The Dorset coast contains one of the finest sequences of Jurassic aged rocks to be seen anywhere in the world, beginning 200 million years ago and lasting for 65 million years. It has now been recognised as an area of outstanding geological importance and nominated by the government as a prospective World Heritage site.

The ancient Jurassic world of tropical swamps and shallow seas was full of wildlife – from huge dinosaurs and plesiosaurs to tiny mammals and dragonflies. Sediments washed from the land settled on the sea floor, eventually forming a thick sequence of rocks. When earth movements heaved up the rocks, erosion began to carve them into the dramatic formations we see all along the Dorset coastline.

The remains of many of the ancient plants and animals became buried on the sea floor where they slowly turned to rock. The Dorset Coast is famous for the large number of these fossils which help to build a better understanding of ancient life and its evolution into the plants and animals we see around us today.