DORSETSHIRE is an English county on the south-western coast. In British times, and previous to the landing of Cæsar, it was inhabited by the Durotriges and Morini, two appellations derived from the British language, and signifying dwellers on the coasts of the ocean. By the Romans this county constituted a portion of Britannia Prima; and the Saxons called it Dorsetta (a word having the same meaning as the above British appellation), and included it in the kingdom of Wessex. Kingston-Hall and Corfe Castle are mentioned as royal residences.
On the north, Dorsetshire is bounded by Somersetshire and Wiltshire; on the east by Hampshire; on the west by Devonshire and a part of Somersetshire; and the British Channel bounds it on the south. The irregularities of its form prevent its being compared to any determinate figure: the northern boundary has a considerable angular projection in the middle; the southern coast runs out in various points and headlands; and the western coast inclines towards Devonshire, with an irregular line. Its greatest length from north to south is about 35 miles; and its breadth from east to west 55; its circumference, including about 775,000 acres, is nearly 160 miles.
Dorsetshire is divided into thirty-four hundreds, containing more than 390 parishes, nine boroughs, and twenty-two market towns; the principal of which are Dorchester, Bridport, Sherborne, Lyme-Regis, Shaftsbury, Wareham, Weymouth, Melcombe Regis, Poole, and Cerne. Twenty members are returned to Parliament by this county, viz. two for the shire, and two for each of the following towns: Dorchester, Poole, Lyme-Regis, Weymouth, Melcombe-Regis, Bridport, Shaftsbury, Wareham, and Corfe-Castle. Dorsetshire is a part of the see of Bristol, though, prior to the dissolution, it had a bishop of its own, being a see of itself; and at different periods was connected with those of Oxford, Winchester, Sherborne, and Sarum.
The surface of Dorsetshire is hilly and uneven, Surface.
Donegal || Dorsetshire. Changes in Landed Property.
Ancient Names and Divisions.
Boundaries and Extent.
Divisions.
Dorsetshire. A great portion of the county has the appearance of Downs, open and uninclosed portions, covered with sheep. More sheep are pastured in the neighbourhood of Dorchester than in any other district, though great numbers of both sheep and oxen are fed in the Vale of Blackmore, which is celebrated as rich pasture land, containing upwards of 170,000 acres. There are, also, in this district several orchards, producing excellent cider. On the south-western side, there are many vales of great luxuriance; but on the south-eastern, there is much waste land, dreary and barren, hardly supporting, even in the summer months, a few sheep and cattle, and supplying the neighbouring villages with heath for fuel. Even in this region, however, cultivation is advancing, and detached portions are improved. The turnpike-roads in this county are numerous, rendering travelling easy and commodious.
These downs are principally of a light chalky soil, with a turf remarkably fine, producing hay, in the enclosed parts, of an excellent quality, on which beasts will thrive well in winter, without any other food. About Bridport, the lower lands are mostly a deep rich loam; but on the hills, throughout the western district, the soil is a sandy loam, intermixed with flint, well adapted for the growth of beech. To the north of Sherborne, where is some of the best land in the county for the plough, it is a stone brack, which is the case in the Isle of Portland, and the Isle of Purbeck. In the centre of the county the soil is good, and the land well managed.
Dorsetshire is not a well wooded county; and, in general, native timber is scarce and dear. In some local spots where the land is cold and wet, such as Duncliff, in the Vale of Blackmore, Heycombe Wood, in the Vale of Sherborne, and others of a similar nature, some plantations may be seen.
The air of Dorsetshire is remarkably mild and salubrious; which, added to the beauty of its scenery, has obtained for it the appellation of the Garden of England. Weymouth has long been celebrated as a fashionable watering-place; and, owing to the general calmness of the sea there, its pleasant situation, and its commodiousness for bathing, has, through the frequent visits of the Royal Family, risen to great consequence.
There are several good and safe ports in this county; the principal of which are, Poole, Lyme-Regis, and Bridport.
The rivers of Dorsetshire are the Frome, the Stour, the Piddle, and the Ivel. The Frome rises in the north-western part of the county, near Evershot; and, passing by Dorchester, reaches Poole, and falls into its bay. The Stour enters this county from Wiltshire, near Gillingham; and, pursuing a southern and south-eastern direction, enters Hampshire. The Piddle rises in the north, and flowing to the south-east, unites with Poole Bay. The Ivel, anciently Yoo, has its origin from several springs near Horethorn, in a hill north-east from Sherborne, from which town it flows into Somersetshire, and falls into the Parret.
The Dorset and Somerset Canal passes through a portion of this county. It has its commencement in the Kennet and Avon Canal at Widbrook near Brad-
ford, and terminates in the Stour river, near Gains-
cross in Shilling-stone-Okeford. The principal ob-
jects of the canal are to supply the manufacturing
towns and neighbourhood through which it passes
with coals, and to open an inland communica-
tion between the Bristol Channel, the Severn, the
Thames, and the southern coast of the island. The
navigation of this canal is continued from Gainscross,
by means of the river Stour, which has been made
navigable across the county, and terminates at Christ-
church harbour, Hants.
