Kimmeridge
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Kimmeridge () is a small village and
civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
on the
Isle of Purbeck The Isle of Purbeck is a peninsula in Dorset, England. It is bordered by water on three sides: the English Channel to the south and east, where steep cliffs fall to the sea; and by the marshy lands of the River Frome, Dorset, River Frome and Poo ...
, a peninsula on the
English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...
coast in
Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...
, England. It is situated about south of Wareham and west of
Swanage Swanage () is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck and one of its two towns, approximately south of Poole and east of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester. In the Unit ...
. In 2013 the estimated population of the civil parish was 90. Kimmeridge is a coastal parish and its coastline forms part of the
Jurassic Coast The Jurassic Coast, also known as the Dorset and East Devon Coast, is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. It stretches from Exmouth in East Devon to Studland Bay in Dorset, a distance of about , and was ins ...
, a
World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
. The coast is also part of a
Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...
, and the whole parish is in the Dorset National Landscape area. Kimmeridge is the type locality for
Kimmeridge Clay The Kimmeridge Clay is a sedimentary rock, sedimentary deposit of fossiliferous marine clay which is of Late Jurassic to lowermost Cretaceous age and occurs in southern and eastern England and in the North Sea. This rock formation (geology), form ...
, the geological formation that covers most of the parish. Within the clay are bands of bituminous shale, which in the history of the village have been the focus of several attempts to create an industrial centre. An oil well has operated on the shore of Kimmeridge Bay since 1959. The village is the origin of the name of the
Kimmeridgian In the geologic timescale, the Kimmeridgian is an age in the Late Jurassic Epoch and a stage in the Upper Jurassic Series. It spans the time between 154.8 ±0.8 Ma and 149.2 ±0.7 Ma (million years ago). The Kimmeridgian follows the Oxfordian ...
stage of the Late
Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 143.1 Mya. ...
. The roughly semi-circular Kimmeridge Bay is southwest of Kimmeridge village. It is backed by low cliffs of Kimmeridge clay, and beneath the cliffs is a large wave-cut platform and a
rocky shore A rocky shore is an intertidal area of seacoasts where solid rock predominates. Rocky shores are biologically rich environments, and are a useful "natural laboratory" for studying intertidal ecology and other biological processes. Due to th ...
with rock pools and attendant ecology. Kimmeridge Bay is a surfer and diver area.


