Kimmeridge
Kimmeridge is a small villiage on the
Dorset coast in south
England. The villiage stands on
Jurassic shale cliffs, and gives its name to the division of the Jurassic period in which the beds were laid down, because of the quality of thee cliffs and the
fossils they yield. It is part of the
Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site because of the quality and variety of
geological landforms along the coast. There is a Jurassic Coast Visitor Centre at Kimmeridge.
Beneath the cliffs there is a large wave cut platform and rocky shore, with good quality rock pools and variety of rocky shore wildlife.
On the cliff is a British Petroleum "nodding donkey" oil pump, which is the oldest working oil pump in the world, having been pumping continually since the late 1950s.
Nearby is a folly which inspired P.D. James's novel The Black Tower, and is now in danger of falling off the retreating cliff.