| 
West Bay is Bridport’s harbour and lies about 1.5 miles south
of the town centre. It acquired its name from the railway station,
which was built in the 1880s and still remains, although the railway
line has been closed since the 1970s.
For centuries West Bay was a trading port and shipbuilding centre.
The harbour, with its piers and sluice gates at the mouth of the
River Brit was constructed in 1744 and improved to its present basic
layout in 1823-5. From time to time, the sea defences have been
strengthened to deal with the pressures of coastal erosion and storms,
most recently in 2002-5, when its new piers were constructed.
The great storm of November 1824, when nearly the whole harbour
and village were submerged, many ships were lost at sea, and the
valley was flooded right up to the town, is now thought by some
experts to have been a tsunami.
Today, West Bay remains a picturesque fishing harbour, where charter
boats take anglers out to catch mackerel and a rich variety of other
fish in deeper waters. The new slipway provides excellent access
to the outer harbour for day pleasure craft, including diving boats.
Diving and sea kayaking are increasingly popular sea sports, while
the harbour is the venue for water polo, a long established West
Bay tradition.
West Bay is the site of the Town Council’s unique new play
area, which opened in 2010 and was very carefully designed, to take
account of its location in the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty,
next to the Jurassic Coast, as well as reflecting the area’s
history of rope making. The concept is based on a “ship”
wrecked on the rocks, with robust climbing structures and swings.
The design and ideas for the play area were developed by young people,
who had been involved in the local Summentor Mentoring Programme,
supported by the Bridport Young Persons’ Action Trust. Funding
was provided by the Town Council, West Dorset District Council,
the Dorset County Council’s Playbuilder Programme (funded
by the Government), Dorset County Council’s Youth Capital
Fund and the Bridport Charter Fair. Since its opening, the play
area has been very popular with people of all ages.
Bridport is one of the gateway towns to the Jurassic World Heritage
Coast. West Bay, on the South West Coastal Path, is one of the most
spectacular points from which to view this amazing coastline, with
its golden cliffs to the east, looking along the Chesil Beach to
Portland Bill, and to the west the great sweep of Lyme Bay with
views of Golden Cap, Lyme Regis, Beer Head and beyond.
West Bay is a fantastic place for wildlife, with year-round interest
for the visitor. A good variety of seabirds can be seen including
shearwaters, skuas, petrels, terns and one of Dorset's largest colonies
of fulmars on the East Cliff. Other marine wildlife sightings can
include bottlenose dolphins and basking sharks. Through the summer
months colourful wildflower displays adorn the Brit Valley and the
coastal pathways. West Bay is one of the best localities in Britain
to watch the visible migration of land birds. In the autumn, the
passage of wagtails, hirundines, larks, pipits, thrushes and finches
is spectacular with over a quarter of a million birds regularly
passing through.
|
