Great South West Walk

Thursday August 9

Section 16. LULWORTH TO KIMMERIDGE. Miles: 7. Grading: Severe!

Start time and location
Could you please report for registration at Bishop’s Cottage Café, Main Road West Lulworth, Wareham at 1.30pm.
The walk will commence at 2.00pm.

Parking
Plenty of parking avaialble at start points.

BUSES
Services to Lulworth, Garrison Cars, (the Little Red Bus), Station Approach, Wool (Telephone 01929 462467)
Dorset Linkrider (Swanage Taxis Ltd), 160, Kings Road, Swanage, Dorset (Telephone 01929 553528)
Dorset Linkrider (Weaverbus), 1, Hazeldown Avenue, Preston, Weymouth, DT3 6HT (Telephone 01305 834730)
Dorset Transit, Grove Trading Estate, Dorchester, Dorset DT1 1ST (Telephone 01305 262992)
Services to Wareham, Corfe Castle, and Swanage: Wilts and Dorset, Bus Station, 1 Dolphin Centre, Poole, BH15 1SN (Telephone 01202 673555)

SOUTH WEST TRAINS
Nearest stations: Wareham and Wool

TAXIS
Garrison Cars, Wool 01929 463395 / 462467
Corfe Castle Taxis 01929 481251
Alan’s Taxi Service 01929 554223

MAPS
OS Landranger (Scale 1:50 000) Number 194: Dorchester, Weymouth and
surrounding area
OS Landranger (Scale 1:50 000) Number 195: Bournemouth and Purbeck
OS Outdoor Leisure (Scale 1:25 000) Number 15: Purbeck and South Dorset

GENERAL
West Lulworth: car park, toilets, Heritage Centre, refreshments, shops, accommodation (including Youth Hostel), telephone.
Tyneham: car park, toilets.
Kimmeridge village: car park, toilets, refreshments, shop, telephone.

TOURIST INFORMATION CENTRE
Purbeck Information and Heritage Centre, Holy Trinity Church, South Street, Wareham BH20 4LU. (Telephone 01929 552740)

The Route
Before setting out from Lulworth make sure that the route through the Army Ranges is open. At present there is a choice of routes leading from West Lulworth to Mupe Bay: four possible alternatives exist. The first, the official Coast Path, leads from West Lulworth to the cliffs above Lulworth Cove, and descends to the low cliffs fringing the eastern side of Lulworth Cove and then runs out towards Pepler’s Point. From here it turns east to follow the coast past the Fossil Forest to Bacon Hole and Mupe Bay. The other three alternative routes are the Range Walk from Radar Hill to Mupe Bay, and the routes up to the Coast Path from the Lulworth Cove Beach Cafe, and around the beach at Lulworth Cove respectively.
The Signposted Coast Path
This leaves the B3070 on the eastern side of the road, about 100 yards (90 m) to the south of Hambury Farm, which is on the other side of the road. The path leads steeply up the hillside on to open grassland and gorse scrub, and then veers round to the right before being follows the fence, and the Fossil Forest path (the official coast path) turns right over a stile and follows the fence steeply downhill to the top of the cliffs at the eastern end of Lulworth Cove. From here the coast path turns left for a short distance, and then turns right, where the waymark stone indicates the route to Pepler’s Point and the Fossil Forest. Through a small thicket, the often muddy path leads to open ground where the coast path turns left and makes for the Fossil Forest Gate.

Within the Ranges it essential that walkers should keep between the yellow posts that mark the Range Walks: outside the yellow markers, walking is dangerous because of debris from practice firing on the Ranges.

FOSSIL FOREST
From the Fossil Forest Gate a series of steps leads down to the Fossil Forest: this is one of the outstanding features of the geology of this coast. The trees, mostly conifers and the related cycads, were rooted in a soil known as the Great Dirt Bed which can be clearly seen here. The stumps and fallen trunks of these trees are enclosed in algal limestone. Little trace of the original woody tissue remains, but it is now represented by the hollows within the fossil features.

