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Coordinates: 50°37′16″N 2°16′37″W / 50.62114°N 2.27699°W / 50.62114; -2.27699
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{{Short description|Natural limestone arch on the Jurassic coast of England}}
{{Short description|Natural limestone arch on the Jurassic coast of England}}
{{redirect|Durdle|other uses|Durdle (disambiguation)}}
{{redirect|Durdle|other uses|Durdle (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}
[[File:Durdle Door Overview.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Durdle Door, Dorset]]


{{Infobox protected area
⚫
'''Durdle Door''' (sometimes written '''Durdle Dor'''<ref>{{cite book|last=Crane|first=Nicholas|author-link=Nicholas Crane|date=2010|title=Coast: Our Island Story: A Journey of Discovery Around Britain's Coastline|publisher=BBC Books}}</ref>) is a natural [[limestone]] [[natural arch|arch]] on the [[Jurassic Coast]] near [[West Lulworth|Lulworth]] in [[Dorset]], England.<ref name="west">West, I.W., 2003. "[http://www.soton.ac.uk/~imw/durdle.htm Durdle Door; Geology of the Dorset Coast]". [[Southampton University]], UK. Version H.07.09.03.</ref> It is privately owned by the Weld Family who own the [[Lulworth Estate]],<ref name=telegraph>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/unitedarabemirates/6022473/UAE-hotel-draws-condemnation-over-use-of-Durdle-Door-image-on-website.html|title=UAE hotel draws condemnation over use of Durdle Door image on website|author=Aislinn Simpson|date=13 August 2009|access-date=8 August 2013|location=London|work=The Daily Telegraph}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Purbeck Gazette|url=http://www.purbeck-gazette.co.uk/news/info.aspx?f=885|access-date=6 April 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120915084953/http://www.purbeck-gazette.co.uk/news/info.aspx?f=885|archive-date=15 September 2012|df=dmy-all}}</ref> but it is also open to the public.
| name = Durdle Door
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| photo = Durdle Door Overview.jpg
| photo_caption = Durdle Door in Dorset
| map = Dorset#UK
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| map_caption = Location in the UK
| coordinates = {{Coord|50.62114|-2.27699|format=dms|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}}
| label = Durdle Door
| relief =
| location = [[Jurassic Coast]]
| nearest_city =
| nearest_town = [[ West Lulworth]]
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⚫
'''Durdle Door''' (sometimes written '''Durdle Dor'''<ref>{{cite book|last=Crane|first=Nicholas|author-link=Nicholas Crane|date=2010|title=Coast: Our Island Story: A Journey of Discovery Around Britain's Coastline|publisher=BBC Books}}</ref>) is a natural [[limestone]] [[natural arch|arch]] on the [[Jurassic Coast]] near [[West Lulworth|Lulworth]] in [[Dorset]], England.<ref name="west">West, I.W., 2003. "[http://www.soton.ac.uk/~imw/durdle.htm Durdle Door; Geology of the Dorset Coast] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307090656/http://www.soton.ac.uk/~imw/durdle.htm |date=7 March 2012 }}". [[Southampton University]], UK. Version H.07.09.03.</ref> It is privately owned by the Weld family, who own the [[Lulworth Estate]],<ref name=telegraph>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/unitedarabemirates/6022473/UAE-hotel-draws-condemnation-over-use-of-Durdle-Door-image-on-website.html|title=UAE hotel draws condemnation over use of Durdle Door image on website|author=Aislinn Simpson|date=13 August 2009|access-date=8 August 2013|location=London|work=The Daily Telegraph|archive-date=7 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507021238/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/unitedarabemirates/6022473/UAE-hotel-draws-condemnation-over-use-of-Durdle-Door-image-on-website.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Purbeck Gazette|url=http://www.purbeck-gazette.co.uk/news/info.aspx?f=885|access-date=6 April 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120915084953/http://www.purbeck-gazette.co.uk/news/info.aspx?f=885|archive-date=15 September 2012}}</ref> but it is also open to the public.


