History of Dorset

The population was very small, maybe only a few thousand across the whole of Britain, and concentrated along the coast: in Dorset, such places as the Isle of Purbeck, Weymouth, Chesil Beach and Hengistbury Head, and along the Stour valley.

Genetic experiments carried out on a Mesolithic skeleton from Cheddar Gorge (in the neighbouring county of Somerset) have shown that a significant part of the contemporary population of Dorset is descended from these original inhabitants of the British Isles.

[3][4] This suggests that when a wave of immigrant farmers arrived from the continent in the Neolithic, the indigenous hunter-gatherers were not wiped out, but instead most likely adopted agricultural practices.

By the Late Iron Age, the inhabitants of Dorset were minting their own coinage and thriving on trade with Northern Gaul (Armorica, now known as Brittany).

The next century or so until the Roman conquest saw a long drawn-out period of economic retrenchment in Dorset, in parallel with a rising population and a decline in soil quality (much of it had been in cultivation for 4,000 years).

Another alternative is "fort-dwellers"; it is known that the Durotriges were still occupying their hillforts at the time of the Roman invasion in 43 AD, whereas in most other parts of Britain they had been abandoned around 100 BC.

There is also a Cornish word dur meaning "land" or "earth"; hence the Durotriges might also be "land-dwellers", referring to their already important farming tradition: it is known that they were exporting grain to the Roman Empire in large quantities already by the first century BC.

[8][9] The Romans landed in Dorset at Poole Harbour and the Fleet and moved inland, while other groups travelled west from Old Sarum and Winchester.

There is some evidence of a struggle at Maiden Castle and Badbury Rings but current opinion amongst archaeologists is that these, and Hod Hill, also fell with ease.

[11] Roman roads radiated from Dorchester, following the tops of the chalk ridges north west to Ilchester near Yeovil, and east to Badbury Rings where it forked to Winchester, Bath and a particularly well-preserved route running north east to Old Sarum near Salisbury, as well as tracks to the many small Roman villages around the county.

In the Isle of Purbeck a long-settled Iron Age site at Worth Matravers was reorganised late in the Roman period to grow grain for the legion, with a grain-parching granary floor heated with a hypocaust.

Although there were Jutish and later Saxon people in the Southampton area from the 5th century, the Britons seem to have successfully resisted their expansion into future Dorset for a long period.

A large defensive ditch on Cranborne Chase in the north east of the county, Bokerley Dyke, dated to 367, appears to have been fortified and - along with the blocking of the Roman Road at Ackling Dyke, to have delayed the Saxon conquest of Dorset, with the Romano-British remaining in Dorset for 200 years after the withdrawal of the Roman legions.

St Martin's church at Wareham is reputedly the oldest in Dorset but there were many other Saxon foundations including Shaftesbury Abbey and Sherborne Monastery.

In 1348 the Black Death came to England, probably landing in ports along the south coast, including Melcombe Regis now part of Weymouth.

Throughout the Medieval period, Dorset was popular amongst the nobility, including a number of kings, for its hunting estates, such as Gillingham and Sherborne.

[23] The quarrying of Purbeck Marble, a limestone that can be polished, brought wealth into the county and provided employment for stonecutters and masons.

[25] From the Tudor to Georgian periods farming specialised and the monastic estates broke up, leading to an increase in population and settlement size.

[28] The residents of Lyme Regis were staunch Parliamentarians who, in 1644, repelled three attacks by a Royalist army under King Charle's nephew, Prince Maurice.

[30] After the failed Monmouth Rebellion, the 'Bloody Assizes' took place in Dorchester where over a five-day period, Judge Jeffreys presided over 312 cases.

Shaftsbury, Sturminster Marshall, Beamister, Burton Bradstock, Gillingham, Cerne Abbas and Winterbourne Stickland produced a wide variety of materials between them, including sailcloth, linen and even silk.

The large Portland Harbour, built at the end of the 19th century and protected by Nothe Fort and the Verne Citadel, was for many years, including during the wars, one of the largest Royal Navy bases.

In 1974 the political boundaries of Dorset were modified, incorporating a small area of south west Hampshire which included the towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch.