Everything about Weymouth totally explained
Weymouth is a town in
Dorset,
England, situated on a sheltered bay at the mouth of the
River Wey on the
English Channel coast. The town is south of
Dorchester and north of the
Isle of Portland. The population of Weymouth is almost 52,000.
The
A354 road bridge connects Weymouth to Portland, which together form the borough of
Weymouth and Portland. The history of the borough stretches back to the 12th century; including involvement in the spread of the
Black Death, the
settlement of the Americas, the development of
Georgian architecture, and preparations for
World War II.
Although fishing and trading employ fewer people in the area since their peak in earlier centuries, tourism has had a strong presence in the town since the 18th century. Weymouth is a tourist
resort, and its economy depends on its harbour and visitor attractions; the town is a gateway situated half-way along the
Jurassic Coast, a
World Heritage Site on the Dorset and east
Devon coast, important for its geology and landforms. Weymouth Harbour is home to cross-channel ferries, pleasure boats and private yachts, and nearby
Portland Harbour is home to the
Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, where the
sailing events of the
2012 Olympic Games will be held.
History
Weymouth originated as a settlement on a constricted site to the south and west of Weymouth Harbour, an outlying part of
Wyke Regis. The town developed from the mid 12th century onwards, but wasn't noted until the 13th century. By 1252 it was established as a seaport and become a chartered
borough.
Melcombe Regis developed separately on the
peninsula to the north of the harbour; it was mentioned as a licensed wool port in 1310. During the
English Civil War, around 250 people were killed in the local
Crabchurch Conspiracy in February 1645. In 1635, on board the ship
Charity, around 100 emigrants from the town crossed the
Atlantic Ocean and settled in
Weymouth, Massachusetts. There are memorials to this on the side of Weymouth Harbour and near
Weymouth Pavilion. Sir
James Thornhill was born in the
White Hart public house in Melcombe Regis and became the town's MP in 1722. Thornhill became an artist, and coincidentally decorated the interior of St Paul's Cathedral.
The resort is among the first modern
tourist destinations, after
King George III made Weymouth his summer holiday residence on fourteen occasions between 1789 and 1805. A painted statue of the king still stands on the seafront, and a mounted
white horse representing him is carved into the
chalk hills of
Osmington. The horse faces away from the town, and a myth developed that the king took offence, believing it was a sign that the townspeople didn't welcome him, and that the designer subsequently killed himself.
Weymouth's
esplanade is composed of Georgian terraces, which have been converted into apartments, shops, hotels and guest houses. The buildings were constructed in the
Georgian and
Regency periods between 1770 and 1855, designed by architects such as James Hamilton, and were commissioned by wealthy businessmen, including those that were involved in the growth of
Bath. These terraces form a long, continuous arc of buildings which face
Weymouth Bay along the esplanade, which also features the multi-coloured Jubilee Clock, erected in 1887 to mark the 50th year of
Queen Victoria's reign. Statues of Victoria, George III and Sir Henry Edwards, Member of Parliament for the borough from 1867 to 1885, and two
war memorials stand along the Esplanade.
In the centre of the town lies Weymouth Harbour; although it was the reason for the town's foundation, the harbour separates the two areas of
Melcombe Regis (the main town centre) and Weymouth (the southern harbourside) from each other. Since the 18th century this has been overcome with successive bridges over the narrowest part of the harbour. The present Town Bridge, built in 1930, is a lifting
bascule bridge to let boats access the
inner harbour, one of ten in the United Kingdom.
Weymouth and Portland were bombed by German planes for their role in World War II;
Portland harbour had a large naval base, and Weymouth was home to
Nothe Fort. 517,816 troops embarked through the borough to fight at the
Battle of Normandy, The history of the area is documented at the Timewalk Museum in Brewers Quay; the former brewery is a tourist attraction and shopping village on the southern shore of Weymouth Harbour.
Governance
The district of
Weymouth and Portland was formed on
1 April 1974 under the
Local Government Act 1972, and merged the borough of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis and the nearby
Portland urban district. For
local elections the district is divided into 15 wards, 12 of them in Weymouth. Elections take place in a four-year cycle; one third of the councillors in all but three wards retire or seek re-election in years one, two and three, and county council elections are held in year four. The Mayor of Weymouth and Portland is David Harris (
Liberal Democrat), and Tim Munro (
Independent) is Deputy Mayor.
