YOI and Caves on Portland, Dorset

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The YOI and Mysterious Caves

Portland, Dorset

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The above image is copyright Dorset County Council 2000 and is reproduced here with permission.

The Youth Offender Institution (YOI) dominates the area on top of the cliffs.

A view from space of the YOI can be seen by clicking here.

In the cliffs are several caves which go deep into the rocks.

There are many old pictures of this Institution when it was a prison and later a Borstal, please click here.

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THE YOUNG OFFENDERS INSTITUTION (YOI)

The YOI dominates the skyline in the view taken with a 200 mm lens over Weston.

The entrance to the YOI in Grove Road.

For a Victorian view of this entrance please click here.

TUNNELS AND CAVES

Going to the wall at the cliff edge behind the YOI and leaning carefully over will reveal a precarious path sloping down.

A few metres along this path is the opening to a cave system. Indeed, there are several dramatic caves in this area but this particular cave has a set of rails going into the mouth which were once used to support a pipe.

Here we see my daughter posing in the entrance. The rails can be seen on the tunnel floor.

Caves are dangerous! Never enter into a cave without proper equipment and in the company of an expert caver!


The parking area above lies between the YOI and the cliff edge. Just the ventilator is a path descending all the way to the sea. However, a short distance from the top is a recently constructed concrete path which leads to Flagpole Cave. The entrance is shown below right.

I have to emphasise again that under no circumstances should anyone enter a cave without a qualified guide.

A DESERTED BUILDING

This derelict building appears to have the style of a Ministry of Defence lookout but this is not confirmed. It is a little south of the YOI next to the coastal footpath on the top of the cliffs.

WEST WEARES
	*According to the sign at the top of the path to the sea, this leads to 'Ye Old Donovan's Drain'* but who old Donovan was or is I have no idea.**

Goats have been introduced to East Weares in an experiment to control the scrub.

This goat-proof gate has been installed on the path down to the old railway track.

One day I looked up at the cliff from below the YOI and spotted this glowering face - upper middle - cast in the rocks - or is it my imagination?

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More Pictures by Kind Permission of Liam Deeney