West Lulworth

a Registered One-Place Study and part of the Dorset OPC network

Did you know?

This page is for some lesser well known facts about West Lulworth.


Did you know that in 1789, the King and Queen of England landed at Lulworth Cove?


On 3 August 1789, the King and Queen of England, as part of the Royal tour, landed at Lulworth Cove and went from there to see East Lulworth Castle.

[Recorded under the title ‘Memorable Events - 1789’ in the Baptism register]


Did you know that in the First World War, two West Lulworth men were killed in action on the same day?


Lance Corporal Bertie Whittle and Private Ernest Budden, both born in West Lulworth, were both killed in action on 21 August 1915 on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. They are both commemorated on the West Lulworth war memorial.


Did you know gliders launched from a cliff top just west of Lulworth in the 1930s?


The first Dorset Gliding Club was formed in 1929 following a demonstration of ridge soaring at Maiden Newton, close to where 'Hardy's Monument' now stands. This was done by a group of German pilots who toured the country doing demonstration flights.

The Club's first flights were done there, then later from the cliff top West of Lulworth. All launches were by bunjy, landings were usually at the bottom of the slope where the gliders had to be derigged, carried back up and rigged for the next victim.

The early gliders were German stringbags but a couple of 'Wrens' found their way into the Club in the late 1930's.

The Club was disbanded at the outbreak of war in September 1939 and the gliders stored in a garage locally but later requisitioned for flying training.

Source: Dorset Gliding Club website

Did you know that in the Second World War, two Spitfires crashed near West Lulworth?


1941: 10 September: R6639 Spitfire I 53OTU crashed at West Lulworth during forced landing

1945: 29 March: PR150 Spitfire 761Sq flew into high ground at West Lulworth


Did you know that paddle steamers couldn’t turn around in Lulworth Cove and so had to reverse out?


Did you know there was a proposal to build a railway through West Lulworth?


The following appeared in the London Gazette of 24 November 1899:


Light Railway Commissioners.—November, 1899. Light Railways Act, 1896.


Lulworth and Osmington Light Railway.

(Construction of Railway from the Wareham and Dorchester Branch of the London and South Western Railway near Wareham, in the county of Dorset, to Lulworth and Osmington; Land Powers; Tolls and Charges; Agreements with Landowners and others, and also with the London and South Western Railway Company, and other powers; Incorporation

and Amendment of Acts.)


NOTICE is hereby given, that application is intended to be made in the present month of November, 1899, to the Light Railway Commissioners, by Henry Weld Blundell, of White's Club, St. James's-street, London, acting as committee of the estate of Reginald Joseph Weld, of Lulworth Castle, in the county of Dorset, Frank Terrell, of 7, Berkeley-street, London, and William Burchell Pritchard, of Glenwood, Eltham-road, Lee, Kent (hereinafter called “the Promoters"), for an Order for the following purposes or some of them, that is to

say:


To authorise the promoters to make and maintain a railway in the county of Dorset, to be worked and maintained as a light railway, with all necessary and proper stations, approaches, works, buildings, sidings, and conveniences connected therewith respectively, that is to say:


Railway No. 1, commencing in the parish of  Arne, in the county of Dorset, by a junction with the Wareham and Dorchester branch of the London and South Western Railway, about 1¼ miles south-west of the Wareham station of that Company, at a point, measured along the

London and South Western Railway, about 410 yards south-west of the centre of the bridge carrying the main road between Wareham and Dorchester over the London and South Western Railway, and passing thence through and along or near to the villages and places of East Holme, East Lulworth, and West Lulworth, and terminating in the parish of West Lulworth at a point on the eastern side of the road between Burngate and West Lulworth about 370 yards, measured along the road in a northeasterly direction, from the south-eastern corner of the Castle Inn at West Lulworth.


Railway No. 2 commencing in the parish of West Lulworth, in the county of Dorset, by a junction with the intended Railway No. 1 before described, at a point on the eastern side of the road between Burngate and West Lulworth, about 370 yards, measured along the road in a north-easterly direction, from the south-eastern corner of the Castle Inn at West Lulworth, and passing thence in a westerly direction to the southward of Newlands Farm, and terminating at or near the boundary between the parishes of Chaldon Herring and Owermoigne at a point 1,080 yards or thereabouts, measured in a northerly direction, from the north-west corner of the Coastguard Station buildings at White Nothe Point.


Railway No. 3, commencing at or near the boundary between the parishes of Chaldon Herring and Owermoigne, by a junction with the intended Railway No. 2 before described, at a point 1,080 yards or thereabouts, measured in a northerly direction, from the north-west corner of the Coastguard Station buildings at White Nothe Point, and passing thence in a westerly direction to the northward of South Down Farm and Osmington Mills, and terminating in the parish of Osmington at a point in a field 50 yards or thereabouts, measured in a south-easterly direction, from the point where the East Farm occupation road joins the main road from Poxwell to Osmington:


Which said intended railways and works will be constructed within the following parishes, or some or one of them, viz.: Arne, East Holme, East Stoke, Tyneham, East Lulworth, West Lulworth, Chaldon-Herring, Owermoigne, and Osmington, all in the county of Dorset.


It is intended to construct the before mentioned railways on a gauge of 4 feet 8½ inches, and the motive power to be used will be steam, electrical, or other mechanical power.


The quantity of land proposed to be taken for the purposes of the before mentioned railways and works will be 120 acivs or thereabouts, chiefly consisting of pasture, down, arable, or other lands used principally for agricultural purposes.




If you have any interesting facts about West Lulworth that you wish to share, please email them to us at info@westlulworth.org.uk


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