Chapmans Pool

Chapman's Pool is a small cove to the west of Worth Matravers on the Isle of Purbeck, in Dorset, England.

In 1866, after much local pressure and because many lives were lost at sea nearby, the decision was made to build a lifeboat station at Chapman's Pool. The station was built and completed during 1867. The lifeboat George Scott was placed at Chapman's Pool in November 1866 but the station soon closed again in 1880 owing to the great expense involved in up keeping the boathouse, the land slips that constantly swept down upon it and because lacking a village nearby, and there being too few local volunteers to serve on the lifeboat. The building still stands and is used as a fishing hut.

The rocks that form the cove are the upper parts of the Kimmeridge Clay, and are rich in fossils, especially bivalves and ammonites. Most of these fossils are flattened, but three-dimensional examples are preserved in the "Rotunda Nodules", including the age-marker ammonite, the coarse-ribbed Pavlovia rotunda.

Manganese oxide may also be found at the Chapman's Pool site, but does not originate from the Jurassic rocks. In amongst the Kimmeridge shale and rock pools, as well as on the shore line, it is still possible to find small bubbly-looking lumps of manganese oxide, which is often mistakenly believed to have formed from the Kimmeridge shale. However, these are the remains of part of the cargo of the Steamship "Treveal" that was wrecked on the Kimmeridge Ledges below Hounstout on January 10, 1920.

Chapman's Pool - detail

The Royal Marines Association memorial garden at Emmetts Hill was initiated following the IRA attack on the Royal Marines Barracks at Deal, home and training centre for the Royal Marines Band Service, in September 1989. The originator and organiser for the project was Colin Dishington, a member of the Dorset Branch of the RMA, since renamed the Poole and District Branch. A suitable site was chosen on an exposed headland looking out over the wild seas of Kimmeridge Bay with a view down to Chapman's Pool and along the rugged Jurassic coastline to Portland. The site also overlooks a training area used by the Royal Marines both during World War II and since; in addition, it fitted the beauty and tranquility required for the memorial location. The land, which is within the boundary of the Enscombe estate, was freely given by the then owner, David Scott (Lt Col ret'd), and right of access to the site is written into the deeds of the tenant farmer. It was decided to add to the initial Deal inscription to remember Royal Marines lost in all the conflicts from 1945-1990. As well as bearing the Corps' crest, the original stone also bears a message to passing walkers and those that come to pay their respects:

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