Landscapes of The Jurassic Coast

Sweeping beaches, dramatic cliffs, blustery headlands, sheltered coves… The Jurassic Coast has many things to offer lovers of a landscape adventure. Whether it’s pastoral tranquility, rugged footpaths or wide sea views you’re looking for, there is something here for you.

The coastal landscape here is known both as a training ground for geography students and as a source of great scientific interest - an outdoor laboratory where discovery and exploration go hand in hand.

Key to this is the Jurassic Coast’s diversity, which has arisen as a result of how the layers of rocks have been carved and sculpted by the elements of nature, making up our Walk Through Time. These geological processes are still active, eroding and shaping the Jurassic Coast, helping reveal fresh fossils, maintain valuable habitats, and preserve the natural beauty that is so cherished by residents and visitors alike.

Weaving through landslides, over cliff tops and around bays and headlands, are paths and routes that offer an invitation to anyone curious enough to explore… to find out what lies around the next corner, or over the next hill.

The landscapes we see today, narrate the long history recorded in the geology of the Jurassic Coast. Varieties of rocks were laid down according to the changing environments here between 250 and 65 million years ago, during the Mesozoic Era. Over the last few hundred thousand years, the sea has carved through sandstones, clays, limestones, and chalk to create an incredibly diverse coastline.

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The formation of the landscape

Hard rocks like limestones and sandstones, tend to primarily form steep cliffs, while soft rocks like clays, tend to collapse into big landslides. Subtle differences between the rock layers have led to the formation of distinct features in certain places, such as the sea stacks at Ladram Bay and Handfast Point.

Interestingly, some landforms are a result of a combination of past processes as well as those active today. For example, Chesil Beach formed in the last ten thousand years from the remains of landslides that collapsed over 100 thousand years ago. The shape of the coast, as we know it now, is thus something which has evolved and developed over time and will continue to change in the future. The geological formations of the coast are explored in more detail in the geology sections of our website. 

A sensory experience – how we appreciate the landscape today

Apart from shape, colours also help appreciate the landscapes – from deep red to blue-grey, orange, yellow, green and white, brown, purple to glossy black. The texture of the landscape isn’t just found in the landforms, it comes in the feel of a shiny pebble, sticky clay, or a rough sandstone.

It comes in the way the setting sun makes golden cliffs glow or how the dawn light illuminates a gleaming Chalk cliff face. And then there’s the sound of waves crashing on rocks, and the clatter of pebbles on a shingle beach. And the unmistakable smell and taste of the briny sea air. In short, we need all of our senses to appreciate just how much variety there is out there on the Jurassic Coast.