EDITORIAL NOTE 



The Victoria History of Dorset, Volume II, containing most of the 'general' articles 

 for that county, appeared in 1908. Articles on natural history, pre-history, and schools, 

 and the translation, with commentary, of the county section of Domesday Book then 

 remained to be published in order to complete the 'general' volumes. Though a volume 

 to contain those articles was in preparation at the time, it was not proceeded with, and 

 the First World War put a stop to all further activity on Dorset. An opportunity arose 

 in 1965 to publish separately the Domesday section, which had been prepared for 

 another purpose, and it was decided to do so and not to await the completion of any 

 other 'general' articles. The Royal Commission on Historical Monuments are in any 

 case actively engaged in surveying the county's prehistoric monuments and the case for 

 compiling a partially overlapping survey did not seem compelling. There is, moreover, 

 no strong probability that natural history articles, apart from a survey of physique, 

 will now be needed. They have been omitted from the Victoria History scheme in 

 recent years. It is possible that accounts of ancient endowed grammar schools will in 

 Dorset's case eventually be incorporated in the 'topographical' articles. 



The structure and aims of the History as a whole are outlined in an article published 

 in the Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, Vol. XL (No. loi. May 1967). 

 In preparing the present volume for the press much valuable work has been done by 

 Miss Celia B. Clarke, formerly an Assistant to the Editor. 



