Swanage

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Delightfully situated between the Purbeck Hills on the Eastern tip of the Isle of Purbeck, Swanage has always been a popular family destination.

It has a fine, safe, sandy beach, and an attractive mix of old stone cottages and more modern properties blending in well with the peaceful surroundings.

Since Roman times Swanage has had a flourishing stone industry, Purbeck Marble has been shipped for use in many cathedrals in Europe as well as in this country, notably Westminster Abbey, and the Cathedrals of Lincoln, Salisbury and Exeter. Purbeck stone was used for the flagstone of the new Crown Jewels house at the Tower of London and is still a popular building material today. The development of the use of this versatile limestone is primarily due to John Mowlem (1788-1868) founder of the Mowlem building company, and later his nephew George Burt (1816-1894) who built Durlston Castle and the Great Globe at Durlston Country Park.

As well as being located within beautiful countryside Swanage has all the facilities you would expect from a town of it’s size, an active shopping centre with branches of a number of multiple stores including two super markets a main and two sub- post offices, a theatre, library. Schools, churches of most denominations, swimming pools and gyms, steam railway, as well as a number of clubs and societies serving a wide range of hobbies and interests all serve the 9,520 stong community (1991 census).