Ladram Bay
Ladram Bay is a secluded bay with pebble beach on the south coast of Devon, in the eats of the county between the coastal towns of Budleigh Salterton and Sidmouth. The bay is about eleven miles south-east of Exeter, just under two miles south-west of Sidmouth and about two and a half miles north-east of Budleigh Salterton.
Directly southwest of Ladram Bay are Smallstones Point and Chiselbury Bay. To the east is a hill called High Peak and below the hill are the Hern Point and Big Picket Rocks.
Geology
Among the most impressive sights along the Jurassic Coast are the sea stacks at Ladram Bay, formed as the sandstone of the cliff, split by numerous vertical fractures formed deep in the crust, has been carved by the force of the waves to form caves and natural arches, and those natural arches which have since collapsed produce sea stacks.
Geologists spoil the romance of the location by providing sober explanations that the soft “Otter Sandstone” that forms the cliffs and sea stacks were deposited in a hot dry climates in the Triassic Period about 220 million years ago, on a harder band of sandstone at their base which prevents their rapid erosion by the sea. They reckon that the striking red colour of the rock, caused by a high iron oxide content, indicates that the layers were formed in a desert, while the ripple marks and channels in the sandstones, together with the remains of the long-extinct plants, insects, fish, amphibians and reptiles, show that the desert was crossed by fertile river valleys.
The Otter Sandstone Formation is the richest source of Triassic reptile remains in Britain and one of the most important in the world. At the south-west end of the bay, the most common fossils in the sandstone are networks of vertical, tube-like carbonate petrifactions (rhizocretions): these represent the roots of plants that were able to survive in the harsh dry climate of the Triassic Period.[1]
The bay is sited on the same band of sandstone that forms the oil reservoir at the Wytch Farm oilfield on the Isle of Purbeck.
Leisure
The holiday park at Ladram Bay is the second largest holiday centre in Devon. It was started by FWS Carter in 1950.[2]
The bay is also the site of the first digital television transponder in the United Kingdom.[3]
Location
- Streetmap: SY096851
- Location map: 50°39’31"N, 3°16’49"W
Outside links
References
- ↑ "Geology to see in Eastern Devon". Devon County Council. http://www.devon.gov.uk/index/environmentplanning/natural_environment/geology/easterndevon.htm#24. Retrieved 2009-09-03.
- ↑ "About Us". https://www.ladrambay.co.uk/about-us/. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
- ↑ "Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) 2 Durlston Head to Rame Head Appendix E – Issues and Objectives Evaluation". SDADCAG. p. E26. http://www.sdadcag.org/docs/Appendices/Appendix_E_FINAL.pdf. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
