Address Portland DT5 2JT, UK | ||
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Similar Isle of Portland, Portland Bill, Portland Bill Lighthouse, Church Ope Cove, Durdle Pier | ||
Pulpit Rock is a coastal feature at the southern tip of the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England. The artificial stack of rock was left in the 1870s after a natural arch was cut away by quarrymen at the Bill Quarry on the famous headland, Portland Bill. It was intentionally left in place as a quarrying relic. It is similar to the quarrying relic landmark stack Nicodemus Knob, located close to Portland's East Weares area, at East Cliff.
The landmark was designed with religious connections; the large slab of rock leaning again the main stack depicted an open bible leaning on a pulpit. The rock has remained a popular tourist attraction on the island, and is often photographed and climbed. Despite the danger, for many decades Pulpit Rock has been a popular place for tombstoning. Pulpit Rock is also a local popular point for Wrasse anglers, and in 1998 the British record Ballan Wrasse was caught here by local expert Pete Hegg.
The geological succession up from sea level is: Portland Cherty Series (up to the level of the neighbouring quarried platform), then Portland Freestone (the oolitic limestone quarried inland of Pulpit Rock), then a cap of thin-bedded limestones which are part of the basal Purbeck Formation.