Dorchester
Dorchester is a
market town in southern central
Dorset,
England, situated on the
River Frome and
A35 road 20
miles west of
Poole and eight miles north of
Weymouth. In
2001 the town had a population of 16,171 and a
catchment population of approximately 40,000. There were 7,386 dwellings in 2001 and 205 shops in 1991. Dorchester has been the
county town of Dorset since
1305.
A market is held in the town on Wednesdays and Sundays.
The town has two
railway stations, which connect the town to
London,
Bournemouth &
Southampton via the
South Western Main Line and to
Westbury,
Bath and
Bristol via the
Heart of Wessex Line.
Dorchester South railway station on the South Western Main Line, once an idiosyncratic structure where trains running in one direction would reverse and then rejoin the through line, was rebuilt in 1989, but
Dorchester West railway station on the Heart of Wessex Line is still the original Great Western Railway structure designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
In the late
1980s Dorchester was bypassed.
Charles, Prince of Wales has recently built the self-contained village of
Poundbury on the western fringes of the town.
On December 15, 2004, Dorchester was granted
Fairtrade Town status.
Dorchester Town F.C., a
Conference South football (soccer) team plays in the town.
Prehistory and Roman
Two miles southwest of the town centre, sat on a steep
chalk hill, are the remains of a large
Iron Age hill fort Maiden Castle, which was one of the most powerful settlements in pre-
Roman Britain. The fort was important to the Romans and the
Saxons, whose invasions of Dorset weren't seen as complete until they had captured the hill. No actual fort exists at the site now but the impressive ramparts surrounding the hill still exist.
The town, originally named
Durnovaria, was founded by the
Romans in
AD 70. The town still has some Roman features, including part of the town walls and the foundations of a Roman
town house, which are freely accessible near County Hall. There are many Roman finds in the County Museum. The Romans built an
aqueduct to supply the town with water but only a few traces remain at nearby Whitfield Farm. Near the town centre is
Maumbury Rings, an ancient British earthwork converted by the Romans for use as an
Amphitheatre, and to the north west is
Poundbury Hill, another pre-Roman fortification.
Medieval
Athelhampton is a fine 15th-century
manor house five miles east of Dorchester.
17th century
" a man might as well spend time in Dorchester as in any town in England". --
Daniel DefoeIn
1613 and
1725 two great fires destroyed large parts of the town, but some of the
mediaeval buildings, including Judge Jeffreys' lodgings, and the
Tudor almshouse can still be found in the town centre, amongst the replacement
Georgian buildings, many of which are built in
Portland limestone.
In
1642 just prior to the
English Civil War,
Hugh Green a
Catholic chaplain was executed at Dorchester. After his execution, Puritans of the town then played football with his head.
In the 17th century the town was at the centre of the
Puritan emigration to
America, and local
Rector,
John White, organised the settlement of
Dorchester, Massachusetts.
The town was heavily defended against the
Royalists in the
English Civil War.
In
1685 the
Duke of Monmouth failed in his invasion attempt, the
Monmouth Rebellion and almost 300 of his men were condemned to death or transportation in the "
Bloody Assizes", held in the Oak Room of the Antelope Hotel, Dorchester and presided over by
Judge Jeffreys.
19th century
|
A map of Dorchester in 1937 |
Local author and poet
Thomas Hardy based the
fictional town of Casterbridge on Dorchester. Hardy's childhood home can be found to the east of the town, and his house in town, Max Gate, is open to the public.
William Barnes, the local dialect poet, was Rector of Winterborne Came, a small hamlet near Dorchester, for many years, and ran a school in the town. Both men have statues in the town centre.
Cecil Day Lewis is buried in
Stinsford, one mile from Dorchester. Although Hardy is buried in London, his heart was buried here also. A statue of Hardy stands beside the top of town crossroads in the town.
On the hills to the south east of the town stands
Hardy's Monument, a memorial to the other local Thomas Hardy, Sir
Thomas Masterman Hardy, who served with
Horatio Nelson, which overlooks the town and provides views of
Weymouth, the
Isle of Portland and
Chesil Beach.
*
Dorset County Council*
Census data*
Dorchester Town Website (info, history, photos)*
Dorchester Town Discussion Website (info, history, photos)*
Photographs of Dorchester*
Photographs of Dorchester*
www.Poundbury.info Poundbury Community Website
* Pitt-Rivers, Michael, 1969.
Dorset. London: Faber & Faber.
