Dorset (or archaically Dorsetshire) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the area covered by the non-metropolitan county, which is governed by Dorset Council, together with the unitary authorities of Poole and Bournemouth. Dorset is an average sized county with an area of ; it borders Devon to the west, Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north-east, and Hampshire to the east. Around half of Dorset's population lives in the South East Dorset conurbation. The rest of the county is largely rural with a low population density.
Dorset has a long history of human settlement and a rich culture. The county contains 1,500 scheduled monuments, including the Iron Age hillfort, Maiden Castle; and more than 12,000 listed buildings. It is famed in literature as the birthplace of Thomas Hardy and has been an inspiration to several authors including Enid Blyton who used the local landscape in many of her books. The local people have their own regional dialect which is still spoken in parts; and their own peculiar food, like the Dorset Knob, a hard biscuit, and Dorset Blue Vinney cheese. The county hosts many annual events and fairs including the Great Dorset Steam Fair near Blandford, purported to be the largest outdoor event in Europe; and The Dorset County Show, a celebration of Dorset's relationship with agriculture.
Performing arts and music As a largely rural county, Dorset has fewer major cultural institutions than larger or more densely populated areas. Major venues for concerts and theatre include Poole Borough Council's Lighthouse arts centre, Bournemouth's BIC and Pavilion Theatre, Verwood's Hub, Wimborne's Tivoli Theatre, and the Pavilion theatre in Weymouth. Dorset's most famous cultural institution is perhaps the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1893 and now one of the country's most celebrated orchestras. Since 1974, Dorset Opera have been running a residential, opera summer school. An annual production at Bryanston School near Blandford has a chorus of 50–80 pupils performing alongside soloists of international repute, a full professional orchestra with an acclaimed conductor and director.Hilliam, pp. 94–95 In 2011 this turned into Dorset Opera Festival.
The Yetties were a folk music group who took their name from the Dorset village of Yetminster which was their childhood home. They drew on their personal experiences of country life for much of their material. Some of the songs they sang recalled what life was like when they were children helping the farmers at harvest time, scrumping when the farmers weren't looking, raiding the countryside for food and eating rabbit for practically every meal. Dorset is the birthplace of musicians John Eliot Gardiner, Greg Lake and Robert Fripp.
Dorset's dramatic coastline, countryside, manor houses and gardens have featured in a number films and television productions including, perhaps unsurprisingly, adaptations of The Mayor of Casterbridge, Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Far from the Madding Crowd. Lyme Regis was the home of author John Fowles and the 1980 film The French Lieutenant's Woman starring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons, based on his novel, was filmed there; the 2005 British fantasy film Nanny McPhee used the Isle of Purbeck as its setting; From Time to Time starring Dame Maggie Smith was filmed at Athelhampton House near Dorchester. Mapperton House and its gardens have been the setting for many period dramas such as the 1996 Emma, starring Gwyneth Paltrow, adapted, from Jane Austen's novel.
Historic sites and museums
Dorset's history is celebrated in more than 30 general and specialist museums throughout the county. There are museums dedicated to fashion, plastic design, mineral extraction, water supply and electricity. In addition there is the internationally important Tank Museum at Bovington, and The Keep Military Museum, one of the top provincial military museums in the country. The Dorset County Museum, now the Dorset Museum, in Dorchester was founded in 1846 and contains an extensive collection of exhibits covering, amongst other things: the Jurassic Coast, local writers, archaeology, wildlife, geology and local history.
Dorset contains 190 conservation areas, over 30 listed parks and gardens, more than 1,500 scheduled monuments and 12,850 listed buildings; many of which—over 6,000—are in the west of the county. Of the 229 that are Grade I listed, 174 are churches or places of worship, from the longest church in England, Christchurch Priory, to one of the smallest, St Edwold's. Nine castles are listed: some were constructed as defensive fortresses such as Corfe, Portland and Christchurch Castle, others are mock castles such as Highcliffe and Lulworth.
The county has a long history of human settlement and some notable archaeology, such as the hill forts of Maiden Castle, Badbury Rings and Hod Hill. A large defensive ditch, Bokerley Dyke, delayed the Saxon conquest of Dorset for up to 150 years.Cullingford, pp. 23–24 There are numerous ancient burial sites and standing stones.Cullingford, pp. 15 & 16Hilliam, p. 124 Some of the more impressive include the stone circles at Kingston Russell, Hampton Down Stone Circle, Rempstone and Nine Stones near Winterbourne Abbas.Hilliam, pp. 124–125 Just north of Portesham is a huge Neolithic dolmen known as the Hell Stone consisting of nine upright stones and a capstone.Hilliam, p. 125
Festivals and fairs
Dorset hosts a number of annual festivals, fairs and events including the Great Dorset Steam Fair near Blandford, purported to be the largest outdoor event in Europe, and the Bournemouth Air Festival, a free show that attracts 1.3 million visitors. The Spirit of the Sea Maritime Festival aims to combine sporting activities, cultural events and entertainments in a celebration of Weymouth and Portland's close ties with the sea. The Dorset County Show, which in 2011 will be in its 170th year, is a celebration of Dorset's relationship with agriculture. The two-day event showcases local produce and livestock and attracts some 55,000 people. In addition to the smaller folk festivals held in towns such as Christchurch and Wimborne, Dorset holds several larger musical events such as Camp Bestival, Endorse It (in Dorset), End of the Road and the Larmer Tree Festival.
