Town Walks, Dorchester
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The Town Walks are a series of public walks in
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, Dorset, River Frome to the south of the Dorset Dow ...
, England, along the former Roman defences of the town.


Description


History

The first defences of the Roman town of
Durnovaria Durnovaria is a suggested spelling for the Latin form of the name of the Roman town of Dorchester in the modern English county of Dorset, amended from the actually observed Durnonovaria. Upon the assumption that the name was originally Brytho ...
were an earthen bank and ditch, constructed not earlier than 130 AD. Stone walls were built along the front of the bank at a later time, perhaps in the 4th century. During the medieval period the defences continued to be in use, the ditch being recut in the 14th or 15th century. By the 17th century the walls had mostly disappeared:
John Speed John Speed (1551 or 1552 – 28 July 1629) was an English cartographer, chronologer and historian of Cheshire origins.; superseding . The son of a citizen and Merchant Taylor in London,"Life of John Speed", ''The Hibernian Magazine, Or, Compe ...
's ''Map of Dorsetshyre'', of 1610, showed the defences as "The ruins of the ould wall".'Roman Dorchester (Durnovaria)', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 2, South east (London, 1970), pp. 531-592
British History Online. Retrieved 30 November 2021. Between 1702 and 1743 the embankments were landscaped to form a series of walks. Hutchins' Map of Dorchester, of 1772, shows tree-lined avenues along the lines of the Roman defences.


Today

The Town Walks are registered at Grade II on the
Register of Historic Parks and Gardens #REDIRECT Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England #REDIRECT Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England {{R from move ...
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; the corresponding Roman walls are a
scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...
. The Walks follow the west and south sides, and part of the north and east sides, of the original rectangular defences. There are six tree-lined walks: North Walk and Colliton Walk in the north-west; West Walks and Bowling Alley Walk in the south-west; South Walks and Salisbury Walk in the south-east. There is a surviving fragment of the Roman wall, on Albert Road near the corner of Princes Street. It is a Grade II
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
. The 18th-century wall beside the Walk round Colliton Park on the line of the Roman defences is also Grade II listed.


References

{{Reflist Grade II listed buildings in Dorset Scheduled monuments in Dorset Roman Dorchester Dorchester, Dorset Grade II listed parks and gardens in Dorset