Fleet Street archway plan for Tout Quarry sculpture park

The move has been suggested as part of proposals for improvements to the island's quarry sculpture park and nature reserve.

Plans are also underway for improving the existing pathways from Priory Corner by the Memory Stones circle, and installing geological interpretation areas within the park as part of a ‘green corridor’ plan.

The ideas come from the Portland Sculpture and Quarry Trust and have been put forward in a planning application to Dorset Council.

The London archway when it was still standing (Image: Freelance)

It suggests placing the arch, which comes from a dismantled listed building in London, just beyond the tunnel entrance to the park from Wide Street.

The seven metre arch is currently in pieces, each numbered, and can be re-assembled by experts using traditional mortars.

It was previously a bank until being demolished to make way for a City of London Corporation plan for a new 18 courtroom complex, ten storey police station and an office block – a proposal which led to a public campaign to protect the Fleet Street Conservation Area.

North of the green corridor by the Memory Stones (Image: Portland Sculpture and Quarry Trust)

Said a document outlining the Tout Quarry proposals: “The view through the architrave (archway) will frame the quarry railroad tunnel linking to the wider Quarry Park and the Portland Coastal Path.

"The proposed development fulfils a long-standing commitment… in establishing a visible arrival point to the Portland Quarries Nature Park.”

The park trust was formed in 1983 to save Tout Quarry from further mineral extraction and to set up the sculpture park covering more than 40 acres which now features more than 60 works of art alongside spaces where nature is encourage to regenerate the area.

Public comments on the plans, ref 2023/02429 on the Dorset Council website, can be made until November 22.