Mutton Cove, Portland
Mutton Cove is a cove, located on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England; part of the Jurassic Coast. It is found on the west side of Portland, further south from Hallelujah Bay, and situated between the villages of Weston and Southwell.[1] Presumably named after the once-famous Portland sheep, the cove is an erosional indentation just south of the promontory of Blacknor, which holds the Victorian fort Blacknor Fort.[2] On the cliff tops of the cove is part of the South West Coast Path and further south is Wallsend Cove and Portland Bill.
Today, Mutton Cove is a popular climbing area and is also notable for its fossilised remains.[3] The area around Blacknor Point and Mutton Cove is known to be a good fishing spot for large Conger and local charter boats have been reported to have been coming in close to the cove following large shoals of herring. The area is also a popular spot for scuba divers.[4]
Slightly below the cliff-top path above the cove is an area of fossils. This largely consists of a layer of exposed rock showing fossilised ripples formed on an ancient sandy beach/sea bed - created over 100 million years ago when the layer of stone was at sea level.[5] This calcite on the cliff face is known as "Flow Stone". Also in the area are the remains of fossilized algal burrs that once surrounded the base of trees in a Jurassic forest.[3]
Like the majority of Portland's coastline, the cove has been the place of past quarrying and a number of shipwrecks and maritime incidents. One photographed incident from the 19th century was involving the German liner Bulow.[6] The Ehen, a French barque, stranded at Mutton Cove in 1890 on her passage from Bremer Lehe for Bordeaux with rice and preserves. It became a total wreck.[7] Myrtledene, an English cargo vessel was stranded in 1912, when after a day and night of dense fog, the strong ebb tide swept the ship ashore. Her bottom was ripped wide open, her engine room flooding in less than one hour and she proved impossible to save. Today the remains of the ship lie broken up, and the boiler still remains, standing at 3 metres.[8]
References
- ^ "Pictures- Portland, Dorset". Weymouth-pictures.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-04-21.
- ^ "Isle of Portland - Mutton Cove to Wallsend - Geology Field Trip Guide". Southampton.ac.uk. 2007-02-06. Retrieved 2013-04-21.
- ^ a b "Quick facts about the Jurassic Coast". Jurassiccoastline.com. Retrieved 2013-04-21.
- ^ "Portlandbill.co.uk". Portlandbill.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-04-21.
- ^ "Mutton Cove, Portland, Dorset". Geoffkirby.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-04-21.
- ^ http://www.geoffkirby.co.uk/PortlandArchivePictures/html/shipwrecks.html
- ^ http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=901200&sort=2&type=&typeselect=c&rational=a&class1=None&period=None&county=93347&district=93625&parish=None&place=mutton&recordsperpage=10&source=text&rtype=&rnumber=
- ^ http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=904631&sort=2&type=&typeselect=c&rational=a&class1=None&period=None&county=93347&district=93625&parish=None&place=mutton&recordsperpage=10&source=text&rtype=&rnumber=