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Lyme Regis Dorset

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The Jurassic Coast
Jurassic Coast
On 13th December 2001 most of the Dorset and East Devon coastline was inscribed into the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the area was officially listed a "World Heritage Site". The 94 mile (150 kilometre) stretch of coast is from Orcombe Point in Devon to "Old Harry Rocks" near Swanage in Dorset.

At the same UNESCO meeting where our status was declared, the Swiss Alps, the Cerrado Ecoregion in the Brazilian Rainforest, A mountain forest in Eastern Cuba and the forests where the Siberian Tiger roams, were also granted World Heritage Site status. As the first natural site in England to be given this honour it is humbling to think that we are mentioned in this company and it's worth remembering that two other notable natural World Heritage Sites are The Grand Canyon in the USA and The Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia.

The coast itself was granted the status because it covered the entire Mesozoic era of 248 - 65 million years ago, which includes the oldest "Triassic" period, the middle "Jurassic" period and the later "Cretaceous" period. The local authorities that manage the Devon and Dorset coastline have, with a little help form their marketing departments, nicknamed the area "The Jurassic Coast", which owes a lot to a certain book written by Mr Michael Crichton which was turned into a massively successful film called "Jurassic Park" and the main dinosaur was a Tyrannosaurus Rex, which wasn't actually around in the Jurassic period only later in the Cretaceous period. Hollywood never let the truth get in the way of a good story before or since - just look at "Braveheart" and every war movie ever made there.

The term "Jurassic" dates back to 1839, when a German "nature researcher and explorer" named Alexander von Humboldt described Limestone formations in the Jura Mountains in Switzerland as "Jura-Kalkstein". It was later on in 1839 that fellow countryman and Geologist Leopold von Buch formally named these limestone rocks as the 'Jurassic System'.

It also wouldn't really be as catching to call our coastline "The Mesozoic Coast" so "Jurassic" it is! Lyme Regis, Charmouth and along the coast to the Portland area does form the bulk of the Jurassic period. In the East Devon part of the coast it is mostly the Triassic period and the beautiful, almost Red soil along the Devon coast characterises the era. The newer Cretaceous part of the Mesozoic is toward Wareham on the South Dorset coast.


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