== Geology ==
== Geology ==
The form of the coastline around Durdle Door is controlled by its geology—both by the contrasting hardnesses of the rocks, and by the local patterns of faults and folds.<ref name="Nowell">Nowell, D. A. G. "The geology of Lulworth Cove, Dorset." Geology Today 14 (1998): 71–74.</ref> The arch has formed on a [[concordant coastline]] where bands of [[rock (geology)|rock]] run parallel to the shoreline. The rock [[strata]] are almost vertical, and the bands of rock are quite narrow. Originally a band of [[resistance (geology)|resistant]] [[Portland stone|Portland limestone]] ran along the shore, the same band that appears one mile along the coast forming the narrow entrance to [[Lulworth Cove]].<ref name="ParkGeology">{{cite web|url=http://jurassiccoast.org/find-out-about/226-geo-highlights/619-lulworth-cove-aamp-crumple-a-geography-pilgrimage|title=Lulworth Cove & Crumple – a geography pilgrimage|access-date=12 August 2013|publisher=jurassiccoast.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219021903/http://jurassiccoast.org/find-out-about/226-geo-highlights/619-lulworth-cove-aamp-crumple-a-geography-pilgrimage|archive-date=19 December 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> Behind this is a {{convert|120|m|ft|-1|sing=on}} band of weaker, easily [[erosion|eroded]] rocks, and behind this is a stronger and much thicker band of [[chalk]], which forms the [[Purbeck Hills]].<ref name="Nowell" /> These steeply dipping rocks are part of the Lulworth crumple, itself part of the broader [[Purbeck Monocline]], produced by the building of the [[Alpine orogeny|Alps]] during the mid-[[Cenozoic]].<ref name="Nowell" /><ref name="Phillips" />
The form of the coastline around Durdle Door is controlled by its geology—both by the contrasting hardnesses of the rocks, and by the local patterns of faults and folds.<ref name="Nowell">Nowell, D. A. G. "The geology of Lulworth Cove, Dorset." Geology Today 14 (1998): 71–74.</ref> The arch has formed on a [[concordant coastline]] where bands of [[rock (geology)|rock]] run parallel to the shoreline. The rock [[strata]] are almost vertical, and the bands of rock are quite narrow. Originally a band of [[resistance (geology)|resistant]] [[Portland stone|Portland limestone]] ran along the shore, the same band that appears one mile along the coast forming the narrow entrance to [[Lulworth Cove]].<ref name="ParkGeology">{{cite web|url=http://jurassiccoast.org/find-out-about/226-geo-highlights/619-lulworth-cove-aamp-crumple-a-geography-pilgrimage|title=Lulworth Cove & Crumple – a geography pilgrimage|access-date=12 August 2013|publisher=jurassiccoast.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219021903/http://jurassiccoast.org/find-out-about/226-geo-highlights/619-lulworth-cove-aamp-crumple-a-geography-pilgrimage|archive-date=19 December 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> Behind this is a {{convert|120|m|ft|-1|adj=on}} band of weaker, easily [[erosion|eroded]] rocks, and behind this is a stronger and much thicker band of [[chalk]], which forms the [[Purbeck Hills]].<ref name="Nowell" /> These steeply dipping rocks are part of the Lulworth crumple, itself part of the broader [[Purbeck Monocline]], produced by the building of the [[Alpine orogeny|Alps]] during the mid-[[Cenozoic]].<ref name="Nowell" /><ref name="Phillips" />
[[File:Durdle Door from the east - geograph.org.uk - 14.jpg|thumb|A 'back view' of the Durdle Door promontory from the east, showing the remnants of the more resistant strata in Man O'War Bay]]
[[File:Durdle Door from the east - geograph.org.uk - 14.jpg|thumb|A 'back view' of the Durdle Door promontory from the east, showing the remnants of the more resistant strata in Man O'War Bay]]


