785 



DORSETSHIRE. 



DORT. 



786 



Borne fine views, and the village is much resorted to in the summer. 

 Piddletown, 5 miles N.E. from Dorchester, population 1297, a small 

 well-built town situated on the river Piddle. The church is perpen- 

 dicular, and contains a very rich Norman font and several interesting 

 tombs. The Independents and Wesleyan Methodists have places of 

 worship. A market formerly held here has been long discontinued. 

 Fairs for cattle are held on Easter Tuesday and October 29th. Radi- 

 pole, 6 miles S. by W. from Dorchester, population 609, a pleasant 

 little village on the left bank of the Wey. Besides the church, which 

 is very handsome, there are chapels belonging to the Independents 

 and Roman Catholics. In the neighbourhood are many villas and 

 genteel residences, and the place is much resorted to by summer 

 visiters. Shajneick, 17 miles N.E. by E. from Dorchester : population, 

 414. The church is a curious old building. Shapwiek once possessed 

 a market : part of an ancient cross is still left A priory was founded 

 here in 1414. Some remains of an ancient camp are to be seen in the 

 neighbourhood. S}>itislury, 15 miles N.E. from Dorchester : popu- 

 lation, 660. The church in ancient, and has an embattled tower. 

 There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyan Methodists. 

 The Roman Catholics have a church, convent, and school at Middle- 

 street, a hamlet of Spetisbury. An alien priory formerly existed here. 

 In the vicinity are some remains of an earthwork. Sydling St. Nicholas, 

 8 miles N.W. by W. from Dorchester : population, 675. Besides the 

 church, there are Independent and Methodist chapels, and a Free school. 

 A singular custom lately prevailed here of the farmers meeting every 

 after service under an old elm, known as the Old Cross Tree, 

 to hear the complaints of their farm-labourers. Winterbourne St. 

 Martin, or Martinttown, 2 miles W.S.W. from Dorchester : popula- 

 tion, 434. The church is ancient, but of different dates. The village 

 stands in the midst of an agricultural district, and has a considerable 

 trade. Winterbourne formerly had a market ; a fair which is well 

 supplied with cattle, is held on St. Martin's day. Maiden Castle, the 

 remains of a Roman camp, is situated in this parish. There are seve- 

 ral other villages and parishes in Dorsetshire which are named Winter- 

 bourne. Witchampton, situated on the right bank of the river Allen, 

 22 miles N.E. from Dorchester, population 504, was formerly a 

 market-town. The church is a large and handsome specimen of the 

 decorated style. There are a Wesleyan chapel, an Infant and a Charity 

 school, and four almahouses. A paper-mill gives employment to some 

 of the inhabitants. Wyke Regit, 9 miles S. by W. from Dorchester, 

 population 1898, a small village on the sea-coast. The houses are 

 good, and the church is a very fine Norman edifice, with a square 

 embattled tower, which serves as a landmark for vessels in the channel. 

 In the interior are some good monuments and rich stained glass win- 

 dows. Wyke Regis church is the mother-church of Weymouth. 

 There is a Free school. From the heights in the vicinity some exten- 

 sive prospects are obtained. Yetmimter, 16 miles N.N.W. from Dor- 

 chester, population 666, formerly a market-town. Two fairs are held 

 here annually. 



Division* for Ecclesiastical and Legal Purposes. In the earlier 

 period of the ecclesiastical constitution of England, Dorsetshire was 

 included in the bishopric of Dorchester in Oxfordshire, a see founded 

 by Birinus, first bishop of the West Saxons, about 626, and afterwards 

 removed to Winchester. In the year 705, when Ina, king of Wessex, 

 divided his kingdom into dioceses, Dorsetshire was comprehended in 

 that of Sherborne, from "which place the see was removed about the 

 middle of the llth century to Sarum. Upon the erection of the see 

 of Bristol in 1542 Dorsetshire was transferred to the new diocese, of 

 which it constituted the chief part, and it continued to be so until 

 transferred back by the late act to the diocese of Salisbury. 

