About
Tout Quarry Nature Reserve and Sculpture Park is an abandoned stone quarry which has now been turned into a stone sculpture park. Now one of Portland’s most popular attractions, you can discover over 60 hidden sculptures in the Quarry, such as Anthony Gormley’s ‘Still Falling’ sculpture and enjoy the stunning views over Chesil Beach and Portland Harbour. The park is also a haven for nature especially for those with a love of wild flowers and butterflies.
Tout Quarry Sculpture Park began in 1983 with artists residencies, where well known and emerging artists created both temporary and permanent work in response to the labyrinths and gullies of quarry workings within the 40 acre site – giving back to the Quarry where in the past so much had been taken away for buildings in London and around the world.
Today, the stone faces and fallen crags have now become a living sculpture garden. The maze of paths through the quarry makes finding each of the etchings in the sculpture park like a game of hide-and-seek, as visitors scramble over boulders and squeeze through mini-valleys to find the little works of art spread across the grounds.
New artists rotate in and out each year so the site is constantly changing and evolving, growing ever more fascinating. It’s not uncommon to come across stone masons working on their carvings in the park and you’ll find them fascinating to watch as they work on the stone using tools and techniques unchanged over many generations.
In addition to being a sculpture park, the area is also a designated nature reserve. The bare surfaces of mined stone have been left to regenerate naturally with a host of uncommon plants, such as rock stonecrop and Portland spurge, as well as many rare lichens. Control of invasive scrub to ensure that the more uncommon dry, open grasslands are not over-run forms the main management at the site.
Tout Quarries are a creative and educational resource for visitors, schools and universities who come to learn about wildlife and stone heritage through the activities put on by the Dorset Wildlife Trust and the Portland Sculpture and Quarry Trust. The best time to visit is in summer, when the common blue, rare silver-studded blue and grayling butterflies will be out in force.
Access
From the car park a wide gravelled path leads into the main quarry area, with a number of paths criss-crossing the site and allowing access to the many sculptures worked into the rocks. An interpretation board at this entrance shows the location of the 60 plus sculptures, but you will probably need several visits to find them all!
Visitors should be aware that there are some sheer rock faces and steep slopes. In places there may be loose stones underfoot.
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