Looking west down Chesil Beach by Abbotsbury

Satellite view of Chesil Beach (linear feature in blue) and Portland Bill (Landsat image viewed using NASA World Wind software)

Chesil Beach looking west from the Isle of Portland

Portland and Chesil Beach from Abbotsbury Castle

A fossil from the far western end of Chesil Beach

Chesil Beach, sometimes called Chesil Bank, is a tombolo in Dorset, southern England. The shingle beach is 29 kilometres (18 mi) long, 200 metres (660 ft) wide and 15 metres (50 ft) high. It is part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (2272 × 1704 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (2272 × 1704 pixel, file size: 1. ... The Abbey barn Abbotsbury is a small village in south west Dorset, England, situated on The Fleet under a steep limestone hill, seven miles north west of Wetmouth and seven miles south west of Dorchester. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (940x912, 372 KB) Summary Screenshot from World Wind software displaying NASA Landsat imagery. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (940x912, 372 KB) Summary Screenshot from World Wind software displaying NASA Landsat imagery. ... Pulpit Rock at Portland Bill Portland Bill is a narrow promontory (or bill) of Portland stone which forms the most southerly part of Isle of Portland, and hence the county of Dorset. ... The Landsat program is the longest running enterprise for acqusition of imagery of Earth from space. ... Animation showing atmosphere and shading effects in v1. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... The Isle of Portland is a long by wide limestone island in the English Channel. ... Portland and Chesil Beach from Abbotsbury Castle, Dorset. ... Portland and Chesil Beach from Abbotsbury Castle, Dorset. ... Categories: UK geography stubs | Hills in Dorset | Hill forts in Britain ... A fossil from Chesil Beach, Dorset taken by Steinsky (04/04/2004). ... A fossil from Chesil Beach, Dorset taken by Steinsky (04/04/2004). ... Tombolo at Stockton Island, Ashland County (Wisconsin). ... Dorset (pronounced DOR-sit or [dÉ”.sÉ™t], and sometimes in the past called Dorsetshire) is a county in the south-west of England, on the English Channel coast. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Beach (disambiguation). ... “km” redirects here. ... “Miles” redirects here. ... This article is about the unit of length. ... A foot (plural: feet or foot;[1] symbol or abbreviation: ft or, sometimes, ′ – a prime) is a unit of length, in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. ... A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a specific site (such as a forest, mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that has been nominated and confirmed for inclusion on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 State...

At the Isle of Portland end of the beach, the beach curves round sharply to form Chesil Cove. This part of the beach protects the low lying village of Chiswell from flooding. The Isle of Portland is a long by wide limestone island in the English Channel. ... Chesil Cove is a beach which is the most southerly part of the 18 mile long Chesil Beach in Dorset, England. ... Chiswell (pronounced Chesil, Chis-well, or Chisel, sometimes called Chesilton) is a small fishing village next to Chesil Beach, in Underhill, on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. ...

The beach provides shelter from the prevailing winds and waves for the town of Weymouth and the village of Chiswell, which otherwise would probably not exist. Wind is the quasi-horizontal movement of air (as opposed to an air current) caused by a horizontal pressure gradient force. ... A wave is a disturbance that propagates through space or spacetime, transferring energy and momentum and sometimes angular momentum. ... , Weymouth is a town in Dorset, England, United Kingdom, situated on a sheltered bay at the mouth of the River Wey on the English Channel coast. ... Chiswell (pronounced Chesil, Chis-well, or Chisel, sometimes called Chesilton) is a small fishing village next to Chesil Beach, in Underhill, on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. ...

The Feet Lagoon

From West Bay to Cliff End the beach is piled up against the cliff. At Cliff End a hollow forms behind the beach and at Abbotsbury a stretch of muddy saline (or brackish) water called the Feet (a lagoon) begins. The Feet is home to many wading birds and Abbotsbury Swannery, and fossils can be found in the sand. Annual mean sea surface salinity for the World Ocean. ... This mid bay barrier in Narrabeen, a suburb of Sydney (Australia), has blocked what used to be a bay to form a lagoon. ... Swans in the main bay at Abbotsbury Cygnets at Abbotsbury Abbotsbury Swannery is the only managed colony of nesting mute swans in the world. ... For other uses, see Fossil (disambiguation). ...

Because of the low population density of nearby areas and their proximity to the naval base on Portland, the beach and the Fleet were used for machine gun training and bouncing bomb testing (for Operation Chastise) in World War II. A machine gun is a fully-automatic firearm that is capable of firing bullets in rapid succession. ... The bouncing bomb was a kind of bomb designed by Barnes Wallis of Vickers-Armstrong at Brooklands, Surrey. ... Combatants No. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

Both Chesil Beach and the Feet Lagoon are a Site of Special Scientific Interest, whilst the view of the beach from Abbotsbury has been voted by Country Life magazine as Britain's third best view. A Site of Special Scientific Interest or SSSI is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. ... Country Life can refer to: Country Life (magazine) Country Life (album) - by Roxy Music This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Ye Olde Origin

The origin of the beach has been argued over for some time, originally believed to be from the Budleigh Salterton pebble beds to the west and later from Portland to the south east. The differences between the pebbles on the beach and nearby sources is now put down to the Flandrian isostatic sea level rise so the feature could also be considered a barrier beach or bar that happens to connect the mainland to an island rather than a 'true' tombolo that is created due to the effects of the island on waves (through refraction) and to sediment transport. This usually produces a beach perpendicular to the mainland rather than parallel to it. Occasionally buffalo heard across the wide sandy plain. The Beach at Budleigh Salterton Budleigh Salterton is a small town on the south coast of Devon, England approximately 15 miles south of Exeter. ... The Flandrian interglacial or stage is the name given by geologists and archaeologists in the British Isles to the first, and so far only, stage of the Holocene, covering the period from around 10,000 years ago when the last ice age ended to the present day. ... Isostasy is a term used in Geology to refer to the state of ice above stasy and is angravitational equilibrium between the Earths lithosphere and asthenosphere such that the tectonic plates float at an elevation which depends on their thickness and density. ... Sand bars in the Mississippi River at Arkansas and Mississippi A bar is a linear shoaling landform feature within a body of water. ... Tombolo at Stockton Island, Ashland County (Wisconsin). ... The straw seems to be broken, due to refraction of light as it emerges into the air. ...

See also

• List of Dorset beaches
• Jurassic Coast

There are many beaches in Dorset, southern England, with most of them making up the UNESCO World Heritage Site, The Jurassic Coast. ... The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. ...

Photographs

• Weymouth Pictures - Chesil & Portland
• Chesil Beach Photographs
• South West Coast Path - showing shingle grading
• A 360 degree 'virtual reality' panorama of Chesil Beach

External links

• Website for Chesil Beach and a number of associated organisations
• Chesil Beach Group on Flickr - Lots of Photos
• Southampton University - Lots of info and Photos
• Denver University - Overview
• Fleet Study Group
• Chesil Beach & The Fleet Special Protection Area
• The Fleet Observer - A Local Charity site providing information on the area
• West Bay - The western end of Chesil Beach
• Geographic coordinates of Chesil beach