The limestone and chalk are in closer proximity at Durdle Door than at [[Swanage]], {{convert|10|mi|km|0}} to the east, where the distance is over {{convert|2|mi|km|0}}.<ref>Arkell, W. J., 1947. The geology of the country around Weymouth, Swanage, Corfe and Lulworth. Mem. geol. Surv. UK</ref>
The limestone and chalk are in closer proximity at Durdle Door than at [[Swanage]], {{convert|10|mi|km|0}} to the east, where the distance is over {{convert|2|mi|km|0}}.<ref>Arkell, W. J., 1947. The geology of the country around Weymouth, Swanage, Corfe, and Lulworth. Mem. geol. Surv. UK</ref>
Around this part of the coast nearly all of the limestone has been removed by sea erosion, whilst the remainder forms the small headland which includes the arch. Erosion at the western end of the limestone band has resulted in the arch formation.<ref name="Nowell" /> [[UNESCO]] teams monitor the condition of both the arch and adjacent beach.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jurassiccoast.org/conserving-the-coast/monitoring-the-coast|title=Monitoring the coast|publisher=jurassiccoast.org|access-date=12 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151108092222/http://jurassiccoast.org/conserving-the-coast/monitoring-the-coast|archive-date=8 November 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Around this part of the coast, nearly all of the limestone has been removed by sea erosion, whilst the remainder forms the small headland which includes the arch. Erosion at the western end of the limestone band has resulted in the arch formation.<ref name="Nowell" /> [[UNESCO]] teams monitor the condition of both the arch and adjacent beach.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jurassiccoast.org/conserving-the-coast/monitoring-the-coast|title=Monitoring the coast|publisher=jurassiccoast.org|access-date=12 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151108092222/http://jurassiccoast.org/conserving-the-coast/monitoring-the-coast|archive-date=8 November 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>


The {{convert|120|m|ft|-1|sing=on}} isthmus that joins the limestone to the chalk is made of a {{convert|50|m|ft|-1|sing=on}} band of Portland limestone, a narrow and compressed band of [[Cretaceous]] [[Wealden Supergroup|Wealden]] [[clay]]s and sands, and then narrow bands of [[Greensand (geology)|greensand]] and [[sandstone]].<ref name="Phillips">{{cite journal |last=Phillips |first=W. J. |title=The structures in the Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks on the Dorset coast between White Nothe and Mupe Bay |journal=Proceedings of the Geologists' Association |volume=75 |year=1964 |issue=4 |doi=10.1016/S0016-7878(64)80019-5 |at=373-IN1}}</ref>
The {{convert|120|m|ft|-1|adj=on}} isthmus that joins the limestone to the chalk is made of a {{convert|50|m|ft|-1|adj=on}} band of Portland limestone, a narrow and compressed band of [[Cretaceous]] [[Wealden Supergroup|Wealden]] [[clay]]s and sands, and then narrow bands of [[Greensand (geology)|greensand]] and [[sandstone]].<ref name="Phillips">{{cite journal |last=Phillips |first=W. J. |title=The structures in the Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks on the Dorset coast between White Nothe and Mupe Bay |journal=Proceedings of the Geologists' Association |volume=75 |year=1964 |issue=4 |doi=10.1016/S0016-7878(64)80019-5 |at=373-IN1}}</ref>


In [[Man of War Bay|Man O' War Bay]], the small bay immediately east of Durdle Door, the band of Portland and Purbeck limestone has not been entirely eroded away, and is visible above the waves as Man O'War Rocks.<ref name=west2>{{cite web|url=http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~imw/durdle.htm|title=Durdle Door, West of Lulworth Cove, Dorset. Geology of the Wessex Coast of Southern England|author=Ian West|access-date=10 August 2013}}</ref> Similarly, offshore to the west, the eroded limestone outcrop forms a line of small rocky islets called (from east to west) The Bull, The Blind Cow, The Cow, and The Calf.<ref name=west2 />
In [[Man of War Bay|Man O' War Bay]], the small bay immediately east of Durdle Door, the band of Portland and Purbeck limestone has not been entirely eroded and is visible above the waves as Man O'War Rocks.<ref name=west2>{{cite web|url=http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~imw/durdle.htm|title=Durdle Door, West of Lulworth Cove, Dorset. Geology of the Wessex Coast of Southern England|author=Ian West|access-date=10 August 2013|archive-date=29 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729093441/http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~imw/durdle.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Similarly, offshore to the west, the eroded limestone outcrop forms a line of small rocky islets called (from east to west) The Bull, The Blind Cow, The Cow, and The Calf.<ref name=west2 />


