781 



DORSETSHIRE. 



DORSETSHIRE. 



782 



between Chard and Honiton. The Falmouth, Devonport, and Exeter 

 mail-road also just crosses the western part of the county. The 

 Southampton and Poole mail-road enters the county beyond Ring- 

 wood, and runs by Wimbourne Minster to Poole. There are several 

 other important roads in the county. 



Geological Character. The direction of the chalk-hills, which has 

 been already noticed, furnishes the key to the geological structure of 

 Dorsetshire. The North and South Downs respectively extend westward 

 from the neighbourhood of Shaftesbnry and the peninsula, which, 

 although a part of the mainland, ia called the Isle of Purbeck. The 

 Downs unite at their western extremity near Beaminster, and inclose 

 a basin, the ' Trough of Poole,' in which we have the formations 

 superior to the chalk; beyond or without this basin we have the 

 formations which underlie the chalk. 



The eastern part of the county, as far as Cranbourne, Chalbury 

 and Wimbourne Minster, and the Trough of Poole, are occupied by 

 the plastic clay. Potter's clay in beds of various thickness and 

 at different depths alternates with loose sand in this formation in 

 the Trough of Poole. The potter's clay is sent to Staffordshire, 

 where it is mixed with ground Hints and employed in the finer kinds 

 of pottery. Beneath the potter's clay lies a seam of very friable 

 earthy brown coal, which crumbles when put into water, burns with 

 a weak flame, emitting a particular and rather bituminous smell, 

 somewhat like Bovey coal. An extensive horizontal bed of pipeclay 

 skirt* t.he northern declivity of the South Downs, and contains a bed 

 of coal -xactly resembling that of Alum Bay in the Isle of Wight ; clay 

 of the same bed, but not of equal quality, may be found in other 

 parts of the Trough of Poole ; it is quarried extensively near the 

 town of Poole, where clay for fire-bricks is also dug. Near Handfast 

 Point the sand of this formation passes into sandstone. The plastic 

 clay is found capping one or two hills south-west of Dorchester. 



The ohalk formation bounds the plastic clay. In the North Downs 

 the chalk occupies a breadth of nearly ten miles, namely, from 

 Shafteabury to Cranbourne, and along the valley of the Stour from 

 above Blandford to Wimbourne Minster : at its western extremity the 

 formation is still broader, extending about 18 miles beyond Bea- 

 minster to Stinsford, near Dorchester. On the southern side of the 

 Trough of Poola it becomes much narrower, scarcely averaging two 

 miles in breadth. The cliffs along the south coast are partly chalk : 

 the strata are in some places curved and occasionally vertical. The 

 valleys drained by the upper part of the Frome and ita tributaries 

 are occupied by the greensand, so that the mass of the chalk hills 

 about Beaminster is cut off from the rest of the formation. In the 

 district south of the chalk range and extending to the coast the chalk- 

 marl, greensand, weald clay, and iron sand are found skirting the 

 chalk in the order in which we have named them in the Isle of 

 Purbeck, and extending along the coast between the chalk and the 

 Purbeck and Portland limestone, next to be noticed. The iron-sand 

 near Lulworth contains imperfect beda of wood-coal. The weald 

 clay is not found along the coast west of the Isle of Purbeck. 



The Purbeck strata, belonging to the upper series of the oolitic 

 formation, consist of argillaceous limestone alternating with schistose 

 marl : they crop out from under the iron-sand in the Isle of Purbeck. 

 A variety of the Purbeck stone known as Purbeck marble was formerly 

 much used for columns and ornaments in our cathedrals and old 

 churches. The thickness of the Purbeck beds is estimated at 290 feet. 

 The Portland oolite, another member of the same series which suc- 

 ceeds the Purbeck stone, occupies the remainder of the Isle of Purbeck 

 and the whole of the Isle of Portland. It consists of a number of beds 

 of a yellowish white calcareous freestone, generally mixed with a 

 small quantity of silicious sand. But the different beds of which it 

 is composed often vary in their characters, nor are the same beds of a 

 uniform character in different localities. The varieties of this forma- 

 tion afford a great part of the stone used for architectural purposes 

 in London. The Portland stone came into repute in the time of 

 James I., who used it by the advice of his architects in rebuilding 

 the banqueting-house at Whitehall. After the great fire of London, 

 A.D. 1666, vast quantities of this stone were used in rebuilding St. 

 Paul's and other public edifices. A considerable portion of West- 

 minster bridge and the whole of Blackfriars bridge are built of it. 



The strata of stone of all kinds on the east side of Portland have 

 an aggregate thickness of 93 feet, on the west side of 112 feet. The 

 upper stratum or ' cap stone' is employed in building the Portland 

 breakwater. The Kimmeridge clay, a blue slaty or grayish yellow 

 clay, which also belongs to the upper oolitic series, underlie* the 

 Portland stone : it sometimes contains beds of a highly bituminous 

 shale, which, from their being found near Kimmeridge in the Isle of 

 Purbeck, have obtained the name of Kimmeridge coal, and have given 

 to the whole formation the name of Kimmeridge clay. The thick- 

 ness of the Kimmeridge clay is estimated at 60Q or 700 feet. It 

 forma the base of the Portland oolite in the Isle of Portland, and 

 the line of junction between the two formations is elevated on the 

 north side of the island far above the level of the sea. The coasts 

 of the island are here formed by a sloping bank of Kimmeridge clay, 

 surmounted by an abrupt escarpment of oolite. On the south side 

 of the island by the dip of the strata towards the south, the line of 

 junction is brought down to the level of the sea. 



