Abbotsbury is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. The settlement is in the unitary authority of Dorset about 1 mile (1.6 km) inland from the English Channel coast. The village, including Chesil Beach, the swannery and subtropical gardens, is owned by the Ilchester Estate, which owns 61 square kilometres of land in Dorset. In the 2011 census the civil parish had a population of 481.
Rodden Row, Abbotsbury
Panorama of the village of Abbotsbury as viewed from the south-west at St Catherine's Chapel
Abbotsbury Abbey tithe barn
The parish church's Jacobean pulpit, showing damage from the Civil War skirmish (bullet hole on right)
Chesil Beach in Dorset, England is one of three major shingle beach structures in Britain. Its name is derived from the Old English ceosel or cisel, meaning "gravel" or "shingle". It runs for a length of 29 kilometres (18 mi) from West Bay to the Isle of Portland and in places is up to 15 metres (50 ft) high and 200 metres (660 ft) wide. Behind the beach is the Fleet, a shallow tidal lagoon. Both are part of the Jurassic Coast and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and together form an SSSI and Ramsar Site.
Chesil Beach viewed from the Isle of Portland
Satellite view of Chesil Beach (linear feature in blue running diagonally NW-SE) from Abbotsbury to the Isle of Portland
Chesil Cove at the Portland end of Chesil Beach
Highball bouncing bomb prototype, now on display at Abbotsbury Swannery
