Preserving a Phenomena . Tourism . International Recognition
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What a Century! ******************* In 1821 Mary Anning discovered the first complete ichthyosaurus while wading and searching for fossils under the dangerous, crumbling cliffs in her home town of Lyme Regis in West Dorset, on the coast of South West England. What would this proud, uneducated working class woman think of the latest news?
In 1834, the six men now known as The Tolpuddle Martyrs, the founders of the Trade Union movement, were found guilty of Mutiny in the County Court of Dorchester, the County town of Dorset, and sentenced to seven years transportation to Australia. What would these Dorset farm labourers who altered the social structure in England, think of the latest news?
In 1840 Thomas Hardy the Dorset author was born, yet to write his world famous classical literature to include ‘Far From the Madding Crowd’ ‘Tess of the D’Ubervilles’ and the ‘Mayor of Casterbridge’ based on a fictional area called Wessex. What would he think of the latest news?
In 1801 William Barnes the celebrated poet and curate was born near Sturminster Newton, Dorset. Barnes wrote beautiful, tender poetry in the Dorset dialect. What would he think of the latest news?
In the early 1800s, seventeen year old Thomas Hine left Beaminster in Dorset to find fortune in France and was to become the renowned producer of Hine Cognac, one of the finest connoisseur brandies in the world. What would he think of this latest news?
So What’s The News? ****************** The Chairman of the Dorset Coast Forum, Professor Denys Brunsden, has spent the last seven years organising the bid to get awarded the World Heritage Status from UNESCO for the Jurassic Coast of Dorset and East Devon. It looks likely to get it too! This is eighty five miles of coastline between Swanage in Dorset to Exmouth in Devon. This magnificent news puts this wonderful part of England on a par with The Grand Canyon and The Great Barrier Reef and will be the first time mainland Britain has been awarded such status.
The significance of this recognition is only just registering with me. The whole Dorset coastline would be internationally recognised as one of outstanding universal value, and ranked with the most famous and exciting heritage sites in the world. World Heritage brings with it a responsibility to ensure that a Site, identified as of global importance, should be conserved for future generations and has the Governments full backing and commitment. In my excited state, I would call this Dorset’s own natural Theme Park. It’s better than Disney, and it’s real, interactive and fun for adults and children alike. It’s Dinosaurland!
A Walk Through Time ******************* The Dorset Coast Path forms part of the South West Coast Path that runs from Studland to Minehead in Somerset. Try to imagine this. A walk along this proposed World Heritage site will take you through a time span of two hundred million years! Between Exmouth in Devon and Old Harry Rocks near Swanage in Dorset can be found one of the most complete sequences through the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods of geological time anywhere in the world.
On the fossil rich beaches of Charmouth and Lyme Regis, where the celebrated Mary Anning made her discovery, the explorer may find something as stunning as a roaming Dinosaur footprint to a simple ammonite that the enthusiastic collector can take home with them. Some of the ammonites are enormous and mustn’t be moved because of the threat of landslides, as during wet winters mudflows spill onto the beaches from the rocks and cliffs above. But this is exciting as the natural displacement throws up hundreds of fossils for geologists and the curious amateur to discover.
The rocks also contain evidence of life on the land in the form of fossil wood and insects that were washed into the sea some two hundred million years ago. It has to be imagined that in the forming of the world, Lyme Regis has been a desert as well as under the sea, illustrated with the discovery of fossilised tropical fish that lived here during the Jurassic period.
Dorset Isn’t Just Jurassic Though ***************************** Much of Dorset is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The countryside has rolling hills, pretty villages, great pubs, interesting churches and all steeped in history and culture. Most of the towns and villages have museums recording historical events and giving the visitor an insight into how life was lived in Dorset in past times, including Jurassic and fossil museums.
