Dorset is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of 2,653 square kilometres (1,024 sq mi), Dorset borders Devon to the west, Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north-east, and Hampshire to the east. The county town is Dorchester, in the south. After the reorganisation of local government in 1974, the county border was extended eastward to incorporate the Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch. Around half of the population lives in the South East Dorset conurbation, while the rest of the county is largely rural with a low population density.
Shaftesbury is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is situated on the A30 road, 20 miles west of Salisbury, near the border with Wiltshire. It is the only significant hilltop settlement in Dorset, being built about 215 metres above sea level on a greensand hill on the edge of Cranborne Chase.
Lydlinch is a village and civil parish in the Blackmore Vale in north Dorset, England, about three miles west of Sturminster Newton. The village is sited on Oxford clay close to the small River Lydden. The parish – which includes the village of King's Stag to the south and the hamlet of Stock Gaylard to the west – is bounded by the Lydden to the east and its tributary, the Caundle Brook, to the north.
Milborne St Andrew is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England. It is situated on the A354 road, 9 miles northeast of the county town Dorchester, in a winterbourne valley on the dip slope of the Dorset Downs. In the 2011 census the parish had 472 dwellings, 453 households and a population of 1,062.
Winterborne St Martin, commonly known as Martinstown, is a village and civil parish in southwest Dorset, England, situated 4 miles (6.4 km) south-west of Dorchester, beside Maiden Castle. In 2013 the estimated population of the civil parish was 780.
Andrew James Matfin Bell is an English actor and dancer. He rose to prominence for his debut role in Billy Elliot (2000), for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, becoming one of the youngest winners of the award. He is also known for his leading roles as Tintin in The Adventures of Tintin (2011) and as Ben Grimm / Thing in Fantastic Four (2015). Other notable performances include in the films King Kong (2005), Jumper (2008), Snowpiercer (2013), and Rocketman (2019). He earned a second BAFTA Award nomination for his leading performance in Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2017). In television, Bell starred as Abraham Woodhull in the AMC historical drama series Turn: Washington's Spies (2014–2017).
Charles Raymond Bell Mortimer CBE, who wrote under the name Raymond Mortimer, was a British writer on art and literature, known mostly as a critic and literary editor.
Dorset County Cricket Club is one of twenty National county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Dorset.
Benjamin Jesty was a farmer at Yetminster in Dorset, England, notable for his early experiment in inducing immunity against smallpox using cowpox.
Andrew Bell was a Scottish Episcopalian priest and educationalist who pioneered the Madras System of Education in schools and was the founder of Madras College, a secondary school in St Andrews.
The Bilbie family were bell founders and clockmakers based initially in Chew Stoke, Somerset and later at Cullompton, Devon in south-west England from the late 17th century to the early 19th century.
Æthelric was a medieval Bishop of Dorchester, when the town was seat of the united dioceses of Lindsey and Dorchester.
Andrew "Andy" Musgrave is a British cross-country skier. He has competed in the World Cup since 2008 and represented Great Britain at the 2009 World Championships and the 2010, 2014, 2018, and 2022 Winter Olympics.
Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax is a British Conservative politician, journalist and landowner, serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Dorset since 2010.
Cranborne Priory is a former priory church in the village of Cranborne, Dorset, England. Founded in 980 as Cranborne Abbey, it became a priory in 1102, remaining that way until it was dissolved in 1540. The tower, nave and aisles from the priory survive to from the Church of St Mary and St Bartholomew, the parish church of Cranborne. The building, which has fragments from the 12th century, is designated a Grade I listed building.
Michael Sandle is a British sculptor and artist. His works include several public sculptures, many relating to themes of war, death, or destruction.
Winterborne Tomson is a village in the district of North Dorset, Dorset, England.
The Dorset dialect is the traditional dialect spoken in Dorset, a county in the West Country of England. Stemming from Old West Saxon, it is preserved in the isolated Blackmore Vale, despite it somewhat falling into disuse throughout the earlier part of the 20th century, when the arrival of the railways brought the customs and language of other parts of the country and in particular, London. The rural dialect is still spoken in some villages however and is kept alive in the poems of William Barnes and Robert Young.
Christopher Lionel John Loder is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the MP for West Dorset since the 2019 general election. He succeeded Sir Oliver Letwin, who was elected as a Conservative but sat as an independent after having the whip removed in September 2019 and did not stand for reelection. West Dorset can be considered a safe seat, having only ever elected Conservative MPs.
