23 Facts About Weymouth Dorset

Once a port for cross-channel ferries, Weymouth Dorset Harbour is home to a commercial fishing fleet, pleasure boats and private yachts, while nearby Portland Harbour is the location of the Weymouth Dorset and Portland National Sailing Academy, where the sailing events of the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games were held.

Under the local government reforms on 1 April 2019, the district was abolished, and Weymouth is administered by Dorset Council at the highest tier, and Weymouth Town Council at the lowest tier.

Weymouth Dorset South was the most marginal Labour seat in the 2001 general election, won by 153 votes.

Radipole Lake, the largest nature reserve, and mouth of the River Wey before it flows into Weymouth Dorset Harbour, are important habitats for fish and migratory birds, and over 200 species of plants.

Radipole is an important tourist attraction; it and Weymouth Dorset Beach are situated very close to the main town centre.

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The 155 kilometres of the Weymouth Dorset and east Devon coast is a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site which is important for its geology and landforms.

Weymouth Dorset is the largest town in the area, larger than the county town of Dorchester, which lies 11 kilometres to the north, and hence is a centre of activity for the nearby population.

Weymouth Dorset's esplanade is composed of Georgian terraces, which have been converted into apartments, shops, hotels and guest houses.

Sand and clay on which Weymouth Dorset 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.

Weymouth Dorset Harbour is long and narrow, and formed the estuary of the River Wey until the building of a dam in 1872, which separated the harbour's backwaters from Radipole Lake.

Weymouth Dorset Pavilion is operated by Weymouth Dorset Pavilion CIC as a not-for-profit organisation.

Weymouth Dorset Museum, located in the older part of the town, is situated in a former brewery.

An unusual feature of the railways in Weymouth Dorset was that until 1987, main-line trains ran through the streets and along the Weymouth Dorset Harbour Tramway to the Quay station at the eastern end of the harbour, to connect with ferries to mainland Europe.

Weymouth Dorset is connected to towns and villages along the Jurassic Coast by route X53, which runs from Axminster to Weymouth Dorset, through Lyme Regis, Charmouth, Bridport and Abbotsbury.

Weymouth Dorset is approximately 52 miles south east of the M5 motorway at junction 25 for Taunton and the same distance from junction 1 of the M27 motorway to the east.

Weymouth Dorset has two sports centres, one shared by the college and local community, comprising two fitness suites and a large sports hall; the other, Redlands community sports hub, has both indoor and outdoor facilities with pitches for football and cricket.

Weymouth Dorset Bay is a venue for other water-sports—the reliable wind is favourable for wind and kitesurfing.

The sheltered waters in Portland Harbour and near Weymouth Dorset are used for angling, diving to shipwrecks, snorkelling, canoeing, jet skiing, water skiing, and swimming.

Weymouth Dorset has been used as a location in both film and television, particularly the esplanade which features prominently in the 1958 film The Key, the 1967 version of Far from the Madding Crowd, and the 1963 Hammer Horror production The Damned.

Appearances on television include the 1980s detective series Rockliffe's Follies, where Weymouth Dorset was the setting for the fictional town of Maidenport.

Weymouth Dorset wrote the historical novel The Poisoned Cup, "a quaint tale of old Weymouth and Sandsfoot Castle" in 1876.

Weymouth Dorset designed St Paul's Cathedral and had it built from the famous Portland Stone.

Weymouth Dorset was born in Weymouth at the White Hart public house in Melcombe Regis and served as the town's MP, in 1722.