West Bay, Dorset
West Bay | ||
---|---|---|
Shire county | ||
Region | ||
Country | England | |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom | |
Post town | BRIDPORT | |
Postcode district | DT6 | |
Police | Dorset | |
Fire | Dorset and Wiltshire | |
Ambulance | South Western | |
UK Parliament | ||
West Bay, originally known as Bridport Harbour, is a small harbour settlement and resort on the English Channel coast in Dorset, England, sited at the mouth of the River Brit approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south of Bridport. The area is part of the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site.
The harbour at West Bay is not a natural landscape feature and it has a long history of having been silted up, blocked by shingle and damaged by storms, and each time repairs, improvements and enlargements have subsequently been made. The harbour has been moved twice: it was originally 1 mile (1.6 km) inland, then was moved to the coast beside the East Cliff, then was moved again 270 metres (300 yd) along the coast to the west, where it is located today.
The previous main commercial trade of the harbour—exporting Bridport's ropes and nets—declined in the second half of the 19th century. When the railway arrived in 1884, attempts were made to provide the settlement with the facilities of a resort, and today West Bay has a mixed economy of tourism and fishing.
History
Bridport historically needed a harbour to export its principal products, rope and nets.
In 1388 John Huderesfeld, a local merchant, started building a new harbour and levied a toll on goods loaded and unloaded.
By the 18th century the small harbour was ill-equipped to deal with the increasing size of ships, plus the problems of silting and storm damage had never been fully resolved, so in 1740 work commenced on building another new harbour 270 metres (300 yd) to the west.[3][4] This is the site of the harbour as seen today. Two piers, extending as far as the low tide mark, were constructed to house the harbour. The river was also diverted to run between the piers. The work cost £3,500 and was undertaken by John Reynolds of Cheshire. It was supposed to have taken only two years, but the new harbour didn't open officially until 1744. It could hold forty sailing ships.[6]
Shipbuilding yards were set up west of the new harbour. They constructed a variety of vessels including
Around 1865 the wooden piers were rebuilt in stone and the sluices were rebuilt.[9] Despite these improvements however, trade at the harbour had begun to decline. Bridport's rope and nets were in less demand, and sailing ships were being supplanted by steam-powered vessels.[9] In addition, the Great Western Railway's Bridport Railway had reached Bridport in 1857, and started taking the harbour's trade. The amount of harbour dues taken showed the extent of the decline: in 1881 they amounted to only 10% of those collected half a century before.[9]
The railway was extended from Bridport to Bridport Harbour in 1884. The railway company named the
Between 1919 and 1930, coinciding with increased car ownership and personal mobility, new housing was built on the hillslope to the west of the harbour, on the landward side of West Cliff.[14] The railway line between West Bay and Bridport closed to passengers in 1930, and operated for goods services only until its final closure in 1962.[15][16] The station however was restored in the 1980s, and two old railway coaches have been installed on a short length of relaid track.[11] In the second half of the 20th century further residential and tourism-related development occurred around the harbour and old shipbuilding area: new houses were built, old buildings were converted into cafés and shops, and several car parks were created.[8]
At the start of the 21st century, as part of a new coastal defence scheme, the harbour's west pier was replaced and the east pier rebuilt; the work was completed in March 2005.[17] The new west pier is named the Jurassic Pier. The scheme extended the facilities of the harbour, with a new slipway and outer harbour. This has enabled the harbour to be used on the 50% of days when southerly swell conditions occur, which previously was not possible.[11] After the construction work a small regeneration scheme was implemented, with new housing—called Quay West—built on the west side of the harbour, on part of the old shipyard area.[11]
Government
West Bay lies within the
At the parish level, West Bay is mostly within the South ward of Bridport Parish, though small areas also lie within the parishes of Symondsbury and Burton Bradstock. The parish authority for Bridport is Bridport Town Council, which is responsible for supplementing local government services and promoting and representing the town. The South ward is represented by nine councillors.[18]
Geography and geology
West Bay is situated at the mouth of the River Brit on the English Channel coast. It is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south of Bridport and 15 miles (24 km) west-northwest of
West Bay is sited on deposits of river alluvium that indicate a former
The cliffs to the east of the harbour are composed of
There are several geological faults in the West Bay area. The Eype Mouth Fault, resulting from movement late in the Cimmerian Orogeny (but probably originating in the Jurassic), has a vertical displacement of 200 metres (660 ft) and is aligned east-west, emerging on the coast obliquely in West Cliff. It is intersected in the Brit Valley by the Mangerton Strike-Slip Fault, a later movement—probably Paleogene or Neogene—which is aligned roughly northeast-southwest.[19]
Coastal defence management
The coast at West Bay is an eroding landscape, with various processes involved. The coastline faces southwest—the direction of the prevailing winds—toward the Atlantic Ocean, where the
Over the decades various initiatives have been put in place to try and protect property and livelihoods. A sea wall was constructed behind the West Beach in 1887, then was rebuilt in 1982.