As the coastline in this area is generally an eroding landscape, the cliffs are subject to occasional rockfalls and landslides; a particularly large slide occurred just to the east of Durdle Door in April 2013, resulting in destruction of part of the [[South West Coast Path]].<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-22355538 |title= Dorset coast path collapse: 'Massive' cliff fall near Durdle Door |date= 30 April 2013 |work= [[BBC News]]| access-date=12 August 2013}}</ref>
As the coastline in this area is generally an eroding landscape, the cliffs are subject to occasional rockfalls and landslides; a particularly large slide occurred just to the east of Durdle Door in April 2013, destroying a part of the [[South West Coast Path]].<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-22355538 |title= Dorset coast path collapse: 'Massive' cliff fall near Durdle Door |date= 30 April 2013 |work= [[BBC News]] |access-date= 12 August 2013 |archive-date= 16 October 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211016083749/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-22355538 |url-status= live }}</ref>


== Etymology ==
== Etymology ==
There is a dearth of early written records about the arch,<ref name=dorsetpage>{{cite web|url=http://www.thedorsetpage.com/locations/place/D050.htm|publisher=the dorsetpage.com|title=Locations: Durdle Door|date=2000|access-date=11 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120105044353/http://www.thedorsetpage.com/locations/Place/D050.htm|archive-date=5 January 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> though it has kept a name given to it probably over a thousand years ago.<ref name=west2 /> In the late 18th century there is a description of the "magnificent arch of Durdle-rock Door",<ref name=west2 /> and early 19th-century maps called it "Duddledoor" and "Durdle" or "Dudde Door". In 1811 the first [[Ordnance Survey]] map of the area named it as "Dirdale Door".<ref name=dorsetpage /> ''Durdle'' is derived from the Old English {{lang|ang|thirl}}, meaning to pierce,<ref name=west2 /> bore or drill,<ref name=heritage>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldheritagecoast.net/place.aspx?place=25|title=Durdle Door|publisher=worldheritagecoast.net|access-date=8 August 2013}}</ref> which in turn derives from {{lang|ang|thyrel}}, meaning hole.<ref>{{cite book|title=Collins English Dictionary|editor=Patrick Hanks|year=1985|publisher=William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd|isbn=0 00 433078-1}}</ref> Similar names in the region include [[Durlston Bay]] and [[Durlston Head]] further east, where a coastal [[Stack (geology)|stack]] suggests the existence of an earlier arch, and the [[Thurlestone]], an arched rock in the neighbouring county of [[Devon]] to the west.<ref name=west2 /> The ''Door'' part of the name probably maintains its modern meaning, referring to the arched shape of the rock;<ref name=dorsetpage /> in the late 19th century there is reference to it being called the "Barn-door", and it is described as being "sufficiently high for a good-sized sailing boat to pass through it."<ref name=west2 />
There is a dearth of early written records about the arch,<ref name=dorsetpage>{{cite web|url=http://www.thedorsetpage.com/locations/place/D050.htm|publisher=the dorsetpage.com|title=Locations: Durdle Door|date=2000|access-date=11 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120105044353/http://www.thedorsetpage.com/locations/Place/D050.htm|archive-date=5 January 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> though it has kept a name given to it probably over a thousand years ago.<ref name=west2 /> In the late 18th century there is a description of the "magnificent arch of Durdle-rock Door",<ref name=west2 /> and early 19th-century maps called it "Duddledoor" and "Durdle" or "Dudde Door". In 1811 the first [[Ordnance Survey]] map of the area named it "Dirdale Door".<ref name=dorsetpage /> ''Durdle'' is derived from the Old English {{lang|ang|thirl}}, meaning to pierce,<ref name=west2 /> bore or drill,<ref name=heritage>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldheritagecoast.net/place.aspx?place=25|title=Durdle Door|publisher=worldheritagecoast.net|access-date=8 August 2013|archive-date=5 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120705183941/http://www.worldheritagecoast.net/place.aspx?place=25|url-status=live}}</ref> which in turn derives from {{lang|ang|thyrel}}, meaning hole.<ref>{{cite book|title=Collins English Dictionary|editor=Patrick Hanks|year=1985|publisher=William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd|isbn=0 00 433078-1}}</ref> Similar names in the region include [[Durlston Bay]] and [[Durlston Head]] further east, where a coastal [[Stack (geology)|stack]] suggests the existence of an earlier arch, and the [[Thurlestone]], an arched rock in the neighbouring county of [[Devon]] to the west.<ref name=west2 /> The ''Door'' part of the name probably maintains its modern meaning, referring to the arched shape of the rock;<ref name=dorsetpage /> in the late 19th century there is a reference to it being called the "Barn-door", and it is described as being "sufficiently high for a good-sized sailing boat to pass through it."<ref name=west2 />
[[File:Durdle Door (1877).jpg|thumb|People on the beach show the scale of the arch. The [[Isle of Portland]] can be seen on the horizon.]]
[[File:Durdle Door (1877).jpg|thumb|People on the beach show the scale of the arch. The [[Isle of Portland]] can be seen on the horizon.]]


