Dorset and East Devon
World Heritage Site

Lyme Regis | Stonebarrow & Golden Cap | Chesil Beach | Lulworth | Kimmeridge

The Casterbridge Hotel is perfectly poised about the mid-point of the Heritage Coast. From here any part can be reached in an hour and an excursion to the oil bearing strata and shale-pennies of Kimmeridge can be followed next day by fossil collecting beneath the Golden Cap or the equally golden capped Stonebarrow near Charmouth.

95 miles of gently tilted rock strata display 185 million years of geological time. The Jurassic Coast is so named because every stage of the period can be found at some point on the coast. The west end of the site close to the Exe estuary is the oldest. Here the rich red cliffs are formed from Triassic desert sand and the greater part of the Triassic period is represented from 250 million to 203 million years ago.

Around 203 million years ago the deserts slipped beneath a shallow sea and the Jurassic period began. The remarkable fossils in the grey limestones at Lyme Regis show how different Dorset had become. From Lyme to Swanage the strata are progressively younger until about 135 million years ago the Jurassic passed into the Cretaceous and the brilliant chalk cliffs of Ballard Down and Old Harry Rocks mark the eastern end of the World Heritage Site.

Itineraries Page

Visit the official Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site