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Bridport
Bridport is a market town in Dorset, England, inland from the English Channel near the confluence of the River Brit and its tributary the Asker. Its origins are Saxon and it has a long history as a rope-making centre. On the coast and within the town's boundary is West Bay, a small fishing harbour also known as Bridport Harbour. The town features as Port Bredy in Thomas Hardy's Wessex novels. In the 21st century, Bridport's arts scene has expanded with an arts centre, theatre, cinema and museum. In the 2011 census the population of Bridport's built-up area was 13,568. The town is twinned with Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue, France. History Bridport's origins are Saxon. During the reign of King Alfred it became one of the four most important settlements in Dorset – the other three being Dorchester, Shaftesbury and Wareham – with the construction of fortifications and establishment of a mint. Bridport's name probably derives from another location nearby. In the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West Bay, Dorset
West Bay, originally known as Bridport Harbour, is a small harbour settlement and resort on the English Channel coast in Dorset, England, sited at the mouth of the River Brit approximately south of Bridport. The area is part of the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site. The harbour at West Bay is not a natural landscape feature and it has a long history of having been silted up, blocked by shingle and damaged by storms, and each time repairs, improvements and enlargements have subsequently been made. The harbour has been moved twice: it was originally inland, then was moved to the coast beside the East Cliff, then was moved again along the coast to the west, where it is located today. The previous main commercial trade of the harbour—exporting Bridport's ropes and nets—declined in the second half of the 19th century. When the railway arrived in 1884, attempts were made to provide the settlement with the facilities of a resort, and today West Bay has a mixed economy of to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bridport Town Hall
Bridport Town Hall is an 18th-century town hall on South Street in Bridport, Dorset, England. It is a Grade I listed building. History The site selected for the town hall had previously been occupied by the Chapel of St Andrew, which was built for Carmelite Friars some time before 1268. The town hall was designed by architect William Tyler RA, a founding member of the Royal Academy and built by James Mason at a cost of £3,000 between 1785 and 1786. The clock tower with cupola and weather vane was paid for by Sir Evan Nepean and was added to the building around 1805. The two-storey, brick building was built in a T-shape, with the stem of the T pointing south. The ground floor was originally an arcaded open market, while the first floor housed the council chamber. The main front, facing north onto East Street, was given five bays of arcading. Its central three bays are of projecting rusticated ashlar, surmounted by the sculpted Bridport coat of arms, a Venetian window and a pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dorset. Covering an area of , Dorset borders Devon to the west, Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north-east, and Hampshire to the east. The county town is Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester, in the south. After the Local Government Act 1972, reorganisation of local government in 1974, the county border was extended eastward to incorporate the Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch. Around half of the population lives in the South East Dorset conurbation, while the rest of the county is largely rural with a low population density. The county has a long history of human settlement stretching back to the Neolithic era. The Roman conquest of Britain, Romans conquered Dorset's indigenous Durotriges, Celtic tribe, and during the Ear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West Dorset (constituency)
West Dorset is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Chris Loder, a Conservative. History The seat was created under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. ;Political history Only Conservative MPs have been elected in West Dorset. Historically there have mostly been large majorities; thus the seat can be considered a safe seat. The closest result in recent years was in 2001, when the then member, Oliver Letwin, only just held his seat, with a majority of 2.8% over the Liberal Democrat candidate, Simon Green. The Liberal Democrats have come second at every election since 1974. Labour's best results in the constituency were in 1945 and 1966. ;Prominent frontbenchers Oliver Letwin, with a settled background in policy formulation, was appointed Minister of State for Policy (a Cabinet Office role) in the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition on 12 May 2010. He had previously served as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer between 2003 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
River Brit
The River Brit is a river in west Dorset in south-west England, which rises just to the north of Beaminster. It then flows south to Netherbury and Bridport, where it is joined by tributaries: the River Simene and River Asker. South of Bridport, it reaches Lyme Bay on the English Channel coast, at West Bay.Frome, Piddle & West Dorset Fisheries AssociatioRetrieved 22 May 2017./ref> The Brit has a length of . Name The river takes its name from the town of Bridport, which in turn derives from the River Bride, the neighbouring drainage basin to the east, which has connections with Bridport's early history. Before the establishment of Bridport, the Brit was named the River Wooth. This is still reflected in the names of settlements, such as Wooth Manor and Camesworth. Natural history The river has Indian balsam plants on its banks. It was previously polluted by the local hemp and flax industries and by sewage discharges, but the environment of the river has improved in recent years. F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
River Asker
The River Asker is a small river in Dorset, England. It rises on the chalk slopes of Eggardon Hill, approximately east of Bridport. It flows west-northwest through the villages of Askerswell to which it gives its name, Uploders, where many cottages have gardens backing onto the river, and Loders. Here it heads west towards Bradpole, where it is joined by the small Mangerton Brook flowing in from the north. It then flows southwest into Bridport, passing underneath the A3066 and B3162 roads in the town. In this section there are weirs and fish ladders. South of the B3162, between Bridport and Bothenhampton, the river also forms the western boundary of the Askers Meadow Nature Reserve, which was designated a Local Nature Reserve in 2004. The river then flows under the B3157 road and joins the River Brit beside Palmers Brewery in the south of the town. Water quality The Environment Agency measure water quality of the river systems in England. Each is given an overall ecological ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burghal Hidage
