Portland Bill
Wondering where in the world Portland Bill is... or to give it's proper name, the Isle of Portland.
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Simply zoom out to see where we on Portland are related to the big wide world, Portland Bill is the bottom tip as shown on the map, under "Southwell"
The Isle of Portland
Portland is a limestone outcrop connected to the mainland by a beach, Chesil beach, which is that white line on the left running parallel with the land, almost 20 miles of unbroken pebble beach, the worlds longest too.
Portland is part of the well known Jurassic coast, a world heritage site of great importance.
Portland is roughly 4 miles long and 1.5 wide, it is the most southern point of the Country of Dorset, the population is under 20,000 on Portland and the island is made up of two main parts, Tophill and Underhill.
Looking at the map above, Underhill is where that green box with A354 and just stops below the word fotuneswell, from here south towards the Bill at the bottom is all Tophill.
The hill part of "Underhill" and "Tophill" is New road, which is the road leading up to the top part of the island.
Portland stone
The most famous thing about Portland is it's stone, used worldwide and recognised as a fantastic working material, it was most famously used to rebuild London after the great fire, St Paul's cathedral and also parts of Buckingham Palace and the British Museum.
It is also used for the war graves of those who gave their lives in the world wars.
I have had many non locals ask me if Portland cement is from Portland, which is not the case, it was soi named mainly due to it's colour being similar to Portland stone when dried.
Most stone work is not dressed with a normal cement mix, like brickwork, but lime mortar, better with no cement at all, if cement has to be used then it is a weak cement mix, far more like 8 parts sand, 1 lime, 1 cement, or even half a cement.
Portland navy
Portland had a long history with the navy, with the Naval base here at Portland from 1919 until 1995, which was the end of the cold war too, the base played an active role in the D-Day landings.
The Naval air station didn't close for another 4 years, 1999, the air base is now used by the Coastguard, and the search helicopter is still there to this day.
The whole base has been remodelled and rebuilt as a Port, with the new sailing academy too, which will be the site of the Olympic sailing in 2012.
