42º13N 70º56W, pop (2000e) 54 000. Town in Norfolk Co, Massachusetts, USA; residential suburb of Quincy and Boston; founded as Wessagusset settlement (1622) by Thomas Weston; incorporated into Massachusetts Bay Colony and officially renamed Weymouth, 1635; birthplace of Abigail Adams (her restored home is open to the public), William Cranch, Gilbert N Lewis.
Weymouth is a town in Dorset, England, situated on a sheltered bay at the mouth of the River Wey on the English Channel coast. Weymouth had a population of 51,760 in 2004, and is part of the borough of Weymouth and Portland.
Weymouth and Portland have a history stretching back to the 12th Century, with the area playing a part in the Black Death, the settlement of the Americas, the Georgian Era, and World War Two. Weymouth continues to be a popular tourist resort, and the town's successful economy depends on its harbour and the beaches of Weymouth Bay. The South Coast of England, in which Weymouth lies, is very often the sunniest part of the United Kingdom. Weymouth harbour is now home to cross-channel ferries, pleasure boats and private yachts, and nearby Portland Harbour is home to the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy.
History
Weymouth originated as a settlement on a constricted site to the south and west of Weymouth Harbour, an outlying part of the village of Wyke Regis.
Weymouth, or Melcombe Regis, is thought to be the first port at which the Black Death came into England, aboard a visiting spice ship in June 1348. In their early history Weymouth and Melcombe Regis were rivals for trade and industry, but the towns were united in an Act of Parliament in 1571 to form the double borough of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis. Since when both towns have become known simply as Weymouth, despite Melcombe Regis being the part of town in which the main beach and tourist attractions are.
During the English Civil War (1642-51) more than 500 people were killed in the Battle of Weymouth on the 27th February 1645. Later, in the 18th Century, on board the ship "Charity", emigrants from the town crossed the Atlantic Ocean and settled in Weymouth, Massachusetts. More townspeople emigrated to the Americas to bolster the population of Weymouth, Nova Scotia. The first settlers of Salem (then called Naumking), Massachusetts, later infamous for its "Witch Trials", came from Weymouth, Dorset. There is a monument to that effect, on the side of Weymouth Harbour.
The notable architect Sir Christopher Wren was the Member of Parliament for Weymouth for 1702, and also held control of nearby Portland's quarries from 1675 to 1717. Sir James Thornhill was born in 'The White Hart' public house in Weymouth and in 1722 became MP for Melcome Regis.
The town is amongst the first modern tourist destinations, after King George III made Weymouth his summer holiday residence on fourteen occasions between 1789 and 1805.
The seafront of Weymouth's Esplanade is composed almost entirely of Georgian terraces, which have been converted into apartments, shops, hotels and guest houses. Almost all of these terraces still survive, and form a long, continuous arc of buildings which face Weymouth Bay, along most of the length of the Esplanade.
Weymouth and Portland were important in World War II, and were subjected to bombings by German planes, as were many locations along the South Coast. Portland harbour was home to a large naval base, and Weymouth was home to Nothe Fort, together an important part of the D-Day preparations and Bouncing bomb development. Weymouth's history is documented at the Brewers Quay Timewalk museum, on the southern shore of Weymouth Harbour.
Politics and Demographics
The district of Weymouth and Portland was formed on April 1, 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, and was a merger between the borough of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis and the nearby Portland urban district. The Mayor of Weymouth and Portland is Howard Legg, with David Harris as Deputy Mayor; Weymouth and Portland and Purbeck districts are in the Dorset South parliamentary constituency, created in 1885.
Dorset South was the second most marginal seat in the 2001 elections, being only won by 153 votes.
In 2004 Weymouth's population was 51,760, in an estimated built up area of 1850 hectares (18.5km²). In 2005 there were 23,405 dwellings in Weymouth.
The area's crime rates are below average compared to the UK, with Weymouth's rate of 13.4 crimes per 1000 households lower than that of England and Wales (14.4/1000). However, Weymouth's crime rates are above those of the South West England average of 10.7 per 1000. The town's house prices are relatively high by UK standards, yet around average for most of the south of England.
Geology, Geography and Ecology
Weymouth is situated on weak sand and clay rock which in most places along the Dorset Coast, except for narrow bands at Lulworth Cove, Swanage and Durdle Door, has been eroded and washed away. At Weymouth the weak rock has been protected by Chesil Beach and the strong limestone Isle of Portland that lies just offshore. The Isle of Portland also affects the tides of the area, producing an unusual double low tide in Weymouth bay.
Weymouth is the largest town in the area, larger than the county town of Dorchester, which lies just to the north, and hence is a centre of activity for many of the nearby population. Weymouth is separated from Dorchester by the South Dorset Downs, a steep ridge of chalk. The countryside surrounding Weymouth, which lies on the South Dorset Downs, is less agricultural than the valleys in the centre and north of Dorset, but has some dairy and arable farms.
