Chapman's Pool is a small cove to the west of

Worth Matravers Worth Matravers () is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. The village is situated on the cliffs west of Swanage. It comprises limestone cottages and farm houses and is built around a pond, which is a regular feature on pos ...

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 and Poole Harbour to the no ...

, in

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Geology

The rocks that form the cove are the upper parts of the

Kimmeridge Clay The Kimmeridge Clay is a 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 is the major source rock for Nor ...

, and are rich in fossils, especially bivalves and

ammonites Ammonoids are a group of extinct marine mollusc animals in the subclass Ammonoidea of the class Cephalopoda. These molluscs, commonly referred to as ammonites, are more closely related to living coleoids (i.e., octopuses, squid and cuttl ...

. Most of these fossils are flattened, but three-dimensional examples are preserved in the "Rotunda Nodules", including the age-marker ammonite, the coarse-ribbed ''Pavlovia rotunda''. Although

manganese oxide Manganese oxide is any of a variety of manganese oxides and hydroxides.Wells A.F. (1984) ''Structural inorganic chemistry'' 5th edition Oxford Science Publications, . These include * Manganese(II) oxide, MnO * Manganese(II,III) oxide, Mn3O4 * Man ...

nodules are seen, these are not local but from the cargo of the SS ''Treveal'' wrecked on the Kimmeridge Ledges below Hounstout on 10 January 1920.

Emmetts Hill Memorial

The Royal Marines Association memorial garden at Emmetts Hill was initiated following the IRA attack on the Royal Marines Barracks at Deal, home and training centre for the Royal Marines Band Service, in September 1989. The originator and organiser for the project was Colin Dishington, a member of the Dorset Branch of the RMA, since renamed the Poole and District Branch. A suitable site was chosen on an exposed headland looking out over the wild seas of Kimmeridge Bay with a view down to Chapman's Pool and along the rugged Jurassic coastline to Portland. The site also overlooks a training area used by the Royal Marines both during World War II and since; in addition, it fitted the beauty and tranquility required for the memorial location. The land, which is within the boundary of the Enscombe estate, was freely given by the then owner, David Scott (Lt Col ret'd), and right of access to the site is written into the deeds of the tenant farmer. It was decided to add to the initial Deal inscription to remember Royal Marines lost in all the conflicts from 1945 to 1990. As well as bearing the Corps' crest, the original stone also bears a message to passing walkers and those that come to pay their respects:

Rest awhile and reflect that we who are living can enjoy the beauty of the sea and countryside.

In 2005 a new stone was added to commemorate ongoing losses of Royal Marines in current conflicts over more recent years. A service of dedication was conducted by the Rev. W. Aires, with the stone unveiled by Maj.-Gen. F. C. Barton, CB CBE RM, on 19 August 2006. Each year since the unveiling, a service has been conducted by the RMA at the memorial. The calls are sounded by a serving RM bugler from the RM Band Service. Details of the monument are registered with the Imperial War Museum's Monument section and local guides give reference to it. Access to the site is by footpath from the car park at Renscombe Farm. The original three-bar wooden rail fence has been replaced by a Purbeck stone wall to blend in with the stone walls of the area, and gives better protection to the garden, which is maintained by volunteers from the Poole and District RMA. As the site is on the main coastal path many people pause to reflect at the memorial, or use it as a resting point on their walk to enjoy the views. The ashes of RMA members have also been scattered in the monument gardens, and the families of those lost and resting elsewhere often visit the site, a truly peaceful and fitting memorial to the members of the Royal Marines family who have given their lives since WW2.

Chapman's Pool Lifeboat

In 1866, after much local pressure and because many people died at sea nearby, the decision was made to build a

lifeboat Lifeboat may refer to: Rescue vessels * Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape * Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues * Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen ...

station at Chapman's Pool. The station was built and completed during 1867. The lifeboat ''George Scott'' was placed at Chapman's Pool in November 1866 but the station soon closed again in 1880 owing to the great expense involved in up keeping the boathouse, the

landslip Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of environments, ...

s that constantly swept down upon it and, lacking a village nearby, the dearth of local volunteers to serve on the lifeboat. The building still stands and is used as a fishing hut.

References

Gallery

File:Chapman's Pool.jpg, Chapman's Pool - detail Image:Chapmans_pool_to_hounstout.JPG, View across the cove to Hounstout Image:Crushed_ammonite_fossil_chapmans_pool_dorset.jpg, Crushed ammonite fossil on the beach Image:Chapmans pool panorama.jpg, Panoramic view of the cove Image:Chapmans pool from the west.jpg, The cove from the west Image:Chapmans pool beach and cliffs.jpg, Shale beach and cliffs Image:Chapmans pool from hounstout.jpg, The cove from Hounstout cliff

External links