|
|
| |
ON-LINE GUIDE TO DORSET
|
|
This brief guide provides
summary information on towns, villages and places to visit
in Dorset as well as some interesting
facts and anecdotes on the local area. To find a specific
place either scroll down the page or use the find
facility on your browser. Much more information can be
found in our
TRAVEL GUIDES -
Click here
for details.
Our
DATABASE OF PLACES
covers over 5,000 entries in Great Britain and Ireland.
If you are looking for
Places to Stay, Places to
Eat and Drink, Specialist
Retail Outlets, Places of Interest or
Garden Centres and Nurseries
in Dorset please click the relevant link above: |
| |
|
 
|
Although Dorset is not a large county, it provides an extraordinary variety of attractions.
There are the dramatic cliffs of the western coastline and the more gentle harbours and
bays to the east, while inland, chalk upland and heathland supports a wealth of bird and
plant life. Over the years, many of the little ports
have become seaside resorts of which the most famous is Lyme Regis, with its fossils and
The Cobb, but the wonderful, natural harbour of Poole continues to be a commercial port.
Inland are charming, ancient market towns, many of which have their roots in Roman times
and, along with the Georgian elegance of Blandford Forum, there is historic Dorchester, one of
the country's most appealing towns. It was close
to the county town that Thomas Hardy was born and many of the towns and villages of
the county have featured in the great writer's novels.
Bournemouth
At the end of the 18th century, Bournemouth hardly existed,
but once the virtues of its fresh sea air were advertised it began to
expand as a resort. It continued to expand during the Victorian age;
the splendid pier was built in 1855 and again in 1880 when a theatre
was added. Beautiful gardens are a feature of this civilised place,
and above the Cliff Gardens is Shelley Park, named after Sir
Percy Florence Shelley, son of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and
sometime lord of the manor of Bournemouth. Shelley House
is devoted to the life and works of the poet. Shelley's ashes lie in
a cemetery in Rome (he drowned off a beach in Italy), but his heart
is reputedly buried in the churchyard of St Peter, Bournemouth,
along with his wife Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, author of
Frankenstein. William Gladstone took his
last communion in this church, which is notable for its brilliant
Gothic
Revival interior and some Pre-Raphaelite stained glass. Among
the many other places to visit are the Rothesay Museum, mainly
nautical but with a collection of 300 vintage typewriters; the Teddy
Bear Museum; and the Aviation Museum at Bournemouth
International Airport.
Around Bournemouth
Christchurch
5 miles E of Bournemouth on the A35
Situated at the junction of the Rivers Avon and
Stour, Christchurch began life as a Saxon village and it was here that, in
1094, Ranulf Flambard began the construction of the
magnificent Christchurch Priory that has
ever since been used as a place of worship. Said to be the
longest parish church in England, it is home to
St Michael's Loft Museum. Christchurch is
also home to the most modern of all the country's Scheduled
Ancient Monuments - a World War II pillbox and anti-tank obstacles.
Sandbanks
3½ miles SW of Bournemouth
on the B3369
This spit of land, along with Studland to the southwest,
almost cuts off Poole harbour from the sea, and it is these two headlands
that provide the harbour with its shelter. At the top of the headland
lies Compton Acres, a series of themed gardens that are separated by
paths, steps, rock walls and terraces.
Poole
4 miles W of Bournemouth on the A350
Once the largest settlement in Dorset, Poole has a huge
natural harbour and a history that goes back to Roman times.
The Waterfront Museum, housed in an 18th century warehouse and
the adjoining medieval town cellars, tells the 2,000-year story of
the port. Poole Pottery made the famous red tiles for
London Underground's stations and was the HQ of the US Navy during
the Second World War.
Out in the harbour are several islands, the largest of which
is Brownsea Island, where the heath and woodland are home to a
wide variety of wildlife and where the Scout movement was born in 1907.
Just to the north of Poole lies Upton Country
Park, a large estate of parkland, gardens and meadows that surround
a handsome early 19th century manor house.
Wimborne Minster
7 miles NW of Bournemouth on the A31
A wonderful old market town, Wimborne Minster is dominated
by its Minster, a glorious Norman building that is the best example
of its kind in the county. Close by the minster is the Priest's House, a
16th century town house that is now home to the
Museum of East Dorset Life.
