on the Isle of Portland, where both the Purbeck and Portland formations are well exposed, the latter yielding the well-known freestones. In the north-west of the county the Kimmeridge Clay crops in a N.-S. direction from the neighbourhood of Gillingham by Woolland to near Buckland Newton; in the south, a strip runs E. and W. between Abbotsbury, Upway and Osmington Mill. Next in order come the Corallian Beds and Oxford Clay which follow the line of the Kimmeridge Clay, that is, they run from the north to the south-west except in the neighbourhood of Abbotsbury and Weymouth, where these beds are striking east and west.
Below the Oxford Clay is the Cornbrash, which may be seen near Redipole, Stalbridge and Stourton; then follows the Forest Marble, which usually forms a strong escarpment over the Fuller’s Earth beneath—at Thornford the Fuller’s Earth rock is quarried. Next comes the Inferior Oolite, quarried near Sherborne and Beaminster; the outcrop runs on to the coast at Bridport. Beneath the Oolites are the Midford sands, which are well exposed in the cliff between Bridport and Burton Brandstock. Except where the Greensand outliers occur, the south-western part of the county is occupied by Lower and Middle Lias beds. These are clays and marls in the upper portions and limestones below. Rhaetic beds, the so-called “White Lias,” are exposed in Pinhay Bay.
Many of the formations in Dorsetshire are highly fossiliferous, notably the Lias of Lyme Regis, whence Ichthyosaurus and other large reptiles have been obtained; remains of the Iguanodon have been taken from the Wealden beds of the Isle of Purbeck; the Kimmeridge Clay, Inferior Oolite, Forest Marble and Fuller’s Earth are all fossil-bearing rocks. The coast exhibits geological sections of extreme interest and variety; the vertical and highly inclined strata of the Purbeck anticline are well exhibited at Gad Cliff or near Ballard Point; at the latter place the fractured fold is seen to pass into an “overthrust fault.”
Climate and Agriculture.—The air of Dorsetshire is remarkably mild, and in some of the more sheltered spots on the coast semi-tropical plants are found to flourish. The district of the clays obtains for the county the somewhat exaggerated title of the “garden of England,” though the rich Vale of Blackmore and the luxuriant pastures and orchards in the west may support the name. Yet Dorsetshire is not generally a well-wooded county, though much fine timber appears in the richer soils, in some of the sheltered valleys of the chalk district, and more especially upon the Greensand. About three-fourths of the total area is under cultivation, and of this nearly five-eighths is in permanent pasture, while there are in addition about 26,000 acres of hill pasturage; the chalk downs being celebrated of old as sheep-walks. Wheat, barley and oats are grown about equally. Turnips occupy nearly three-fourths of the average under green crops. Sheep are largely kept, though in decreasing numbers. The old horned breed of Dorsetshire were well known, but Southdowns or Hampshires are now frequently preferred. Devons, shorthorns and Herefords are the most common breeds of cattle. Dairy farming is an important industry.
Other Industries.—The quarries of Isles of Portland and Purbeck are important. The first supplies a white freestone employed for many of the finest buildings in London and elsewhere. Purbeck marble is famous through its frequent use by the architects of many of the most famous Gothic churches in England. A valuable product of Purbeck is a white pipeclay, largely applied to the manufacture of china, for which purpose it is exported to the Potteries of Staffordshire. Industries, beyond those of agriculture and quarrying, are slight, though some shipbuilding is carried on at Poole, and paper is made at several towns. Other small manufactures are those of flax and hemp in the neighbourhood of Bridport and Beaminster, of bricks, tiles and pottery in the Poole district, and of nets (braiding, as the industry is called) in some of the villages. There are silk-mills at Sherborne and elsewhere. There are numerous fishing stations along the coast, the fishing being mostly coastal. There are oyster beds in Poole Harbour. The chief ports are Poole, Weymouth, Swanage, Bridport, and Lyme Regis. The harbour of refuge at Portland, under the Admiralty, is an important naval station, and is fortified.
