A Brief History of Weymouth and Portland Quiz

Answer: Melcombe

After centuries of feuding between the two towns, a royal charter was granted in 1571 by Queen Elizabeth I bringing the two towns together as one. Many visitors and a good percentage of local people still consider the part of the present town on the northern bank to be Weymouth when in fact this is Melcombe Regis. The term 'Regis' in the name means that at some stage in the past, the town has received some patronage or special favours from the reigning monarch.

Until the Reform of Parliament in 1832 both Weymouth and Melcombe Regis were represented by two MPs each in the House of Commons.

Answer: Bird watching

Often referred to locally as the 'Backwater', the freshwater Radipole Lake is separated from Weymouth's harbour by a bridge and a series of sluice gates and, unusually for a nature reserve, it is virtually located in the centre of the town. Between the 1950s and the early 1980s, the lake and its surroundings provided a number of popular leisure facilities; these included a fairground, pleasure boats and pedaloes, all now sadly gone.

The nature reserve itself is administered by the RSPB, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and Radipole Lake is home to a wide range of both resident and migratory birds such as the Heron, Shelduck, Canada Goose and at least two species of Swan. Rarer visitors such as the Bittern and some of the more uncommon species of Warblers and Buntings can also be seen within the reserve.

Answer: Clock

One of Weymouth's most prominent landmarks, the forty-four foot high Jubilee Clock was erected in 1888, a year after Queen Victoria's golden jubilee. The monument was paid for through public subscription and the clock mechanism itself was a gift to the town by Sir Henry Edwards, a wealthy local merchant, Member of Parliament and great benefactor to the town.

The Jubilee clock originally stood on a stone plinth at the very edge of the Esplanade but, since this was widened during the 1920s, the clock is now located much farther back from the beach.

In 1960 the clock's original mechanism was replaced with an electrically powered movement.

Answer: The Damned

Filmed on location in Weymouth and on the island of Portland in 1961, but not released until 1963, the feature film 'The Damned' which was released in the United States under the title 'These Are The Damned', starred English actor Oliver Reed and actress Shirley Anne Field. Based on the book 'Children of Light' by the author H.L. Lawrence, the film tells the story of the discovery of an underground bunker in which a race of radioactive children are being bred in order to survive a future nuclear war.

Other films that have been shot on location here include 'The Dambusters' released in 1954 and which used the same locations that the actual bombs were tested at in 1943, and 'In Which We Serve' made in 1942 which used a number of locations around the island of Portland and its harbour.

Answer: The Fleet

Immortalised in the book 'Moonfleet' and in the feature film of the same name, the Fleet with its shallow coves sheltered behind the massive shingle bar of Chesil Beach, was used by smugglers for centuries; some of the small caves in the low cliffs that were used to secrete the contraband can still be seen today.

In January 1943 it was the Fleet that was the site for the testing of the 'Bouncing Bomb' that would go on to be used in the Dambusters raid by 617 Squadron of the RAF in May of that year.

In 1992 one of these prototype bombs was recovered from the Fleet and can now be seen on display at the sub-tropical gardens in the village of Abbotsbury, a few miles to the west of Weymouth. The Fleet is also used today by shellfish farmers, sport anglers and pleasure boaters and is an integral part of the Jurassic Coast UNESCO World Heritage Site and has been declared as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, or SSSI.

Answer: Pulpit Rock

Although at first glance Pulpit Rock looks to be an entirely natural rock formation, it is actually a reminder of the time when quarrying took place very close to Portland Bill. This massive rock is all that remains of a natural arch that stood on the site and which had been left there by the quarrymen of the period.

The main stack itself displays a geological history of the island upon as the layers of different rock types that the island is made of can be clearly seen in its structure. Pulpit Rock, taking its name from a smaller slab leaning against the larger stack as if it were a Bible leaning against a pulpit, is popular with visitors to Portland Bill as it is an easy climb and provides some fabulous views of the area from its summit.

There can be very few postcards from the island of Portland that don't feature a view of Pulpit Rock. The 'sport' of tombstoning, the act of jumping into the sea from high places for thrills, has been taking place here for more years than I care to remember!

Answer: Cannon shot embedded in a building

Visitors walking around the old harbour side at Melcombe Regis are, in the main, totally unaware of this historical relic located high above their heads. Taking place on the 27th of February 1645, the Battle of Weymouth was the culmination of a week long siege by the Royalists to capture the ports of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis from the Parliamentarians in order, it is believed, to land a catholic invasion fleet from the continent.

A Parliamentary force numbering around 1,000 soldiers faced a Royalist and mercenary army of around 6,500 soldiers led by Lord Goring.

The Royalist commander, grossly underestimating his opponent's military acumen, led his troops into a massacre with around six hundred Royalist troops being shot down in the streets or drowned in the waters of Weymouth harbour.

The cannonball which can clearly be seen embedded in the upper reaches of a wall of a house at the junction of Maiden Street and Helen Lane is a reminder of the siege and the fierce and bloody battle that took place here.

Answer: True

Melcombe Regis is on the northern bank of the River Wey. It has an unenviable claim to fame as being the port through which the Bubonic Plague, also known as the Black Death, entered and gained a foothold in England during 1348. Brought ashore by black rats that had escaped from a ship that had come to England from the continent, the devastating disease was spread by fleas carried by the escaped rats and decimated the population of England.

It is conservatively estimated that around half of the population of these islands was wiped out in the two years or so that the disease was free to ravage the countryside.

The population of Dorset suffered terribly and survivors fearing what they could not see or fully understand moved away from the town and unknowingly carried the disease with them.