Towards the south-western shore of th Isle of Purbeck, where 



the chalk downs approach the aea, and are skirted only by a very 

 narrow belt occupied by the iron sand, and beyond that seaward by 

 the Portland oolite, the sea has formed several singular coves, at the 

 entrance of which are lofty headlands of oolite ; while the cove or 

 basin is excavated inland as far as the chalk. The precipitous sides 

 of these basins exhibit in a most striking manner the formations 

 between the chalk and the oolite. 



Westward of the coves just described, extending from Weymouth 

 Bay towards the river Brit, occurs what is termed by geologists ' a 

 saddle,' a double series of formations. After the greensand, Purbeck 

 and Portland beds, and Kimmeridge clay, have successively cropped 

 out from beneath the chalk, the coral rag, and Oxford clay, members 

 of the middle series of oolites, rise to the surface in succession, and 

 are succeeded by the forest marble and the great oolite, which belong 

 to the lowest series of the oolitic formations. To the southward of 

 the great oolite and forest marble, the superior strata reappear in 

 reverse order of succession ; the Oxford clay, then the coral rag, and 

 then the Kimmeridge clay, which runs down to the shore at Weyinouth, 

 and rises again from the sea in the Isle of Portland, where it appears 

 capped with the Portland oolite. 



In the north-western and western parts of the county, the chalk 

 formation is succeeded by the greensand, which crops out from beneath 

 it, and skirts the northern side and the western extremity of the North 

 Downs. The greensand forms the outlying masses of Pillesdon and 

 Lewston hills, and of others yet farther west along the borders of 

 Dorsetshire and in the county of Devon. [DEVONSHIRE.] West of 

 Shaftesbury extends a bed of Kimmeridge clay, which crops out from 

 under the greensand : west of the Kimmeridge clay is a range of 

 coral rag hills ; and still farther west occur the Oxford clay and the 

 great oolite. All these formations are overlaid by the westward 

 extension of the chalk and greensand from the valley of the Stour to 

 Beaminster ; but some of them re-appear in the cliffs which line the 

 coast westward of the Chesil bank. The western extremity of the 

 county is occupied by the lowest members of the oolitic series and by 

 the lias. The line of junction of these formations extends nearly 

 north and south from Ilminster in Somersetshire to the sea. The 

 detached part of the county which is inclosed within Devonshire is 

 partly occupied by the red marl formation. 



Climate, Soil, Agriculture. The climate of Dorsetshire, though 

 mild and healthy, is not so warm as its geographical situation would 

 lead us to expect ; a circumstance owing to the nature of the soil 

 and the bareness of its chalk hills, there being little or nothing to 

 break the force of the winds that sweep over them. The air is some- 

 what keen and bracing. In the valleys the climate resembles that of 

 the valleys of Devonshire, and the vegetation is very similar. It 

 appears from Domesday Book that in the llth century there were 

 vineyards in several parts of this county. 



A considerable portion of the soil in the south-eastern part of Dor- 

 setshire is composed of a loose sand and gravel, with a portion of 

 ferruginous loam. The whole surface of the county consists chiefly 

 of this loose sand and gravel, clay and chalk. The most fertile spots 

 are those where all the three have been mixed in the valleys by the 

 rivulets which run down the hills carrying the soil with them. The 

 poor sandy soil occupies that part of the county which joins Hamp- 

 shire. In the centre and towards Wiltshire lies the chalk ; and along 

 the coast, over a more solid chalky rock, is a stratum of clay, which 

 likewise covers the western part towards Devonshire, and the northern 

 towards Somersetshire. 



The chalk hills to the west of Dorchester, and along the borders of 

 the vale of Blackmore, are of considerable elevation, and contain 

 several narrow vales and deep hollows. The most elevated parts of 

 the chalk district are most profitably retained as sheep-walk, the 

 pasture being fine and short. In the bottom of the vale of Black- 

 more are some extremely fertile meadows watered by the river Stour. 

 The h'lls which look down upon this valley are high and bare ; but 

 the lower sides are beautifully varied with woods and fields. The 

 quantity of arable land throughout the county bears but a small 

 proportion to the pasture ; and greater attention is paid to the rearing 

 of sheep and feeding of cattle than to the raising of corn. 



On the larger farms the farm-houses are old buildings of, and covered 

 with, stone tiles ; in the smaller they are mostly thatched with reed. 

 Many cottages are built with mud walls composed of road scrapings, 

 chalk, and straw, the foundation being of stone or brick. Garden 

 walls are frequently built of these cheap materials, their top being 

 protected from the weather by a small roof of thatch, which extends 

 a few inches over each side. 



The introduction of sainfoin on the dry chalky soils has been a 

 great advantage, as it produces a rich fodder, requires little manure, 

 and lasts many years. In this soil the wheat is generally sown after 

 clover which has stood one or two years, but sometimes also after 

 turnips or rape fed off. The folding of the land saves manure, and 

 the vicinity of sheep downs gives an opportunity of having large 

 folds and repeating the folding often, both before and after sowing 

 the seed. The tread of the sheep consolidates loose soils better than 

 the heaviest roller. 



Barley is here a more important crop than wheat. It is sown from 

 the middle of March to the middle of May. The earliest sown is 

 generally the best. The produce averages 30 bushels per acre. Oats 



