Portland Harbour

Portland Harbour is located beside the Isle of Portland, off Dorset, on the south coast of England. It is the second largest man-made harbour in the world, and the largest man-made harbour in Europe. It is naturally protected by Portland to the south, Chesil Beach to the west and mainland Dorset to the north. It consists of four breakwaters — two southern and two northern. These have a total length of 4.57 kilometres and enclose approximately 520 hectares. The initial southern breakwaters were built between 1849–72, while Portland Harbour occupied a Royal Navy base until 1995.