Tilly Whim

Still in Swanage, we've been to the Durlston Country Park on the Jurassic Coast today, where we had a Ranger guided walk.  The Ranger was incredibly knowledgable - for just £3 it is incredibly good value for money.  At one stage we were forced to seek shelter from a sudden heavy downpour but it didn't last too long and we soon dried out.

This is taken from the cliff top looking down onto one of the Tilly Whim quarries.  During the 18th century they would mine the limestone here, and the resulting blocks of stone would then be lowered into a waiting boat using a waiting crane called a "whim". Imagine if you can, trying to keep a boat reasonably still in the sea, at the base of a cliff, while someone lowered heavy blocks of stone towards you.  It sounds a particularly hazardous occupation to me....