Durdle Door

Durdle Door is on the Dorset coast in southern England, west of Lulworth Cove, within the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. The arch is Portland limestone, cut through by the sea, standing at the eastern end of a shingle beach.

The World Heritage inscription is for geology rather than scenery. This coast exposes a near-continuous sequence of Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous rock — around a hundred and eighty-five million years — in the cliffs, and it is walkable. The arch itself formed because a hard limestone band runs parallel to the shore with softer rock behind; the sea broke through the hard band and hollowed out the bay behind it, which is the same process that made Lulworth Cove next door.

The beach is steep shingle with deep water close in and no lifeguard cover for most of the year. It has a poor safety record: people jump from the arch and the cliffs, which has caused serious injuries and a major incident in 2020, and the coastguard has repeatedly asked them not to. Cliff falls occur along this coast and sections are fenced. The Lulworth Estate has held this coast since the sixteenth century and manages the access, which is why the car park and the paths exist at all.

Access is a steep path from a clifftop car park, and it is the thing people underestimate — the descent is short and unpleasant to climb back up in heat, and there is no other route. Lulworth Cove a mile east is the near-circular bay formed by the same process, and the coast path between them is the best short walk on this stretch.

The arch is a hard limestone band the sea broke through, and the cliffs behind it hold a hundred and eighty-five million years in readable order — that is what the World Heritage listing is for, not the view. Steep path down, harder back. Do not jump from anything: it has caused serious injuries here and the coastguard has asked repeatedly.