The pebbles crunch underfoot with each step, a sound that mixes with the gentle lap of waves against the shingle beach. Lulworth Cove forms a near perfect horseshoe of white chalk and limestone, carved by the sea into the Jurassic Coast. The layers of rock rise in stripes of white, gray, and ochre, each band representing millions of years of geological history. You can touch fossils embedded in the stone, ancient sea creatures frozen in time. The air smells of salt and wet chalk, clean and mineral.
Along the Jurassic Coast, just outside of the small village of West Lulworth is where you will find the popular Lulworth Cove. More than half of a million people visit the cove every single year; most people visit it between the months from July to August. Nearby the cove is where you will also find the popular Durdle Door Arch.
The cove has attracted countless visitors not only because of its beauty, but also because of its mysteries. The rocks that form the walls of the cove consist of bands of rocks which over the years have formed parallel to the coastline.
Lulworth Cove and surroundings, Dorset, England, UK by Arpingstone
In This Article
How the Cove Was Formed
The unique horseshoe shape of Lulworth Cove results from wave diffraction and differential erosion over thousands of years. The entrance is a small gap eroded through Portland limestone, the hardest rock along this coast. Behind this barrier lie softer sands, clays, and chalk that have been worn away by the sea. As waves enter through the narrow gap, they diffract and spread out, carving the circular shape we see today. The process began around 10,000 years ago when rising sea levels flooded what was once a river valley. Just one kilometre west, Stair Hole offers a glimpse of what Lulworth Cove may have looked like in its early stages, showing the same erosional process at work.
Fossil Hunting on the Jurassic Coast
Lulworth Cove sits at the heart of the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World heritage Site that stretches 95 miles from Exmouth to Studland Bay. The cliffs here contain fossils spanning 185 million years of Earth’s history, from the Triassic to the Cretaceous periods. The Portland limestone and Purbeck beds around the cove are particularly rich in fossilised shellfish, ammonites, and even dinosaur footprints. The best time to hunt for fossils is after a storm or during winter storms, when fresh rock has been exposed by wave action. Visitors should stick to the beach and fallen boulders rather than hammering into the cliffs, which can cause rockfalls. The nearby Charmouth heritage Coast Centre offers guided fossil walks and expert identification of finds. Even a casual stroll along the beach often reveals belemnites and bivalves simply lying on the shingle, waiting to be spotted.
Walking the Coast Path to Durdle Door
One of the best ways to experience Lulworth Cove is by walking the coastal path to Durdle Door. From the cove, a path climbs onto the clifftops with spectacular views of the horseshoe shape below. The walk from Lulworth Cove to Durdle Door and back takes about an hour, covering two miles each way. Along the route you pass the Lulworth Crumple, a spectacular geological fold where rock layers have been buckled by tectonic forces. The cliffs contain the famous fossil forest, where remains of ancient cycads can be seen in the rock. The walk ends at Durdle Door, where you can descend steps to the pebble beach below the limestone arch.
The cove entrance is nothing more than a small gap that has been eroded away between some bands of limestone. Since the limestone is the most resilient of the shoreline rocks, it is found most abundantly in the area. The cove itself was once filled with sands and clays which over the millennia have been eroded away by the waves and through water run-off.
Over the years, as the waves started making their way into the cove, they started to reshape it. The uniqueness of the Lulworth Cove’s shape is as a result of what is known as wave diffraction. Needless to say, the cove is a very unique and picturesque geological landmark in the UK.
It is believed that only a few thousand years ago, the Lulworth Cove looked much different than it does today. Only about a kilometre away you will find a site that is known as Stair Hole. Many people believe that the cove started off very similar to the hole before reaching the shape it is known for today.
Anyone who makes their way to the Jurassic Coast has to stop at West Lulworth first. From here, most make their way to the Lulworth Cove before stopping off to see the many other popular sites along the coastlines. Here, where the land has simply folded over on itself time and time again, you will find some of the most amazing geological formations as well as the potential to find some fossils that date back to the day when dinosaurs called the area home.
The area is also importance to the nation as the sand beneath the area where the Lulworth Cove sits is one of the richest oil deposits in the United Kingdom. With the coastline being designated a World heritage Site, special care must be taken to extract the oil from the seabed without affecting the coastline and the fossils buried beneath.