Communications.—The main line of the London & South Western railway serves Gillingham and Sherborne in the north of the county. Branches of this system serve Wimborne, Poole, Swanage, Dorchester, Weymouth and Portland. The two last towns, with Bridport, are served by the Great Western railway; the Somerset & Dorset line (Midland and South Western joint) follows the Stour valley by Blandford and Wimborne; and Lyme Regis is the terminus of a light railway from Axminster on the South Western line.
Population and Administration.—The area of the ancient county is 632,270 acres, with a population in 1891 of 194,517, and in 1901 of 202,936. The area of the administrative county is 625,578 acres. The county contains 35 hundreds. It is divided into northern, eastern, southern and western parliamentary divisions, each returning one member. It contains the following municipal boroughs—Blandford Forum (pop. 3649), Bridport (5710), Dorchester, the county town (9458), Lyme Regis (2095), Poole (19,463), Shaftesbury (2027), Wareham (2003), Weymouth and Melcombe Regis (19,831). The following are other urban districts—Portland (15,199), Sherborne (5760), Swanage (3408), Wimborne Minster (3696). Dorsetshire is in the western circuit, and assizes are held at Dorchester. It has one court of quarter sessions, and is divided into nine petty sessional divisions. The boroughs of Bridport, Dorchester, Lyme Regis, Poole, and Weymouth and Melcombe Regis have separate commissions of the peace, and the borough of Poole has in addition a separate court of quarter sessions. There are 289 civil parishes. The ancient county, which is almost entirely in the diocese of Salisbury, contains 256 ecclesiastical parishes or districts wholly or in part.
History.—The kingdom of Wessex originated with the settlement of Cerdic and his followers in Hampshire in 495, and at some time before the beginning of the 8th century the tide of conquest and colonization spread beyond the Frome and Kennet valleys and swept over the district which is now Dorsetshire. In 705 the West Saxon see was transferred to Sherborne, and the numerous foundations of religious houses which followed did much to further the social and industrial development of the county; though the wild and uncivilized state in which the county yet lay may be conjectured from the names of the hundreds and of their meeting-places, at barrows, boulders and vales. In 787 the Danes landed at Portland, and in 833 they arrived at Charmouth with thirty-five ships and fought with Ecgbert. The shire is first mentioned by name in the Saxon Chronicle in 845, when the Danes were completely routed at the mouth of the Parret by the men of Dorsetshire under Osric the ealdorman. In 876 the invaders captured Wareham, but were driven out next year by Alfred, and 120 of their ships were wrecked at Swanage. During the two following centuries Dorset was constantly ravaged by the Danes, and in 1015 Canute came on a plundering expedition to the mouth of the Frome. Several of the West Saxon kings resided in Dorsetshire, and Æthelbald and Æthelbert were buried at Sherborne, and Æthelred at Wimborne. In the reign of Canute Wareham was the shire town; it was a thriving seaport, with a house for the king when he came there on his hunting expeditions, a dwelling for the shire-reeve and accommodation for the leading thegns of the shire. At the time of the Conquest Dorset formed part of Harold’s earldom, and the resistance which it opposed to the Conqueror was punished by a merciless harrying, in which Dorchester, Wareham and Shaftesbury were much devastated, and Bridport utterly ruined.
No Englishman retained estates of any importance after the Conquest, and at the time of the Survey the bulk of the land, with the exception of the forty-six manors held by the king, was in the hands of religious houses, the abbeys of Cerne, Milton and Shaftesbury being the most wealthy. There were 272 mills in the county at the time of the Survey, and nearly eighty men were employed in working salt along the coast. Mints existed at Shaftesbury, Wareham, Dorchester and Bridport, the three former having been founded by Æthelstan. The forests of Dorsetshire were favourite hunting-grounds of the Norman kings, and King John in particular paid frequent visits to the county.
No precise date can be assigned for the establishment of the shire system in Wessex, but in the time of Ecgbert the kingdom was divided into definite pagi, each under an ealdorman, which no doubt represented the later shires. The Inquisitio Geldi, drawn up two years before the Domesday Survey, gives the names of the 39 pre-Conquest hundreds of Dorset. The 33 hundreds and
