Beaminster ( ) is a town and
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
in
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), Dors ...
, England, situated in the
Dorset Council administrative area approximately northwest of the county town
Dorchester. It is sited in a bowl-shaped valley near the source of the small
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, i ...
. The 2013 mid-year estimate of the population of Beaminster parish is 3,100.
Beaminster is the product of the Anglo-Saxon age, dating back to around the 7th century, when it was known as Bebingmynster, meaning the church of Bebbe although the date of origin of the town is unknown. The place name and historic evidence indicates that it was probably the site of a primary Saxon minster church and was at the centre of a large episcopal estate. These are likely to have acted as a focus for a settlement, but evidence of its formation is lacking.
In its history Beaminster has been a centre of manufacture of linen and woollens, the raw materials for which were produced in the surrounding countryside. The town experienced three serious fires in the 17th and 18th centuries; the first of these, during the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
, almost destroyed the fabric of the town.
Beaminster parish church is notable for its architecture, particularly its tower.
History
In the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
of 1086 the manor of Beaminster was recorded as being owned by the
See of Salisbury
The Diocese of Salisbury is a Church of England list of dioceses in the Church of England, diocese in the south of England, within the ecclesiastical Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers most of Dorset (excepting the deaneries of Bournemo ...
.
Bishop Osmund gave it as a supplement to two of the Cathedral
prebend
A prebendary is a member of the Roman Catholic or Anglican clergy, a form of canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in particular seats, usually at the back of the ...
s in 1091.
In the English Civil War the town declared for
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
and was sacked by
Royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...
forces in 1644.
Prince Maurice
Maurice, Prince Palatine of the Rhine KG (16 January 1621, in Küstrin Castle, Brandenburg – September 1652, near the Virgin Islands), was the fourth son of Frederick V, Elector Palatine and Princess Elizabeth, only daughter of King James VI ...
stayed in the town on
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. Palm Sunday marks the first day of Holy ...
,
[ though his stay was brief because a fire, caused by a ]musket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually d ...
being discharged into a thatched
Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...
roof, almost totally destroyed the town.[ The town suffered further accidental fires in 1684 and 1781.][Newman & Pevsner, 1972, page 86]
Previously Beaminster was a centre for the production of linen and woollens. Flax
Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. Textiles made from flax are known in ...
was grown and sheep kept on the surrounding hills and the town was locally more important than it is today: factories were constructed in the 18th and early 19th centuries, and as many as seventeen inns existed in the town in the early 20th century.
No railway line came through Beaminster and as a result the town declined relative to other local towns such as 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 withi ...
and Dorchester.
Horn Park, about northwest of Beaminster, is a neo-Georgian country house
An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...
of five bays
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...
and two storeys, designed by architect T. Lawrence Dale and completed in 1911.[Newman & Pevsner, 1972, page 88] Inside the house the central corridor is barrel vault
A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...
ed and leads to a drawing room whose groin vault
A groin vault or groined vault (also sometimes known as a double barrel vault or cross vault) is produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults. Honour, H. and J. Fleming, (2009) ''A World History of Art''. 7th edn. London: L ...
is reminiscent of the work of Sir John Soane
Sir John Soane (; né Soan; 10 September 1753 – 20 January 1837) was an English architect who specialised in the Neoclassical architecture, Neo-Classical style. The son of a bricklayer, he rose to the top of his profession, becoming professo ...
(1753–1837).[ The drawing room includes Jacobean features re-used from the largely mid-16th-century nearby ]Parnham House
Parnham House is a sixteenth-century Grade I listed house located about from Beaminster in Dorset, England. Historic England describes the house as "exceptionally important". In April 2017 the house was badly damaged by fire.
History
The or ...
,[ which was being altered and restored at about the time that Horn Park was being built.][Newman & Pevsner, 1972, page 87] Horn Park is Listed Grade II. Its gardens are occasionally open to the public as part of the National Gardens Scheme
The National Garden Scheme opens privately owned gardens in England, Northern Ireland, Wales, and the Channel Islands on selected dates for charity. It was founded in 1927 with the aim of "opening gardens of quality, character and interest to th ...
.
Geography
Beaminster is sited above sea level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''.
The comb ...
in a bowl-shaped valley, surrounded by hills which rise to at Beaminster Down
At 244 metres, Beaminster Down is one of the highest hills in West Dorset, England.
Location
Beaminster Down is common land on the Dorset Downs and overlooks the steep scarp slope above the town of Beaminster, which is about a mile and a half ...
to the northeast. The River Brit and many small streams emerge from springs on the slopes above the town. The confluences of several of these streams are within the town's boundaries. Beaminster's growth has historically been along the course of these streams, resulting in a settlement pattern that is roughly star-shaped.
