Welcome to Charmouth, Dorset

The village street of Charmouth in West Dorset is lined with Regency bow fronted properties and thatched roofs.

A single road will take you down from Charmouth village to the seafront, where you will find the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre selling and displaying various fossils, many having been found on the beaches of West Dorset.  Charmouth is one of the best places to look for fossils, where shingle and pebbles lay on its western beach from the eroding cliffs.  The eastern beach at Charmouth is of much finer shingle and sand and is also where the River Char enters Lyme Bay.

To the west of Charmouth is the site of the largest coastal mudslide in Europe.  Called Black Ven, it was created in the winter of 1958/59.  To the east of Charmouth is Golden Cap, the highest point along the south coast.  Its name comes from the layers of sandstone around the top which glow of a golden colour in the sunshine.

History of Charmouth, Dorset

From the Saxon 'Cerne' meaning stony river, Charmouth was known as 'Cernmunde'.  The oldest pub in Charmouth village is the Queen Armes.  At that time it was a private dwelling, built by the Abbott of Forde and is where Catherine of Aragon (1st wife of Henry VIII) stayed in 1501.  By 1651 it had become a hostelry and the then Prince of Wales stayed there as a guest following his escape from the defeat at the Battle of Worcester.  Crowned as the last King of Scotland in the same year, he later became Charles II of England in 1660.

The South West Coast Path

The South West Coast Path enters Charmouth, West Dorset, from an inland route to the east due to land slippages.  It passes over a footbridge spanning the River Char and proceeds in a westerly direction from Charmouth on towards Dorset's Lyme Regis.

Good Beach Guide

Charmouth, Dorset...The sea water quality is rated as having passed the EC Mandatory Standard and also passes the Guideline Standard from The Marine Conservation Society.