cloisters
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- Joined
- Oct 5, 2010
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Hello All
First report here, hope I've put it in the right category. Hopefully it's something a bit different to the usual!
This is one of my favourite haunts to return to on the Isle of Purbeck. It's relatively untouched, probably because it requires a bit of legwork to get to, over MOD land and then a fun jaunt over a few angular rock formations round the base of the cliff. The places oozes history, yet there's very little out there on the web.
on with the pics:
En route to the cave
The cave entrance
About 20ft in is an ancient false wall with a basic door formation. You can't make it out from this pic, but a good deal of the foundation stones are graffittied.
A bit more history from Smuggling in Britain:
"Smugglers are said to have stored contraband in a cave at the most easterly point of Mupe Bay. In 1906 it could be reached
...by following the coast from Lulworth, and by descending the cliff the moment the bay is reached. The cave is at the foot of the precipice, at a spot where a little channel has been cleared between the boulders for a boat to land. [93]
The Lulworth men evidently took no chances of being identified by the local customs authorities: on a tombstone in Weymouth's Bury Street cemetery there is the following incription:
Sacred to the memory of Lieut Thos Edward Knight, RN, of Folkestone, Kent, Aged 42, who in the execution of his duty as Chief Officer of the Coastguard was wantonly attacked by a body of smugglers near Lulworth on the night of 28th of June 1832, by whom after being unmercifully beaten he was thrown over the cliff near Durdle Door from the effects of which he died the following day. [94]"
Most of it is indecipherable, but you can get a good idea of dates.
Amidst the few dates and names lie some cryptic messages.
Inside the cave...not much in the way of contraband, only from flotsam washed in at high tide
....still pretty creepy though
Looking back out to sea as it clouds over.
Even if it's not the biggest site, it's a gorgeous part of the world. Lots of rusting live ammo from the firing ranges cluttering up the rock pools outside and the acoustics of waves crashing inside is like nothing else!
Cheers for looking!
First report here, hope I've put it in the right category. Hopefully it's something a bit different to the usual!
This is one of my favourite haunts to return to on the Isle of Purbeck. It's relatively untouched, probably because it requires a bit of legwork to get to, over MOD land and then a fun jaunt over a few angular rock formations round the base of the cliff. The places oozes history, yet there's very little out there on the web.
on with the pics:
En route to the cave
The cave entrance
About 20ft in is an ancient false wall with a basic door formation. You can't make it out from this pic, but a good deal of the foundation stones are graffittied.
A bit more history from Smuggling in Britain:
"Smugglers are said to have stored contraband in a cave at the most easterly point of Mupe Bay. In 1906 it could be reached
...by following the coast from Lulworth, and by descending the cliff the moment the bay is reached. The cave is at the foot of the precipice, at a spot where a little channel has been cleared between the boulders for a boat to land. [93]
The Lulworth men evidently took no chances of being identified by the local customs authorities: on a tombstone in Weymouth's Bury Street cemetery there is the following incription:
Sacred to the memory of Lieut Thos Edward Knight, RN, of Folkestone, Kent, Aged 42, who in the execution of his duty as Chief Officer of the Coastguard was wantonly attacked by a body of smugglers near Lulworth on the night of 28th of June 1832, by whom after being unmercifully beaten he was thrown over the cliff near Durdle Door from the effects of which he died the following day. [94]"
Most of it is indecipherable, but you can get a good idea of dates.
Amidst the few dates and names lie some cryptic messages.
Inside the cave...not much in the way of contraband, only from flotsam washed in at high tide
....still pretty creepy though
Looking back out to sea as it clouds over.
Even if it's not the biggest site, it's a gorgeous part of the world. Lots of rusting live ammo from the firing ranges cluttering up the rock pools outside and the acoustics of waves crashing inside is like nothing else!
Cheers for looking!
