Introduction

West Bay is a holiday resort with a small harbour, located on the West Dorset coast at the western end of the Chesil Bank. The resort has developed on both sides of the River Brit, which discharges into the Harbour Basin.

Until the eighteenth century a shingle beach would have stretched across the mouth of the river. Several attempts were made to provide a passageway through the beach to allow trading vessels to moor on the river. These attempts met with varying degrees of success; but all ultimately failed. In 1744 two piers were constructed perpendicular to the beach. Unfortunately it has been necessary to undertake frequent modifications and strengthening works, most notable following storm damage.

The harbour operated as a commercial port up to 1976, off loading mainly timber and fertiliser. The port still operates as a fishing harbour, although the moorings are mainly occupied by leisure craft.

Between 1768 and 1879 ships having a displacement of up to 1000 tonnes were built in the shipyards located to the west of the Harbour. The demise of the shipbuilding started in 1824 following a storm, which flooded the shipyard, causing wide spread damage.In 1887, a sea wall was constructed to the west of the Piers, with the old Shipyard providing the site for chalet accommodation. At this time the beach in front of the wall was in a healthy state, however, over the intervening years, it has steadily reduced in size with groynes being introduced in an attempt to limit beach erosion. These were not maintained, and with the beach continuing to erode, this has led to a series of wall failures.

The local economy is heavily dependent on tourism, with a camp and caravan site occupying the northwest corner of the resort.

West Bay attracts a wide range of national and international visitors. For the last two years the BBC 1 series 'Harbour Lights' has been filmed in West Bay.