Dorset's "Isle" of Purbeck, a peninsula of chalk and limestone on the Jurassic Coast, with sea stacks, quarried stone and a ruined castle
Open accessNational Trust land — free to wander
Purbeck isn’t really an island — it’s a broad peninsula in south-east Dorset, cut off enough by heath, the River Frome and Poole Harbour that people have always called it the Isle of Purbeck. A chalk ridge runs across it, from the white stacks and pinnacles of Old Harry Rocks at the eastern tip west towards Lulworth, and the ruins of Corfe Castle stand in a gap in that ridge. The coast here is part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, and the cliffs are still worked for Purbeck stone — the hard limestone used across London for paving and steps, and Purbeck “marble”, a dark limestone that takes a polish and was cut into pillars for medieval cathedrals. Swanage is the main town, with the South West Coast Path leading south to the cliffs at Durlston Head. Much of the shore and the Purbeck Ridge belongs to the National Trust, and the heaths behind Studland are home to all six of Britain’s native reptiles.
