‘Tout ‘ is old English for ‘lookout’ with the quarry hewn from the clifftop that overlooks the island and the great Chesil Bank  that connects Portland to mainland Dorset.  It was once one of over 100 quarries on the island  all worked by hand.  In 1982, just one year before the sculpture project began, a sea defence contract excavated  30,000 tons of large boulders (coincidently the same tonnage used by Sir Christopher Wren for the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral). The Quarry was also used  for extensive fly tipping and at its southern end as a  municipal refuse site and roadworks depot.

PSQT was formed in 1983 by Jonathan Phipps, made a major contribution to the Year of Beautiful Britain establishing the first Landscape and Environmental Sculpture Park in a Quarry as one of UK’s National Sculpture Parks, with well known artists creating temporary and permanent work in response to the  hand worked labyrinths and gullies – giving back to the Quarry where in the past so much had been taken away for  great buildings in London and around the world.

The sculpture project brought a new life to ‘Tout Quarries’ and saved  the 42 acre  landscape  from further mineral extraction. This  put  Portland on the map as a cultural resource attracting  visitors from a world wide audience for art sculpture and environmental regeneration initiatives

PSQT offers a creative and educational resource open to all,  alongside a challenging programme of artists residencies that have brought a new experience and dimension to the quarry and the island; with the unprecedented involvement of the community and visitors within the landscape.

In 2002-2007 through the support of DEFRA funded Research and Development PSQT developed new design concepts and after use for quarries to at the end of their working life. Innovative ideas for the regeneration and  after-use for Portlands quarries included contributions from leading  artists,  architects, climate scientists, ecologists and landscape designers.

The MIST/DEFRA R&D Programme resulted in the most forward looking imaginative and scientific resolutions addressing  government  priorities and  concluded with PSQT presentations held at the BGS  British Geological Society at Keyworth and Dept of Trade and Industry offices at Berkeley Square re training of the next generation of designers and architects.  Also contributing to the Minerals Working Group,  Government Select Committee for Geology and Minerals resources, Sustainable Aggregate Conference held at York organised by the ODPM and other conferences including the World Heritage Coast and Dorset Council  Agenda 21 that the Trust continues to work with.