Answer: King George III

Standing upon a massive plinth constructed from Portland stone, the 'King's Statue' stands at the junctions of St Mary Street and St Thomas Street and was erected there in 1810. It is a monument that cannot be ignored by anybody venturing down toward the southern end of the town's magnificent esplanade.

The king first visited Weymouth during 1789, the year after he had suffered with his first attack of Porphyria, a hereditary disease which can lead to periods of severe mental disturbance. King George III enjoyed his visits to Weymouth, so much so that he purchased a property there; this property, Gloucester Lodge, was situated on the town's fine seafront and was still an impressive and popular hotel until it had been converted into luxury apartments during the latter years of the last century. Legend has it that King George III, displeased with the depiction of him leaving the town cut into a chalk hill at Osmington, never visited Weymouth again; in fact, by the time the carving had been completed in 1808, George had not visited Weymouth for more than three years.

Answer: Portland stone

Portland stone is rightly famous across the world and has been used in the construction of a number of iconic buildings such as London's St Paul's Cathedral, the National Gallery, the Royal Naval College at Greenwich and the United Nations Headquarters building in New York. Stone has been quarried on Portland for centuries; the local landscape testament to this fact with the eastern side of the island pitted by the by many quarries.

As few as they now are, the Portland quarrymen are a superstitious lot and they frown upon to use the word 'rabbit'.

These mammals and their burrowing have been blamed for a number of fatal accidents over the years and so the quarrymen began to refer to these animals as 'bunnies'. In 2005, such was the strength of feeling over the use of the word rabbit, that when the animated film 'Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit' was released the distributors withdrew all promotional material containing the word rabbit and had it reprinted with the word 'bunny' in its place.

In February 2016 concerns were being raised over the quantities of low-grade, imported limestone of a similar type that is being sold as genuine Portland stone. This has been the impetus behind a campaign to have this building material afforded the same legal protection as that given to Champagne, Parmesan cheese and Cornish Pasties!

Answer: A castle

The castle atop the low cliffs at Sandsfoot was one of two constructed from local Portland stone by Henry VIII to defend Portland harbour from possible attack by the Spanish. The castle on Portland which faced Sandsfoot Castle across the harbour was completed first with works ending in 1530.

The king, who had upset catholic Europe over his insistence of divorcing his first wife Catherine of Aragon, was concerned about the vulnerability of England's southern coast to an invasion and embarked on an extensive building programme of fortifications along this stretch of coast.

The soft sandstone cliffs upon which Sandsfoot Castle had been built had been damaged by erosion over the centuries and visitors today can see sections of the now ruined castle lying on the rocky beach below.

The ruins had remained closed and fenced off to the public for safety reasons for many years but a recent programme of improvements means that the castle can now be visited once again.

Answer: The French

There has been a defensive structure of one form or another on the 'Nothe' since at least 1543 and possibly for much, much longer. Construction work on the unusually named Nothe Fort began in 1860 in response to an increase in the strength of the French Navy and in their fortification of the port of Cherbourg which lies almost directly across the English Channel from Weymouth. Building work on the fort was completed in 1872 and the fort, with its associated garrison, provided a defensive force for the harbour right up until it was finally closed in 1956.

The fort which is built on three levels fell into disrepair in the early 1960s and became something of a playground, albeit a very, very dangerous one, for the local children (myself included!). By 1968 the disused fort had become almost completely derelict and after being handed over to the Weymouth Civic Society it has been restored and returned to the condition that it was in during the Second World War. Nothe Fort has since become one of Weymouth's most important visitor attractions.

Answer: Sailing

Located approximately half way between Weymouth and the island of Portland lays the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy. The academy was one of the first regeneration projects for the area after it had been hit hard by the closure of HMS Osprey, the name given to the major Royal Naval base on Portland, in 1995. Work on the academy was completed in March 2000; the site being chosen for the almost perfect sailing conditions that can be found within the breakwaters of Portland harbour. When the announcement was made in 2005 that London had won the right to stage the 2012 Olympic Games, Weymouth was selected to host the sailing events. Today the academy attracts elite yachtsmen and women from across the world to hone their skills in the safe waters of Portland harbour.

Answer: Breakwaters

Work on the impressive series of man-made breakwaters began in 1849, as by this time Portland had become an important naval base. Works were completed in 1872 with the Prince of Wales who later went on to be crowned King Edward VII, being invited to lay the final stone. Combined with the protection afforded by the massif of Portland itself, the breakwaters have contributed towards making Portland harbour one of the safest harbours on the south coast of England. Because of its importance during the First World War the harbour entrances were deliberately blocked with sunken vessels in order to prevent the entry of German U-Boats into what was a Royal Naval base crucial to Britain's war effort.

The most well known of these entrances, Hood Entrance, takes its name, not from the famous WW2 Royal Navy battle cruiser HMS Hood, but from an earlier Royal Navy vessel bearing the same name.

Answer: False

As if the treacherous sandbanks, shallow reefs and existing wrecks weren't enough for seafarers to contend with, the strong and fast tidal currents that traverse Portland Bill add another dimension sailing here and to concentrate the mind. I myself have seen both sailing yachts and powered vessels struggle to extricate themselves from within the maelstrom that this area of sea can become even on relatively calm days.

The 'Race', or 'Portland Race', is the name given to a turbulent area of sea immediately to the south of Portland Bill which occurs due to sudden and dramatic differences in water depth, very powerful tides and the tidal interaction with submarine reef formations in the shallower water there.