Beaminster is situated approximately south of Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, west of Bournemouth
Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...
, east of Exeter
Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol.
In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...
and northwest of the county town Dorchester.
Geology
Beaminster is sited mostly on Middle Jurassic
The Middle Jurassic is the second epoch of the Jurassic Period. It lasted from about 174.1 to 163.5 million years ago. Fossils of land-dwelling animals, such as dinosaurs, from the Middle Jurassic are relatively rare, but geological formations co ...
fuller's earth
Fuller's earth is any clay material that has the capability to decolorize oil or other liquids without the use of harsh chemical treatment. Fuller's earth typically consists of palygorskite (attapulgite) or bentonite.
Modern uses of fuller's ea ...
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
, with some Inferior Oolite
The Inferior Oolite is a sequence of Jurassic age sedimentary rocks in Europe. It was deposited during the Middle Jurassic.Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Middle Jurassic, Europe)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Pet ...
in the south of the town and Bridport Sand Formation
The Bridport Sand Formation is a formation of Toarcian (Early Jurassic) age found in the Worcester and Wessex Basins of central and southern England. It forms one of the reservoir units in the Wytch Farm oilfield in Dorset. The sandstone is very-f ...
north of the town centre. The hills north and east of the town are Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...
chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Chalk ...
with a scarp face of Upper Greensand Formation
The Upper Greensand Formation is a Cretaceous formation of Albian to Cenomanian in age, found within the Wessex Basin and parts of the Weald Basin in southern England. It overlies the Gault Clay and underlies the Chalk Group. It varies in thick ...
, while those to the south and west are of Bridport Sand Formation
The Bridport Sand Formation is a formation of Toarcian (Early Jurassic) age found in the Worcester and Wessex Basins of central and southern England. It forms one of the reservoir units in the Wytch Farm oilfield in Dorset. The sandstone is very-f ...
. There are several faults running west-northwest to east-southeast through the town and its southern environs.[ Horn Park Quarry SSSI produced building stone from the Inferior Oolite and some quality fossil specimens before becoming a light industrial estate on the road to Broadwindsor. Apart from the ammonites, the site displays a remarkable flat erosion surface and the most complete succession in the Upper Aalenian ironshot oolite limestone of the area.
]
Demography
Beaminster parish
Dorset County Council
Dorset County Council (DCC) was the county council for the county of Dorset in England. It provided the upper tier of local government, below which were district councils, and town and parish councils. The county council had 46 elected council ...
's 2013 mid-year estimate of the population of Beaminster parish is 3,100.
The historic population of Beaminster parish from the censuses between 1921 and 2001 is shown in the table below.
:
Source: Dorset County Council
Dorset County Council (DCC) was the county council for the county of Dorset in England. It provided the upper tier of local government, below which were district councils, and town and parish councils. The county council had 46 elected council ...
2011 census
Published results from the 2011 national census combine information on Beaminster parish with the small neighbouring parish of Mapperton
Mapperton is a hamlet and civil parish in Dorset, England, south-east of Beaminster. Dorset County Council estimated that the population of the parish was 60 in 2013.
Parish
The parish of Mapperton is comparatively small at . The population h ...
to the southeast. Within this area there were 1,680 dwellings, 1,529 households and a population of 3,136.
Economy and society
DuPont
DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...
produce Nisaplin (E234), a commercial formulation of the natural bacteriocin
Bacteriocins are proteinaceous or peptidic toxins produced by bacteria to inhibit the growth of similar or closely related bacterial strain(s). They are similar to yeast and paramecium killing factors, and are structurally, functionally, and ec ...
nisin
Nisin is a polycyclic antibacterial peptide produced by the bacterium ''Lactococcus lactis'' that is used as a food preservative. It has 34 amino acid residues, including the uncommon amino acids lanthionine (Lan), methyllanthionine (MeLan), dide ...
, at a factory in the town. It was first isolated by Aplin and Barret and produced in the 1950s in the factory laboratory then at 11–15 North Street. The Clipper tea
Clipper is a British Fairtrade tea company based in Beaminster, Dorset founded in 1984. In 1994, it was one of the first companies in the UK to receive the Fairtrade Mark. Clipper was purchased in 2012 by Royal Wessanen for around £50 mill ...
company is based in Beaminster. It is currently owned by the Dutch company Royal Wessanen.
Beaminster hosts the Beaminster Festival
Beaminster ( ) is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Dorset, England, situated in the Dorset (unitary authority), Dorset Council administrative area approximately northwest of the county town Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester. ...
