Portland has a unique character, unlike anywhere else in Dorset.
It might be just a small island, but there is so much for a visitor to see and do. There are castles, museums and churches to explore, as well as works by internationally-renowned artists to chance across in unlikely places.
The island is steeped in history and heritage with a landscape forged by its quarrying and maritime past, so it is an extraordinary place to take a stroll and discover more.
Castletown D-Day Centre
Castletown D-Day Centre offers a chance for everyone to find out about the role Portland played during the allied invasion of northern France. The centre features a wide collection of original Second World War artefacts, weapons and wartime vehicles which visitors are encouraged to handle and climb on-board.
From the window, you can see across the water to Portland’s Mulberry Harbour Phoenix Units, two intact concrete caissons built to form artificial harbours as part of the Normandy landings. On top of the caissons, there are six sculptures representing some of the people involved on D-Day.
The Centre is situated in the old Admiralty Buildings in Castletown by the edge of Portland Harbour.
Vistior information is available on the Centre’s website.
Chesil Beach
Chesil Beach runs 28 kilometres from the Isle of Portland to West Bay. It is a barrier beach formed of pebbles and the reason why Portland is joined to the mainland. It is part of the Jurassic Coast and an UNESCO World Heritage Site.
At its eastern end, the beach curves sharply towards the cliffs on the west side of Portland and forms Chesil Cove, a popular place for people to come sit on the beach, swim, dive and even surf. The beach is also a haven for anglers.
Behind Chesil Beach, on the mainland side, is the Fleet Lagoon, which flows into Portland Harbour at Ferry Bridge. The Chesil Beach Centre is located behind the beach next to the Fleet and has a boardwalk which allows easy access on to the Beach.
Both Chesil Beach and The Fleet Lagoon are important areas for wildlife and have a number of national and international designations to help protect them.
Further Information
Chesil Beach Visitor Centre
The Fine Foundation Chesil Beach Centre is a great place to find out more about Chesil Beach and Fleet Lagoon, with its interactive displays about the formation of the beach, the history and local wildlife. There is also a shop and café on site.
Run by Dorset Wildlife Trust, the Centre offers activities for all the family, as well as the perfect spot to watch the birdlife visiting the mudflats in the lagoon.
It is situated right on the edge of Fleet Lagoon behind Chesil Beach, just off the Beach Road between Portland and Weymouth.
Information about facilities and activities at the Centre can be found on the Dorset Wildlife Trust website.
Chiswell Earthworks
The idea developed overtime and with the help of the local community. It is made up of five walled terraces, with each wall made up of stone from the different strata found on Portland.
It is situated at the end of the promenade sea wall, just above Chesil Cove, at the most southerly end of Chesil Beach.
Watch a video which tells the story of the creation of Chiswell Earthworks.
Church Ope Cove
A secluded pebble beach on the sheltered eastern side of Portland, Church Ope Cove is a popular place with both locals and visitors and a great location for swimming, snorkelling and fishing.
It is believed to be the location of the first recorded Viking attack on the British Isles and was a famous smuggling beach.
The main path to the beach can be reached by following the road past Portland Museum and under the arch bridge of Rufus Castle, where it joins the South West Coast Path down steps to the beach.
There is an alternative path through woodland at the side of Pennsylvania Castle and through the ruins of Portland's old Parish Church of St Andrew’s. Some of the tombstones here have a skull and crossbones carved on them - a common symbol used at the time to represent death - so the churchyard is sometimes known as the “pirates’ graveyard”.
More information about the site from thebeachguide.
Fancy's Farm
A community venture run by volunteers, Fancy’s Farm has the only flock of rare breed Portland sheep on Portland, as well as being home to a wide variety of other animals.
It is a family-friendly place where children are encouraged to meet and learn more about the animals. There is also a soft play area and café on site.
The site is mostly within an area of SSSI and has many rare plants and native wildlife.
The Farm can be found right at the top of Portland above East Weares, with great views out to sea and around Portland.
Find opening times and further information on the Fancy’s Farm website.
High Angle Battery
Right on crown of the island of Portland, you will find the High Angle Battery. It was built at the end of the 19thcentury as part of the sea defences to protect Portland Harbour.
The six guns were designed to fire shells at a “high angle” into the air and over the cliffs on to the decks of enemy vessels. There were two underground stores, to protect the ammunition from enemy fire, with a system of tracks and ramps, to deliver the shells to the guns. The short-lived installation was decommissioned in 1906.
Though the underground sections are blocked off, visitors are free to walk around the rest of the site. The tunnels are occasionally opened for events, such as the b-side Art Festival, when different art installations have been exhibited there.
The High Angle Battery is next to Fancy’s Farm at the top of the island.
Nature
With its unique landscape of coastal habitats and limestone grasslands, Portland is steeped in wildlife. The island is well known as a haven for migratory birds and seabird, but you can also find rare butterflies, bees and bugs, as well as lizards, badgers, foxes and bunnies, as you journey through the landscape.
Dorset Wildlife Trust helps manage some of the disused quarries, which form the Portland Quarries Nature Park, helping to regenerate the natural habitat by managing invasive, non-native species. These quarries include King Barrow Quarries Nature Reserve, Tout Quarry Sculpture Park (internal link) and Verne Yeates Local Nature Reserve.
Limestone grasslands turn yellow in mid summer when swaths of kidney vetch and bird’s-foot trefoil are in flower and attract butterflies and moths. You could also spot a rare bee orchid.
The Butterfly Conservation organisation had also turned a disused limestone quarry into a nature reserve making it the perfect spot for rare Silver-studded Blue butterfly as well as other rare butterflies native to Portland.
