More information about our new home.

I have shamelessly stolen this information about the Bournemouth beach area from various places, including Southampton University's geology site. It's much more informational than I would write and the photos are better!












The Bournemouth Cliffs and the Sandbanks Peninsula are part of Poole Bay, a broad shallow embayment on the central south coast of England. It is mostly a area of sandy beaches and, although occasionally the sea can be in stormy condition, the coast is protected to some extent from the prevailing southwesterly winds by the promontories of the Isle of Purbeck, particularly that of Old Harry Rocks. From our part of the beach looking West we can see the Old Harry rocks from the other side. They are on the far side of Poole Harbour and look intriguing from a distance.
















The Bournemouth cliffs are notable for sands and clays of Eocene age and in which some remarkable plant fossils have been found. Until about the beginning of the 19th century these cliffs were well-exposed, attractive yellow cliffs which supplied sand directly to the Bournemouth beaches. This area then became heavily developed and expanded into the present holiday town. A consequence of the development was the construction of a promenade and sea-wall which now covers the base of the cliffs. With lack of erosion are now quite largely vegetated and they are controlled and drained by civil engineering works. Although most of the cliffs are now generally inaccessible for detailed geological studies, some features of interest can still be seen. It is well-worth taking a walk along the foot of the cliffs and considering the geology.

At the other (western) end of the bay, and at the entrance to Poole Harbour, is the Sandbanks peninsula, once a sand-dune-covered sand spit, but now developed for expensive housing. The beach is of interest here and the rock groynes have relics of fossil trees, stromatolites and other fossils and structures from the Purbeck and Portland strata of the Isle of Portland, the source of the rocks.

Knowledge gained from the Bournemouth cliffs is of great interest and is relevant to understanding the geology of the Eocene strata in the region. In historic times the Bournemouth cliffs were once used for mining of copperas (alum-type sulphate minerals) because of the pyrite content. They are most famous, though, for their fossil leaves which seem to indicate that in Eocene times there was here an unusually warm environment even thought the palaeolatitude would normally suggest temperate rather tropical conditions .

The 7-mile beach is great for jogging and walking. It is low tide at around 6am so I crunch on lots of shells!














I usually run west towards Poole Harbour.














This is my usual turn-around point...