Around Wimborne there are several places of interest: to
the east, at Hampreston, is Knoll's
Garden and Nursery, a delightful, informal and typically
English garden that was planted over 30 years ago, while further east
again, is Stapehill, a 19th century Cistercian nunnery that is now
a craft centre and countryside museum.
To the west of Wimborne lies Kingston Lacy
House, a superb country house containing an outstanding collection of
paintings that is set in attractive parkland. Elsewhere on the estate there is
the Iron Age hill fort of Badbury Rings and 18th century
White Mill.
Blandford Forum
An attractive market town in the Stour valley, the
handsome Georgian buildings here were, mostly, designed by two
talented architects, the brothers John and William Bastard, who were
charged with rebuilding much of the town after a devastating fire in 1731.
To mark the completion of the town's rebuilding in 1760, the
Fire Monument was erected in front of the church and had a dual
purpose - to provide water for fire fighting and for the public to drink.
To the northeast of the town lies Blandford Camp and the
Royal Signals Museum, where there is a wealth of interactive displays
on codes and code breakers, animals at war and the SAS.
Sherborne
16½ miles NW of Blandford Forum
on the A352
In AD 705, St Aldhelm founded Sherborne
Abbey as the Mother Cathedral for the whole of
the southwest of England and the building that now occupies the
site features some of the finest fan vaults in the whole country.
Some of the old buildings now house Sherborne
School, whose alumni include Cecil Day Lewis, the
poet laureate, and the writer David Cornwell, better known as John
Le Carré. The school has been used as the setting for at least
three major films: The Guinea Pig (1948),
Goodbye, Mr Chips (1969) and The Browning
Version (1994).
Sherborne's best-known resident was Sir Walter
Raleigh, who, while enjoying the favouritism of Elizabeth I, was granted
the estate of Sherborne Old Castle in 1592. This stark and
comfortless residence was not to his taste, so he built a new castle, the
splendid Sherborne Castle, which remains today one of the grandest
of Dorset's country houses.
Shaftesbury
10½ miles N of Blandford Forum on the A350
This hill top town, which stands over 700 feet above sea level,
was founded in AD 880 by King Alfred who fortified the settlement
here and established a Benedictine abbey for women installing his daughter
as the first prioress. Just a hundred years later, King Edward, who
was murdered at Corfe Castle, was buried at Shaftesbury
Abbey and
it soon became a place of pilgrimage. The
nearby Shaftesbury Abbey Museum houses many of the finds from
the abbey's excavations and state of the art, touch screen displays bring
the ancient religious house to life.
The town's most famous sight must be Gold
Hill, a steep cobbled street, stepped in places and
lined with delightful 18th century cottages. Many people who
have never visited the town will recognise this thoroughfare as
it was made famous through the classic TV advertisement for
Hovis bread. The cottage at the top of the hill is home to the
Shaftesbury Museum. Button-making was once an important cottage industry in
the town and some of the products can be seen here including
the decorative Dorset Knobs, which share their name with a
famous, also locally-made, biscuit.
Tolpuddle
9 miles SW of Blandford Forum off the A35
Like so many villages beside the River Piddle, Tolpuddle's name
was changed by the Victorians from the original - Tolpiddle. It was here
in 1834 that the first trades union was formed when six villagers, in
an attempt to escape from grinding poverty, banded together to
form the Society of Agricultural Labourers, taking an oath of
mutual support. The story of the martyrs is told in the
Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum, housed in
memorial cottages that were built in 1934 by the TUC.
To the west lies Athelhampton House, one of the finest stone-built manor houses in England.
Cerne Abbas
14½ miles SW of Blandford Forum
on the A352
The most famous `inhabitant' of this pretty village is the
Cerne Abbas Giant, a colossal priapic figure cut into the chalk hillside.
Dorchester
After capturing the Iron Age hill fort of Maiden
Castle in around AD 50, the Romans went on to found Durnovaia. The hill fort
is one of the biggest in England and nearby is another
ancient monument utilised by the Romans, who converted the Neolithic
henge monument of Maumbury Rings into an amphitheatre.
As with so many towns in Dorset, Dorchester played host
to the infamous Judge Jeffreys and here he sentenced over 70 men to death.
Later, in the 1830s, the town was once again the scene of a
famous trial, when in the Old Crown Court the Tolpuddle Martyrs
were sentenced. The Old Crown Court and its cells are now open to
the public. The town is also home to the Tutankhamun
Exhibition housed in an old church.