Because Weymouth is low lying (below sea level in some areas), the eastern areas of the town were flooded several times from the sea during extreme low pressure storms, until in the 1980s and 1990s a high sea wall was constructed.
Another effect of Weymouth's low lying nature, and the ameliorating effect of being bounded by lakes and the warm seas, is that winter frost is rare (average twice a year) , as are snow days (average 0 to 6 days a year) .
Due to its location, Weymouth has a temperate climate with a small variation in daily and annual temperatures. The average annual mean temperature in Weymouth from years 1971 to 2000 was 10.2 to 12°C.
The borough, along with the rest of the South Coast, often has has the sunniest weather in Britain. The resort averaged 1768 hours of sunshine annually between the years 1971 and 2000, and between 1990 and 2005 there were five years in which the town had over 2000 hours, a rare event in the UK.
The borough has two lakes which are both RSPB Nature Reserves, Radipole Lake, and Lodmoor. Radipole is an important tourist attraction, as along with Weymouth Beach, it is situated very close to the main town centre and shops.
Tourism and other industries
Tourism has for a long time been the largest industry in Weymouth though this has declined slightly since its peak in the late 1990s. As well as its large, shallow sandy beach and two lakes (Radipole and Lodmoor), Weymouth has several museums, an aquarium, a skate park and a large shopping centre. There are several caravan and camping sites, mainly just out of town, as well as many hotels on the seafront, and hundreds of small guesthouses near the town centre.
The town's theatre is built on a site between the harbour and the beach and Esplanade. The Weymouth Pavilion theatre, formerly the Ritz, opened in 1908, was destroyed by fire in 1954 and a new one built in 1960. It is owned and operated by Weymouth &
The town is also a gateway town situated approximately half-way along the UNESCO Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, a 95 mile stretch of coast, important for its varied geology and many unique landforms. In 1995 Weymouth and Portland received almost 500,000 visitors, of which 16,000 were from overseas.
Weymouth harbour is situated in the centre of the town, and although it was the reason for its foundation, the harbour effectively separates the two areas of Melcombe Regis (the main town centre) and Weymouth (the southern harbourside) from eachother. Goods handled in the harbour included wool and spices, and in the 20th Century, Weymouth was a bulk importer of fertiliser.
The harbour is long and narrow, and formed the estuary of the River Wey, until the building of a bridge which separated the harbour's backwaters from Radipole Lake. There are also boats offering pleasure trips along the Jurassic Coast and to the Isle of Portland, and there is still a small passenger ferry service across the harbour, linking the Brewer's Quay shopping centre to the main town centre.
Transport
Weymouth railway station is the terminus of the route from London Waterloo and the route from Westbury and Bristol. Although its size had been fully appropriate for the intense rail traffic that came into and out of Weymouth on busy summer Saturdays, it was oversized by the time it was demolished in 1986.
An unusual feature of railways in Weymouth was that (until 1987) scheduled trains ran through the public streets along the Weymouth Harbour Tramway to the Quay Station at the eastern entrance to the harbour, for trains to travel to the European mainland by sea. Condor Ferries' main UK port is Weymouth, and the HSC Condor Express runs from Weymouth Harbour to the Channel Islands of Guernsey, Jersey and to the French port of St Malo.
The town is on the A354 road, which connects the town to the A35 trunk road in Dorchester, and which terminates at Easton on the Isle of Portland.
In the 1980s the town centre was bypassed by the route to Portland, but the government's road building policy changed before the proposed relief road could be completed.
In addition to lack of support from central government, the project has been held up by opposition from residents and environmental groups, who object to the proposed route's partial destruction of a local nature reserve, AONB and SSSI. With Weymouth scheduled to host 2012 Olympic sailing events the project has reopened with the local authorities favouring a more environmentally friendly proposal than in the 1990s.
Sport and Recreation
The local football team, Weymouth F.C., have remained outside the Football League but, in common with many other non-League clubs, they became professional in 2005. Weymouth's record attendance for the Wessex Stadium is 6,000 against Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup in the 2005-2006 Season.
Just south of Weymouth in Portland Harbour is the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, where the sailing events at the 2012 Olympics will take place. Also, Weymouth and Portland's waters have beeen credited by the Royal Yachting Association as amongst the best in Northern Europe. In addition to sailing, the waters of Weymouth Bay are frequently a venue for other watersports. The sheltered waters in Portland Harbour and near Weymouth are used regularly for angling, diving to several shipwrecks, snorkelling, canoeing, jet skiing, water skiing, and swimming.
User Comments Add a comment…