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Music videos have been filmed at Durdle Door, including parts of [[Tears for Fears]]' "[[Shout (Tears for Fears song)|Shout]]", [[Billy Ocean]]'s "[[Loverboy (Billy Ocean song)|Loverboy]]", [[Cliff Richard]]'s "[[Saviour's Day (song)|Saviour's Day]]"<ref name=heritage /> and [[Bruce Dickinson]]'s "[[Tears of the Dragon]]".
Music videos have been filmed at Durdle Door, including parts of [[Tears for Fears]]' "[[Shout (Tears for Fears song)|Shout]]", [[Billy Ocean]]'s "[[Loverboy (Billy Ocean song)|Loverboy]]", [[Cliff Richard]]'s "[[Saviour's Day (song)|Saviour's Day]]"<ref name=heritage /> and [[Bruce Dickinson]]'s "[[Tears of the Dragon]]".


The landscape around Durdle Door has been used in scenes in several films, including ''[[Wilde (film)|Wilde]]'' (1997) starring [[Stephen Fry]],<ref name=telegraph /><ref name=heritage /> ''[[Nanny McPhee]]''<ref name=telegraph /> starring [[Emma Thompson]], the 1967 production of ''[[Far from the Madding Crowd (1967 film)|Far From The Madding Crowd]]''<ref name=heritage /> (the latter also filmed around nearby [[Scratchy Bottom]]),<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061648/locations | title=Far from the Madding Crowd (1967) — Filming locations | website=[[IMDb]] | access-date=25 October 2008}}</ref> and the Bollywood film ''[[Housefull 3]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/IDWLFF/status/672521437253537792 | title=IDWLF on Twitter|access-date=20 May 2017}}</ref> In 2022, Durdle Door was where the [[Thirteenth Doctor]] ([[Jodie Whittaker]]) [[Regeneration (Doctor Who)|regenerated]] into the [[Fourteenth Doctor]] ([[David Tennant]]), in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "[[The Power of the Doctor]]". <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dorset.live/whats-on/whats-on-news/durdle-door-doctor-who-where-7738295|title=Doctor Who: Jodie Whittaker regenerates on Durdle Door in shock ending|last=Taylor|first=Mike|publisher=Dorset Live|date=23 October 2022|access-date=23 October 2022}}</ref> [[Ron Dawson]]'s children's story ''Scary Bones meets the Dinosaurs of the Jurassic Coast'' creates a myth of how Durdle Door came to be, as an 'undiscovered' dinosaur called ''Durdle Doorus'' is magically transformed into rock.<ref name="Dawson Amazon.co.uk">{{cite book|title=Book Description on Amazon.co.uk|id={{ASIN|0956173241|country=uk}}}}</ref>
The landscape around Durdle Door has been used in scenes in several films, including ''[[Wilde (film)|Wilde]]'' (1997) starring [[Stephen Fry]],<ref name=telegraph /><ref name=heritage /> ''[[Nanny McPhee]]''<ref name=telegraph /> starring [[Emma Thompson]], the 1967 production of ''[[Far from the Madding Crowd (1967 film)|Far From The Madding Crowd]]''<ref name=heritage /> (the latter also filmed around nearby [[Scratchy Bottom]]),<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061648/locations | title=Far from the Madding Crowd (1967) — Filming locations | website=[[IMDb]] | access-date=25 October 2008 | archive-date=1 June 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150601033405/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061648/locations | url-status=live }}</ref> and the Bollywood film ''[[Housefull 3]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/IDWLFF/status/672521437253537792 | title=IDWLF on Twitter|access-date=20 May 2017}}</ref> In 2022, Durdle Door was where the [[Thirteenth Doctor]] ([[Jodie Whittaker]]) [[Regeneration (Doctor Who)|regenerated]] into the [[Fourteenth Doctor]] ([[David Tennant]]), in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "[[The Power of the Doctor]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dorset.live/whats-on/whats-on-news/durdle-door-doctor-who-where-7738295|title=Doctor Who: Jodie Whittaker regenerates on Durdle Door in shock ending|last=Taylor|first=Mike|publisher=Dorset Live|date=23 October 2022|access-date=23 October 2022|archive-date=23 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221023212119/https://www.dorset.live/whats-on/whats-on-news/durdle-door-doctor-who-where-7738295|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Ron Dawson]]'s children's story ''Scary Bones meets the Dinosaurs of the Jurassic Coast'' creates a myth of how Durdle Door came to be, as an 'undiscovered' dinosaur called ''Durdle Doorus'' is magically transformed into rock.<ref name="Dawson Amazon.co.uk">{{cite book|title=Book Description on Amazon.co.uk|id={{ASIN|0956173241|country=uk}}}}</ref>


