Lyme Regis, The Harbour 1892

Photo ref: 31308

More about this scene

AS YOU JOURNEY eastwards from the sedate and literary little town of Lyme Regis towards the sandy beaches and urban sprawl of Bournemouth, you become aware that this beautiful Dorset coast has been created by the happy amalgamation of the best of nature and the sympathetic handling of the original creation by humankind, for this is very much a worked landscape. Generations of farmers have grazed and tilled the ground, but much more gently than in many parts of England, using methods not so different from those used by their distant ancestors. The coastline, though, is largely still in the hands of nature, and is still being shaped by erosion and the power of the sea. Towns such as Weymouth and Poole have grown up around shipping and fishing, their seamen going out to brave the rough tides and wild seas of the English Channel. Portland and Purbeck, both really peninsulas, not islands, bear the marks of the quarrymen who have wrought out tons of stone, not only for local buildings but for distant landmarks such as St Paul's Cathedral. Yet these parts of Dorset bear their scars proudly, like battle honours rather than as a despoliation.