Dorset Gazetteer of Historic Towns and Villages

Mention the name 'Cerne Abbas' and most people will immediately think of the Cerne Abbas Giant, a huge figure of a man carved into a hillside overlooking this beautiful Dorset village. The giant may date to the Roman period.
Cerne Abbas, Dorset, England

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Heritage Highlight: The Cerne Abbas Giant, and 10th century abbey ruins

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Charminster is a small village just north of Dorchester on the River Cerne. The name comes from the minster church of St Mary and the 'Cerne' of the river. Roman mosaic found buried here suggests that there was a settlement of some kind as early as the 1st century.
Charminster, Dorset, England

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Heritage Highlight: The Tudor manor of Wolfeton House

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Charmouth is a small resort village on the south Dorset coast, mentioned by Jane Austen in her novel 'Persuasion'. The village is situated on the Jurassic Heritage Coast, and it is a popular centre for fossil hunters.
Charmouth, Dorset, England

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Chedington is a delightfully unspoilt village near Evershot. Anglophile American author Joanne Paul explores the area in this feature article.
Chedington, Dorset, England

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A market town set between the rivers Stour and Avon, Christchurch has been settled since at least the Iron Age, and during the Saxon period it became a 'burh', or fortified town. The remains of a Norman castle keep look down on the river from atop a high mound, or motte.
Christchurch, Dorset, England

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A popular village south of Wareham, Corfe Castle is named for the dramatic stone fortress that rises above the village. Burial mounds in the area show that Corfe Castle was settled as early as 6000 BCE. There was certainly a Roman presence here, but Corfe really rose in status under Alfred the Great, when that king built a castle here to deter Danish invaders.
Corfe Castle, Dorset, England

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Cranborne is a small village near the Dorset border with Wiltshire. The village once sat amid the royal forest of Cranborne Chase, now long gone. Many monarchs came to Cranborne while hunting in the forest, and James I and his son Charles I are known to have stayed at the Cranborne Manor here. Though the manor is not open for visitors, the manor gardens can be visited on specified days.
Cranborne, Dorset, England

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Dorchester was founded by the Romans in 70 AD, though the nearby hillfort at Maiden Castle shows that the area was settled long before then. In the Saxon period, a mint was established at Dorchester, a mark of the town's importance. The county town of Dorset, Dorchester was rebuilt after several disastrous fires in the 17th and 18th centuries, with the result that there are numerous examples of attractive Georgian buildings throughout the town. Dorset's main claim to fame, however, is its association with novelist Thomas Hardy, who was born just outside the town and lived for many years at Max Gate in Dorchester.
Dorchester, Dorset, England

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A beautiful rural village on the borders of Cranborne Chase, Farnham was famous as the original location of the Pitt-Rivers Museum. This huge collection of antiquities was created by General Augustus Pitt-Rivers, who founded the museum that bears his name in Oxford in 1884.
Farnham, Dorset, England

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Heritage Highlight: St Laurence church and village well

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The Isle of Portland is a peninsula joined to the south Dorset mainland by a narrow neck of land. One side of that neck stretches out along the coast to become Chesil Beach. On the other side is the busy harbour of Weymouth. Facing Weymouth is Portland Castle, built by Henry VIII to control the naval approaches to Weymouth. The castle is perhaps the best-preserved of Henry's early 16th-century coastal defences built to guard against possible French attack. Further towards the southern tip of Portland is Rufus Castle, a small ruined medieval fortress built on the edge of high cliffs.
Portland, Dorset, England

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