History

In the
Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
and during the Roman occupation, ornaments and other objects were made from the black bituminous shale—known as blackstone or 'Kimmeridge coal'—that occurs in layers within the
Kimmeridge clay The Kimmeridge Clay is a sedimentary rock, sedimentary deposit of fossiliferous marine clay which is of Late Jurassic to lowermost Cretaceous age and occurs in southern and eastern England and in the North Sea. This rock formation (geology), form ...
that covers most of Kimmeridge parish. Armlets were manufactured from the shale using a lathe, which produced waste in the form of hard black discs; these have been discovered at several sites, and were thought by 18th-century antiquaries to be coins and therefore called 'coal money'. The Romans also used the shale as fuel for boiling sea water to produce salt. In the medieval period there were three settlements within the parish: Kimmeridge, Little Kimmeridge, and Smedmore. These each had their own rectangular strip of land stretching between the coast and Smedmore Hill. Only Kimmeridge survives as a settlement of any size. In the mid 16th century Lord Mountjoy attempted to make
alum An alum () is a type of chemical compound, usually a hydrated double salt, double sulfate salt (chemistry), salt of aluminium with the general chemical formula, formula , such that is a valence (chemistry), monovalent cation such as potassium ...
here and acquired a patent to do so, though the enterprise was unsuccessful. In the first half of the 17th century Sir William Clavell made several unsuccessful efforts to turn Kimmeridge into an industrial venture. He tried boiling seawater to make salt, using the shale as fuel as the Romans had done. He then followed in Mountjoy's footsteps and founded an alum works, though he failed to secure a patent and ran foul of alum merchants in London who had sole rights (granted by Charles I) to produce alum in England; the merchants took Clavell's property and demanded £1,000 per year, then destroyed the works and stole Clavell's cattle. Clavell took legal action but was unsuccessful. He then tried to turn Kimmeridge into a port, and finally tried to manufacture glass with assistance from Sir
Robert Mansell Sir Robert Mansell (1573–1656) was an admiral of the English Royal Navy and a Member of Parliament (MP), mostly for Wales, Welsh constituencies. His name was sometimes given as Mansfield and Maunsell. Early life Mansel was a Welshman, the so ...
and Abraham Bigo, but both these enterprises failed; the pier which Clavell built for the port became ruinous and was destroyed by a storm in 1745. Clavell had Smedmore House built less than a mile south-east of Kimmeridge village; referring to it as his "little newe House", he moved into it on its completion in 1632. Previously Clavell lived at Barnston Manor, near the neighbouring village of Church Knowle. In the mid 19th century the shale was used a source of oil, and in 1847 an Act of Parliament enabled
causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet T ...
s, inclined planes and tramways to be built so the shale could be transported to Weymouth for processing into various petroleum-based products, including varnish, pitch,
naptha Naphtha (, recorded as less common or nonstandard in all dictionaries: ) is a flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture. Generally, it is a fraction of crude oil, but it can also be produced from natural-gas condensates, petroleum distillates, and ...
, and dyes. Gas was also extracted from the shale, though like the oil it burned with a strong sulphurous smell, which limited its suitability as a domestic fuel and prevented fulfilment of a contract to supply gas to Paris for lighting. The
Royal National Lifeboat Institution The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest of the lifeboat (rescue), lifeboat services operating around the coasts of the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on s ...
stationed a lifeboat at Kimmeridge in 1868 but it was removed in 1896. In 1959 an
oil well An oil well is a drillhole boring in Earth that is designed to bring petroleum oil hydrocarbons to the surface. Usually some natural gas is released as associated petroleum gas along with the oil. A well that is designed to produce only gas m ...
was installed above the cliffs west of Gaulter Gap, overlooking Kimmeridge Bay. Comprising a nodding donkey pump that lifts crude oil from several hundred feet below the surface, in its early years it pumped more than 100,000 gallons per week, producing a total of 200,000 tonnes between 1961 and 1974.


Governance

For elections to the
UK parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...
, Kimmeridge is in the South Dorset parliamentary constituency. In local government, Kimmeridge is in the Dorset unitary authority area at the highest tier. Kimmeridge is part of the South East Purbeck ward which elects 1 member to Dorset Council. At the lower tier, Kimmeridge is a
civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
which has a
Parish Meeting A parish meeting is a meeting all the electors in a civil parish in England are entitled to attend. In some cases, where a parish or group of parishes has fewer than 200 electors, the parish meeting can take on the role of a parish council, with ...
. Under former systems of local government, Kimmeridge was in Hasler Hundred until the 19th century, the Wareham and Purbeck Rural District from 1894 to 1974, and Purbeck District from 1974 to 2019.


