| Chesil Beach and the Fleet |
| Chesil Beach is a stunning shingle bank
that runs the 18 miles from West Bay and Portland and protects the land
behind it. The shingle pebbles differ in size with those at West bay
being pea sized while at the other end at Portland they are the size of
potatoes, which may be put down to the combination of south-westerly
gales and less strong waves from other directions. The name comes from a Saxon word that means pebble or single and the bank itself is 40ft high and 600ft at its base where it connects Portland to the mainland. During the first part of the 17th century attempts were made to dry and drain The Fleet which is a tidal lagoon behind the bank, to make new land for farming. Many shipwrecks have occurred here and seven ships and 200 people once perished in a storm in 1795. The 95 ton sloop Ebenezer was tossed right over the top of the bank in a bad storm in1824. Wreckers were here as well luring the ships onto the bank by means of lights and one ship the Hope of Amsterdam had £50,000 worth of gold in her manifest was wrecked in 1748, the shore was crowded as people fought to the death for the gold in pitch darkness. The village of Fleet was also severely damaged by storms and its little church was replaced by the Church of the Holy Trinity in 1829. This area was also made famous as a setting for J Meade-Faulkner's story Moonfleet. The village of
FLEET
|