Despite such measures, serious storm damage or flooding events occurred seven times between 1974 and 1996.[22] Assessments by structural engineers in 2001 concluded that, without remedial action, there was a 50% chance of a major failure of the old piers and sea walls within five years.[22] The recent West Bay Coastal Defence and Harbour Improvements Scheme (construction of the Jurassic Pier and outer harbour) is the latest attempt to solve these problems.
Cliff falls
The production team of Broadchurch was criticised by the West Bay coastguards in June 2014 for filming too close to the edge of East Cliff. Severe weather and recent rock-slides left the cliffs unstable, and a coastguard volunteer said the production team should have used stakes, safety lines, harnesses, and helmets. A spokesperson for the Broadchurch production defended the film crew, noting that the production team had received all necessary filming permits, had visited the site numerous times to ensure safety, and taken other reasonable health and safety precautions.[23]
In 2019, a 1,000-tonne cliff fall at East Cliff was caught on the Environment Agency's CCTV. A group of walkers were nearby at the time but were not injured.[24]
Economy
West Bay is a centre for fishing, tourism (focused on boats and the beach) and geology.[19]
Tourism and leisure
Fishing trips are available in the summer, including deep sea fishing. Boats can also be hired to row up the River Brit towards Bridport. The harbour has a secure boat park, holding up to seventy boats and entered via an electronic fob system; it is located behind the George Hotel and operates a waiting-list system.[25]
The West Bay area has a number of local
The Bridport and West Dorset Golf Club, situated on top of the east cliff, has a full 18-hole course.
The West Bay Discovery Centre is a small museum located in the historic (Grade II listed[26]) former Methodist Church telling the history of West Bay.[27][28]
Filming location
West Bay beach was used in the introduction to the BBC television series The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin[29] and for location filming in the television series Harbour Lights. The town, harbour, and beach were used as locations in The Navy Lark and the 2013 ITV series Broadchurch.[30] The West Bay and Bridport area experienced an increase in visitor numbers following transmission of Broadchurch; in one survey of sixty tourism-related local businesses, over three-quarters of respondents stated that trade had increased in 2013, and nearly half of these attributed this to Broadchurch.[31] Very short portions of the second and third series were also filmed in the area.[32]
Literary reference
West Bay is mentioned in Thomas Hardy's The Trumpet-Major.
See also
- List of Dorset beaches
- St John's Church, West Bay
- Water polo in Dorset
- West Bay, Dorset railway station
- West Bay Methodist Church
References
- ^ a b Eastwood, p12
- ^ Eastwood, p8
- ^ a b Eastwood, p7
- ^ a b c d Eastwood, p13
- ^ "'Market Privileges 1386–1390', Borough Market Privileges: The hinterland of medieval London, c.1400 (2006)". British History Online. University of London & History of Parliament Trust. November 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
- ^ Eastwood, p9
- ^ a b c Eastwood, p10
- ^ a b c West Dorset District Council. "A Vision for West Bay – Regeneration Framework". Dorset County Council. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
- ^ a b c Eastwood, p11
- ^ Eastwood, p6
- ^ a b c d Colin Varndell (August 2008). "West Bay". Dorset Life Magazine. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
- ^ Lefaivre, L Tzonis, A (2012) Architecture of Regionalism in the Age of Globalization: Peaks and Valleys in the Flat World, Routledge, P109
- ISBN 0-7091-8135-3.
- ISBN 0-7090-0844-9.
- ^ Bridport Railway at westbay.co.uk
- ^ West Bay station at Disused Stations
- ^ a b c Ian M West (17 March 2014). "West Bay, Bridport Harbour, Dorset – Harbour and Beach". Geology of the Wessex Coast of Southern England. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
- ^ a b "Role of the Council". Bridport Town Council. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
- ^ a b c d Ian West (June 2013). "West Cliff or Watton Cliff, Bridport to Eype Mouth". Geology of the Wessex Coast of Southern England. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
- ^ "2. Coastal geology". Dorset County Council. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
- ^ a b c d e "3. Coastal erosion processes". Dorset County Council. 11 April 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
- ^ a b c "5. Coastal flooding at West Bay – assessing the risk". Dorset County Council. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
- ^ Furness, Hannah (8 June 2014). "Broadchurch crew criticised for 'unnecessary, silly risk' by filming at dangerous cliff edge". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 9 June 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
- ^ "Beach walkers just seconds from death as huge cliff face falls behind them". Metro. 15 March 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
- ^ "Bridport (West Bay) harbour – boat and trailer parking". Dorset County Council. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
- ^ "METHODIST CHURCH, Bridport - 1228760 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
- ^ "West Bay Discovery Centre | West Bay, Bridport, DORSET". englandscoast.com. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
- ^ "West Bay Discovery Centre". West Bay Discovery Centre. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
- ^ The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin at Comedy England. Retrieved January 2009
- ^ "ITV drama 'Broadchurch' boosts Dorset tourism | West Country (E) – ITV News". Itv.com. 25 March 2013. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
- ^ Exeter University Business School. "The Impact of Broadchurch on Business in West Dorset (2013)". Dorset Tourism Data. www.visit-dorset.com. p. 3. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
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- John Eastwood, The West Bay Book, Winterbourne Publications
External links
- West Bay at Curlie