These can be reached by the road passing down to theright of Durlston Castle, and are supposed to have been named from the “whim” or crane used for loading the stone direct into the boats by the quarrymen who carved out these ledges and caves, to be composed almost entirely of fossil oyster shells.
It leads down to the main quarried ledge some 40 feet and beneath this ledge are deep waterworn caverns in which the sea booms and roars when the weather is rough. It is these water level caves which are reputed to have been used by smugglers in days gone by. Some of the beds of stone exposed here can be seen at sea.