| Kimmeridge | |
Kimmeridge main street |
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Kimmeridge
Kimmeridge shown within Dorset |
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| Population | 110 (2001) |
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| OS grid reference | SY916798 |
| Parish | Kimmeridge |
| District | Purbeck |
| Shire county | Dorset |
| Region | South West |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | WAREHAM |
| Postcode district | BH20 |
| Dialling code | 01929 |
| Police | Dorset |
| Fire | Dorset |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| EU Parliament | South West England |
| UK Parliament | South Dorset |
| List of places: UK • England • Dorset | |
Kimmeridge is a small village in the English county of Dorset. It is situated just over half a mile (1 km) inland on the Isle of Purbeck on the English Channel coast, 3.5 miles (6.0 km) south of Wareham and about 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Swanage. It lies within the Purbeck administrative district of the county, and has a population of 110 (2001).[1]
On the coast south-west of the village lies the roughly semi-circular Kimmeridge Bay, which is backed by low cliffs of soft shale. Beneath the cliffs there is a large wave-cut platform (known as The Flats) and a rocky shore with rock pools and attendant ecology. Kimmeridge Bay is a surfer area.
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Along the shore immediately eastwards of Kimmeridge Bay (above Hen Cliff) is a folly known as Clavell Tower which inspired P.D. James's novel The Black Tower. It had been in danger of falling down the eroding cliff, so recently the tower was dismantled and then reassembled 35 metres further back from the cliff edge. The tower is available as a holiday let.
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution stationed a lifeboat at Kimmeridge in 1868 but it was removed in 1896.[2]
The parish church was mostly built in 1872.
The village stands on Jurassic shale cliffs, and gives its name to the Kimmeridgian, the division of the Jurassic period in which the beds were laid down, because of the quality of the cliffs and the fossils they yield. It is part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site because of the quality and variety of geological landforms along the coast. A Jurassic Coast Visitor Centre is situated in Kimmeridge.
The bay is also the type locality for the Jurassic age Kimmeridge Clay formation, which is well represented in southern England, and provides one of the source rocks for hydrocarbons found in the Wessex and North Sea Basins.
On the cliff west of the village is the BP "nodding donkey" oil pump which has been pumping continually since the late 1950s, making it the oldest working oil pump in the UK. The well currently yields around 65 barrels per day (10.3 m3/d) from the Middle Jurassic strata that lie around 350 metres (1,150 ft) below the cliff.[3][4] The well has been operating for this long because it has tapped into a network of connected reserves; however the yield is decreasing year on year. The oil is transported by tanker to the BP site at Wytch Farm from whence it is piped to the main refinery on Southampton Water.[3]
Kimmeridge Bay is a surfing area which breaks infrequently due to its lack of exposure to Atlantic swells, but can produce walls of water when it is 'on'. Below the cliffs to the East is 'The Ledges', with slow left- and right-hand breaking waves; the right-handers can spiral for 70 yards or more into the bay. To the West is 'Broad Bench', within the Ministry of Defence firing range and only accessible when the ranges are open to the public.