Chesil Beach and the Fleet Lagoon
18 miles and 180 billion pebbles
Chesil Beach is located on the South coast of England in the county of Dorset. It is a pebble beach 18 miles long and stretches north-west from Portland to West Bay. For much of its length it is separated from the mainland by an area of saline water called the Fleet Lagoon.
The Fleet Lagoon is a shallow area of saline water between Chesil Beach and the mainland. It is 13 km long. Its width varies from 900 metres at Littlesea down to just 65 metres in the Narrows. The deepest part is 4-5 metres deep, but all of the mid and upper Fleet is less than 2 metres deep.
Hamm Beach is on the eastern side of Chesil Beach facing into Portland Harbour. It is formed from material from the east side of Portland moving north to form the Mere barrier and then Hamm Beach. It is an area of shallow sand dunes overlaying shingle.
This website provides information on Chesil and Hamm Beachs and the Fleet Lagoon.
Chesil beach and the Fleet looking north from Portland
Enter Chesil Diary The Chesil Diary is an informal log of events associated with Chesil Beach and the Fleet. Entries are provided by the warden and members of the team of volunteers. To read about recent events click the link above. |
Both of the beachs and the lagoon are important areas for wildlife with a number of national and international designations to help protect this important area. The area lies at the centre of the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO designated World Heritage Site.
The picture gallery contains many pictures of Chesil Beach and the Fleet Lagoon from its southern limit at Portland to its northern limit at West Bay. It also includes a selection of old postcards to illustrate the changes that have taken place over the last 120 years.
Click here for important information regarding safety on Chesil Beach
Details of access arrangements to Chesil Beach and the Fleet Lagoon can be found by clicking here.
There are a number of organisations concerned with the conservation and interpretation of Chesil Beach and the Fleet. Click any of the links below to find out about them.
Restricted access to Chesil Seabirds are now nesting all along Chesil Beach and access to the beach from Wyke Regis to Abbotsbury is closed until the end of August The little tern colony at Ferrybridge has also been fenced off and there is no access until August |
Information on Ian McEwan's recent novel can be found here
| Reserve Newsletter Winter 2007 newsletter now available to download on Reserve page |
Last updated 30/06/2008
Copyright © 2007-2008 Chickerell BioAcoustics