Lulworth Cove is a near-circular inlet beside West Lulworth in Dorset, on England’s south coast. Its pale pebble beach, enclosed water and steep green slopes make it one of the coast’s most recognisable views, but the shape is also a lesson in geology. The Lulworth Estate, which manages the visitor site, describes the cove as the result of the combined action of the sea and a river swollen by meltwater at the end of the last Ice Age. A short walk from the shore reveals further landforms that explain the area’s unusually varied coastline.
The cove lies within the Dorset and East Devon Coast World Heritage property, commonly known as the Jurassic Coast. UNESCO says the wider property exposes an almost continuous sequence of Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks recording about 185 million years of Earth history. Its fossil localities and coastal landforms have contributed to earth-science research for more than three centuries. Lulworth is therefore both a popular seaside destination and a place where the visible cliffs and shoreline help tell a much longer story.
