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Thomas Hardy called George Burt 鈥淭he King of Swanage鈥� and it's not hard to see why.听

Burt bought the land around Durlston in 1862 to develop it with houses, a church, parklands and tea rooms.听 The development never really took off - mainly because it was on such a steep hill!听

Visitors to the Globe in 1906

The 鈥榗astle鈥� isn鈥檛 a real castle - it was purpose-built by Burt as a restaurant.

See the world

In 1887 he installed the Great Globe as a tourist attraction - and it caused quite a stir.听 It was made in Greenwich of 15 sections of stone and weighs 40 tons.听 If you look closely at the globe it shows the world from a distinctly Victorian point of view 鈥� the British Empire is made to look a lot bigger than it actually was 鈥� Sudan and South Africa which were British colonies, look like they cover most of Africa!

They are also more salvaged leftovers and odds and ends from London building works 鈥� the cast iron bollards around the globe were also leftovers from construction work around St Martin鈥檚 in Bloomsbury and the City of London.听

A London bollard at the Great Globe

The castle and the rest of the grounds reflected Burt鈥檚 passion for science and discovery 鈥� you'll see a stone slab chart marking the position of the channel ports.听 Burt was even aware of the anti-social behaviour of Victorian visitors and installed two 鈥榞raffiti stones鈥� for people to scrawl on, rather than deface his sculptures!

The castle played a part in the evolution of radio and telecommunications 鈥� in the 1890s, Marconi's team of engineers听used the roof for some of their early wireless experiments to transmit to the Isle of Wight.

The park was taken over by Dorset County Council in 1973 who established Durlston Country Park.听 It is a haven for bird and plant life and a site of special scientific interest.听 The castle itself is being redeveloped as a visitors centre for the increasing number of tourists flocking to Dorset's World Heritage Jurassic Coast.