Preston

Preston is a coastal village and suburb of Weymouth in south Dorset, about 3 km (2 miles) north-east of the town centre and 2 km west of Osmington. This is the Preston beside Weymouth Bay, close to Bowleaze Cove. Its civil parish was merged with Weymouth, Bincombe and Poxwell on 1 April 1933.

On the coast is the beach resort of Bowleaze Cove, a small sand and shingle beach, mainly shingle and shell with some sandy areas. John Constable stayed at nearby Osmington on his honeymoon in 1816 and painted the cove; his Weymouth Bay: Bowleaze Cove and Jordon Hill, dated 1816-17, belongs to the National Gallery in London. Weymouth and its main beach are a short drive west.

Jordan Hill above the cove has the remains of a Romano-Celtic temple, probably built in the 4th century AD. English Heritage looks after the site, which is free to enter during daylight hours and has views inland and across Weymouth Bay. A walled enclosure about 30 metres square surrounded the temple, and a cemetery with more than 80 burials lay to the north.

Inland, the village church is St Andrew’s, a 14th-century building on the site of a much earlier Norman church. The coast path leads eastwards from Bowleaze past the Broadrock cliffs and Redcliff Point to Osmington Mills, so you can walk to the next village along the shore. The South West Coast Path’s Osmington Roman Walk starts from the car park on Bowleaze Coveway and takes in the Roman temple, the site of a Roman villa and the Osmington White Horse on the hillside to the north.