Durdle Door: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Durdle Door Overview.jpg|thumb|350px|Durdle Door, Dorset]] | [[File:Durdle Door Overview.jpg|thumb|350px|Durdle Door, Dorset]] | ||
{{county|Dorset}} | {{county|Dorset}} | ||
'''Durdle Door''' is a natural limestone arch on the [[Jurassic Coast]] of [[Dorset]], near [[West | '''Durdle Door''' is a natural limestone arch on the [[Jurassic Coast]] of [[Dorset]], near [[West Lulworth]]. It is privately owned by the Lulworth Estate,<ref name=telegraph>{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/unitedarabemirates/6022473/UAE-hotel-draws-condemnation-over-use-of-Durdle-Door-image-on-website.html|title=UAE hotel draws condemnation over use of Durdle Door image on website|author=Aislinn Simpson|date=13 August 2009|accessdate=8 August 2013|location=London|work=The Daily Telegraph}}</ref> which owns 12,000 acres in Dorset.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Purbeck Gazette|url=http://www.purbeck-gazette.co.uk/news/info.aspx?f=885|accessdate=6 April 2012}}</ref> The arch is open to the public. | ||
==Name== | ==Name== | ||
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==Geology== | ==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.<ref name="Nowell">Nowell, D. A. G. "The geology of Lulworth Cove, Dorset." Geology Today 14 (1998): 71–74.</ref> The arch has formed on a concordant coastline where bands of rock (geology)|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]].<ref name="ParkGeology">{{cite web|url=http://jurassiccoast.org/find-out-about/226-geo-highlights/619-lulworth-cove-aamp-crumple-a-geography-pilgrimage |title=Lulworth Cove & Crumple - a geography pilgrimage|accessdate=12 August 2013|publisher=jurassiccoast.org}}</ref> Behind this is a | 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.<ref name="Nowell">Nowell, D. A. G. "The geology of Lulworth Cove, Dorset." Geology Today 14 (1998): 71–74.</ref> The arch has formed on a concordant coastline where bands of rock (geology)|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]].<ref name="ParkGeology">{{cite web|url=http://jurassiccoast.org/find-out-about/226-geo-highlights/619-lulworth-cove-aamp-crumple-a-geography-pilgrimage |title=Lulworth Cove & Crumple - a geography pilgrimage|accessdate=12 August 2013|publisher=jurassiccoast.org}}</ref> Behind this is a 390-foot band of weaker, easily eroded rocks, and behind this is a stronger and much thicker band of chalk, which forms the [[Purbeck Hills]].<ref name="Nowell" /> These steeply dipping rocks are part of the geological structure known as the '''Lulworth crumple''', itself part of a broader monocline (a kinked type of geological fold) produced by the building of the Alps during the mid-Cenozoic.<ref name="Nowell" /><ref name="Phillips" /> | ||
[[File:Durdle_Door_from_the_east_-_geograph.org.uk_-_14.jpg|right|thumb|250px|A 'back view' of the Durdle Door promontory from the east, showing the visible remnants of the more resistant strata in Man O'War Bay]] | [[File:Durdle_Door_from_the_east_-_geograph.org.uk_-_14.jpg|right|thumb|250px|A 'back view' of the Durdle Door promontory from the east, showing the visible 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 to the east, where the distance is over | The limestone and chalk are in closer proximity at Durdle Door than at [[Swanage]], 10 miles to the east, where the distance is over two miles.<ref>Arkell, W. J., 1947. The geology of the country around Weymouth, Swanage, Corfe and Lulworth. Mem. geol. Surv. UK</ref> There are at least three reasons for this. Firstly, the beds are highly inclined (whilst more gently inclined at Swanage). Secondly, some of the beds have been cut out by faulting; and thirdly, the area around Durdle Door seems to have had shallower water at the time of deposition than comparable geological sections, so thinner bands of sediments were deposited. | ||
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.<ref name="Nowell" /> UNESCO teams monitor the condition of both the arch and adjacent beach.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jurassiccoast.org/conserving-the-coast/monitoring-the-coast |title=Monitoring the coast|publisher=jurassiccoast.org|accessdate=12 August 2013}}</ref> | 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.<ref name="Nowell" /> UNESCO teams monitor the condition of both the arch and adjacent beach.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jurassiccoast.org/conserving-the-coast/monitoring-the-coast |title=Monitoring the coast|publisher=jurassiccoast.org|accessdate=12 August 2013}}</ref> | ||
The isthmus | The isthmus 390 feet high which joins the limestone to the chalk is made of a 160-foot band of Portland limestone, a narrow and compressed band of Cretaceous Wealden clays and sands, and then narrow bands of Greensand and sandstone.<ref name="Phillips">Phillips, W. J. "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 (1964): 373-IN1.</ref> | ||
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 away, and is visible above the waves as Man O'War Rocks.<ref name=west2>{{cite web|url=http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~imw/durdle.htm|title=Durdle Door, West of Lulworth Cove, Dorset. Geology of the Wessex Coast of Southern England|author=Ian West|accessdate=10 August 2013}}</ref> 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.<ref name=west2/> | 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 away, and is visible above the waves as Man O'War Rocks.<ref name=west2>{{cite web|url=http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~imw/durdle.htm|title=Durdle Door, West of Lulworth Cove, Dorset. Geology of the Wessex Coast of Southern England|author=Ian West|accessdate=10 August 2013}}</ref> 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.<ref name=west2/> | ||
