GILLINGHAM, a parish in Dorsetshire, on the river Stour, near the forest of its own name; where, anno 1016, King Edmund Ironside vanquished the Danes. It is one of the largest parishes in the county, being 41 miles in circuit, containing 64,000 acres. It lies on the borders of Wilts and Somerset, four miles north-west of Shaftsbury. It has a manufacture of linen, but the chief produce is grazing and the dairies. Near it are the traces of an ancient residence of Norman or Saxon kings, 320 feet long and 240 broad, surrounded by a rampart of earth. Henry I. resided here, and King John repaired it at the expence of the county. Edward I. spent his Christmas here in 1270; but the whole of the materials are removed, and the foundation of the house only can be traced, which was in the form of the letter L, in length 180 feet by 80 broad, and the foot of the letter 48 by 40; the area of the house containing 168,000 square feet. It stood half a mile from the church, on the road to Shaston, encompassed by a moat, now dry, in some places nine feet deep and 20 broad. The rampart appears to have been 30 feet thick. Here is a free school, a large old building, and a workhouse, as well as two stone bridges. In 1694, it received damage of near 4000l. by a fire. Near it is Gillingham forest, four miles long and one mile broad. The church is a large ancient fabric.