Monument record MWX514 - Durdle Pier, Portland

Durdle Pier is the last remaining example of an C18th or earlier quay on the east side of Portland used in connection with the stone trade. The present crane is by Galpin of Dorchester (1840-70) and is at least the third on the site. Recommended no action. <2>

A small re-entrant is faced with two stone walls each about 50ft long and forming a right angle. The quay is now only used by fishermen. <3>

A chart of 1779 <4> notes that this pier is called 'New Key or Dirtle Pier'.

Partially artificial quay of stone blocks with timber derrick crane now used for launching small fishing boats. Tracks from various stone-working sites in East Weares converge on the site. Recorded as ‘Dirtle key’ in 1745 <5>, ‘New Key or Dirtle Pier’ in 1765 <6>, 'Durtle Pier' served by tracks in 1800 <7>, 'Dirdale Pier' in 1811 <8> and later maps, becoming Durdle Pier in 1863 when there was a crane marked here <9>. Shown but not named in 1901 <10>.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey 1:10,000 scale map, 1978 (Map). SDO17396.

Durdle Pier (NAT)

<2> Council for British Archaeology, 1973, Recommendations of CBA Panel on Industrial Monuments Dorset, 1 (Monograph). SWX2360.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 248 (Monograph). SDO150.

<4> Sayer and Bennett, 1779, Hydrographic Survey of Isle, Road and Race of Portland with the Shambles (Chart). SWX8808.

<5> Roper, T, 1745, A Plan of the Island of Portland in the County of Dorsett, with a description of his Ma’ty’s Demesne Lands and Quarries there… (Map). SDO10234.

<6> Taylor, Isaac, 1765, Dorset Shire (Map). SDO10340.

<7> F Webb and Co Salisbury, 1800, A Map of the Isle of Portland (Map). SDO10235.

<8> Ordnance Survey, 1811, Ordnance Survey 1-inch map first series, Sheet 17 (Map). SDO10343.

<9> Ordnance Survey, 1864, 1886, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch one (Map). SDO10239.

<10> Ordnance Survey, 1901, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, sheet LVIII.16 (Map). SDO10276.

<11> National Record of the Historic Environment, 453861 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Sep 6 2024 4:39PM