Man o' War Cove

Its name is believed to be a corruption of the Brythonic 'Men-an-Vawr' (The Great Rock)[1] A line of pronounced rocks takes up the far side of the cove at the distance of the great Durdle Door headland to the east; these partially enclose the cove, and have few submerged components and feature mostly at the east end of the bay — map-recorded as "The Man o' War".

It is usually possible to walk along a thin strand of high tide, dry sand linking the cove to the rest of St Oswald's Bay an area almost entirely visible from the west side of the cove.

The UK Ordnance Survey maps have local bay names at 1:50000 and 1:25000; these record the pronounced crescent as Man o' War Cove, in turn forming part of St Oswald's Bay reduced to a long gentle arc to the east, about five times the width of the cove.

St Oswald's Bay is in turn protected from Atlantic surf by south Devon and by closer Portland Bill forming the multi-cove Weymouth Bay, before the even greater recess of Christchurch or Poole Bay which in its greater definition takes in the area of sea east of Swanage on the Purbeck peninsula.

[2] It is also connected to the South West Coast Path, so it is possible to park elsewhere along the trail and access the cove by foot.

Man o' War Cove from the cliffs. The top of Durdle Door , and a glimpse of its opening, can be seen at the top of the steps.
The cove from Durdle Door. The near rocks in the bay are recorded as the Man of War himself. In line with these further along (to the east) are the three sets of named rocks along the rest of St Oswald's Bay