Wareham, Dorset
Wareham is a historic
market town in the
Purbeck district of
Dorset,
England. The town is situated on the
River Frome eight
miles south west of
Poole. The population of Wareham is 8,417
1.
The town is built on a strategic
dry point between the
River Frome and the
River Piddle and beside
Poole Harbour. The Frome valley runs through an area of unresistant sand, clay and gravel rocks, and much of its valley has wide
flood plains and
marsh land. At its
estuary the river has formed the wide shallow
ria of Poole Harbour. Wareham is built on a low dry island between the marshy river plains.
The town is situated on the A351 Poole-
Swanage road and at the eastern terminus of the A352 road to
Dorchester and
Sherborne, both roads now
bypassing the town centre. The town has a station on the
South Western Main Line railway, and was formerly the junction station for services along the branch line to Swanage, now preserved as the
Swanage Railway. The Steam Railway has ambitions to extend its service, currently from Swanage to near Corfe Castle, to Worgret Junction and into Wareham again.
To the north-west of the town a large conifer plantation,
Wareham Forest stretches several miles to the
A35 road and the southerm foothills of the
Dorset Downs. To the south east is
Corfe Castle and the heathland that borders Poole Harbour, including
Wytch Farm oil field and
Studland & Godlingstone Heath Nature Reserve. Five miles to the south is a Chalk ridge, the
Purbeck Hills, and ten miles to the south is the
English Channel.
The town's strategic setting has made it an important settlement throughout its long history. The older streets in the town follow a
Roman grid pattern, though the current town was founded by the
Saxons. The town's oldest features are the town Walls, ancient earth
ramparts surrounding the town, which were built by
Alfred the Great in the
9th century to defend the town from
Norsemen. The town was a Saxon royal burial place, notably that of
King Beorhtric (
800 CE); also in the town is the coffin of
Edward the Martyr, dating from
978, his remains now to be found in
Shaftesbury Abbey in north Dorset. The River Frome serves as a small harbour and the town was a port in centuries when boats were smaller and before the river silted up.
After the
Monmouth Rebellion of
1685, Wareham was one of a number of towns in Dorset where
Judge Jeffreys held the
Bloody Assizes, with traitors being hanged from the town walls.
 |
The Frome estuary in the east of the parish |
In
1762 a fire destroyed two thirds of the town, which has been rebuilt in
Georgian architecture with red brick and
Purbeck limestone, following the Roman street pattern. The town is divided into four quarters by the two main roads, which cross at right-angles. The
medieval Almshouses escaped the fire, and some of the Georgian facades are in fact disguising earlier buildings which also survived. Because of the constraints of the rivers and marshland Wareham grew little during the
20th century, while nearby towns, such as Poole, grew rapidly.
Near the town is Bovington army camp, near the place where
T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) died due to a motorcycle accident. There is an effigy of Lawrence in
Arab clothing in St Martins Church. He is buried at
Moreton churchyard where every year a quantity (decreases by one each year) of red roses are left.
Wareham Town Museum, in East Street, has an interesting section on T. E. Lawrence and in 2006 produced an hour long DVD entitled
T. E. Lawrence - His Final Years in Dorset, including a reconstruction of the fatal accident. The Museum also contains many artefacts on all aspects of the history of the town.
Since the
15th century Wareham has been a
market town, and still holds a market on Thursdays and Saturdays.
# Figure obtained by combining the populations of Wareham town parish (5,665) and Wareham St Martin parish (2,752) from the
Census 2001.
*
Census data*
The Dorset Mag: Wareham*
Wareham Town Museum* Pitt Rivers, Michael, 1970.
Dorset. London: Faber & Faber.
