Isle of Portland has curiosities waiting to be discovered

PORTLAND is an explorer's island with curiosities of history and folklore just waiting to be discovered.

It is a stark and striking tilted table of limestone four and a half miles long and one and three quarter miles wide rising to nearly 500 feet before sloping gently southwards towards Portland Bill.

Joined to the mainland of Weymouth by the Chesil Beach and a public road bridge, the Isle has scenery and a quality of isolation that contrasts dramatically with neighbouring Weymouth.

The Island is probably best known for Portland Bill and the famous 135-foot lighthouse (although there are two other, earlier, lighthouses nearby).

Portland, ancient Royal Manor and almost an island, is also at the very heart of Dorset's famous Jurassic Coast. It has few trees, extensive quarries and a stark beauty. It is now central to the Dorset coastline's World Heritage Site status.

The coast path around Portland

The Isle and Royal Manor of Portland, known to Thomas Hardy as the Isle of Slingers has three castles, three lighthouses, wildlife in abundance, tiny coves, sheer cliffs and excellent sporting facilities.

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The former naval base has changed ownership and is known as Portland Port. It is fast becoming a booming industrial and maritime area.

There are two pebble beaches on Portland. Church Ope Cove: access adjacent to Portland Museum, off Wakeham. The way to it is via an archway to Rufus Castle and down 153 steps cut into the cliff face. And of course, there is Chesil Beach.

These waters are a haven for fishermen and divers. Both onshore and in the marine environment, plants and animals provide a wealth of interest for visitors to Chesil Beach and Portland.

The area's unique geology and its position are ideal for a wide variety of birds, animals and plant life. Many parts of the Island, including the whole of the coastline, are designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest, and the Chesil Beach and the Fleet lagoon are of international conservation importance.

Tout Quarry, Portland

Portland is a haven for watersports. The Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy is based at the entrance to the island and hosts many top international events. The harbour has excellent waters for windsurfing. There are RYA beginner and improver courses, board and wet suit hire. The Harbour provides safe sailing waters with tuition and courses for all levels of experience.

There is also much to hold a diver spellbound. Head for a seabed covered with marine life and hundreds of wrecks, from fine liners to submarines. Boats can be hired for offshore reef and wreck diving plus lessons and equipment available from dive centres in and around the area. Portland Harbour is also perfect for canoeing and rowing, and water skiing is allowed in designated areas.

Portland Castle in the1920s (Image: Weymouth Museum)

Portland is considered to be the top spot for sea angling in Britain, according to the experts. Portland's coves, rocky outcrops and Chesil Beach offer many different opportunities to fish.

The only two surviving Mulberry Harbours built to provide temporary harbours for the 1944 D-Day landings stand in Portland Harbour. Each of these giant concrete structures is more than 200 feet long and weighs nearly 8,000 tons. Others were sent to the Netherlands in the 1950s to be used a sea defences.

READ MORE: 'Exploring Dorset coastline between Lulworth and Bowleaze' 

The thatched Avice's Cottage at Wakeham, Portland, dates from 1640 and houses Portland Museum, but was once home to contraception pioneer Dr Marie Stopes.

She gave the cottage to the island and was the museum's first curator. She was also renowned for swimming in the deadly tide-race off the Bill and her ashes were scatted in the sea there after her death in 1958.

The perfectly preserved Portland Castle - with walls 14 feet thick in places - was built by Henry VIII in 1540 as part of his coastal defence system against invasion by the French. It has commanding views over the harbour and today is an ancient monument open to the public.

Portland Stone is still being quarried today and is famous the world over after being used for buildings as diverse as St Paul's Cathedral, Broadcasting House and the United Nations Building in New York. Quarrying is believed to have begun in the Stone Age and the oldest stone construction on the island is the floor of the Culverwell Mesolithic site, circa 5200BC.

One word not to mention within earshot of a Portlander is 'rabbit'. The origins of the superstition that the word in unlucky remain unclear. It may have been beliefs transferred from the sacred hare in Celtic times or something to do with perceived damage rabbits did to quarries.

Portland Bill on a hot summer's day

The controversial prison ship HMP The Weare first appeared at Portland in early 1997 to howls of protest but quickly became as much an unlikely tourist attraction and the answer to Britain's overcrowded jails. The hulking, grey four-storey high metal box was decommissioned within eight years. Much to the chagrin of locals who had learned to love it.

Britain's biggest peace-time evacuation took place on April 3, 1995 when 4,000 people were moved from their homes after an unexploded wartime bomb was found under Portland United FC's ground at Tophill.

Hero of the day was Royal Engineer bomb disposal expert, Capt Mike Lobb, who spent 31 hours without sleep defusing the 1,000-pound German device.

'Still Falling' at Tout Quarry

Tout Quarry Sculpture Park, a quarry at Tophill turned into a working arts attraction in 1983, offers a cross section through the Island's geological story alongside a collection of carvings. Tout is an ancient word for a lookout.

Portland Bill Picture: Jonathon Hine

The giant breakwaters of Portland Harbour - the largest man-made structure in Dorset - were laid in Victorian times and provided four square miles of safe, deep water for the Navy.

The wreck of the First World War battleship HMS Hood lies at the entrance to the southern access - scuttled in November 1914 to prevent attack by submarine.