Dorset and East Devon Coast for Inclusion in the World Heritage List
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Nomination of the Dorset and East Devon Coast for inclusion in the World Heritage List © Dorset County Council 2000 Dorset County Council, Devon County Council and the Dorset Coast Forum June 2000 Published by Dorset County Council on behalf of Dorset County Council, Devon County Council and the Dorset Coast Forum. Publication of this nomination has been supported by English Nature and the Countryside Agency, and has been advised by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and the British Geological Survey. Maps reproduced from Ordnance Survey maps with the permission of the Controller of HMSO. © Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. Licence Number: LA 076 570. Maps and diagrams reproduced/derived from British Geological Survey material with the permission of the British Geological Survey. © NERC. All rights reserved. Permit Number: IPR/4-2. Design and production by Sillson Communications +44 (0)1929 552233. Cover: Duria antiquior (A more ancient Dorset) by Henry De la Beche, c. 1830. The first published reconstruction of a past environment, based on the Lower Jurassic rocks and fossils of the Dorset and East Devon Coast. © Dorset County Council 2000 In April 1999 the Government announced that the Dorset and East Devon Coast would be one of the twenty-five cultural and natural sites to be included on the United Kingdom’s new Tentative List of sites for future nomination for World Heritage status. Eighteen sites from the United Kingdom and its Overseas Territories have already been inscribed on the World Heritage List, although only two other natural sites within the UK, St Kilda and the Giant’s Causeway, have been granted this status to date. The Dorset and East Devon Coast is one of the most significant earth science sites in the world. Its coastal exposures provide a near continuous, accessible sequence of rocks that document nearly 190 million years of earth history spanning almost the entire Mesozoic Era. It includes a remarkable range of internationally important fossil localities which continue to produce superbly preserved remains, many unique or without equal elsewhere. It also displays an exceptional range of classic coastal geomorphological features. This unique combination of earth science interests has been recognised since the earliest days of geological science. Many major contributions to science, including numerous first discoveries have been made on the Dorset and East Devon Coast and it has been a crucible of earth science investigations for almost three hundred years. This importance continues to the present day inspiring leading researchers, and providing a teaching and training resource of the highest quality. The natural beauty of the site has inspired many fine works by some the world’s most prominent novelists, poets and artists, including Thomas Hardy, Jane Austen, John Fowles, John Keats, Joseph Turner and John Constable, to name but a few. The significance of this stretch of coastline in terms of its scientific value and natural beauty has already been recognised by the United Kingdom Government, through the designation of much of the site as either Sites of Special Scientific Interest or Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Since rejoining UNESCO in 1997, the Government has been pleased to affirm its support for the World Heritage Convention. In preparing the new Tentative List, we took into account UNESCO’s wishes for more under-represented types of site to be nominated. This included natural sites, and we are now pleased to be able to nominate a natural site in England which helps to achieve this aim. This nomination has much support from the local bodies involved, who are committed fully to meeting the very strict management requirements which will arise from World Heritage Site status, as well as from the wider academic community, both in the UK and overseas. We would like to thank Dorset and Devon County Councils and the Dorset Coast Forum for all the work they have put into preparing this document and we fully support this nomination for World Heritage status. John Prescott Chris Smith Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport the Environment, Transport and the Regions © Dorset County Council 2000 Dorset and East Devon Coast 1 ‘Few parts of the World present in a small compass so instructive a series of geological phenomena as those which are displayed in the vertical cliffs of the south coast of England.’ Extract from On the Geology of the Neighbourhood of Weymouth and the adjacent parts of the Coast of Dorset, by W. Buckland and H. T. De La Beche, 1830. 2 Dorset and East Devon Coast © Dorset County Council 2000 Preface The Dorset and East Devon Coast is a special and beautiful place. This nomination document proposes that it is recognized through World Heritage Site status, in particular because of its remarkable international importance for the earth sciences. Conveying the full range of its different important features within this nomination has posed a substantial challenge. The nomination describes both the completeness of the Site as an extensive, accessible and well-studied section through almost 190 million years of earth history, but also its many important detailed features: the superb fossil localities, the array of classic landforms, the immense historical value to the study of the Earth and the continued importance for science and teaching. The time which many experts, from both the UK and overseas, have taken to advise on the scientific text is greatly appreciated. The achievement of long-term protection and positive management for the nominated Site is a central concern of the proposal. Work towards this nomination has taken over five years of active local, national and international consultation. Over this time a very strong groundswell of public and professional support has been achieved, and the principles and priorities for management have been established through thorough debate. A site management plan has been prepared to accompany this nomination, which sets out detailed proposals for the future, and we are grateful to the many organisations and individuals who have helped produce it. Devon County Council and Dorset County Council, supported by the Dorset Coast Forum have prepared this nomination, with the assistance and advice of the British Geological Survey, English Nature, the Countryside Agency and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Together, we believe that World Heritage Site status would provide an important contribution to the long-term conservation of the Dorset and East Devon Coast. It would ensure that its earth science interests are properly recognized, both in their own right, and because of their important role within the coast’s landscape, history and culture. We are fully committed to working together to support the protection and public understanding of this superb coastline, in partnership with the many organisations and individuals who own, manage, visit and value it. We are delighted, therefore, to commend this nomination to the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO. Councillor Ken Turner Chairman of Devon County Council Ewen J H Cameron Chairman of the Countryside Agency Councillor Mrs Patricia Hymers Chairman of Dorset County Council Baroness Young of Old Scone Chairman of English Nature Professor Denys Brunsden Chairman of the Dorset Coast Forum Sir Angus Stirling Chairman of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee Dr David A Falvey Director of the British Geological Survey June 2000 © Dorset County Council 2000 Dorset and East Devon Coast 3 ‘What will be the future of this ... coastline, so richly endowed as a training ground and museum of geology? Few tracts of equal size could raise so many claims, scientific, aesthetic and literary, for preservation as a national park. If the English of the present generation allow this heritage of the community to be irreparably spoilt for private gain they will be held by posterity to have been unworthy to possess it. To all geologists who have enjoyed and profited by this coast, an appeal is made to do their utmost to preserve it.’ Extract from Geology of the Country around Weymouth, Swanage, Corfe and Lulworth by W.J. Arkell, 1947. 4 Dorset and East Devon Coast © Dorset County Council 2000 Contents 1. Identification of the Property – page 8 5. Factors Affecting the Property – page 120 (a) Country (a) Development Pressures (b) State, Province or Region (b) Environmental Pressures (c) Name of Property (c) Natural disasters and preparedness (d) Exact location on map and indication of geographical (d) Visitor/tourism pressures co-ordinates (e) Number of inhabitants within property (e) Maps and/or plans showing boundary of area proposed for inscription 6. Monitoring – page 124 (f) Area of property proposed for inscription (a) Key indicators for measuring state of conservation (b) Administrative arrangements for monitoring property 2. Justification for Inscription – page 11 (c) Results of previous reporting exercises (a) Statement of significance (b) Comparative analysis 7. Documentation – page 127 (c) Integrity (a) Photographs etc. (d) Criteria under which inscription is proposed (b) Copies of property management plans, etc. (c) Bibliography 3. Description – page 48 (d) Address where inventory, records and archives (a) Description at date of Nomination are held (b) History of Development (c) Form and date of most recent records of property 8. Signature on behalf of the State (d) Present state of conservation Party – page 132 (e) Policies and programmes