, an annual music and art festival. Whitcombe Disc golf
Disc golf, also known as frisbee golf, is a flying disc sport in which players throw a disc at a target; it is played using rules similar to golf. Most disc golf discs are made out of polypropylene plastic, otherwise known as polypropene, which ...
course at Beaminster has hosted the British Open Disc Golf Championship several times and the European Disc Golf Championship in 2003. The town is twinned with the town of Saint-James
Saint-James () is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. On 1 January 2017, the former communes of Argouges, Carnet, La Croix-Avranchin, Montanel, Vergoncey and Villiers-le-Pré were merged into Saint-James.
...
on the Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...
/Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
border in France.
Buckham Fair, a fundraising vintage fair held annually on land near the town, took place for ten years until the last event in 2018. As of 2020, the fair has been indefinitely postponed.
Transport
The nearest railway station is north of the town at . Exeter International Airport
Exeter Airport , formerly ''Exeter International Airport'', is an international airport located at Clyst Honiton in East Devon, close to the city of Exeter and within the county of Devon, South West England. Exeter has a CAA Public Use Aer ...
is to the west. The main road through the town is the A3066, which leads to 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 withi ...
to the south and Mosterton
Mosterton is a village and civil parish in Dorset, England, situated approximately north of Beaminster. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 604.
The village's name derives from Old English and means the thorn tree belonging to a ...
and Crewkerne
Crewkerne ( ) is a town and electoral ward in Somerset, England, southwest of Yeovil and east of Chard all in the South Somerset district. The civil parish of West Crewkerne includes the hamlets of Coombe, Woolminstone and Henley – and b ...
to the north. The road north passes through Horn Hill tunnel, which opened in June 1832 and is the sole pre-railway age road tunnel that is still in daily public use.
Education
Primary schools in the town include St Mary's Church of England Primary School.
Beaminster School
, established =
, closed =
, type = Voluntary controlled school
, religious_affiliation = Christian
, president =
, head_label = Headteacher
, head = Keith Hales
, r_head_label =
, r_head ...
is the town's secondary school. It has a combined sixth form
In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...
with The Sir John Colfox Academy, in the nearby town of 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 withi ...
.
Beaminster is also home to Mountjoy School co-sharing the site of Beaminster School.
Hooke Park
Hooke Park is a 142 hectare woodland in Dorset, South West England located near the town of Beaminster and within the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The site is designated as ancient woodland and historically comprised a deer hunting ...
is the woodland campus of the Architectural Association School of Architecture
The Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, commonly referred to as the AA, is the oldest Independent school (United Kingdom), independent school of architecture in the UK and one of the most prestigious and competitive in t ...
.
Religion
Beaminster has an Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
church, St Mary's, and a Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
church, St John's. St Mary's is notable for its architecture, which is considered among the best in the county.[ The tower in particular has been described as "a handsome example of its period" and "the glory of Beaminster".] St Mary's construction mostly dates from the 15th and 16th centuries, but was restored
''Restored'' is the fourth
studio album by American contemporary Christian music musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004 by BEC Recordings.
Track listing
Standard release
Enhanced edition
Deluxe gold edition
Standard ...
twice in the 19th. The eastern part of the north aisle incorporates part of an earlier 13th-century building, and the font bowl is late 12th-century.[ The pulpit is Jacobean.][ A ]chapel of ease
A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently.
Often a chapel of ea ...
, Holy Trinity Church, was built in 1849-51. After becoming redundant in 1978, it was converted into a private residence, Trefoil House.
In literature
Beaminster is referenced as "Emminster" in the fictional Wessex of Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...
's '' Tess of the d'Urbervilles''.
Dorset's 19th-century dialect poet William Barnes
William Barnes (22 February 1801 – 7 October 1886) was an English polymath, writer, poet, philologist, priest, mathematician, engraving artist and inventor. He wrote over 800 poems, some in Dorset dialect, and much other work, including a co ...
wrote of Beaminster:[
]
Sweet Be'mi'ster, that bist a-bound
By green and woody hills all round,
Wi' hedges, reachèn up between
A thousand vields o' zummer green.
It is a location for part of the story for the post-apocalyptic novel
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astr ...
''The Day of the Triffids
''The Day of the Triffids'' is a 1951 post-apocalyptic novel by the English science fiction author John Wyndham. After most people in the world are blinded by an apparent meteor shower, an aggressive species of plant starts killing people. Al ...
'' by John Wyndham
John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris (; 10 July 1903 – 11 March 1969) was an English science fiction writer best known for his works published under the pen name John Wyndham, although he also used other combinations of his names ...