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Music videos have been filmed at Durdle Door, including parts of Tears for Fears' ''Shout'' and Cliff Richard's ''Saviour's Day''. | Music videos have been filmed at Durdle Door, including parts of Tears for Fears' ''Shout'' and Cliff Richard's ''Saviour's Day''. | ||
The landscape around Durdle Door has been used in scenes in several films, including ''Wilde'' (1997),<ref name=telegraph/> ''Nanny McPhee'',<ref name=telegraph/> and the 1967 production of ''Far from the Madding Crowd'' | The landscape around Durdle Door has been used in scenes in several films, including ''Wilde'' (1997),<ref name=telegraph/> ''Nanny McPhee'',<ref name=telegraph/> and the 1967 production of ''Far from the Madding Crowd'' (the latter also filmed around nearby [[Scratchy Bottom]]).<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061648/locations | title=Far from the Madding Crowd (1967) — Filming locations | accessdate=25 October 2008}}</ref> | ||
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.<ref name="Dawson Amazon.co.uk">{{cite web|title=Book Description on Amazon.co.uk|url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Amazing-Adventures-Scary-Bones-Skeleton/dp/0956173241|accessdate=9 August 2013}}</ref> | 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.<ref name="Dawson Amazon.co.uk">{{cite web|title=Book Description on Amazon.co.uk|url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Amazing-Adventures-Scary-Bones-Skeleton/dp/0956173241|accessdate=9 August 2013}}</ref> | ||
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==Outside links== | ==Outside links== | ||
{{commons}} | {{commons}} | ||
*Location map: {{wmap|50.62111|-2.27667|zoom=14|name=Durdle Door}} | |||
*[http://www.southwestcoastalgroup.org.uk/cc_how_arches.html "Caves, Arches & Stacks" Southwest Coastal Group] | *[http://www.southwestcoastalgroup.org.uk/cc_how_arches.html "Caves, Arches & Stacks" Southwest Coastal Group] | ||
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX6dUUz6PqY& "Durdle Door: Past and future" animation] | *[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX6dUUz6PqY& "Durdle Door: Past and future" animation] | ||
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* Davies, G.M., 1956. ''A Geological Guide to the Dorset Coast, 2nd ed.''. London: Adam & Charles Black. | * Davies, G.M., 1956. ''A Geological Guide to the Dorset Coast, 2nd ed.''. London: Adam & Charles Black. | ||
* Perkins, J.W., 1977. ''Geology Explained in Dorset''. London: David & Charles. | * Perkins, J.W., 1977. ''Geology Explained in Dorset''. London: David & Charles. | ||
[[Category:Jurassic Coast]] | [[Category:Jurassic Coast]] | ||
[[Category:Natural arches in the United Kingdom]] | |||
Latest revision as of 12:27, 19 October 2021
Durdle Door is a natural limestone arch on the Jurassic Coast of Dorset, near West Lulworth. It is privately owned by the Lulworth Estate,[1] which owns 12,000 acres in Dorset.[2] The arch is open to the public.
Name
There is a dearth of early written records about the arch,[3] though it has kept a name given to it probably over a thousand years ago.[4] In the late eighteenth century there is a description of the "magnificent arch of Durdle-rock Door",[4] and early nineteenth-century maps called it 'Duddledoor' and 'Durdle' or 'Dudde Door'. In 1811 the first Ordnance Survey map of the area named it as 'Dirdale Door'.[3]
'Durdle' appears to be derived from the Old English 'þyrel', meaning “hole”.[5] 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, Devon, to the west.[4] The 'Door' part of the name probably maintains its modern meaning, referring to the arched shape of the rock;[3] in the late nineteenth century there is reference to it being called the "Barn-door", and is described as being "sufficiently high for a good-sized sailing boat to pass through it."[4]
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.[6] The arch has formed on a concordant coastline where bands of rock (geology)|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.[7] Behind this is a 390-foot band of weaker, easily eroded rocks, and behind this is a stronger and much thicker band of chalk, which forms the Purbeck Hills.[6] These steeply dipping rocks are part of the geological structure known as the Lulworth crumple, itself part of a broader monocline (a kinked type of geological fold) produced by the building of the Alps during the mid-Cenozoic.[6][8]
The limestone and chalk are in closer proximity at Durdle Door than at Swanage, 10 miles to the east, where the distance is over two miles.[9] There are at least three reasons for this. Firstly, the beds are highly inclined (whilst more gently inclined at Swanage). Secondly, some of the beds have been cut out by faulting; and thirdly, the area around Durdle Door seems to have had shallower water at the time of deposition than comparable geological sections, so thinner bands of sediments were deposited.
