'CHESIL BANK (A.S.' ceosol, pebble bank), a remarkable beach of shingle on the coast of Dorsetshire, England. It is separated from the mainland for 8 m. by an inlet called the Fleet, famous for its swannery, and continues in all for 18 m. southeastward from Abbotsbury, terminating at the so-called Isle of Portland. The height of the bank at the Portland end is 35 ft. above spring-tide level, and its breadth 200 yds. The greater height at this end accords with the general movement of shingle along this coast from west to east; and for the same reason the pebbles of the bank decrease in size from i to 3 in. in diameter at Portland to the size of peas at the western end,. where the breadth is only 170 yds.