Dorset-born [[Arthur Moule]], a friend of [[Thomas Hardy]] and missionary to China, wrote these lines about Durdle Door for his 1879 book of poetry ''Songs of heaven and home, written in a foreign land'':<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9lACAAAAQAAJ&q=durdle+door+moule|page=22|title=Songs of Heaven and Home, Written in a Foreign Land|last1=Moule|first1=Arthur Evans|year=1879}}</ref>
Dorset-born [[Arthur Moule]], a friend of [[Thomas Hardy]] and missionary to China wrote these lines about Durdle Door for his 1879 book of poetry ''Songs of Heaven and home, written in a foreign Land'':<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9lACAAAAQAAJ&q=durdle+door+moule|page=22|title=Songs of Heaven and Home, Written in a Foreign Land|last1=Moule|first1=Arthur Evans|year=1879}}</ref>


{{Quote|text=Shall the tide thus ebb and flow for ever?<br />and for evermore<br />Rave the wave and glance the ripple through the<br />rocks at Durdle Door?}}
{{Blockquote|text=Shall the tide thus ebb and flow forever?<br />and for evermore<br />Rave the wave and glance the ripple through the<br />rocks at Durdle Door?}}
{{wideimage|Durdle Door panorama.jpg|800px|View from cliffs above Durdle Door at dusk with rain approaching over the sea}}
{{wideimage|Durdle Door panorama.jpg|800px|View from cliffs above Durdle Door at dusk with rain approaching over the sea}}


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*[http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~imw/jpg-Durdle-Door/13DDR-Durdle-East-Labelled-Section.jpg Section of Lulworth Crumple, labelled diagram by Ian West (2013)]
*[http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~imw/jpg-Durdle-Door/13DDR-Durdle-East-Labelled-Section.jpg Section of Lulworth Crumple, labelled diagram by Ian West (2013)]
*[http://easyscienceforkids.com/the-durdle-door-worksheet-free-to-download-printable-find-hidden-words-puzzle/ Durdle Door Educational Activity Sheet for Kids] at EasyScienceforKids.
*[http://easyscienceforkids.com/the-durdle-door-worksheet-free-to-download-printable-find-hidden-words-puzzle/ Durdle Door Educational Activity Sheet for Kids] at EasyScienceforKids.

{{coord|50|37|16|N|2|16|36|W|region:GB_type:waterbody_source:GNS-enwiki|display=title}}


{{Jurassic Coast}}
{{Jurassic Coast}}

Latest revision as of 18:33, 5 June 2024

"Durdle" redirects here. For other uses, see Durdle (disambiguation).

