Chesil Bank

Chesil Bank or BEACH, a bank of gravel and shingle extending 16 miles from Bridport harbour and Burton Bradstock to Portland. It varies in height from 20 to 43 feet, and in width from 170 to 200 yards. For some part of its course it hugs the shore, but the Fleet comes between it and the land for nearly 10 miles from Abbotsbury, famous for its swannery. Towards its west end the bank is composed of sand, grit, and fine gravel, but the materials get gradually larger and larger as it is followed eastward. Good authorities believe this bank was formed by the sea as a shingle beach in the ordinary way, that it formerly touched the land throughout its entire course, and that it has since been separated from the shore, and converted into a bar, by the denudation of the land behind it. (See map at BREAKWATER.)