Although neither coal nor any metallic ores have
ever been worked in Dorsetshire, the stone quarries
of Purbeck and Portland have long been celebrated.
Purbeck, though called an island, is more properly
a peninsula, of an irregular oval form, about twelve
miles in length, and seven in breadth. The soil is
altogether calcareous, and for the most part a con-
tinued mass, either of white or a brownish limestone;
the latter having a mixture of sea-shells. The quar-
ries on the south side of the isle afford an inexhaust-
ible fund of natural curiosities. The best quarries
are at Kingston, Worth, Langton, and Swanwick.
The Swanwick stone is white, full of shells, takes a
good polish, and looks like alabaster. About Ware-
ham and Morden is found a stone of an iron colour,
called fire-stone. Near Dunshay, marble of various
colours, blue, red, grey and spotted, are dug up; but
all of a coarse grain. Much of the stone of this dis-
trict was used in the building of St Paul's Cathedral,
Westminster Bridge, and Ramsgate Pier, and may be
discovered in many of our ancient cathedrals, churches,
grave-stones, and monuments.
The rocks in the Isle of Portland rise frequently
to 100 or 150 feet, and large masses lie scattered on
the shore. These are composed of calcareous grit,
containing moulds or larox of various shells, and
emitting, when rubbed with steel, a bituminous smell.
The grit is cemented together by a calcareous paste.
The quarries are scattered among these rocks, more
or less, in every part of the isle; but those of most
repute are at Kingston. At this place is a pier,
whence upwards of 6000 tons of stone, on an aver-
age, are supposed to be shipped off annually. The
first stratum in these quarries is about one foot of
blackish or reddish earth; then six feet of stone, not
fit for exportation. Below this is the bed of good
stone, ten or twelve feet deep, and beneath it flint
or clay. The stratum of stone that is worked for
sale lies nearly parallel with the upper surface of the
island, and without much earth or rubbish on it.
When the beds are cleared, the quarrymen proceed
to cross-cut the large flats, which is done with wed-
ges. The beds being cut into distinct lumps, are
squared by the hammer to the largest size which it
will admit; and blocks are thus formed from half a
ton to six or eight tons weight. The colour of the
Portland stone, or freestone, as it is sometimes called,
from the freedom with which it may be broken
into any shape, is well known, as almost white, and
as composing the materials of the most splendid
erectations in London, as well as in other parts of the
British empire.
The general practice and management of tillage in
this county is less attended to than any part of agri-
Dorsetshire. culture; for it appears to be the plan of the farmers to put their seed into the ground with as few ploughings as possible. The sowing of wheat is often effected with one ploughing; and symmetry and neatness are so much disregarded, that, in small pieces of land, the ploughman will vary three or four yards from a straight line. The plough used is called a sull, and is long, large, and heavy, with one small wheel at the side of the beam, and worked by four horses, or six oxen, two a-breast. In the neighbourhood of the towns, land lets for from forty to fifty shillings the acre; and, in general, arable land from twenty to thirty.
Produce. Barley is found to make the best returns; and from 10,000 to 12,000 bushels of malt are annually made in some of the towns. Flax and hemp are objects of great importance about Bridport, Bradford, and Beminster. The seed is imported from Riga, and the average crop is from fifty to sixty dozen pounds per acre, worth from four shillings and sixpence to seven shillings per dozen. It is a precarious crop, depending very much on the season. The seed which is not good enough for sowing is bruised in a mill, and then put into hair-cloths and pressed by a heavy weight, when the linseed-oil used by painters is produced. The hull or husk remaining after the operation is made up into the oil-cake used for feeding cattle.
Sheep. The sheep of Dorsetshire have long been celebrated. They are horned; white faced; long small white legs; the carcass rather long and thin; the mutton fine grained, and of good flavour; weighing, per quarter, in wethers at three years and a half old, from 16 to 20 lbs. Their wool is fine and short; and the breed has the peculiar property of producing lambs at any period: 800,000 is supposed to be the stock of the county, of which number 150,000 are annually sold and sent out of the county. The produce of the wool, yearly, is estimated at 90,000 weight, of thirty-one pounds each.
Horses and Cows. The breed of horses is not particularly regarded. The oxen are principally of the red Devon breed, crossed with the Hampshire and Wiltshire; and are frequently employed in agriculture. Cows are much used for the dairy, very little account being made of their size or colour if they produce much milk. Butter is the greatest produce, though some cheese is also manufactured.
Fish and Fisheries. The mackerel fishery is of considerable consequence to this county. Vast numbers are taken near Abbotsbury, and along the shore from Portland to Bridport. The season for taking them is from the middle of March till Midsummer, in nets or seines. Herrings, and other fish common in these seas, are also taken in abundance.
Manufactures. The manufactures of Dorsetshire are not extensive. The principal are those of flax and hemp, in the neighbourhood of Bridport and Beminster; and also on a smaller scale in the Isle of Purbeck; of all sorts of shirt buttons at Shaftsbury; of a sort of flannel, or coarse woollen cloth called swanskin, at Sherminster. At Stalbridge is a manufacture for spinning silk; and at Sherborne is another upon a larger scale. Some worsted stockings are made at Wimborne.