Durdle Door
Durdle Door in Dorset
Map showing the location of Durdle Door
Map showing the location of Durdle Door
Durdle Door
Location in the UK
Map showing the location of Durdle Door
Map showing the location of Durdle Door
Durdle Door
Durdle Door (the United Kingdom)
LocationJurassic Coast
Nearest townWest Lulworth
Coordinates50°37′16″N 2°16′37″W / 50.62114°N 2.27699°W / 50.62114; -2.27699
Width100 ft (30 m)
Elevation200 ft (61 m)

Durdle Door (sometimes written Durdle Dor[1]) is a natural limestone arch on the Jurassic Coast near Lulworth in Dorset, England.[2] It is privately owned by the Weld family, who own the Lulworth Estate,[3][4] but it is also open to the public.

Geology

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The form of the coastline around Durdle Door is controlled by its geology—both by the contrasting hardnesses of the rocks, and by the local patterns of faults and folds.[5] The arch has formed on a concordant coastline where bands of rock run parallel to the shoreline. The rock strata are almost vertical, and the bands of rock are quite narrow. Originally a band of resistant Portland limestone ran along the shore, the same band that appears one mile along the coast forming the narrow entrance to Lulworth Cove.[6] Behind this is a 120-metre (390 ft) band of weaker, easily eroded rocks, and behind this is a stronger and much thicker band of chalk, which forms the Purbeck Hills.[5] These steeply dipping rocks are part of the Lulworth crumple, itself part of the broader Purbeck Monocline, produced by the building of the Alps during the mid-Cenozoic.[5][7]

A 'back view' of the Durdle Door promontory from the east, showing the remnants of the more resistant strata in Man O'War Bay

The limestone and chalk are in closer proximity at Durdle Door than at Swanage, 10 miles (16 km) to the east, where the distance is over 2 miles (3 km).[8] Around this part of the coast, nearly all of the limestone has been removed by sea erosion, whilst the remainder forms the small headland which includes the arch. Erosion at the western end of the limestone band has resulted in the arch formation.[5] UNESCO teams monitor the condition of both the arch and adjacent beach.[9]

The 120-metre (390 ft) isthmus that joins the limestone to the chalk is made of a 50-metre (160 ft) band of Portland limestone, a narrow and compressed band of Cretaceous Wealden clays and sands, and then narrow bands of greensand and sandstone.[7]

In Man O' War Bay, the small bay immediately east of Durdle Door, the band of Portland and Purbeck limestone has not been entirely eroded and is visible above the waves as Man O'War Rocks.[10] Similarly, offshore to the west, the eroded limestone outcrop forms a line of small rocky islets called (from east to west) The Bull, The Blind Cow, The Cow, and The Calf.[10]

As the coastline in this area is generally an eroding landscape, the cliffs are subject to occasional rockfalls and landslides; a particularly large slide occurred just to the east of Durdle Door in April 2013, destroying a part of the South West Coast Path.[11]

Etymology

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There is a dearth of early written records about the arch,[12] though it has kept a name given to it probably over a thousand years ago.[10] In the late 18th century there is a description of the "magnificent arch of Durdle-rock Door",[10] and early 19th-century maps called it "Duddledoor" and "Durdle" or "Dudde Door". In 1811 the first Ordnance Survey map of the area named it "Dirdale Door".[12] Durdle is derived from the Old English thirl, meaning to pierce,[10] bore or drill,[13] which in turn derives from thyrel, meaning hole.[14] Similar names in the region include Durlston Bay and Durlston Head further east, where a coastal stack suggests the existence of an earlier arch, and the Thurlestone, an arched rock in the neighbouring county of Devon to the west.[10] The Door part of the name probably maintains its modern meaning, referring to the arched shape of the rock;[12] in the late 19th century there is a reference to it being called the "Barn-door", and it is described as being "sufficiently high for a good-sized sailing boat to pass through it."[10]

People on the beach show the scale of the arch. The Isle of Portland can be seen on the horizon.
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Music videos have been filmed at Durdle Door, including parts of Tears for Fears' "Shout", Billy Ocean's "Loverboy", Cliff Richard's "Saviour's Day"[13] and Bruce Dickinson's "Tears of the Dragon".

