BRUNSDEN, D. (ed.) 2003. The Official Guide to the Jurassic Coast. Dorset and East Devon's World Heritage Coast. A Walk through Time. 64 pp. + fold-out map. Wareham: Coastal Publishing. Obtainable by mail order from or direct from the World Heritage Team at Dorset County Council, County Hall, Dorchester, DT1 1XJ for £7.00. Price £4.95 (paper back). ISBN 0 9544845 0 9

So now the East Devon and Dorset Coast ranks alongside the Grand Canyon, the Great Barrier Reef, the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China. This is an area not just of striking topography, but of very great historical interest because of the wealth of geological information which it has generated from the days of Mary Anning’s discoveries right up to today. For these reasons this 155 km of coastline from Exmouth to Studland Bay was proposed to UNESCO as a World Heritage Site and culminated in the area being formally designated on 13 December 2001 as the Dorset and East Devon World Heritage Coast. Although popularly termed the ‘Jurassic Coast’, major contributions to the geology are made also by Triassic rocks which form the spectacular red sandstone cliffs of the south Devon coast, and Cretaceous rocks, including the Chalk and Upper Greensand, which overlie a …