Durdle Door (sometimes written Durdle Dor) is a natural limestone

arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...

on the Jurassic Coast near Lulworth in Dorset, England.West, I.W., 2003.
Durdle Door; Geology of the Dorset Coast
. Southampton University, UK. Version H.07.09.03. It is privately owned by the Weld Family who own the Lulworth Estate, but it is also open to the public.

Geology

The form of the coastline around Durdle Door is controlled by its geology—both by the contrasting hardnesses of the rocks, and by the local patterns of faults and folds.Nowell, D. A. G. "The geology of Lulworth Cove, Dorset." Geology Today 14 (1998): 71–74. The arch has formed on a concordant coastline where bands of rock run parallel to the shoreline. The rock

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as ei ...

are almost vertical, and the bands of rock are quite narrow. Originally a band of resistant Portland limestone ran along the shore, the same band that appears one mile along the coast forming the narrow entrance to Lulworth Cove. Behind this is a band of weaker, easily eroded rocks, and behind this is a stronger and much thicker band of chalk, which forms the Purbeck Hills. These steeply dipping rocks are part of the Lulworth crumple, itself part of the broader Purbeck Monocline, produced by the building of the Alps during the mid-

Cenozoic The Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configura ...

The limestone and chalk are in closer proximity at Durdle Door than at

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. In the 2011 census the civil ...

, to the east, where the distance is over . Around this part of the coast nearly all of the limestone has been removed by sea erosion, whilst the remainder forms the small headland which includes the arch. Erosion at the western end of the limestone band has resulted in the arch formation. UNESCO teams monitor the condition of both the arch and adjacent beach. The isthmus that joins the limestone to the chalk is made of a band of Portland limestone, a narrow and compressed band of Cretaceous Wealden clays and sands, and then narrow bands of greensand and sandstone. In Man O' War Bay, the small bay immediately east of Durdle Door, the band of Portland and Purbeck limestone has not been entirely eroded away, and is visible above the waves as Man O'War Rocks. Similarly, offshore to the west, the eroded limestone outcrop forms a line of small rocky islets called (from east to west) The Bull, The Blind Cow, The Cow, and The Calf. As the coastline in this area is generally an eroding landscape, the cliffs are subject to occasional rockfalls and landslides; a particularly large slide occurred just to the east of Durdle Door in April 2013, resulting in destruction of part of the

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

Etymology

There is a dearth of early written records about the arch, though it has kept a name given to it probably over a thousand years ago. In the late 18th century there is a description of the "magnificent arch of Durdle-rock Door", and early 19th-century maps called it "Duddledoor" and "Durdle" or "Dudde Door". In 1811 the first Ordnance Survey map of the area named it as "Dirdale Door". ''Durdle'' is derived from the Old English , meaning to pierce, bore or drill, which in turn derives from , meaning hole. Similar names in the region include Durlston Bay and Durlston Head further east, where a coastal

stack Stack may refer to: Places * Stack Island, an island game reserve in Bass Strait, south-eastern Australia, in Tasmania’s Hunter Island Group * Blue Stack Mountains, in Co. Donegal, Ireland People * Stack (surname) (including a list of people ...

suggests the existence of an earlier arch, and the

Thurlestone Thurlestone is a village west of Kingsbridge in the South Hams district in south Devon, England. There is an electoral ward in the same name. The population at the 2011 census was 1,886. The village takes its name from Thurlestone Rock, th ...

, an arched rock in the neighbouring county of Devon to the west. The ''Door'' part of the name probably maintains its modern meaning, referring to the arched shape of the rock; in the late 19th century there is reference to it being called the "Barn-door", and it is described as being "sufficiently high for a good-sized sailing boat to pass through it." Durdle Door (1877)

In literature and popular culture

Music videos have been filmed at Durdle Door, including parts of Tears for Fears' " Shout", Billy Ocean's "

Loverboy Loverboy is a Canadian rock band formed in 1979 in Calgary, Alberta. Loverboy's hit singles, particularly " Turn Me Loose" and "Working for the Weekend", have become arena rock staples and are still heard on many classic rock and classic hits r ...

", Cliff Richard's " Saviour's Day" and

Bruce Dickinson Paul Bruce Dickinson (born 7 August 1958) is an English singer who has been the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 1981 to 1993 and 1999–present. He is known for his wide-ranging operatic vocal style and energetic stage ...

's " Tears of the Dragon". The landscape around Durdle Door has been used in scenes in several films, including '' Wilde'' (1997) starring Stephen Fry, '' Nanny McPhee'' starring

Emma Thompson Dame Emma Thompson (born 15 April 1959) is a British actress. Regarded as one of the best actresses of her generation, she has received numerous accolades throughout her four-decade-long career, including two Academy Awards, two British A ...

, the 1967 production of ''

Far From The Madding Crowd ''Far from the Madding Crowd'' (1874) is Thomas Hardy's fourth novel and his first major literary success. It originally appeared anonymously as a monthly serial in ''Cornhill Magazine'', where it gained a wide readership. The novel is set in ...

'' (the latter also filmed around nearby

Scratchy Bottom Scratchy Bottom (or Scratchy's Bottom) is a clifftop valley between Durdle Door and Bat's Head in Dorset, England. A dry valley in the chalk, it is surrounded by farmland at its sides and landward end, with cliffs at the seaward end. The na ...

), and the Bollywood film '' Housefull 3''. In 2022, Durdle Door was where the Thirteenth Doctor ( Jodie Whittaker) regenerated into the Fourteenth Doctor ( David Tennant), in the ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'' episode " The Power of the Doctor". Ron Dawson's children's story ''Scary Bones meets the Dinosaurs of the Jurassic Coast'' creates a myth of how Durdle Door came to be, as an 'undiscovered' dinosaur called ''Durdle Doorus'' is magically transformed into rock. Dorset-born

Arthur Moule Arthur Evans Moule (1836–1918) was an English missionary to China. He was the son of Henry Moule, vicar at Fordington, Dorset and his wife Mary. He was educated at the Malta Protestant College and the Church Missionary Society College, Isli ...

, a friend of

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...

and missionary to China, wrote these lines about Durdle Door for his 1879 book of poetry ''Songs of heaven and home, written in a foreign land'':

References

External links

*
"Caves, Arches & Stacks" Southwest Coastal Group"Durdle Door: Past and Future" animation Section of Lulworth Crumple, labelled diagram by Ian West (2013)Durdle Door Educational Activity Sheet for Kids
at EasyScienceforKids. {{Jurassic Coast Landforms of Dorset Geology of Dorset Jurassic Coast Natural arches of England Tourist attractions in Dorset

Geology

Etymology

In literature and popular culture

See also

References

Further reading

External links