Geography

Kimmeridge village is sited beside a small stream on a roughly southwest-facing slope between the English Channel coast less than to the southwest and a curving line of hills immediately to the north and east.Ordnance Survey (1981), 1:25,000 Outdoor Leisure Map No.15 (Purbeck) Measured directly it is about west of
Swanage Swanage () is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck and one of its two towns, approximately south of Poole and east of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester. In the Unit ...
, south of Wareham and east of Weymouth. Kimmeridge civil parish covers land south and east of Kimmeridge village; it is bounded by the village stream and the
copse Coppicing is the traditional method in woodland management of cutting down a tree to a tree stump, stump, which in many species encourages new Shoot (botany), shoots to grow from the stump or roots, thus ultimately regrowing the tree. A forest ...
s of Higher and Lower Stonehips to the northwest, Smedmore Hill and the summit of Swyre Head to the northeast, field boundaries beyond Swalland Farm to the southeast, and the coastline between Rope Lake Head and Gaulter Gap to the southwest. The neighbouring parishes are
Corfe Castle Corfe Castle is a fortification standing above the Corfe Castle (village), village of the same name on the Isle of Purbeck peninsula in the English county of Dorset. Built by William the Conqueror, the castle dates to the 11th century and ...
to the southeast, Church Knowle to the east, and
Steeple In architecture, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, topped by a spire and often incorporating a belfry and other components. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a relig ...
to the north; this last parish includes the western half of Kimmeridge Bay and land very close to Kimmeridge village. Kimmeridge civil parish has several protected landscape designations covering it either in whole or part. Its coastline forms part of the
Jurassic Coast The Jurassic Coast, also known as the Dorset and East Devon Coast, is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. It stretches from Exmouth in East Devon to Studland Bay in Dorset, a distance of about , and was ins ...
, a
World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
that was designated in 2001 due to the global significance of its geological features and earth science interest. The coast at Kimmeridge also forms part of the South Dorset Coast
Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...
. All of Kimmeridge parish is within the Dorset National Landscape (formerly "Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty"), which is a national designation that signifies the highest level of protection in relation to landscape scenic beauty. All the buildings in Kimmeridge village are within the Kimmeridge
Conservation Area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...
, which was created by the local planning authority in 1975 because of the historic and architectural interest of the village. Over of the coast and underwater environment at Kimmeridge Bay are designated as the Purbeck Marine Wildlife Reserve, the UK's oldest Voluntary Marine Nature Reserve; although offering no legal wildlife protection, there is a visitor centre beside Kimmeridge Bay.


Geology

The geology of Kimmeridge civil parish comprises
bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid rock that lies under loose material ( regolith) within the crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface material. An exposed portion of bed ...
formed in the
Late Jurassic The Late Jurassic is the third Epoch (geology), epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time scale, geologic time from 161.5 ± 1.0 to 143.1 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic stratum, strata.Owen ...
epoch, overlain in many places by superficial
Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...
head deposits. The bedrock is mostly
Kimmeridge clay The Kimmeridge Clay is a sedimentary rock, sedimentary deposit of fossiliferous marine clay which is of Late Jurassic to lowermost Cretaceous age and occurs in southern and eastern England and in the North Sea. This rock formation (geology), form ...
, except for the top of Smedmore Hill and along to Swyre Head, which is formed from
Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone geological formation (formally named the Portland Stone Formation) dating to the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic that is quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. The quarries are cut in beds of whi ...
. Between this and the Kimmeridge clay, and outcropping just beneath the top of the hill, is a thin band of Portland sand. Landslip deposits from the Portland stone cover most of the steep southwest-facing slopes of the hills. Within the Kimmeridge clay are bands of bituminous shale and dolomite, which form flat ledges within Kimmeridge Bay that are exposed at low tide. Kimmeridge gives its name to the
Kimmeridgian In the geologic timescale, the Kimmeridgian is an age in the Late Jurassic Epoch and a stage in the Upper Jurassic Series. It spans the time between 154.8 ±0.8 Ma and 149.2 ±0.7 Ma (million years ago). The Kimmeridgian follows the Oxfordian ...
, the division of the Jurassic period in which the beds were laid down, because of the quality of the cliffs and the
fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...
s they yield. Kimmeridge is also the type locality for the Jurassic age Kimmeridge Clay formation, which is well represented in southern England, and provides one of the
source rock In petroleum geology, source rock is a sedimentary rock which has generated hydrocarbons or which has the potential to generate hydrocarbons. Source rocks are one of the necessary elements of a working petroleum system. They are organic-rich sedim ...
s for hydrocarbons found in the Wessex and North Sea Basins. The Kimmeridge Oil Field is northwest of Kimmeridge Bay. On the cliff west of the village is the
Perenco Perenco is an independent Anglo-French oil and gas petroleum company, company with a headquarters in London and Paris.Pere ...
"nodding donkey" oil pump which has been pumping continually since the late 1950s, making it the oldest working oil pump in the UK. The well currently yields around from the
Middle Jurassic The Middle Jurassic is the second Epoch (geology), epoch of the Jurassic Period (geology), Period. It lasted from about 174.1 to 161.5 million years ago. Fossils of land-dwelling animals, such as dinosaurs, from the Middle Jurassic are relativel ...
strata In geology and related fields, a stratum (: strata) is a layer of Rock (geology), rock or sediment characterized by certain Lithology, lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by v ...
that lie around below the cliff. The well has been operating for this long because it has tapped into a network of connected reserves; however the yield is decreasing year on year. The oil is transported by tanker to the Perenco site at
Wytch Farm Wytch Farm is an oil field and processing facility in Dorset, England. It is the largest onshore oil field in Western Europe. The facility, taken over by Perenco in 2011, was previously operated by BP. It is located in a coniferous forest on Wytc ...
from whence it is piped to the main refinery on Southampton Water.


