Woodyates is a
hamlet, sometimes considered a
village, in the county of
Dorset, near its border with
Wiltshire, in the west of
England.
History
The name means "wood gates" and is believed to refer to the position of Woodyates at the entrance to the wooded area of
Cranborne Chase
Cranborne Chase () is an area of central southern England, straddling the counties Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. It is part of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
The area is dominated by, ...
.
[Charles George Harper, ''The Exeter Road: the Story of the West of England Highway'' (reprinted 2009)]
p. 96
/ref>
The topographer James Bell described it thus in 1835:
The Roman road (Ackling Dyke
Ackling Dyke is a section of Roman road in England which runs for southwest from Old Sarum (''Sorviodunum'') to the hill fort at Badbury Rings (''Vindocladia''). Part of the road on Oakley Down has been scheduled as an ancient monument.
Much ...
) is especially well preserved. In ''Highways and Byways in Dorset'' (1935), Sir Frederick Treves notes that "In no part of Dorset can the actual undisturbed Roman road be seen at greater advantage or for greater extent than about Woodyates."
A Romano-British defensive ditch called Bokerley Dyke also runs near the village.coaching inn
The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point ( layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of tra ...
, once called the Woodyates Inn, later the Shaftesbury Arms.[ This was a staging point of the Trafalgar Way, and a commemorative plaque can be seen there.
In the 18th century, Woodyates was a property of Thomas Pitt.
Woodyates was the site of the training establishment of William Day, who sent out the winners of many important horse races including Foxhall, winner of the Grand Prix de Paris, Cesarewitch and Cambridgeshire in 1881.
]
Notes
External links
{{Commons category inline
Hamlets in Dorset