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.[6] UNESCO teams monitor the condition of both the arch and adjacent beach.[10]
The isthmus 390 feet high which joins the limestone to the chalk is made of a 160-foot band of Portland limestone, a narrow and compressed band of Cretaceous Wealden clays and sands, and then narrow bands of Greensand and sandstone.[8]
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 away, and is visible above the waves as Man O'War Rocks.[4] 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.[4]
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, resulting in destruction of part of the South West Coast Path.[11]
In literature and popular culture
Music videos have been filmed at Durdle Door, including parts of Tears for Fears' Shout and Cliff Richard's Saviour's Day.
The landscape around Durdle Door has been used in scenes in several films, including Wilde (1997),[1] Nanny McPhee,[1] and the 1967 production of Far from the Madding Crowd (the latter also filmed around nearby Scratchy Bottom).[12]
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.[13]
A Dorset-born missionary to China, Arthur Moule, who was a friend of Thomas Hardy, wrote these lines about Durdle Door for his 1879 book of poetry Songs of heaven and home, written in a foreign land:[14]
Shall the tide thus ebb and flow for ever?
and for evermore
Rave the wave and glance the ripple through the
rocks at Durdle Door?
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Durdle Door) |
- Location map: 50°37’16"N, 2°16’36"W
- "Caves, Arches & Stacks" Southwest Coastal Group
- "Durdle Door: Past and future" animation
- Section of Lulworth Crumple, labelled diagram by Ian West (2013)
- Durdle Door Educational Activity Sheet for Kids at EasyScienceforKids.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Aislinn Simpson (13 August 2009). "UAE hotel draws condemnation over use of Durdle Door image on website". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/unitedarabemirates/6022473/UAE-hotel-draws-condemnation-over-use-of-Durdle-Door-image-on-website.html. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
- ↑ "The Purbeck Gazette". http://www.purbeck-gazette.co.uk/news/info.aspx?f=885. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Locations: Durdle Door". the dorsetpage.com. 2000. http://www.thedorsetpage.com/locations/place/D050.htm. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Ian West. "Durdle Door, West of Lulworth Cove, Dorset. Geology of the Wessex Coast of Southern England". http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~imw/durdle.htm. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
- ↑ Patrick Hanks, ed (1985). Collins English Dictionary. William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. ISBN 0 00 433078-1.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Nowell, D. A. G. "The geology of Lulworth Cove, Dorset." Geology Today 14 (1998): 71–74.
- ↑ "Lulworth Cove & Crumple - a geography pilgrimage". jurassiccoast.org. http://jurassiccoast.org/find-out-about/226-geo-highlights/619-lulworth-cove-aamp-crumple-a-geography-pilgrimage. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Phillips, W. J. "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 (1964): 373-IN1.
- ↑ Arkell, W. J., 1947. The geology of the country around Weymouth, Swanage, Corfe and Lulworth. Mem. geol. Surv. UK
- ↑ "Monitoring the coast". jurassiccoast.org. http://jurassiccoast.org/conserving-the-coast/monitoring-the-coast. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
- ↑ "Dorset coast path collapse: 'Massive' cliff fall near Durdle Door". BBC News. 30 April 2013. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-22355538. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
- ↑ "Far from the Madding Crowd (1967) — Filming locations". http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061648/locations. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
- ↑ "Book Description on Amazon.co.uk". http://www.amazon.co.uk/Amazing-Adventures-Scary-Bones-Skeleton/dp/0956173241. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
- ↑ Moule, Arthur Evans (1879). Songs of heaven and home, written in a foreign land. p. 22. http://books.google.com/?id=9lACAAAAQAAJ&q=durdle+door+moule&dq=durdle+door+moule.
Books
- Arkell, W.J., 1978. The Geology of the Country around Weymouth, Swanage, Corfe and Lulworth, 4th pr.. London: Geological Survey of Great Britain, HMSO.
- Davies, G.M., 1956. A Geological Guide to the Dorset Coast, 2nd ed.. London: Adam & Charles Black.
- Perkins, J.W., 1977. Geology Explained in Dorset. London: David & Charles.