The coast path leads eastwards along the top of the cliffs to Bacon Hole, probably named because the beds in the cliffs have a streaky appearance. From the top of the cliffs at Bacon Hole, one of the finest views on this section of the path unfolds. In the foreground are Mupe Rocks - the eroded remnants of the Portland Limestone. On the left are the great white chalk cliffs that run from Mupe Bay, through the little cove of Arish Mell to the tumbled and slipped heights crowned by Flower’s Barrow, and in the distance are the red, brown and ochre cliffs of Worbarrow Bay.

Alternative Route 1 - The route through the West Lulworth Gate, to Bindon Hill and Mupe Bay

The signposted coast path may be followed as far as the Range fence, but instead of turning right at the fence, and following the path down to the eastern side of the Cove, it is possible to turn left and follow a path that leads to the entrance to the Range Walks at the West Lulworth Gate. After entering the Ranges at the Gate the route passes the buildings on the right, and in a short distance there is a junction. The right hand track leads down to Mupe Bay in ¾ mile (1200 m).

Alternative Route 2 – this is the path that turns sharply left up the cliff just before the Beach Café

A number of steps are climbed, and then the path diverts to the left because of erosion on the cliff side. After ¼ mile (400 m) the diversion crosses a stile and joins the signposted coast path, coming up from West Lulworth. The main coast path (as above) runs around the top of the cliff until it reaches the Range Boundary Fence. It descends along the fence to reach the top of the cliff, just above the steps coming up from the Cove. From here there is a choice: the official coast path may be followed to Pepler’s Point and Fossil Forest Gate, or alternatively, instead of turning right along the Fossil Forest Path, the path straight ahead will lead to the cottage and chapel of Little Bindon and Little Bindon Gate. Little Bindon is close to the original site of the Cistercian Abbey of Bindon founded there in c.1150, but it was removed inland to the site at Wool in 1172. Little Bindon itself probably dates from the thirteenth century. Two carvings from the original Abbey have been reset in the eastern wall of Little Bindon. From here the path leads eastwards to merge eventually with a broad track that runs almost directly to Mupe Bay.

Alternative Route 3 - The walk around the shingle beach of Lulworth Cove

This eventually reaches the steps on the eastern side of the Cove (to the left of the remains of an old brick-kiln). These steps lead up the cliff to the official coast path coming in from the left, parallel with the Range Boundary Fence. Access is then available, as before, to either Little Bindon Gate or Fossil Forest Gate. The route around the beach is accessible at most states of the tide, except when a south-westerly storm is piling the water high on the beach.

MUPE BAY

Mupe Bay is one of the most unspoilt bays of this stretch of the Dorset coast. It is reached by a series of steps that lead down from the top of the crumbling cliffs. On the southern side it is bounded by Mupe Ledges, made of the Purbeck Beds, and on the northern side the shingle and sand beach ends against towering cliffs of chalk, much subject to rockfalls, particularly in the winter. The Bay itself is cut in the relatively soft Wealden Beds, previously seen on the eastern and western sides of Lulworth Cove. The sands and clays are very unstable and prone to slipping, although some of the rocks have been carved into ribs and pillars that stand out from the general line of the cliffs. Mupe Bay is sheltered and quite safe for swimming, although on fine summer weekends numbers of boats do tend to drop anchor there, disturbing some of the peace and solitude normally associated with this stretch of coast.

Mupe Bay
ubiquitous Hardy Way circular waymarks on it) the path has had to be diverted on to the north-facing flanks of the hills, because of the huge cliff falls on the upper part of Cockpit Head. Looking north from here the full impact of the Army occupation of the Lulworth Ranges may be seen. The countryside is seamed with numerous tracks used by army vehicles and immediately below is a graveyard of armoured vehicles, the legacy of the end of the Cold War. Rows of disabled tanks litter the Ranges here, adding an alien note to this corner of the Dorset countryside.

Beyond the Ranges, a pleasant contrast appears in the well-manicured fields and copses of the Lulworth Estate, the home of the Weld family. Nestling amongst trees is the now restored Lulworth Castle, with its prominent towers at each corner. Nearby is the Catholic Church of St. Mary, built in the 1780s (the first Roman Catholic Church to be built in England since the Reformation - permission was given for it to be built provided that it looked like a private house!).

