Man o' War Cove (or Man of War Bay and similar names) lies on the

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 ...

coast in southern

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and is flanked by the rocky, steep and slightly projecting headlands of Durdle Door to the west and Man O War (or O' War) Head to the east. Its name is believed to be a corruption of the Brythonic 'Men-an-Vawr' (The Great Rock)

Features

A line of pronounced rocks takes up the far side of the cove at the distance of the great Durdle Door headland to the east; these partially enclose the cove, and have few submerged components and feature mostly at the east end of the bay — map-recorded as "The Man o' War". The line of exposed rocks continues, very intermittently about from the shore as the Norman Rock, Pinion Rock and a cluster around the Ball Stone, along St Oswald's Bay. It is usually possible to walk along a thin strand of high tide, dry sand linking the cove to the rest of St Oswald's Bay an area almost entirely visible from the west side of the cove.

Definition and local context

The UK

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

maps have local bay names at 1:50000 and 1:25000; these record the pronounced crescent as Man o' War Cove, in turn forming part of St Oswald's Bay reduced to a long gentle arc to the east, about five times the width of the cove. A technical distinction is possible as to the water rather than the solid features of the crescent, in that the cove the bay encloses is Man o' War Cove. St Oswald's Bay is in turn protected from Atlantic surf by south

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

and by closer

Portland Bill Portland Bill is a narrow promontory (or bill) at the southern end of the Isle of Portland, and the southernmost point of Dorset, England. One of Portland's most popular destinations is Portland Bill Lighthouse. Portland's coast has been notori ...

forming the multi-cove Weymouth Bay, before the even greater recess of Christchurch or Poole Bay which in its greater definition takes in the area of sea east 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 ...

on the Purbeck peninsula. Man O War Bay

Access

There is a paid car park available away from the cove. It is also connected to the

South West Coast Path The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked Long-distance footpaths in the UK, long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harb ...

, so it is possible to park elsewhere along the trail and access the cove by foot.

References

External links

Ian West's ''Geology of the Wessex Coast'' Field Guide
including photographs Jurassic Coast Coves of Dorset {{Dorset-geo-stub

Features

Definition and local context

Access

See also

References

External links