On the extended downs in the neighbourhood of Dorsetshire. Dorchester, several tumuli are thrown up in all directions, proving this town to have been an important place in British times. Maiden Castle, situated on the apex of a hill about one mile south of the town, is, undoubtedly, the remains of an original British fortress. Nearly two miles north-west of Kingston-Hall, in the parish of Shapwicke, is a celebrated encampment called Bradbury-Rings, which occupies the summit of a considerable eminence. This camp is of a circular form, with treble ramparts and ditches, having two entrances, one on the north-east, and another on the west side. The circumference of the outer rampart is nearly a mile. In the parish of Lullworth is another British fortification, consisting of three ramparts and ditches, including an area of about five acres. It is generally called Flower's Barrow, from the prevalence of these ancient sepulchres within its compass. Many of these barrows have been opened, and found to contain burnt bones, corroded metal, and remains of ancient warlike instruments. A barrow was opened some years ago at Stowborough, in which a body was discovered in an excavated oak trunk, wrapped in folds of skin. Between three and four miles from Corfe Castle eastward, is Nine Barrow Down, an eminence which derives its name from the nine large barrows situated on it in a line. About a mile from Winterbourn Abbas, is a small druidical circle, the diameter of whose area is 28 feet; and the adjacent Downs are much fuller of Celtic barrows than even Salisbury Plains. There is an endless field in many parts of the county for those fond of British antiquities.
The Via Icenniana, or Icennine Way, enters the Roman county near Woodyates; and passing through Dorchester, takes its course to Seaton in Devonshire. There are several smaller ways proceeding from Dorchester, Winborne, Minster, and some other places in the county. The Roman stations in Dorsetshire appear from the best authorities to have been Londonis, now Lyme Regis; Canca-Arixia, Charmouth; Durnovaria, Dorchester; Vindogladia, Winborne; Clavinio, Weymouth; Morinio, Wareham; and Bolclannio, Pole. Near Dorchester are the remains of a Roman amphitheatre, which is computed to have held nearly 13,000 spectators. A large circular entrenchment may be traced upon Woodbury Hill, supposed to have been the Castra Statica of the Romans. On Hambleton Hill is another encampment; and the remains of what has been thought to be a labyrinth. In the parish of Rampisham, a beautiful tessellated pavement, about fourteen feet by ten, was discovered in 1799; and in the vale between Maiden-Newton and Frampton, at the distance of 150 yards from the river Frome, another, of much larger dimensions, was found in 1794. At Sturminster-Newton are the ruins of a castle in the form of the letter D.
The remains of ancient castles are numerous in Dorsetshire; the principal are the following: Corfe, whose ruins are large, and allowed to be the noblest and grandest in the kingdom; Abbotsbury, a little north of East-Bexington; Brownsea Castle, in the island of the same name; and Portland Castle.
Dorsetshire. The abbeys whose ruins may yet be discovered, are those of the Monastery of Benedictines at Cranborne, a part of which now forms the parish church, one of the oldest in the county; Cerm Abbey, said to be founded by St Augustine, the remains of which are not many, but interesting; Abbey Milton, whose church is now converted to a private chapel; the Monastery of Shaftsbury, the ruins of which are discernible, near the mansion of Sir Thomas Arundel; some parts of the cloister and domestic buildings of the Abbey of Sherborne are now occupied by silk machinery; besides inconsiderable remains of several more.
Churches. The church of Fordington is partly in the Saxon style; that of Corfe is Gothic. The churches of Dorchester, Sherborne, Millbourne, St Andrew, Rapisham, Weymouth, and Shaftsbury, are all venerable buildings; but Dorsetshire cannot boast of many instances of ancient ecclesiastical buildings.
Dorchester Jail. Among the modern erections of this county should be mentioned the new jail of the county town. It was built according to Howard's plan, under the direction of Bradburn the architect. In its external appearance it is peculiarly handsome and characteristic; and the interior possesses every convenience appropriate to its destination.
Seats. The principal noblemen and gentlemen's seats of Dorsetshire are; Encombe, of William Moreton Pitt, Esq.; Grange, of John Bond, Esq.; Moer Critchel, of C. Sturt, Esq.; Parnham, of Sir William Oglander, Bart.; Lullworth Castle, of Thomas Wedd, Esq.; Abbey Milton, of the Earl of Dorchester; Sherborne Lodge, of the Earl of Digby; Kingston Hall, of H. Bankes, Esq.; Winterbourne, of E. Williams, Esq.; Wolverton House, the seat of the Trenchard family.
Titles. This county affords the following titles to different noble families; Earl of Dorchester, to the family of Carleton; Earl of Sherborne, to the family of Dutton; Earl of Shaftsbury, to that of Ashley Cooper; Viscount Bridport, to that of Hood; Duke of Portland, to that of Bentick; Duke of Dorset, to that of Sackville; and Earl Digby, to that of Digby.
Population. The population of Dorsetshire in 1700 was 90,000; in 1750 it was 96,000; in 1801 it was 119,100; and, according to the returns of 1811, it was as follows:—
See Hutchin's History of Dorsetshire; and Beauties of England and Wales. (v. x.)