You don’t have to be interested in fossils to enjoy a visit to Dorset. The county offers the opportunity for traditional beach holidays such as in the Georgian fronted Weymouth, caravanning in some beautifully situated caravan parks, luxury hotels, inns, bed and breakfast, camping and self catering. To a large extent these facilities are the same as the many other beautiful counties in the West Country have to offer, but they don’t have their own natural Jurassic Park!
But I could all go literary on you and tell you about T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia) who is buried in Moreton and encourage you to visit his home, Cloud’s Hill. I could tell you to call at Lyme Regis and see the house where Jane Austen stayed while writing ‘Persuasion’. I could tell you to visit the cemetery in Dorchester and see the grave of Sir Frederick Treves, author of ‘The Elephant Man’ I could urge you to take a chance on spotting John Fowles, author of ‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman’ who lives in Lyme Regis. I could tempt you with the offer of a visit to Hardy’s cottage and birthplace at Higher Bockhampton. But I won’t!
I could tell you to seek the ancient Iron Age hill fort of Maiden Castle built by the Ancient Britons at Dorchester, view the magnificence and size of the fertility carving of the Cerne Abbas Giant in the chalk hills at Cerne Abbas. I could advocate you go to Corfe Castle and see the Norman settlements. Go to the Swannery and Nature Reserve at Abbotsbury and watch the cygnets hatching. I could tell you to visit the Tutankhamun Museum in Dorchester. But I don’t want to tell you that. I want to tell you about The Dorset Jurassic Coast and The World Heritage Status.
World Heritage Status will benefit Dorset, principally by creating new opportunities to improve the educational use of the coast, support scientific study, and increase our potential in visitor management. We need tourism and recognition in Dorset. Many peoples livelihoods rely on the much required income they generate. Dorset is often overlooked by the exodus of visitors from the North, Midlands and the South East in the summer, and all year round, as they make their way to Devon and Cornwall, bypassing us. What an excellent opportunity for my wonderful adapted county to be renowned because its geology and physical geography is of international conservation importance.
My Bit of Jurassic **************** I live on the coast in West Dorset, right at the centre of this natural phenomena. My six hundred year old cottage is built of local amber coloured building stone, complete with the occasional visibly imbedded coiled ammonite and pencil shaped belemnite. I dig my garden and they appear like stones in my soil. A walk on the beach at Charmouth, and instead of looking outwards to the horizon and the breathtaking scenery, I look down onto the beach and they appear like magic amongst the fallen rocks.
Have you ever found a fossil? Imagine finding a Dinosaur egg? Have you been with a child and watch their eyes open in wonder as you explain the history they are holding in their hand with a simple ammonite? A family holiday on The Jurassic Coast is the real thing. Not a film, a computer game, a book.
When you come to the eighty five mile stretch of World Heritage Jurassic Coast in Dorset, and you will come, take some care if you go fossil hunting. The tides around in Lyme Bay can be dangerous, so walk along the beach as the tides are going out. The cliffs are unpredictable, some of the footpaths are closed or diverted as they are unsafe, and the mudflows can cause cliff falls, so the collector is able to stay further away from the threat of landslides when the tide is out. Sometimes people have hunted fossils directly under the cliffs, the tide has come in, there’s been a rock fall and the lives and resources of the Rescue Services have been put at risk whilst saving them. Be aware.
Thinking of Mary Anning ********************* In an age when women had little social standing, especially the working class, Mary Anning proved to be an outstanding example of independence and belief in herself and her ability to find and recognise rare fossils. Many of her discoveries, like the long-necked plesiosaurs, found under the cliffs at Lyme were taken from her, exhibited, and attributed to the City ‘men in suits’ who considered geology had no place in a woman’s world, especially a poor, low class, uneducated woman. Her brilliance lay in the fact that she recognised the fossils as scientifically important and would painstakingly piece them together, just using her instinct and enthusiasm.
You can walk through time for nearly two hundred million years along this coast, and this is the only place on earth you can do that! What would the pioneering Mary Anning have made of the news? Her beloved home of Lyme Regis in Dorset becoming part of a World Heritage Site!
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