The landscape around Durdle Door has been used in scenes in several films, including Wilde (1997) starring Stephen Fry,[3][13] Nanny McPhee[3] starring Emma Thompson, the 1967 production of Far From The Madding Crowd[13] (the latter also filmed around nearby Scratchy Bottom),[15] and the Bollywood film Housefull 3.[16] In 2022, Durdle Door was where the Thirteenth Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) regenerated into the Fourteenth Doctor (David Tennant), in the Doctor Who episode "The Power of the Doctor".[17] Ron Dawson's children's story Scary Bones meets the Dinosaurs of the Jurassic Coast creates a myth of how Durdle Door came to be, as an 'undiscovered' dinosaur called Durdle Doorus is magically transformed into rock.[18]

Dorset-born Arthur Moule, a friend of Thomas Hardy and missionary to China wrote these lines about Durdle Door for his 1879 book of poetry Songs of Heaven and home, written in a foreign Land:[19]

Shall the tide thus ebb and flow forever?
and for evermore
Rave the wave and glance the ripple through the
rocks at Durdle Door?

View from cliffs above Durdle Door at dusk with rain approaching over the sea

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Crane, Nicholas (2010). Coast: Our Island Story: A Journey of Discovery Around Britain's Coastline. BBC Books.
  2. ^ West, I.W., 2003. "Durdle Door; Geology of the Dorset Coast Archived 7 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine". Southampton University, UK. Version H.07.09.03.
  3. ^ a b c Aislinn Simpson (13 August 2009). "UAE hotel draws condemnation over use of Durdle Door image on website". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  4. ^ "The Purbeck Gazette". Archived from the original on 15 September 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  5. ^ a b c d Nowell, D. A. G. "The geology of Lulworth Cove, Dorset." Geology Today 14 (1998): 71–74.
  6. ^ "Lulworth Cove & Crumple – a geography pilgrimage". jurassiccoast.org. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
  7. ^ a b Phillips, W. J. (1964). "The structures in the Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks on the Dorset coast between White Nothe and Mupe Bay". Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. 75 (4). 373-IN1. doi:10.1016/S0016-7878(64)80019-5.
  8. ^ Arkell, W. J., 1947. The geology of the country around Weymouth, Swanage, Corfe, and Lulworth. Mem. geol. Surv. UK
  9. ^ "Monitoring the coast". jurassiccoast.org. Archived from the original on 8 November 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Ian West. "Durdle Door, West of Lulworth Cove, Dorset. Geology of the Wessex Coast of Southern England". Archived from the original on 29 July 2017. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  11. ^ "Dorset coast path collapse: 'Massive' cliff fall near Durdle Door". BBC News. 30 April 2013. Archived from the original on 16 October 2021. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
  12. ^ a b c "Locations: Durdle Door". the dorsetpage.com. 2000. Archived from the original on 5 January 2012. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  13. ^ a b c d "Durdle Door". worldheritagecoast.net. Archived from the original on 5 July 2012. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  14. ^ Patrick Hanks, ed. (1985). Collins English Dictionary. William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. ISBN 0 00 433078-1.
  15. ^ "Far from the Madding Crowd (1967) — Filming locations". IMDb. Archived from the original on 1 June 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
  16. ^ "IDWLF on Twitter". Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  17. ^ Taylor, Mike (23 October 2022). "Doctor Who: Jodie Whittaker regenerates on Durdle Door in shock ending". Dorset Live. Archived from the original on 23 October 2022. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  18. ^ Book Description on Amazon.co.uk. ASIN 0956173241.
  19. ^ Moule, Arthur Evans (1879). Songs of Heaven and Home, Written in a Foreign Land. p. 22.

Further reading

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  • Arkell, W.J., 1978. The Geology of the Country around Weymouth, Swanage, Corfe and Lulworth, 4th pr.. London: Geological Survey of Great Britain, HMSO.
  • Davies, G.M., 1956. A Geological Guide to the Dorset Coast, 2nd ed.. London: Adam & Charles Black.
  • Perkins, J.W., 1977. Geology Explained in Dorset. London: David & Charles.
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