Tilly Whim Caves

Tilly Whim Caves
Tilly Whim Caves
	Tilly Whim quarry and caves, from the coast path
	Map showing location of Tilly Whim Caves in Dorset.
Location	Durlston Country Park, 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Swanage, on the Isle of Purbeck, in Dorset, southern England
Coordinates	50°35′33″N1°57′27″W / 50.592511°N 1.957519°W
Geology	Mesozoic Limestone
Entrances	1
Access	Closed to the public

Last updated September 05, 2023

Tilly Whim Caves consists of three stone quarries in Durlston Country Park, 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Swanage, on the Isle of Purbeck, in Dorset, southern England. The Tilly Whim Caves are a part of the Jurassic Coast.

The name "Tilly Whim" may have been derived from a former quarryman, George Tilly, and the type of primitive wooden crane used at the time, known as a "whim",^[1] also called a derrick or gibbet. However, Tilly Whim lies at the southern end of the Manor of Eightholds and there is a common field called Tilly Mead at the northern end of the estate.^[2]

History

Tilly Whim Caves were limestone quarries that were worked predominantly during the eighteenth century. Purbeck Stone, a valuable type of limestone, was extracted from the Tilly Whim caves. Using only metal punches, wedges and hammers to split the rock into workable blocks, the quarrymen mined the stone horizontally out of the cliff face. The quarrymen were also skilled stonemasons. They worked most of the stone within the quarry, either to building blocks or into finished items, for example as troughs or sinks. Using a "whim", a special type of wooden crane, the finished stonework was lowered from the quarry ledges to the boats below. The boats either shipped the stone directly to the stone yards on Swanage Quay or transferred them to a large sailing ketches anchored offshore.^[3]

Purbeck stone was used extensively during the Napoleonic wars for building fortifications along the entire south coast of England. As the war ended, however, the demand for stone slumped and the quarries were closed. The caves have not been quarried since 1812.^[4] In 1887 George Burt opened Tilly Whim caves as a tourist attraction for his Durlston estate. In 1976 the caves were closed to the public completely, being considered too dangerous due to rock falls.

Today the caves are an undisturbed roost for bats. The cliffs and ledges are nesting grounds for seabirds. The area surrounding Tilly Whim is also a look out point for marine life, including grey seals and dolphins. However, the area is still popular with fishermen and "tombstoners".

Notable visitors

The poet T. S. Eliot visited the Tilly Whim Caves in 1914 while studying at Merton College, Oxford.^[5]

Related Research Articles

Swanage is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck and one of its two towns, approximately 6+1⁄4 miles (10 km) south of Poole and 25 miles (40 km) east of Dorchester. In the 2011 census the civil parish had a population of 9,601. Nearby are Ballard Down and Old Harry Rocks, with Studland Bay and Poole Harbour to the north. Within the parish are Durlston Bay and Durlston Country Park to the south of the town. The parish also includes the areas of Herston, just to the west of the town, and Durlston, just to the south.

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.

Durdle Door is a natural limestone arch on the Jurassic Coast near Lulworth in Dorset, England. It is privately owned by the Weld Family who own the Lulworth Estate, but it is also open to the public.

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.

Durlston Country Park is a 320-acre country park and nature reserve stretching along the coast of the Isle of Purbeck on the outskirts of Swanage in Dorset, England. The park is a popular destination for tourists to enjoy the walks, views, visitor centre, climbing, and wildlife, including Durlston Castle, the Great Globe, Tilly Whim Caves, and Anvil Point Lighthouse. It is a gateway to the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, forms part of the 630 mile South West Coast Path, and is owned by Dorset Council.

Worth Matravers is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. The village is situated on the cliffs west of Swanage. It comprises limestone cottages and farm houses and is built around a pond, which is a regular feature on postcards of the Isle of Purbeck.

Dancing Ledge is part of the Jurassic Coast near Langton Matravers in the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, England. Dancing Ledge is a flat area of rock at the base of a small cliff. A little scrambling is required for access. It is signposted on the South West Coast Path a few kilometres west of Swanage. Dancing Ledge is so called because at certain stages of the tide when the waves wash over the horizontal surface, the surface undulations cause the water to bob about making the ledge appear to dance.

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.

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.

