Portland Bill

Saturday 22 September

We have been looking forward to today as we are meeting Kevin’s sister Carol and Warwick. They came to see us for the day from Chard which is about an hour and a bit away. They arrived at 10.30 and after a cup of coffee we were on our way to Portland Island.

We made our way to Portland Bill and parked up in the pay and display car park. The first thing that strikes you about the area is how barren it is. Clearly, a wind swept and stripped landscape. It must be horrendous in a storm. Luckily for us we had a great day weather wise, it was cold and breezy but sunny and we were warm enough with coats and fleeces on.

We made our way down to the Old Bill and had a good look around the lighthouse outside. Unfortunately, the lighthouse tour is not operating on Saturdays so we were unable to go inside. Venturing on to the end of Portland it is very rocky and quite dramatic. It can take some scrambling over huge slabs of rock to get near the sea and on to the Pulpit a huge Stack that we saw people jumping off. They were clearly mad adrenaline junkies. We thought Warwick was going to climb one at one stage but it was a false alarm. 

The Pulpit

Tombstoning 

Carol and Kevin

Verne Medium Security Prison

We had a look in the visitors centre and then went back to Campy for lunch. We sat outside on the chairs eating our wraps in the nice sunshine and breeze. After lunch we took Carol and Warwick to the view point that we had seen earlier over looking Chesil Beech. We then walked along the top of the hill towards what turned out to be the Victorian Prison. A fascinating building which looked impregnable and was built into the hillside. We then went down a track that led to ‘The Battery’. 

The Battery turned out to be one of the highlights of the day. The High Angle Battery is derelict fort built in 1892. The Battery was built as part of Britain's Coastal Defences in 1892 and is located in a disused Portland Stone quarry at the northern end of the island. Just to the north, at the top of high cliffs of Portland is the Verne Citidel with which it would have formed part of an impressive defence instillation, protecting both merchant and navy shipping using Portland Harbour

Being down in a quarry the guns were hidden from view of any passing enemy ships, the element of surprise would keep them moving on, minimising a possible threat. The "high angle" that the RML 12 inch 9 Tonne guns fired at ensured shells dropped down to inflict maximum damage on the less well protected upper decks of any attacking vessel, the sides of which were usually rather better armoured.

Positions were built for eight guns but in the event only six were installed. The supply of shells were stored in underground magazines reached by a short rail. Shelters for the men were also to be found here, their main accommodation being in the adjacent Verne buildings.

The pace of maritime warfare increased with the use of smaller craft like Torpedo boats and the big guns would be far less likely to score a hit. As a result, they had been in use for just six years when they were taken out of service in 1898. The Battery was decommissioned in 1906, a short lifespan on the whole. Nevertheless the idea was adopted elsewhere with some enthusiasm, especially in the United States.

The Portland installation is the best preserved Battery of its type in the UK and is a scheduled ancient monument but remains hidden from view. 

We ventured into the magazines, a collection of tunnels and rooms off. They are supposed to be haunted but we didn’t see anything remotely spooky. Mind you we wouldn’t like to go there at night!!

We made our way back to the van and drove to the Chesil Beech Heritage Centre and had a lovely cream tea with clotted cream and a strawberry on top. We then went to watch the Kite Surfing in the harbour but it was too cold and windy to stay long and we headed back to the camp site.

We have had a lovely day with Carol and Warwick and we look forward to seeing them next week at Josie’s 21st.