Local identity and cuisine
The Dorset dialect stems from the ancient Norse and Saxon languages and was preserved in the isolated Blackmore Vale until the arrival of the railways when the customs and language of London arrived. The rural dialect is still spoken in some villages and is kept alive in the poems of William Barnes and Robert Young.Hilliam (p.33)
The Dorset Knob is a hard, dry, savoury biscuit peculiar to the county. They are typically eaten with cheese such as Dorset Blue Vinney and are said to have been a favourite food of local author Thomas Hardy. A Dorset Knob throwing competition is held in the Dorset village of Cattistock every year on the first Sunday in May. The festival also includes such events as a knob and spoon race, knob darts, knob painting and guess the weight of the knob.Hilliam (p.95) Dorset Blue Vinney is a hard, crumbly cheese with a strong taste and smell. It is made with unpasteurised, skimmed milk. Historically the cream was removed to make butter which was highly regarded in London and carried a premium price. William Barnes asks for Blue Vinney cheese in his poem, 'Praise O' Do'set'.Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect by William Barnes. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd., 1903 Since 1986 an annual nettle eating competition has been held in the village of Marshwood. It attracts nettle eaters from across the globe.
Dorset's flag, which is known as the Dorset Cross, was adopted in 2008 following a public competition organised by Dorset County Council. The winning design, which features a white cross with a red border on a golden background, attracted 54% of the vote. All three colours are used in Dorset County Council's coat of arms and the red and white was used in recognition of the English flag. The golden colour represents Dorset's sandy beaches and the Dorset landmarks of Golden Cap and Gold Hill. It is also a reference to the Wessex Dragon, a symbol of the Saxon Kingdom which Dorset once belonged to, and the gold wreath featured on the badge of the Dorset Regiment. The flag is often unofficially named St Wite's Cross after a Saxon holy woman buried in Whitchurch Canonicorum who was believed to have been martyred by invading Danes in the 9th century. Dorset's motto is 'Who's Afear'd'.
Stories and legends
The Bull Oak is an oak tree in a field near Lytchett Minster, inscribed with a coffin and the legend 'SC 1849'. The field belonged to a Samuel Crumpler, the SC in the inscription, who kept his bull there. In 1849, to prove the bull wasn't dangerous, Crumpler took a walk across the field and was promptly gored to death.Hilliam (p.23) The Remedy Oak just outside Verwood, is where King Edward VI stopped to rest while out hunting one day. At that time it was believed that an anointed king was so sacred he had the ability to cure the sick and so when the locals heard of his presence they gathered around him asking to be touched. This the king dutifully did.Hilliam (p.59) A third famous tree in the county is the Monmouth Ash which stood a few miles north of Bournemouth. It was beneath this tree, in a ditch, covered with ferns and bracken, that James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth was found, having been on the run since the Battle of Sedgemoor.Hilliam (p.61)
The Duke of Monmouth is supposed to haunt the road between Uplyme and Yawl, appearing on a white horse and sometimes accompanied by his followers.Hilliam (p.160) A figure dressed in Arab robes, thought to be the ghost of T. E. Lawrence has been seen entering his old Dorset home, Clouds Hill. It is said that on nights when there is a full moon, a phantom coach and horses travels between Woolbridge Manor in Wool, and the since disappeared, Turberville Mansion, Bere Regis. Hardy makes reference to this apparition in his book Tess of the D'urbervilles.Hilliam (p.161) The ghost of Sir Walter Raleigh, it is said, wanders the woods near his seat, the old Sherborne Castle, at midnight on Michaelmas Eve.
St Juthwara, a Celtic noblewoman, lived in Halstock in or around the 7th century. She was decapitated by her stepbrother who had been tricked into believing Juthwara was pregnant. It is said that a spring of water appeared where her head fell and that Juthwara promptly picked up her own head and walked to the local church, where she placed it on the altar.Hilliam (pp.156–157) Her relics were taken to Sherborne Abbey sometime between 1045 and 1058 where she was greatly venerated until the abbey was destroyed during the dissolution. It is said that her headless ghost wanders the field where it is alleged she met her fate.Hilliam (p.157)
St Wite, one legend says, was a Breton princess murdered by Vikings in the 5th century. It is claimed she had the power to heal the sick and her shrine at Whitchurch Canonicorum has three large holes to enable those with ailments to get closer to her bones.Hilliam (pp.23–24)
The Bath bomb and the Lava lamp may have originated in Dorset.
Art and literature
Dorset is famed in English literature for being the native county of novelist and poet Thomas Hardy (1840–1928), and many of the places he describes in his novels in the fictional Wessex are in Dorset, which he renamed South Wessex.Blamires, pp. 112–114. The National Trust owns Thomas Hardy's Cottage, in woodland east of Dorchester, and Max Gate, his former house in Dorchester, Dorset.