The Path now begins its steep, almost precipitous descent into Arish Mell, the little cove that effectively breaches the chalk ridge at this point. Several parallel tracks cut through the chalk turf on the descent, and most have acquired a series of walker-eroded steps - erosion could soon be a serious problem here. Access to the shingle beach at Arish Mell is forbidden, and the long arduous ascent to the Iron Age Fort of Flower’s Barrow lies ahead. Here the wide path is bounded by fences.

Landwards, damaged armoured vehicles remain as Range targets, and there is a first view of the abandoned Monastery Farm. This was originally the home of Trappist monks, who fled from France after the suppression of French religious houses in 1790. They were offered asylum by Thomas Weld and settled at Monastery Farm in 1796. Life was particularly austere, and the monastic function only survived until 1817, largely because recruitment of English monks was forbidden. Towards the sea is the remarkable feature of Halcombe Vale. This is a dry valley truncated at both ends by marine erosion, so that both its upper and lower ends are left hanging high above the sea. It was here, in Halcombe Vale, that Winston Churchill reviewed troops and the tanks that bore his name, in April 1942.

The fence-enclosed path continues upwards towards Flower’s Barrow, but cliff falls have again forced a diversion to the left. After crossing a stile alongside a metal five barred-gate the outer rampart is reached and scaled steeply, and, in a short distance the inner rampart is crossed to give access to the central part of this Iron Age Fort. On the seaward side the cliff is particularly unstable and up to a third of the fort has probably collapsed. The structure probably dates from the 4th Century BC onwards, with two main phases of construction being evident. The original single rampart structure was improved at a later date to give greater security.

From Flower’s Barrow there is a steep descent down the flanks of the chalk ridge. On the left the view embraces the Tyneham Valley, still farmed under licence from the Ministry of Defence, although large areas of gorse and scrub remain. On the right new views of the great Cockpit Head rockfalls beyond Arish Mell appear, and closer at hand flint-lined vertical chalk cliffs close off the northern end of Worbarrow. The route passes over two stiles, and then descends to beach level at Worbarrow Bay, after passing through a line of posts. A track leads up from the beach, and a short footpath connects to the small viewing area, where there is a panoramic illustration of the Bay on a stone plinth.

Halcombe Vale and Cockpit Head

Worbarrow is similar to Mupe Bay, in that it is cut in the soft Wealden Beds, although the red, orange and brown sands and clays at Worbarrow give a more colourful cliff scene, contrasting well with the brilliant white of the chalk at the north-western end of the Bay. At the southern end of the Bay is the isolated feature of Worbarrow Tout, joined to the other cliffs by the narrow neck of land that separates Worbarrow Bay from Pondfield Cove. It is possible to ascend Worbarrow Tout by making a brief diversion from the path. The view from the top of this coastal bastion is a fine one: to the east the whole of the coast as far as St. Aldhelm’s Head is revealed, with a particularly good prospect of the nearby seaward side of Gad Cliff, and westwards there is a good retrospective view of the coast extending as far as Lulworth. Remains of the cottages that housed the small fishing community of Worbarrow can still be seen on the cliff top above the Bay or slightly inland, although some of them are now little more than piles of rubble.

KIMMERIDGE BAY

Kimmeridge Bay is rich in industrial archaeology. Within the Kimmeridge Clay there is a band of bituminous shale, that was used in prehistoric and Roman times for a variety of decorative artefacts, such as bangles, armlets, and also for a range of plates, dishes and even table legs, that took a good polish with beeswax. In 1600 William Clavell established an alum works here, and also attempted to establish a salt-boiling plant and glass manufacture: none of these enterprises met with commercial success. Later in the nineteenth century others were to attempt to exploit the ‘blackstone’ for a variety of purposes, including distillation into a number of products and the refining of gas from the shale, which briefly lit the streets of Paris, but no enterprise met with lasting success. There is still much evidence of this past activity, well documented on an interpretation board near the huts.

There are no refreshment facilities at Kimmeridge Bay itself, but in the village, about ½ mile (800 m) inland there is a well-stocked cafe that caters for a whole range of visitors. The stretch of the coast path that takes the walker through the Ranges makes considerable physical demands on those that traverse it. However, at Kimmeridge any retrospect of this section will only recall magnificent coastal scenery unparalleled along the south coast of Britain.

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