Information about Swanage

Swanage is a small coastal town in the South-east of Dorset. The town, originally a small port and fishing village flourished in the Victorian era, when it first became a significant quarrying port and later a seaside resort for the rich of the day. Today the town remains a popular tourist resort, this being the town's primary industry, with many thousands of visitors coming to the town during the peak summer season, drawn by the bay's sandy beaches and other attractions.

Swanage's primary industry is tourism, employing a large number of the working population. However, as with most tourism, the demand level is highly seasonal, and as such people looking for permanent work may have to commute to nearby towns. The town centre has a number of medium sized outlets for major retailers, a collection of non chain local retailers, a number of cafes, bars, restaurants, pubs and a club. The seafront has two amusement arcades and several ice cream outlets. The town also has a number of successful small scale cottage industries, including a chocolatier. There is a brickworks on the outskirts of the town that uses the Whealdon Clay found in the valley for producing bricks, and quarrying still continues to the south.

The town hosts a number of annual festivals and events. In the summer months there is a carnival week which includes a procession of floats and dancers and several firework displays, and many other attractions and small events including live music from local bands, races and a regatta. The town also hosts successful festivals, drawing people from far and wide, including a Jazz Festival, a Folk Festival, a Blues Festival, and there a plans for a Food Festival in the future.

Scuba diving takes place under the piers and at nearby coastal wrecks. Indeed Swanage is considered by many to be the home of British Scuba diving as not only is it one of the most popular sea water training sites for dive schools and clubs to take trainee divers due to the sheltered conditions within the bay, but the dive shop still situated on the pier was the first dive shop ever to open in Great Britain. There is a sailing club to the immediate south of the pier. Swanage has a King George's Field in memorial to King George V, which recently became home to a new skate park (which continues to expand though fund raising by locals) and a new hi-tech play area, funded in a similar way to the skate park. Planning applications have been submitted for a sports pavilion. The sea cliffs and quarries to the west of Swanage provide excellent venues for rock climbing. Swimming facilities are provided at the Municipal campsite - generally from 8 a.m (adult swimming) and 9 a.m for public swimming until either 6 p.m or 8 p.m. Another pool at Ulwell caravan park is also open to the public as well as running children's swimming lessons and aqua aerobic sessions. The surrounding areas make for excellent walking and as such the town is a popular destination for hikers who use the town as base. Many beauty spots are in walkable distance, while never being too far from refreshment.

The town has a library in the town centre which is housed in a distinctive 1960's octagonal glass and stone building. At the square on the seafront there is a small town museum with artifacts and displays recounting the town and surrounding area's history.

The main road into Swanage is the A351 which passes through Corfe Castle and to Wareham, and onto the main road A35 to Poole and Bournemouth. There are bus services provided by Wilts & Dorset, the numbers 40 and 44 which run between Swanage and Poole, and the number 50 which runs between Swanage and Bournemouth via the chain ferry at Sandbanks to Studland. Swanage has a heritage restored steam railway which operates for part of the year, though at the moment this only goes as far as Norden. Recent developments on the railway have seen the physical connection between the Swanage Railway and the mainline restored, but the safety and operational considerations, including the purchasing of suitable rolling stock, are still in planning stages. It is hoped to eventually run services allowing passengers make connections at the mainline station at Wareham.

Schools in Purbeck operate as part of a three-tier comprehensive pyramid system. The secondary school at the top of the system is the Purbeck School, in Wareham. In Swanage there are several primary schools and a middle school on the edge of the town at Herston, Swanage Middle School. This is one of several middle schools in Purbeck that feed into the Purbeck School. There is also a large language school in the town, for foreign students. The school has a large white pressurised dome which serves as a sports hall, which is visible from some distance.

Photographs of Swanage