"Mark Godden's Little Bit Of Cyberspace Mk.II"

Portesham Quarry

In the 19th Century, a quarry was opened in the Portland and lower Purbeck beds in the northern escarpment of the Weymouth anticline (The Ridgeway), above the village of Portesham. The beds here dip steeply north and lie at the opposite (northern) end of the Weymouth anticline to Portland. Demand for the limestone from this quarry was not sufficient and the quarrying operation ceased in 1896. The Portland stone from Portesham Quarry is typically much finer grained (chalky) than that quarried on Portland and it was probably not possible to extract it in anything like such large blocks as those available there. The nearby monument to Admiral Thomas Masterman Hardy (a native of Portesham) is built of stone from Portesham Quarry.

Lower Purbeck and Portland Beds at Portesham Quarry

 

Portesham Quarry has been classified as a "Regionally Important Geological Site" (RIGS) and is freely accessible via a public footpath. There are excellent interpretation panels at the site. Views from here extend south, right across the centre of the Weymouth anticline making it a very good place to gain an impression of the structural geology that underlies the area.