Durlston Bay is a small bay next to a country park of the same name, just south of the resort of Swanage, on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, England. It has been a renowned site for Lower Cretaceous fossils since the initial discovery of fragments there by Samuel Beckles in the 1850s.

Purbeck stone refers to building stone taken from a series of limestone beds found in the Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous Purbeck Group, found on the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset in southern England. The best known variety of this stone is Purbeck Marble. The stone has been quarried since at least Roman times up to the present day.

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.

Beer Quarry Caves is a man-made limestone underground complex located about a mile west of the village of Beer, Devon, and the main source in England for beer stone. The tunnels resulted from 2,000 years of quarrying beer stone, which was particularly favoured for cathedral and church features such as door and window surrounds because of its colour and workability for carving. Stone from the quarry was used in the construction of several of southern England's ancient cathedrals and a number of other important buildings as well as for many town and village churches, and for some buildings in the United States. Extraction was particularly intense during the Middle Ages, but continued until the 1920s. An adit to another set of workings can be seen from the South West Coast Path east of Branscombe, having been exposed by a landslip in the late 18th century. The quarry is part of the Jurassic Coast, and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Anvil Point is part of the Jurassic Coast on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, England. It is within the grounds of Durlston Country Park and is about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from Swanage town centre. Anvil Point Lighthouse is located on the point.

The Great Globe at Swanage is one of the largest stone spheres in the world and stands at Durlston Castle within Durlston Country Park, a 113-hectare (280-acre) country park and nature reserve. It is constructed of Portland stone, weighs about 40 tonnes and is 3 metres (10 ft) in diameter.

Durlston Castle stands within Durlston Country Park, a 1.13 square-kilometre (280-acre) country park and nature reserve stretching along the coastline south of Swanage, on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset.

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.

The Lulworth Formation is a geologic formation in England. It dates from the late Tithonian to the mid Berriasian. It is a subunit of the Purbeck Group. In Dorset, it consists of three members, which are in ascending order, the Mupe Member, the Ridgway Member, and the Warbarrow Tout Member. The Mupe Member is typically 11 to 16 m thick and largely consists of marls and micrites with interbeds of calcareous mudstone. The Ridgeway Member is about 3 to 7 m thick and consists of in its western portion carbonaceous muds, marls and micrites, in the east the muds are replaced by micritic limestone. The Warbarrow Tout Member is 17 to 39 m thick and consists of limestone at the base and micrite and mudstone for the rest of the sequence, this member is the primary source of the vertebrate fossils within the formation. Elsewhere the unit is undifferentiated.

Kimmeridge Ledges is a set of Kimmeridge clay ledges stretching out in to the sea on the Isle of Purbeck, a peninsula on the English Channel coast in Dorset, England.They are located to the southeast of Kimmeridge Bay and south of the villages of Kimmeridge, on the Smedmore Estate.

References

↑ Bruce, Peter (2008). Inshore Along the Dorset Coast (4 ed.). Lymington, England: Boldre Marine. p. 41. ISBN 9781871680416.
↑ Curiosities of Swanage, 2007, Lewer/Calkin, p.23, ISBN 0-905868-19-6
↑ Swanage Past, second edition, 2004 Lewer/Smale p.60-64, ISBN 1-86077-311-7
↑ Swanage Rediscovered, 2007, Amberwood Graphics, Stewart Borrett, p.16, ISBN 0951367617
↑ Brand Blanshard, "Eliot at Oxford", T. S. Eliot: Essays from the "Southern Review" (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989), ed. James Olney, p. 32.

External links

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[1] Bruce, Peter (2008). Inshore Along the Dorset Coast (4 ed.). Lymington, England: Boldre Marine. p. 41. ISBN 9781871680416.

[2] Curiosities of Swanage, 2007, Lewer/Calkin, p.23, ISBN 0-905868-19-6

[3] Swanage Past, second edition, 2004 Lewer/Smale p.60-64, ISBN 1-86077-311-7

[4] Swanage Rediscovered, 2007, Amberwood Graphics, Stewart Borrett, p.16, ISBN 0951367617

[5] Brand Blanshard, "Eliot at Oxford", T. S. Eliot: Essays from the "Southern Review" (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989), ed. James Olney, p. 32.

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