Just to the northeast of the town, lies Max
Gate, the house that Hardy designed and lived
in from 1885 until his death in 1928. Situated on the River Cerne, on
the northern outskirts of Dorchester, is the attractive village
of Charminster, the home of Wolfeton House, a splendid medieval and Elizabethan
building surrounded by water meadows.
Just to the east of Dorchester is the village of
Stinsford that appeared as Melstock in
Hardy's Under the Greenwood Tree. Hardy's
heart is buried in the churchyard of St Michael, beside his first wife, and
his parents are buried nearby. (Hardy's official funeral was at
Westminster Abbey and his ashes were placed in the south transept.) Just beyond
the village is Hardy's Cottage, where the novelist was born in 1840
and where he continued to live, on and off, until his marriage to
Emma Gifford in 1874.
Hardy's Monument on Black Downs to the southwest
of Dorchester was erected in memory not of the writer but of Sir
Thomas Masterson Hardy, the flag captain of HMS
Victory at Trafalgar and the man who escorted Nelson's body home.
Around Dorchester
Moreton
7 miles E of Dorchester off the B3390
Moreton's Gothic Church of St Nicholas was wrecked by a
Second World War bomb and its glass replaced with superb engraved
glass by Laurence Whistler. In the cemetery is the grave of
TE Lawrence - Lawrence of Arabia, Arabic scholar, traveller, soldier
and man of action. To the northeast of this charming village is
Cloud's Hill, a tiny redbrick cottage where
Lawrence lived after retiring from the RAF in 1935. To the east
of
Moreton is Bovington Camp, where Lawrence served as
a private in the Royal Tank Corps. The camp houses the
Tank Museum, where the collection of 300 tanks and armoured
vehicles starts with Britain's first tank, Little Willie, built in 1915.
Corfe Castle
18 miles SE of Dorchester on the A351
This greystone village is dominated by the majestic ruins of
Corfe Castle high on a hill. An important stronghold that protected
the gateway through the Purbeck Hills, the castle was constructed in
the years immediately following the Norman Conquest. Now owned
by the National Trust, the castle is part of an extensive estate, with
a network of footpaths taking in both the coastline and the
inland heath, and encompassing important habitats for many rare
species, including all six species of British reptile.
Swanage
20 miles SE of Dorchester on the A351
This seaside town, complete with its fully restored Victorian pier
and its little exhibition, built its early fortune on Purbeck stone.
The King Alfred Column, on the seafront, records that this
was where the king fought and saw off the Danish fleet in AD 877.
The column is topped by cannonballs that would, undoubtedly, have
been a great help to King Alfred, had they been invented at the
time. These particular cannonballs date from the Crimean War.
An attraction not to be missed is the Swanage
Railway, which uses old Southern Region and BR Standard locomotives to pull
trains on a six-mile scenic journey to Norden, just north of Corfe Castle.
To the north of Swanage lies Studland whose fine sandy
beach stretches from Handfast Point to South Haven Point and the
entrance to Poole Harbour. The heathland behind the beach is a haven for
rare birds and is a National Nature Reserve. A footpath
leading along the coast takes in Tilly Whim
Caves, named after the owner, Mr Tilly, who used a whim, or
wooden derrick, to load stone into barges for transportation to Swanage.
East Lulworth
12 miles SE of Dorchester on the B3070
This charming little village stands on a minor road that leads down
to one of the country's best loved beauty spots,
Lulworth Cove, an almost perfectly circular bay that
is surrounded by towering cliffs. Lulworth
Castle was built as a hunting lodge in the early
17th century and played host to seven monarchs before a devastating
fire in 1929 reduced it to a virtual ruin. On the MoD's Lulworth Range
is the deserted village of Tyneham, occupied in 1943 when the
range had to be expanded for the testing of increasingly powerful weapons.
Weymouth
7 miles S of Dorchester on the A354
Weymouth owed its early prosperity to the woollen trade, but in the
late 18th century it also began to
develop as a resort; in 1789 George III came here to try out the
newly invented bathing machine. An unusual painted statue of the
king was erected in 1810, and close by is the colourful Jubilee Clock that
was put up in 1887 to celebrate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.
