on Durdle Door in shock ending". Dorset Live. Archived from the original on 23 October 2022. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  18. ↑ Book Description on Amazon.co.uk. ASIN   0956173241.
  19. ↑ Moule, Arthur Evans (1879). Songs of Heaven and Home, Written in a Foreign Land. p. 22.

Further reading

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