Radipole
Radipole is a part of the district of
Weymouth and Portland in the county of
Dorset, England. It was formerly an independent parish, until abolished as a separate local government unit in
1933. It remains a separate ecclesiastical parish. Radipole stands at the head of, and is named after, the
lake, now an
RSPB nature reserve, into which the
River Wey flows, and which leads into
Weymouth Harbour.
There is some evidence of prehistoric occupation, and it is believed that the
Romans had a small port or landing stage at the head of the lake. A Romano-British burial site was found nearby when the upper playing field of
Southill Primary School was constructed. A Roman road runs from Radipole to
Dorchester (the former
Durnovaria), and indeed still forms by far the greater part of the line of the present road between Weymouth and Dorchester.
The parish of Radipole predates by centuries the
borough of
Melcombe Regis, which grew up on its wastes on an exposed spit of shingle by the sea in the
12th century. The church of
Saint Ann was the mother church of Melcombe Regis until
1606.
Radipole has suffered in the last decades from intrusive road-building and suburbanisation, as
Weymouth has expanded northwards. The centre of the old village still remains, however. The attractive architectural group formed by the church and the
manor house is well-known locally. The field known as
Humpty-Dumpty Field immediately to the south of the churchyard, on the slope leading down to the head of the lake, is supposed once to have covered the site of the lost mediaeval village, and possibly even Roman remains, but any such evidence was destroyed by the vindictive action of the then landowner.
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Local History of Radipole*
Pictures of Radipole*
Radipole & Southill Local Community & History
