Yeolands Quarry is a disused stone quarry located on the

Isle of Portland An isle is an island, land surrounded by water. The term is very common in British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct fr ...

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 ...

. It is located on the eastern side of Portland, where it lies east of the village Easton and south of The Grove village. The quarry is one of the largest on Portland, at deep, wide. It is now abandoned for extracting stone, though the adjacent

Broadcroft Quarry Broadcroft Quarry is an active stone quarry and part butterfly nature reserve located on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England. It is located towards the eastern side of the island, where it lies to the east of the village Easton and close to ...

to the west, which links to Yeolands, is still in some use, as well as being a butterfly reserve. Yeolands Quarry has been the planned setting for the visitor attraction Jurassica - which is to be based on 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 ...

, a World Heritage Site, and as a subterranean geological park, will largely present the prehistoric world.

Background

The quarry was in full use by Portland Stone Firms Ltd before becoming redundant in the 21st century. By the late 1980s the central bottom region of the quarry had an established ecosystem where small ponds were fed by rivulets. This environment hosted many types of reeds, grasses and even newts. However, from the 21st century the quarry was used for dumping overburden, and as such changed considerably, with the ecosystem buried deep under rubble. The north-eastern face of the quarry has a clean, albeit partly overgrown, sequence of Portland Stone, both Cherty Series and Freestone. On the outskirts of the quarry are rough paths and tracks on the seaward side, which is popular for walking. In late 2013 plans were revealed for the £85–90 million project Jurassica, which is planned to be set within Yeolands Quarry. The idea was created by Michael Hanlon, and inspired by the Eden Project. With plans to showcase hundreds of world-class paleontological remains, the project has received both local and national support. Naturalist and broadcaster

Sir David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...

has become a patron, as well as trustee Sir

Tim Smit Sir Timothy Bartel Smit KBE (born 25 September 1954) is a Dutch-born British businessman, famous for his work on the Lost Gardens of Heligan, the Eden Project, and the Charlestown Shipwreck & Treasure Centre, all in Cornwall, England. Early li ...

, the creator of the Eden Project. The construction time of the project is estimated to be three to five years and if funding can be secured, the project's trustees are aiming to open the attraction in 2019–20. The plans are to attract 700,000 visitors a year.

References

{{Isle of Portland Isle of Portland Quarries in Dorset Jurassic Coast