Portland

The Isle of Portland is a tied island in the English Channel, 4 miles long and 1.7 miles wide, joined to the mainland by Chesil Beach. The 2021 population was 13,417. Fortuneswell and Easton sit on the high southern plateau known as Tophill, while Castletown and Chiswell are on the lower ground to the north, called Underhill.

Portland stone is a limestone used in St Paul’s Cathedral and the United Nations headquarters in New York, and the island’s quarrying history shows in the landscape. Tout Quarry Sculpture and Nature Reserve is a disused quarry at the top of the island, overlooking Chesil Beach and Portland Harbour. Quarrying there ran from 1780 to 1982, and there are over 60 sculptures, including Antony Gormley’s Still Falling. Entrance is free and the reserve is open at all times.

Portland Castle in Castletown is one of Henry VIII’s coastal artillery forts, built in 1539 to defend Portland Harbour and now run by English Heritage. The harbour itself is one of the largest man-made harbours in the world and hosted the sailing events of the 2012 Olympic Games.

At the southern tip, a white and red lighthouse at Portland Bill replaced the Higher and Lower Lighthouses in 1906. The Portland Bill Lighthouse has a visitor centre. Chesil Beach is the 18 mile shingle bank that links the island to the mainland.