Clavell Tower

A visit to Dorset would not be complete without checking out one of the Jurassic Coast bays. The nearest one on the way home (OK ... it was in the opposite direction to home, but's who's counting?!) was Kimmeridge Bay.

I actually started my day in the village with coffee and cake sitting under the shade of trees of in the open air Clavells Restaurant, before heading over the road to The Etches Collection. This was a fascinating museum of Jurassic Marine Life featuring fossils mainly collected locally and conserved by Steve Etches, including the skull of the T-Rex of the sea, a Pliosaur, as featured on the BBC programme ‘Attenborough and The Giant Sea Monster’ (Philip Jacobs discovered the snout).  

It was then onto the bay itself for lunch on the cliffs before heading onto the beach for some fossil hunting. I got the tide time slightly wrong and the most of the famous black clay slabs were under water ... mind you the water level barely moved all day so I guess I didn't really miss anything.  I found a couple of small ammonites pieces, plus of course the larger ones firmly embedded in the rocks and going nowhere (extra).

Clavell Tower stands on top of Hen Cliff overlooking the bay. It was originally built in 1830 but by the 2000 was deemed at risk due to cliff erosion. In 2006 it was dismantled and moved 25m back away from the edge. My image is looking inland and shows the old footings and the tower in it's current position. Owned by The Landmark Trust, it is now used as holiday accommodation, though there doesn't appear to be any access other than up the steep path from the bay, so you probably need to be reasonably fit - but what a view!

Another lovely day to complete my short break.