Victoria Square is a

public square A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Relat ...

on the

Isle of Portland The Isle of Portland is a tied island, long by wide, in the English Channel. The southern tip, Portland Bill, lies south of the resort of Weymouth, Dorset, Weymouth, forming the southernmost point of the county of Dorset, England. A barrier ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Developed in the 19th century, it is situated at the entrance to Portland, close to

Chesil Beach Chesil Beach (also known as Chesil Bank) in Dorset, England, is one of three major shingle beach structures in Britain.A. P. Carr and M. W. L. Blackley, "Investigations Bearing on the Age and Development of Chesil Beach, Dorset, and the Associ ...

, Osprey Quay, and the small fishing village of

Chiswell Chiswell , sometimes , is a small village at the southern end of Chesil Beach, in Underhill, on the Isle of Portland in Dorset. It is the oldest settlement on the island, having formerly been known as Chesilton. The small bay at Chiswell is ...

History

Victoria Square was developed in association with the

Portland Branch Railway The Portland Branch railway refers to a group of lines on the Isle of Portland in the English county of Dorset. The first was the Portland Railway, a tramway with a counterbalanced rope-worked incline. It opened in 1826. It was followed by th ...

, which commenced construction in 1860 and opened in 1865. With the Portland station being erected at the entrance to Underhill, Captain Charles Augustus Manning developed the surrounding area into a square at his sole expense, made up of the Royal Victoria Hotel and a terrace opposite. A range of businesses soon based themselves in the square, including the Portland Gas Works in 1863. A sawmill was erected next to the railway station, by the Portland Stone Company. A public house known as The Terminus Hotel was also built at the square, and later renamed the Little Ship. Portland's first Masonic Hall was erected in 1878 at Victoria Square, and was later replaced with a new hall opposite the original in 1898. The Second World War brought many air raids to Portland due to the important naval base. A minefield was laid near the square, along with a tank trap. When Weymouth and Portland became an embarkation point of Allied Forces for D-Day in 1944, the Royal Victoria Lodge was used as a makeshift hospital. Following the closure of the Portland Gas Works in 1959, the site became a plant hire yard. Portland's railway operated until it closed to passengers in 1952 and goods in 1965. In 1969, the square's railway station was demolished and replaced by a roundabout. A commemorative stone and plaque was later placed near the square. Despite the construction of Chesil Cove's sea wall in 1958–1965, incidents of widespread flooding still occurred, including in December 1978 and February 1979, when two major storms flooded Chiswell and Victoria Square. Further flood prevention measures were then put in place in the 1980s. Victoria Square underwent refurbishment in 1995, with a commemorative stone unveiled by the Duke of York the following year. The northern area of the square is occupied by grassland and contains two ornamental pillars of

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone geological formation (formally named the Portland Stone Formation) dating to the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic that is quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. The quarries are cut in beds of whi ...

. They were unveiled in June 2004 and designed to be used as safe nesting sites for seagulls. Close to the square is the Portland Skate Park, which was established around 2005 at a cost of £20,000. By 2009 it had fallen into disrepair and was replaced with a new £200,000 park, which was officially opened in November 2010, when 150 young people from across Dorset attended the event.

Grade listed buildings

The Little Ship, a pub located at Victoria Square, became Grade II Listed in May 1993. The building, externally, is a complete example of a modest classical-style Victorian pub, holding a very important corner to this square. The Royal Victoria Hotel also became Grade II Listed at the same time. Again it holds an important position on the corner of the square, complementing The Little Ship opposite.

References

{{Isle of Portland Isle of Portland Jurassic Coast