.
Notable people
* Fictional Magizoologist Newt Scamander
Newton Artemis Fido "Newt" Scamander is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the ''Fantastic Beasts'' film series.
Initially, Newt Scamander was only mentioned in ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' as the author of the bo ...
of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was born in Beaminster on 24 February 1897 according to his passport shown at 2022 MinaLima Exhibition
*Beaminster was the boyhood home of the Arctic explorer, naturalist and author Samuel Hearne
Samuel Hearne (February 1745 – November 1792) was an English explorer, fur-trader, author, and naturalist. He was the first European to make an overland excursion across northern Canada to the Arctic Ocean, actually Coronation Gulf, via the C ...
. Hearne is considered by some to have been the inspiration for the tragic figure in Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poe ...
's ''The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
''The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'' (originally ''The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere'') is the longest major poem by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, written in 1797–1798 and published in 1798 in the first edition of ''Lyrical Ballad ...
''.
*Beaminster is the adopted home town of actor Martin Clunes
Alexander Martin Clunes OBE DL (born 28 November 1961) is an English actor, comedian, director and television presenter. He is best known for portraying Martin Ellingham in the ITV comedy-drama series ''Doc Martin'' and Gary Strang in ''Men Be ...
.
* Mat Follas had his first restaurant The Wild Garlic in the town square, though in 2013 it was moved to larger premises elsewhere.
*Beaminster is also home of Lynne Reid Banks
Lynne Reid Banks (born 31 July 1929) is a British author of books for children and adults.
She has written forty-five books, including the best-selling children's novel ''The Indian in the Cupboard'', which has sold over 10 million copies and ...
, author of ''The L-Shaped Room
''The L-Shaped Room'' is a 1962 British film directed by Bryan Forbes, based on the 1960 novel of the same name by Lynne Reid Banks. It tells the story of Jane Fosset (Leslie Caron), a young French woman, unmarried and pregnant, who moves into a ...
'' and ''The Indian in the Cupboard
''The Indian in the Cupboard'' is a low fantasy children's novel by the British writer Lynne Reid Banks. It was published in 1980 with illustrations by Robin Jacques (UK) and Brock Cole (US). It was later adapted as a 1995 children's film ...
''; both books were filmed.
*The furniture maker John Makepeace
John Makepeace OBE FCSD (born John Makepeace Smith; 6 July 1939) is a British furniture designer and maker. Makepeace was born in Solihull, Warwickshire. He bought Parnham House, Dorset in 1976 and founded the Parnham Trust and the ''School for ...
lives in the town after selling nearby Parnham House
Parnham House is a sixteenth-century Grade I listed house located about from Beaminster in Dorset, England. Historic England describes the house as "exceptionally important". In April 2017 the house was badly damaged by fire.
History
The or ...
, where his school for craftsmen in wood was originally based. Alumni of Parnham House include David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon
David Albert Charles Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon (born 3 November 1961), styled as Viscount Linley until 2017 and known professionally as David Linley, is an English furniture maker, a former chairman of the auction house Christie's UK, ...
. Parnham was also the home of William Barnard Rhodes-Moorhouse
William Barnard Rhodes-Moorhouse Victoria Cross, VC (born William Barnard Moorhouse; 26 September 1887 – 27 April 1915) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the ene ...
, the first airman ever to receive the Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...
, following a daring, though ultimately fatal, bombing mission over Courtrai
Kortrijk ( , ; vls, Kortryk or ''Kortrik''; french: Courtrai ; la, Cortoriacum), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders.
It is the capital and larges ...
in 1915.
Twin towns
Beaminster is twinned with:
* Saint-James
Saint-James () is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. On 1 January 2017, the former communes of Argouges, Carnet, La Croix-Avranchin, Montanel, Vergoncey and Villiers-le-Pré were merged into Saint-James.
...
, Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
, France
See also
* Beaminster Forum and Redhone hundred
Beaminster Forum & Redhone Hundred was a hundred in the county of Dorset, England, containing the following parishes:
*Beaminster
*Bradpole
*Chedington
*Chardstock (transferred to Devon 1896)
*Corscombe
*Mapperton
*Mosterton
*Netherbury
*North Po ...
* Beaminster Down
At 244 metres, Beaminster Down is one of the highest hills in West Dorset, England.
Location
Beaminster Down is common land on the Dorset Downs and overlooks the steep scarp slope above the town of Beaminster, which is about a mile and a half ...
References
Sources
*
External links
*
{{authority control
Towns in Dorset
Civil parishes in Dorset