One of the town's most popular tourist attractions is
Brewers Quay, with specialist shops and a museum.
Not far from Brewers Quay is Nothe Fort, which was built as
part of the defences of the new naval base that was being established
at nearby Portland. The fort is now the home of the
Museum of Coastal Defence.
Isle of Portland
11 miles S of Dorchester on the A354
The Isle of Portland is not, strictly speaking, an island but a
peninsula that is joined to the mainland by the amazing
Chesil Beach, a vast bank of pebbles worn smooth by the
sea that stretches for 18 miles from the island westwards to
Abbotsbury. The island's most famous building is
Portland Castle, constructed by Henry VIII as part of his
south coast defence. Portland Museum was founded by the birth
control pioneer, Marie Stopes, and occupies a pair of thatched cottages.
At the tip of the island, Portland Bill, are two
lighthouses, the older of which (1788) is now a bird observatory and field centre.
Abbotsbury
8 miles SW of Dorchester on the B3157
This delightful village has three main attractions that
draw
holidaymakers here in their thousands each year -
The Swannery, the Sub
Tropical Gardens and the
Tithe Barn Children's
Farm. To the north lie several ancient monuments,
among them Kingston Russell Stone Circle, a Bronze Age circle.
Bridport
13½ miles W of Dorchester on the A35
Rope-making was an important industry here, and it also has
close links with the non-conformists, with two well-appointed chapels.
In the early 18th century Bridport's harbour began to silt up, so
the townspeople built a new one at the mouth of the River Britt and
called it West Bay.
Lyme Regis
22 miles W of Dorchester on the A3052
In 1588 Sir Francis Drake's fleet fought a small battle with
the Spanish Armada in Lyme Bay, and in 1685 the Duke of
Monmouth landed at Lyme Regis and began his unsuccessful rebellion that
would lead to the Bloody Assizes of Judge Jeffreys. During the 18th
century, Lyme Regis developed into a fashionable seaside resort;
the town's most famous landmark is
undoubtedly The Cobb, which was built in medieval times to
protect the harbour. John Fowles set a part of The French Lieutenant's Woman
on The Cobb, and the film of the book also used the location.
Jane Austen stayed in the town writing a part of
Persuasion, and Henry Fielding is said to have based
the character of Sophie in Tom Jones on a local girl.
Lyme Regis is particularly famous for the fossils that were
first discovered here in the early 19th century and there are fine
specimens in Lyme Regis Museum and in the
Dinosaurland & Fossil Museum. The fossil frenzy
was fuelled by one Mary Anning, born in 1799, who with her family
searched for fossils in the local cliffs and sold them to supplement the income
of their carpenter father. The most famous discovery of Mary and
her brother Joseph was the fossilised skeleton of an ichthyosaur; it
took several years to free it from the cliff, and Mary sold it to the
British Museum for £23.
The eight-mile stretch of coast to the east of Lyme Regis
includes the highest cliff on the south coast, Golden Cap, and also
the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre that aims to further
the public's understanding and appreciation of this area's
scientific wealth.
Beaminster
14 miles NW of Dorchester on the A3066
As a result of a series of fires, the centre of this ancient market
town is largely a handsome collection of 18th and 19th century
buildings. However, some older buildings did survive the fires, including the
15th century Church of St Mary with its splendid 100ft tower from which,
it is said, a number of citizens were hanged during the Bloody Assizes.
Just to the south of the town lies Parnham
House, a beautiful Elizabethan mansion enlarged
and refurbished by John Nash in the 19th century. Surrounded
by glorious gardens, the house is certainly one of Dorset's
finest Tudor residencies but, much more recently, in the 1970s, it came
into the ownership of John Makepeace and his wife Jennie. Today, this is
a showcase for the very best in modern furniture, much of
which is created by John and his students at the John Makepeace
Furniture Workshops that he runs from here. In the gardens, Jennie has created
a magical environment with unusual plants, a lake rich in wildlife and
a play area for children.
To the southeast of Beaminster, Mapperton
Gardens surround a fine Jacobean manor house with stable blocks,
a dovecote and its own church.
|
|
Travel Publishing Ltd, 7a Apollo House, Calleva Park,
Aldermaston, Berkshire, UK RG7 8TN
e-mail:
info@travelpublishing.co.uk
Copyright © 2008 Travel Publishing Ltd |
|