Further Information
Butterfly Conservation – Broadcroft Quarry
Portland Bill Lighthouse
Trinity House, the charity dedicated to safeguarding shipping and seafarers, built the current 41-metre-high lighthouse at Portland Bill in 1906. This tower replaced the old high and low lighthouses that had been operating in various forms in the area since the eighteenth century.
In 2015, the Portland Bill Lighthouse Visitor Centre was opened within the buildings at the base of the tower. The main exhibition at the Centre explores the history of the lighthouse, it’s keepers and the organisation that operates it. Visitors can also look around the tower itself.
Portland Bill is at the southern end of the Isle of Portland, and the Lighthouse and Visitor Centre are situated right at end of this point.
Information about the Visitor Centre and Lighthouse and when they are open to the public can be found on the Trinity House website.
Portland Castle
Overlooking the Harbour stand Portland Castle. Built in the early 1540s, it was one of a series of Device Forts constructed under Henry VIII to defend the south coast of England from the treat of French and Spanish invasion.
It has been leased as a private gentlemen’s house and a residence for senior military personnel in its time. And was taken on by English Heritage in the 1980s.
There are lots of activities on offer at the Castle for young and old.You can walk about the gun platform
Further Information
Portland Harbour
Due to the natural shelter formed by the island of Portland and Chesil Beach, Portland Harbour has been a safe anchorage for shipping since ancient times. But it wasn’t until 1849, when work began on the Royal Portland Breakwater, that it became a harbour of refuge. The construction of the breakwater, during the Victorian era, became a visitor attraction as people flocked to see how the work was progressing.
Around the same time, other fortifications were constructed to defend the harbour, including the Verne Citadel (now a prison), the Verne High Angle Battery and Nothe Fort on the Weymouth side.
Portland Harbour was finally enclosed with the completion of the final two breakwater arms in 1906, making it one of the largest man-made harbours in the world.
More information and to obtain permits for activities within Portland Harbour, visit the Portland Port website
Portland Marina
Opened in 2009, Portland Marina was fasted-tracked to be ready for the 2012 Olympics, when Weymouth and Portland was the venue for the sailing competitions. It is part of the Dean & Reddyhoff chain and offers berthing, dry stack, fuel and boatyard services.
There are other businesses on the site including shops and cafes open to the general public and diving facilities. During the summer a waterbus service runs from the Marina to Weymouth Harbour.
The Marina is situated at the north end of the island, within Portland Harbour.
Further information about berthing at Portland Marina can be found on the Dean and Reddyhoff website.
Portland Museum
Housed in two seventeenth century cottages, once owned by its founder Dr Marie Stopes, Portland Museum has an amazing collection reflecting the history and people of the island.
The Museum’s varied collections cover everything from the history of Portland’s stone industry, the island’s maritime past and the local community and social history, as well as housing a large number of Jurassic fossils.
It is tucked away at the bottom of Wakeham, above Rufus Castle, Church Ope Cove, and just off the South West Coast Path.
Information about opening times and special events can be found on the Museum’s website.
South West Coast Path
Walking around the coast of Portland offers dramatic rugged cliffs, hidden coves and stunning views.
The 13-mile Isle of Portland Circuit is just a small part of the 630-mile South West Coast Path. It has many ascents and descents following footpaths, quarry tracks and quiet roads.
The official path leads across Chesil Beach to Chesil Cove and up to Tout Quarry. Following the clifftop path along the west side of the island past, to the southernmost tip at the Bill with its iconic red and white striped Lighthouse. Then back up the east coast including the descent down to Church Ope Cove, and finally coming down the path of the old Merchant's Railway, built for the transporting stone from Portland's quarries, back to Portland Harbour.
Further Information
St George's Church
Vast and solitary, St George's is one of the most magnificent 18th-century churches in Dorset. It rises from the rocky, treeless and dramatic peninsula of Portland and is the masterwork of a local mason named Thomas Gilbert whose grandfather supplied the Portland stone used to build St Paul's Cathedral.
The interior is fabulously preserved with its lectern, pulpit, box pews and galleries all surviving. It is a 'preacher's church'; with all the seating facing the twin pulpits - one for reading 'the Word'; (scripture), the other for lengthy sermons.
The sprawling churchyard is a treasure trove of fabulous headstones and memorials that tell tales of murder, piracy and adventure in a gloriously atmospheric setting. There are inscriptions to Mary Way and William Lano, who were shot and killed in 1803 by a press gang, and Joseph Trevitt, an assistant warder at Portland Prison who was murdered by a convict in 1869.
This description courtesy of the Churches Conservation Trust.
Tout Quarry Sculpture Park and Memory Stones
Tout Quarry Sculpture and Nature Reserve is an interesting and unusual site to visit with its mix of rare wildlife, art and natural history. The quarry was worked commercially from 1780 to 1982, and now limestone remnants leftover from this work, are being used to create sculptures across the site. There are over 60 sculptures to be discovered, including ‘Still Falling’ by the internationally renowned sculptor Antony Gormley. Where the rock hasn’t been quarried, there is a chance to see the natural rock layers of the Jurassic age, which make up Portland and Purbeck limestone. The reserve also offers stunning views over Chesil Beach and Portland Harbour.
Twelve large ‘Memory Stones’ stand at one of the entry points to Tout Quarry Sculpture and Nature Reserve. Sitting right on at the top Portland, the stones, created by artist Hannah Sofaer, line up with the passage of the sun through the summer and winter solstice, and the spring and autumn equinox.
Entrance is free and the Reserve is open at all times.
Further information