Weymouth, Portland and the
Purbeck district are in the
South Dorset parliamentary
constituency, created in 1885. The constituency elects one Member of Parliament; currently
Jim Knight (
Labour), the
Minister of State for Schools.
South Dorset, the rest of
South West England, and
Gibraltar are in the
South West England constituency of the
European Parliament.
Dorset South was the most marginal Labour seat in the
2001 general election, won by 153 votes. Jim Knight was expecting to have a difficult 2005 election, yet he won with a margin of 1,812 votes—this was in contrast to other areas, where Labour suffered a decline in popularity.
Weymouth and Portland have been twinned with the town of
Holzwickede in
North Rhine-Westphalia,
Germany since 1986, and the
French town of
Louviers, in the
department of
Eure in
Normandy, since 1959.
Geography
Weymouth is situated on the western shore of
Weymouth Bay on the south coast of
England, west-southwest of
London, at (50.613, −2.457). The town is built on weak sand and clay rock which in most places along the Dorset coast, except for narrow bands at
Lulworth Cove,
Swanage and
Durdle Door, has been
eroded and transported away. This weak rock has been protected at Weymouth by
Chesil Beach and the strong
limestone Isle of Portland that lies offshore, south of
Wyke Regis. The island affects the tides of the area, producing a double low tide in Weymouth Bay and Portland Harbour. The maximum
tidal range is small, less than . There are 11
Sites of Special Scientific Interest in the borough, which cover an area of, and there are 37 other
Nature Conservation Designations.
Situated approximately half-way along the
Jurassic Coast, Weymouth is a gateway town to the
UNESCO World Heritage Site, which includes of the Dorset and east Devon coast that's important for its geology and
landforms.
Weymouth is the largest town in the area, larger than the county town of
Dorchester, which lies just to the north, and hence is a centre of activity for the nearby population. A steep ridge of
chalk called the
South Dorset Downs separates Dorchester and Weymouth; they're less agricultural than the valleys in the centre and north of
Dorset, but have
dairy and
arable farms. The nearest villages to Weymouth are part of the built-up area, including Wyke Regis,
Chickerell and Preston.
The sand and clay on which Weymouth is built is very low-lying—large areas are below sea level, which allowed the eastern areas of the town to flood during extreme low pressure storms. In the 1980s and 90s a
sea wall was built around Weymouth Harbour and along the coast road in Preston; a
rip rap groyne in
Greenhill and
beach nourishment up to Preston have created a wide and artificially graded pebble beach, to ensure that the low-lying land around Lodmoor doesn't flood. The defences at Preston, the extended ferry terminal and the widening of the Esplanade have changed the
sediment regime in Weymouth Bay, narrowing the beach at Greenhill and widening the sands in Weymouth. A study conducted as part of the redevelopment of the
Pavilion complex showed that the proposed marina will contribute slightly to this effect, but sand
dredged out of the marina could be used to make the beach up to wider.
Climate
Due to its location on the south-west coast of England, Weymouth has a
temperate climate (
Cfb), with a small variation in daily and annual temperatures. The average annual mean temperature from 1971 to 2000 was 10.2 to 12
°C (50.4 to 53.6
°F). The warmest month is August, which has an average
temperature range of 13.3 to 20.4 °C (55.9 to 68.7 °F), and the coolest is February, which has a range of 3.1 to 8.3 °C (37.6 to 46.9 °F). Maximum and minimum temperatures throughout the year are above England's average, and Weymouth is in
AHS Heat zone 1. Mean
sea surface temperatures range from in February to in August.
The low-lying nature of the area, and the ameliorating effect of the lakes and mild seas that surround the town, act to keep night-time temperatures above freezing, making winter frost rare: on average eight times per year. This is far below the United Kingdom's average annual total of 55.6 days of frost. almost all winters have one day or less with snow lying. It may snow or
sleet in winter, yet it almost never settles on the ground The
growing season in Weymouth lasts from nine to twelve months per year, and the borough is in
Hardiness zone 9.
Weymouth and Portland, and the rest of the south coast, has the sunniest climate in the United Kingdom. The resort averaged 1768.4 hours of sunshine annually between 1971 and 2000, Four of the last nine years have had more than 2000 hours of sunshine.
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