The Burghal Hidage () is an Anglo-Saxon document providing a list of over thirty fortified places (burhs), the majority being in the ancient Kingdom of Wessex, and the taxes (recorded as numbers of hides) assigned for their maintenance.Hill/ Rumble. The Defence of Wessex. p. 5 The document, so named by Frederic William Maitland in 1897, survives in two versions of medieval and early modern date. Version A, Cotton Otho B.xi was badly damaged in a fire at Ashburnham House in 1731 but the body of the text survives in a transcript made by the antiquary Laurence Nowell in 1562. Version B survives as a composite part of seven further manuscripts, usually given the title ''De numero hydarum Anglie in Britannia''.Hill/ Rumble. The Defence of Wessex. p. 14 There are several discrepancies in the lists recorded in the two versions of the document: Version A includes references to Burpham, Wareham and Bridport but omits Shaftesbury and Barnstaple which are listed in Version B. Version B also n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
River Bride, Dorset
The River Bride is a river in Dorset, England, situated between the towns of Dorchester and Bridport. It is approximately long and has a catchment area of . It rises at an altitude of beneath an artificial lake at Bridehead House, Littlebredy, then flows west to its mouth on the English Channel near Burton Bradstock. It has nine tributaries and descends more than in its first three miles. It reaches the coast just west of Burton Bradstock through a break in coastal cliffs at Burton Freshwater; here it meets the western end of Chesil Beach where it "forms itself into a pool and fights to get to the sea intact before sinking into the shingle." The river's name is of Celtic origin. It is derived from Old Welsh ''Brydi'', related to Cornish ''bredion'' "to boil", so means "boiling or gushing" stream. The river gives its name to Long Bredy, Littlebredy, Burton Bradstock and probably Bridport. Notes Bride A bride is a woman who is about to be married or who is newlyw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Littlebredy
Littlebredy (also written Little Bredy, pronounced ) is a small village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset, situated approximately west of the county town Dorchester. It is sited at the head of the valley of the small River Bride, surrounded by wooded chalk hills of the Dorset Downs. The parish contains the Valley of Stones National Nature Reserve and is in an area rich with evidence of early human occupation. In the 2011 census it had a population of 121. History The area around Littlebredy is rich with evidence of early human occupation, including stone circles, strip lynchets, tumuli (long and round barrows) and a probable hill fort.Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Pathfinder Series of Great Britain, Sheet SY 49/59 Bridport, published 1977 North and east of the village the density of barrows is as great as the area around Stonehenge. One mile north of the village and just outside the parish is a group of 44 Bronze Age round barrows of various sizes, known as Winte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dorchester, Dorset
Dorchester ( ) is the county town of Dorset, England. It is situated between Poole and Bridport on the A35 trunk route. A historic market town, Dorchester is on the banks of the River Frome to the south of the Dorset Downs and north of the South Dorset Ridgeway that separates the area from Weymouth, to the south. The civil parish includes the experimental community of Poundbury and the suburb of Fordington. The area around the town was first settled in prehistoric times. The Romans established a garrison there after defeating the Durotriges tribe, calling the settlement that grew up nearby Durnovaria; they built an aqueduct to supply water and an amphitheatre on an ancient British earthwork. After the departure of the Romans, the town diminished in significance, but during the medieval period became an important commercial and political centre. It was the site of the "Bloody Assizes" presided over by Judge Jeffreys after the Monmouth Rebellion, and later the trial of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shaftesbury
Shaftesbury () is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is situated on the A30 road, west of Salisbury, near the border with Wiltshire. It is the only significant hilltop settlement in Dorset, being built about above sea level on a greensand hill on the edge of Cranborne Chase. The town looks over the Blackmore Vale, part of the River Stour basin. Shaftesbury is the site of the former Shaftesbury Abbey, which was founded in 888 by King Alfred and became one of the richest religious establishments in the country, before being destroyed in the dissolution in 1539. Adjacent to the abbey site is Gold Hill, a steep cobbled street used in the 1970s as the setting for Ridley Scotts television advertisement for Hovis bread. In the 2011 Census the town's civil parish had a population of 7,314. Toponymy Shaftesbury has acquired a number of names throughout its history. Writing in 1906, Sir Frederick Treves referred to four of these names from Celtic, Latin and English tra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Hardy's Wessex
Thomas Hardy's Wessex is the fictional literary landscape created by the English author Thomas Hardy as the setting for his major novels, located in the south and southwest of England. Hardy named the area "Wessex" after the medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom that existed in this part of that country prior to the unification of England by Æthelstan. Although the places that appear in his novels actually exist, in many cases he gave the place a fictional name. For example, Hardy's home town of Dorchester is called Casterbridge in his books, notably in ''The Mayor of Casterbridge''. In an 1895 preface to the 1874 novel '' Far From the Madding Crowd'' he described Wessex as "a merely realistic dream country". The actual definition of "Hardy's Wessex" varied widely throughout Hardy's career, and was not definitively settled until after he retired from writing novels. When he created the concept of a fictional Wessex, it consisted merely of the small area of Dorset in which Hardy grew up ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
