Weymouth

Weymouth is actually two towns, to the south the original settlement around the harbour and on the north side of the River Wey, the town of Melcombe Regis which is thought to be the first port at which the Black Death came into England in June 1348. The towns were united in an Act of Parliament in 1571 to form a double borough. Both towns have become known as Weymouth, despite Melcombe Regis being the main town centre.

I stayed there recently in a Guest House up the hill from Weymouth Harbour. Walking down to the harbour I passed what looked like Alms Houses. They are called 'Edwards Houses' and research reveals that the Edwards Houses are one of several groups built by a former MP for Weymouth, Sir Henry Edwards in the late nineteenth century. They were built to house the poor elderly citizens of the parish.



The Town Bridge, built in 1930, is a lifting bascule bridge, one of ten in the United Kingdom, to let boats access the inner harbour.




The outer harbour has a lifeboat station and is home to a couple of tall ships.




You can just see the open sea in the distance



Back to the inner harbour looking back to the Town Bridge.



Lots of money (sorry boats) in the inner harbour. This was last evening of that incredible burst of hot weather at he end of September.




Next day and a quick look at the Eslanade. The Art Deco 'Pier Bandstand',opened in 1930, marks the northern end of the Esplanade.



Looking south over the beach towards the harbour.



Erected in 1887 to mark the 50th year of Queen Victoria’s reign the Jubilee Clock was originally positioned on a stone base on Weymouth sands, but in the 1920s the Esplanade was built around it to protect the sands from the encroachment of shingle from the eastern end of the beach.



A lasting image of the sea at Weymouth.