A quiet Weymouth Harbour and town bridge - geograph

Weymouth Harbour (or the Old Harbour) is a

harbour A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be Mooring, moored. The t ...

at the seaside town of Weymouth in

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 ...

, southern

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 ...

. It has a 17th-century waterfront.

Overview

The harbour forms the mouth of the

River Wey The River Wey is a main tributary of the River Thames in south east England. Its two branches, one of which rises near Alton, Hampshire, Alton in Hampshire and the other in West Sussex to the south of Haslemere, join at Tilford in Surrey. Onc ...

as it enters the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

. The original

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

port at Radipole to the north was lost to

silting Siltation is water pollution caused by particulate Terrestrial ecoregion, terrestrial Clastic rock, clastic material, with a particle size dominated by silt or clay. It refers both to the increased concentration of suspended sediments and to the i ...

(forming Radipole Lake), and the current harbour further downstream, lying between Weymouth Old Town and

Melcombe Regis Melcombe Regis is an area of Weymouth in Dorset, England. Situated on the north shore of Weymouth Harbour and originally part of the waste of Radipole, it seems only to have developed as a significant settlement and seaport in the 13th cen ...

, started to develop in the 12th and 13th centuries. Weymouth Harbour empties into the much larger

Portland Harbour Portland Harbour is beside the Isle of Portland, Dorset, on the south coast of England. Construction of the harbour began in 1849; when completed in 1872, its surface area made it the largest human-made harbour in the world, and it remains ...

to the south and east, which is home to the

Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy The Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy is a centre for the sport of sailing on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, on the south coast of England. The academy building is located in Osprey Quay on the northern tip of the island, and the wat ...

, where the sailing events of the

2012 Olympic Games The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

and

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disability, disabilities. There are Winter Paralympic Games, Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 ...

were held. Weymouth Harbour has included cross- channel ferries, and is now home to pleasure boats and private yachts. The Weymouth Harbour Tramway ran along the north side of the harbour to the long disused Weymouth Quay railway station. The track was removed during 2020 and 2021 except for two short sections left as a memorial. Immediately to the north at the harbour entrance is Weymouth Pier, separating the harbour from Weymouth Beach and Weymouth Bay. Weymouth Pavilion and the Jurassic Skyline observation tower could be found here before its removal.

Stone Pier Stone Pier, also known as South Pier, is a pier located on the southern side of the entrance of Weymouth Harbour, Dorset, Weymouth Harbour, in Dorset, England. It extends out from the Nothe Peninsula, which is the location of the Nothe Fort and No ...

is located on the south side of the harbour entrance. Immediately to the south near the entrance to the harbour are Nothe Gardens with Nothe Fort on the promontory. Nothe Parade runs along the south side of the harbour front, with

Wellington Court Wellington Court (formerly Red Barracks) is a former barracks overlooking Weymouth Harbour, Dorset, Weymouth Harbour in Weymouth, Dorset, Weymouth, Dorset, England. It has been converted to housing and apartments. The original building is Grade I ...

, the former Red Barracks, built in 1801, above. Brewers Quay is a converted Victorian brewery in Hope Square, a tourist spot south of the Old Harbour. It was formerly the Devenish Brewery. Nearby is the Tudor House Museum, which used to front onto the harbour before the land opposite was reclaimed. The harbour includes a lifting bridge to allow boats into the inner harbour, Weymouth Marina.

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References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

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Weymouth Harbour websiteWeymouth Harbour Webcam
{{UK Docks Ports and harbours of Dorset