Portland hotels and self catering cottage accommodation in Portland

Dorset » Portland accommodation

Often considered an island, Portland is actually a tied island, as it is joined to mainland by Chesil Beach. Reaching 400 feet over sea level, this 4.5 miles by 1.75 miles enormous limestone mass is where the renowned Portland stone, used in the UN Building in New York and St Paul's Cathedral among others, is quarried. Portland being a Royal Manor, a number of the local quarries are property of the British Royalty.

Portland stone was also used, and more than six million tons of it, in the reconstruction of London after the Great Fire, and thousands of World War Two soldiers' tombstones located in Belgium and France are made of it.

For thousands of years has this area been inhabited. The Romans called it 'Vindilis', while Thomas Hardy used to refer to it as the 'Isle of Slingers', due to the locals unfriendly habit of throwing stones at anyone who approached.

Overlooking the harbour is Portland Castle, built by Henry VIII in the 16th century against possible attacks by the French, and still mostly intact, in spite of having been used in both the Civil War and the First World War.

Now a prison, the Verne was first built as a citadel for a large number of active troops. It was the inmates here who, in mid-19th century, built the offshore barrier, making this one of the biggest harbours worldwide.

A great place from which to admire the impressive harbour and sea, the amphitheatre at the Governor's Garden was also made of Portland stone, while the local Museum displays the town's history and geological features.