West Bexington

West Bexington is a village in south-west Dorset, England, sited just behind the Chesil Beach about 6 miles (10 km) southeast of Bridport. It forms part of the civil parish of Puncknowle. The coast here is part of the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site.

West Bexington
West Bexington viewed from inland
West Bexington Location within Dorset
OS grid reference	SY533868
Civil parish	Puncknowle
Unitary authority	Dorset
Ceremonial county	Dorset
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	DORCHESTER
Postcode district	DT2
Dialling code	01308
Police	Dorset
Fire	Dorset and Wiltshire
Ambulance	South Western
UK Parliament	West Dorset
List of places UK England Dorset 50.678°N 2.654°W / 50.678; -2.654

History

In the Domesday Book of 1086 the estate here was recorded as Bessintone; it had twenty households and was owned by a Roger Arundel.^[1]

The majority of the present houses in West Bexington were built between 1919 and 1939, on plots of farmland which had been sold due to the land becoming agriculturally derelict. At the same time a swimming pool was also built behind the beach.^[2] The older manor house and farm buildings are still present and there are a number of more modern houses.

Nature reserve

The village of West Bexington provides access to the Chesil Beach. The West Bexington nature reserve is one of the Dorset Wildlife Trust's few coastal reserves. It is internationally important because of the rare vegetated shingle habitat that thrives here (Rock Samphire, Sea Beet, Sea Campion, Sea Kale, Tree Mallow, Tufted Vetch, Wild Carrot, Wild Parsnip, Woody Nightshade, Yellow Horned Poppy and Yellow Iris).