St Alban's Head
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St Alban's Head (corruption of St Aldhelm's Head) is located five kilometres southwest of Swanage, on the coast of Dorset, England. The headland is an outcrop of Portland Stone from the overlying Lower Purbeck Stone.
The coast from St Aldhelm's Head to Durlston Head, with Isle of Portland to Studland Cliffs, forms a single unit of cliffed coastline some 40 km in length. They are formed of hard limestones, with chalk at the eastern end, interspersed with slumped sections of soft cliff of sand and clays.
The area is designated a Special Area of Conservation under the European Union's Habitat Directive.
On the bluff of the headland is a monument to the development of radar during World War II, by the Telecommunications Research Establishment at nearby RAF Worth Matravers. There is also a coastguard station, now maintained by the National Coastwatch Institution (not to be confused with HM Coastguard), sturdily built former coastguard cottages and a Norman Chapel dedicated to St Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne.
[edit] External links
- grid reference SY9675
- Ian West's Geology of the Wessex Coast Field Guide, including photographs
- National Coastwatch Institution St Alban's Head Website
[edit] Gallery
 NCI St Alban's Head Lookout Station |
 Sandstone cliffs immediately to the east of St Alban's Head |
 Old Coastguard cottages at St Aldhelm's Head |
 St Aldhelm's Chapel at St Aldhelm's Head |
 Radar research memorial at St Aldhelm's Head |
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