For a three minute video version, I have uploaded a video to my YouTube channel! This written version includes the W3W locations for various points to help you find your way if you want to head out yourself, as well as a little more of the history!
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I parked my van in the village car park for a very reasonable £2 donation. Cash in a donation box, no apps here. (There are also toilets there).
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I walked through the village and left via Weston Road.
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There is a secondary car park off Renscombe Road for those wanting a shorter walk, and this is where I picked up the footpath. ///host.star.goodbyes
Passing through the fields of Rapeseed I joined up with the South West Coast Path and turned left. ///reinstate.engaging.bike
Shortly before reaching the Royal Marines Memorial there is another plaque mounted into the wall by the footpath.
"In memory of CSgt Peter George Meacham - MBE 1st May 1941 - 23 Feb 2020" It bears the original Special Boat Service motto "Not by Strength, By Guile" (which has now been shortened to simply "By Strength and Guile")
Within a few steps I got to the Royal Marines Memorial which is set in a little walled enclosure. A small flower border surrounds a stone table and bench, and this was where I stopped for coffee. For my own reasons, I have a soft spot for the Royal Marines. Its a beautiful memorial, and it's outlook is stunning. If you need somewhere to be with your own thoughts, remember friends, or just escape reality for a few hours, I'd pay this place a visit. Bring a brew!
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I made my way back onto the footpath, carrying on my walk towards the next stop.
This next section does involve a very steep drop and climb. Although there are steps, it's not for everyone. The views though
.. the views make up for it in my opinion.
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Eventually I reached the headland, where the Coastwatch Station, St Aldhelm's Chapel and the Radar Memorial are clustered together.
St Aldhelm's Chapel is 800 years old. Legend has it that in the 12th century a bride and groom were drowned off the coast here in a shipwreck. The brides father paid for the little building to be constructed, so that a light may be lit here to guide other ships around the coast at night. In this telling it was only later made a Chapel. This isn't an unreasonable idea, as there are references in the 17th century to there being a seamark out here. It's also worth noting that the cross on top of the building is a Victorian addition. If it were built as a religious house, it's more likely to have been something like a hermitage or place of contemplation, rather than a chapel for worship.
In the 1950s a burial was discovered nearby, and the foundations of a small structure. There has been a suggestion that this may have been an anchorite's cell, which would be in keeping with the idea that this remote spot was used for worship by a recluse rather than regular service.
I suspect the truth is a little of all of them. The building of the structure may well have been funded by a grieving father, and it may well have acted as a place of worship before the Dissolution of the Monasteries and a seamark after (Not unlike Greyfriars Tower in King's Lynn).
Another legend says that there was a leper colony out here, which may also have threads of truth wound through it.
Whatever the history here, it's a stunning place to visit! ///pesky.reprints.reassured
A few steps away is the beautiful sculpture that is the Purbeck Radar Memorial. Between 1940 and 1942 Worth Matravers was home to pioneering Radar research and development. Although almost all sign has disappeared today, old photos reveal the scale of the site where up to 2000 were based during these years.
The sculpture represents two Radar dishes, arranged in such a way to form a large fire basket. This reflects both ancient and modern methods to warn of invasion. More information can be found on www.purbeckradar.org.uk (not affiliated).
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For a longer walk you can continue along the coast path and return to the village at Winspit Quarry, but I returned via the track by the coastwatch cottages
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At the cross road in the tracks ( ///kidney.spray.fund ) I headed right toward Bonviles Road ( ///probable.sloping.somewhere )
I returned into the village once again via Weston Road and had my second coffee stop on the bench by the village pond. ///pouting.emerald.crafts
I was out about three hours, but you could certainly make it shorter or longer! It's a beautiful walk, especially in mid May when the best of the wildflowers are out.
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If you enjoyed this walk and want to support this project, you can buy me a coffee HERE
Definitely one to do when I'm down there next 😊