 According to the 'Census of Religious Worship' taken in 1851 it 

 appears that there were then in the county 563 places of worship, 

 namely, 304 of the Church of England ; 147 of four sections of 

 Methodists; 69 of Independents; 15 of Baptists; and 23 of minor 

 bodies. The total number of sittings provided was 121,206. By the 

 Poor-Law Commissioners the county is divided into 12 unions : 

 Beaminster, Blandford, Bridport, Cerne, Dorchester, Poole, Shaftes- 

 bury, Sherbourne, Sturminstcr, Wareham and Purbeck, Weymouth, 

 and Wimbourne and Cranbourne. These Unions include 282 parishes 

 and townships, with an area of 596,413 acres, and a population in 

 1851 of 173,332 ; but the boundaries of the Unions are not strictly 

 co-extensive with those of the county. This county is included in 

 the western circuit. The assizes were anciently held at Sherbourne ; 

 sometimes, though rarely, at Shaftesbury ; but generally, especially 

 in latter times, at Dorchester, where they may be considered as now 

 fixed. The shire-hall and county jail are at Dorchester. The quarter- 

 Hcnaions are also held at Dorchester ; and county courts are held at 

 Blandford, Bridport, Dorchester, Poole, Wareham, and Weymouth. 



Before the passing of the Reform Act 20 members were returned 

 to the House of Commons from Dorsetshire. The county now returns 

 14 members, namely, 3 for the county; 2 each for the boroughs of 

 Bridport, Dorchester, Poole, and Weymouth united with Melcombe 

 Regis; and one each for the boroughs of Shaftesbury, Lyme 

 Regis, and Wareham. Corfe Castle was disfranchised by the Reform 

 Act, and included in the neighbouring parliamentary borough of 

 Wareham. 



Jlittory and Antiquities. This county was in the earliest period 

 noticed by history inhabited by a people whom Ptolemaous calls 



OSOO. DIV. VOL. H. 



Durotriges, a name which Mr. Hutchins (after Camden) derives from 

 the British words dwr, water, and trig, an inhabitant, arid interprets 

 to mean 'dwellers by the water side." According to Asser Menevensis 

 the Britons called this people Dwr Gwyr ; the Saxons called them 

 Dorsettan, whence the modern name of the county. The Durotriges 

 appear to have been of Belgic race. Upon the conquest of South 

 Britain by the Romans Dorsetshire was included in Britannia Prima. 



Of this early period of our history there are several remains in 

 various camps and earth-works, stone-circles, cromlechs, and barrows. 

 [CEBNE ABBAS.] In the north-eastern part of the county, and the 

 adjacent part of Wiltshire, are several embankments with ditches ; 

 they all run in a winding and irregular manner mostly from south-east 

 to north-west, having the ditch on the north-east side. At Sutton 

 Walrond are two hills which appear to have been Celtic earth-works. 



There are several Roman camps in the county. Mr. Hutchins 

 enumerates 25 ; and the walls and amphitheatre of Dorchester, and 

 the coins and pavements found there, are monuments of the same 

 victorious people. There were at least two Roman stations in the 

 county, namely, Durnovaria ('Itin.' Antoninus), or Dunium (Ptole- 

 maeus), Dorchester; and Vindoeladia, or Vindogladia, Vindelia in 

 Richard of Cirencester, which some are disposed to fix at Wimbourne, 

 others more probably at Gussage, between Blandford Forum and 

 Cranbourne. To these Dr. Stukeley would add a third, Iberniuui 

 (mentioned by the anonymous Ravennas), which he fixes at Bere 

 Regis. 