Demography

In 2013 the estimated population of Kimmeridge civil parish was 90. In the 2001 census Kimmeridge parish had 55 dwellings and a population of 110. In the 2011 census results have been published for Kimmeridge parish combined with the neighbouring parishes of
Steeple In architecture, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, topped by a spire and often incorporating a belfry and other components. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a relig ...
and
Tyneham Tyneham is a ghost town, ghost village abandoned in 1943 and former civil parish, now in the parish of Steeple with Tyneham, in the Dorset (district), Dorset district, in the south of Dorset, England, near Lulworth on the Isle of Purbeck. In 2001 ...
; this combined area contained 101 dwellings and had 87 households with a population of 206.


Notable buildings

Within Kimmeridge parish there are twenty-five structures that have been listed by
Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...
for their historic or architectural interest. None has been listed as Grade I, but Smedmore House is Grade II*. Along the shore immediately eastwards of Kimmeridge Bay (above Hen Cliff) is a
folly In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings. Eighteenth-cent ...
known as Clavell Tower which inspired P.D. James's novel '' The Black Tower''. It had been in danger of falling down the eroding cliff, so recently the tower was dismantled and then reassembled further back from the cliff edge. The tower is available as a holiday let. The
parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...
was mostly rebuilt in 1872, though it has 12th-century origins; the south door and parts of the west wall of the
nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
are still original. The south porch is early 13th century and the bell-cote is 15th century.


The Etches Collection

In 2014 £2.7 million was secured from the
Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...
for the purpose of creating a new museum in Kimmeridge, on the site of the old
village hall A village hall is a public building in a rural or suburban community which functions as a community centre without a religious affiliation. United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a village hall is a building which is owned by a local gover ...
. The project cost a total of £5 million and also houses conservation workshops and a new village hall and community space with a capacity for 120 people. The museum, called the Museum of Jurassic Marine Life, displays the Etches Collection of over 2,000 fossils collected over 30 years by village resident Steve Etches. The museum opened in October 2016.


Surfing

Kimmeridge Bay is a surfing area which breaks infrequently due to its lack of exposure to Atlantic swells, but can produce walls of water when it is 'on'. Below the cliffs to the East is 'The Ledges', with slow left- and right-hand breaking waves; the right-handers can spiral for or more into the bay. To the West is 'Broad Bench', within the Ministry of Defence firing range and only accessible when the ranges are open to the public.


See also

* Geology of Dorset * Kimmeridge Bay * Kimmeridge Ledges * List of Dorset beaches * Smedmore Hill Settlement


References


Further reading

* James P D (1975) '' The Black Tower'', Sphere books (1987 edition), 288pp, . * Wignall P (ed) (1995) ''Benthic Palaeoecology of the Late Jurassic Kimmeridge Clay of England'' (Special Papers in Palaeontology series), Palaeontological Association, 74pp, . *The Buildings of England by John Newman and Nikolaus Pevsner. Page 242. Published by Penguin Books 1972. Reprint 1975. (references to the church).


External links

{{authority control Civil parishes in Dorset Isle of Purbeck Villages in Dorset Populated coastal places in Dorset Jurassic Coast