Tilly Whim Caves consists of three stone

quarries A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...

Durlston Country Park Durlston Country Park is a 320-acre country park and nature reserve stretching along the coast of the Isle of Purbeck on the outskirts of Swanage in Dorset, England. The park is a popular destination for tourists to enjoy the walks, views, visi ...

, south of Swanage, 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 , ...

, southern

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 ...

. The Tilly Whim Caves are a part of the

Jurassic Coast The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. It stretches from Exmouth in East Devon to Studland Bay in Dorset, a distance of about , and was inscribed on the World Heritage List in mid-Decembe ...

. The name "Tilly Whim" may have been derived from a former quarryman, George Tilly, and the type of primitive wooden crane used at the time, known as a " whim", also called a ''derrick'' or ''gibbet''. However, Tilly Whim lies at the southern end of the Manor of Eightholds and there is a common field called ''Tilly Mead'' at the northern end of the estate.

History

Tilly Whim Caves were

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

quarries that were worked predominantly during the eighteenth century.

Purbeck Stone Purbeck stone refers to building stone taken from a series of limestone beds found in the Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous Purbeck Group, found on the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset in southern England. The best known variety of this stone is Purbeck ...

, a valuable type of limestone, was extracted from the Tilly Whim caves. Using only metal punches, wedges and hammers to split the rock into workable blocks, the quarrymen mined the stone horizontally out of the cliff face. The quarrymen were also skilled stonemasons. They worked most of the stone within the quarry, either to building blocks or into finished items, for example as troughs or sinks. Using a "whim", a special type of wooden crane, the finished stonework was lowered from the quarry ledges to the boats below. The boats either shipped the stone directly to the stone yards on Swanage Quay or transferred them to a large sailing ketches anchored offshore. Purbeck stone was used extensively during the Napoleonic wars for building fortifications along the entire south coast of England. As the war ended, however, the demand for stone slumped and the quarries were closed. The caves have not been quarried since 1812. In 1887 George Burt opened Tilly Whim caves as a tourist attraction for his Durlston estate. In 1976 the caves were closed to the public completely, being considered too dangerous due to rock falls. Today the caves are an undisturbed roost for bats. The cliffs and ledges are nesting grounds for seabirds. The area surrounding Tilly Whim is also a look out point for marine life, including grey seals and dolphins. However, the area is still popular with fishermen and " tombstoners".

Notable visitors

The poet T. S. Eliot visited the Tilly Whim Caves in 1914 while studying at Merton College, Oxford.Brand Blanshard, "Eliot at Oxford", ''T. S. Eliot: Essays from the "Southern Review"'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989), ed. James Olney, p. 32.

References

External links

A short film about the cavesDurlston Country Park
{{Jurassic Coast Isle of Purbeck Quarries in Dorset Caves of Dorset Tourist attractions in Dorset History of Dorset Jurassic Coast Swanage