The Ikenield or Icknield way enters the county at its western 

 extremity, coming from Hembury Fort [DEVONSHIRE], and runs east 

 by south to Dorchester, near which it is very perfect, high and broad, 

 and paved with flint and stone; from Dorchester it runs by Sheep- 

 wick and Sturminster Marshall, and the Gussages into Wiltshire. The 

 remains of a Roman road may be traced on the south-west side of the 

 Frome, leading from Dorchester in a north-west direction as far an 

 Bradford Peverel and Stratton, soon after which it disappears ; another 

 road may be traced from Dorchester on the other bank of Frome, 

 parallel to the former road, and uniting with it at Stratton ; and there 

 are traces of several others. 



When the Saxons established their octarchy Dorsetshire was included 

 in the kingdom of Wessex ; and even after the West Saxon princes 

 acquired the sovereignty of England they resided occasionally in thid 

 county. Ethelbald and Ethelbert, the elder brothers of Alfred the 

 Great, were buried at Sherbourne ; and Ethelred I., another brother 

 of the same prince, at Wimbourne. 



In the invasions of the Danes this county suffered severely. In 876 

 they made themselves masters of Wareham, where they were besieged 

 by Alfred, who obliged them to quit that place the next year, when 

 120 of their vessels were wrecked at Swanage. In 1002 Sweyu, king 

 of Denmark, in his invasion of England, destroyed Dorchester, Sher- 

 bourne, and Shaston or Shaftesbury. 



Throughout the middle ages few events of historical interest con- 

 nected with the county occur. The contest of the Roses little affected 

 this part of the kingdom. The towns on the coast were flourishing, 

 as appears from the following list of the vessels which they furnished 

 to the fleet of Edward III. at the siege of Calais, 1347 : Weymouth, 

 20 ships and 264 mariners, or, according to Hackluyt, 15 ships and 

 263 mariners; Lyme, 4 ships, 62 mariners ; Poole, 4 ships, 94 mariners; 

 Wareham, 3 ships, 59 mariners. Weymouth furnished only 2 vessels 

 less than Bristol and only 5 less than London ; they were howerer 

 more weakly manned and probably smaller. To the fleet of the lord 

 high admiral (Howard of Effingham), at the time of the armada, 1588, 

 this county furnished 8 vessels (3 of them volunteers) and 340 men. 

 The second engagement of the English fleet with the armada was off 

 Portland Bill. 



In the civil war of Charles I. the gentry were mostly for the king ; 

 but the people of the towns, where the clothing trade was then carried 

 on, anc. of the ports, were for the parliament. In the beginning of 

 the war, Sir Walter Earle and Sir Thomas Trenchard, partisans of tho 

 parliament, possessed themselves of Dorchester, Weymouth, Portland, 

 Lyme, Wareham, and Poole, while Sherbourne Castle, Chideock Castle, 

 and Corfe Castle were garrisoned by the king. Corfe Castle held out 

 for the Icing till 1645-6. The year 1645 was distinguished by tho 

 rising of the club-men in the counties of Dorset, Wilts, and Somerset ; 

 their object was to defend this part of the county from the outrages 

 of both parties. Their assembling excited the jealousy of the parlia- 

 mentarians, whose superiority was now established. Cromwell defeated 

 a considerable body of them at Hamilton Hill, and other bodies were 

 persuaded to disperse. 



In 1851 the county had 10 savings banks at Blandford Forum, 

 Bridport, Dorchester, Lyme Regis, Poole, Shaftesbury, Sherbourne, 

 Wareham, Weymouth, and Wimbourne. The amount due to depo- 

 sitors on the 20th of November, 1851, was 432.946J. 11s. 



DORT, (Dordrecht, formerly Thuredrecht), a city of South Holland, is 

 situated on an island formed by the Maas, 11 miles S.E. from Rotterdam, 

 in 51 49' N. lat., 4 42' E. long., and has about 21,000 inhabitants. 

 The island on which it stands was separated from the opposite shore 

 in November, 1421, by an irruption of the waters. By this irruption 

 the dykes were broken down, more than 70 villages were destroyed, 

 and a great number of the inhabitants drowned. Durt is oiie of the 

 most ancient cities in Holland, and was formerly the capital of the 



