Lulworth Cove - Conservation, Tourism, Education and Management

Conservation, Tourism, Education and Management

West Lulworth acts as a gateway to this part of the Jurassic Coast. As well as the cove, across Hambury Tout (the large chalk hill to the west) is Durdle Door, a natural arch. To the east there is a fossilised forest. Lulworth is also close to Kimmeridge, famous for its rocky shore and fossils. The sea floor in and around the cove yields fossils, and oil sands beneath the sea bed form the largest British oil field outside the North Sea area, and contain the highest quality oil in Europe. Geologists and geographers have been interested in the area since the beginning of the 19th century, and in the 1830s the first serious study of the area took place. Since then the area has drawn Geology students from all over the world.

Purbeck suffers from trampling because of its many visitors and erosion from the sea. Management has been put in place to stop the coastline from being ruined, such as wooden steps and fences. These will keep people to a certain path and steps will reinforce the ground.

In 2001 the coast was granted World Heritage Site status by UNESCO. Experts at UNESCO have been working on preserving the shape of Lulworth Cove. Lulworth was one of a number of gateway villages on the coast with a Heritage Centre—part visitor centre, tourist information and natural history museum—which in 2002 received 418,595 visitors. Most of the area is privately owned by the Lulworth Estate, an estate held by the wealthy landowning family; The Welds.

Land to the east is owned by the Ministry of Defence and used for tank training, only open on weekends and holidays. The coast and land to the north and around the village is owned and managed by the Lulworth Estate (see Lulworth Castle). Each year, over 250,000 people walk across the hill linking the cove to Durdle Door.