Milton, Dorset

This was a result of a fashion amongst English landowners to improve the amenity of their homes by converting surrounding farmland into open parkland.

Where buildings were deemed to spoil the view, they were removed, including villages and towns, as in the case of Milton.

[1] A church, dedicated to Saint Sampson, was founded at Milton in the reign of King Athelstan (who also granted an annual fair).

Milton was a market town with almshouses, a grammar school, brewery, prosperous traders and inns.

[2] Nonetheless, having persuaded, by what means is not always clear, the inhabitants to vacate (many were rehoused at the nearby new settlement of Milton Abbas), Damer had the entire town demolished.