Burton Bradstock | |
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High Street, Burton Bradstock | |
Location within Dorset | |
Population | 948 (2011) [1] |
OS grid reference | SY4889 |
• London | 145 miles (233 km) ENE |
Civil parish |
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Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | BRIDPORT |
Postcode district | DT6 |
Dialling code | 01308 |
Police | Dorset |
Fire | Dorset and Wiltshire |
Ambulance | South Western |
UK Parliament | |
Website | Village website |
Burton Bradstock is a village and civil parish in Dorset, England, approximately 2+1⁄2 miles (4 km) southeast of Bridport and 1⁄2 mile (0.8 km) inland from the English Channel at Chesil Beach. In the 2011 Census the parish had a population of 948. [1] The village lies in the Bride Valley, close to the mouth of the small River Bride. It comprises 16th- and 17th-century thatched cottages, a parish church (dedicated to St Mary the Virgin), two pubs, a primary school, shop, post office stores, beach café, hotel, garage, village hall, reading room a library. The parish has a National Coastwatch Institution Station, Lyme Bay Station.
The place was first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Bridetone, [2] it had 28 households and the lord of the manor was the Abbey of Saint-Wandrille. [3] The toponym means the place (Old English tūn) on the River Bride, and therefore has a different origin from most places named "Burton", including Burton, Dorset. [4]
In 1286 land in the village was acquired by Bradenstoke Priory in Wiltshire. [5] Bradenstoke, sometimes pronounced Bradstock, [6] gave its name to the suffix "Bradstock". [7]
The local church, The Parish Church of St. Mary, dates largely from the late 14th or early 15th century, though it was significantly restored in 1897. [8] 950 yards south-east of the church is the Bronze Age burial mound of Bind Barrow, it is 64 feet (19.5 m) in diameter and 5 feet (1.52 m) high, it was scheduled as an ancient monument in 1959. [8] [9]
The cliffs were used for training before the Normandy landings in 1943. [10] [11] [12]
Burton Bradstock lies on Dorset's Jurassic Coast, which in the vicinity of the village comprises vertical cliffs up to 150 feet (45 m) high. Near the top of these cliffs is a layer of Inferior Oolite, which contains large ammonites. Rockfalls result in these being accessible to fossil hunters on the beach beneath. At Hive Beach there is a gap in the cliffs; the National Trust owns the land here and provide a car park. There is a yearly Spring Tide Festival on the beach. [13]
The village is within the Dorset Council ward of Chesil Bank and the parliamentary constituency of West Dorset.
The village has a frequent local bus service to Bridport via West Bay, and is also served by the X53 coastal bus service which runs east to Weymouth, Wareham and Poole and west to Bridport, Lyme Regis, Seaton and Exeter. The village has several local footpaths including one to the beach and the coastpath to West Bay.
The musician Billy Bragg has lived in the village since 2000. [14]
Lyme Regis is a town in west Dorset, England, 25 miles (40 km) west of Dorchester and east of Exeter. Sometimes dubbed the "Pearl of Dorset", it lies by the English Channel at the Dorset–Devon border. It has noted fossils in cliffs and beaches on the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site and heritage coast. The harbour wall, known as The Cobb, appears in Jane Austen's novel Persuasion, the John Fowles novel The French Lieutenant's Woman and the 1981 film of that name, partly shot in the town.
The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. It stretches from Exmouth in East Devon to Studland Bay in Dorset, a distance of about 96 miles (154 km), and was inscribed on the World Heritage List in mid-December 2001.
Chesil Beach in Dorset, England is one of three major shingle beach structures in Britain. Its name is derived from the word chessil, meaning "gravel" or "shingle". It runs for a length of 29 kilometres (18 mi) from West Bay to the Isle of Portland and in places is up to 15 metres (50 ft) high and 200 metres (660 ft) wide. Behind the beach is the Fleet, a shallow tidal lagoon. Both are part of the Jurassic Coast and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and together form an SSSI and Ramsar Site. Owners of the land designated as Chesil & The Fleet SSSI include the Crown Estate, the Ministry of Defence and the National Trust.
Abbotsbury is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. The village is located around 7+1⁄2 miles (12.1 km) west southwest of Dorchester and 1 mile (1.6 km) inland from the English Channel coast. In the 2021 census the civil parish had a population of 451.
Bridport is a market town and civil parish in Dorset, England, 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) inland from the English Channel near the confluence of the River Brit and its tributary the Asker. Its origins are Saxon and it has a long history as a rope-making centre. On the coast and within the town's boundary is West Bay, a small fishing harbour also known as Bridport Harbour.
Portesham, sometimes also spelled Portisham, is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southwest England, situated in the Dorset Council administrative area approximately 6 miles (10 km) northwest of Weymouth, 6 miles (10 km) southwest of the county town Dorchester, and 2 miles (3 km) northeast of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site at Chesil Beach. The parish is quite large, covering several outlying hamlets and what were once their manors. In the 2011 census it had a population of 685 in 316 households and 342 dwellings.
West Dorset was a local government district in Dorset, England. The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, and was a merger of the boroughs of Bridport, Dorchester and Lyme Regis, along with Sherborne urban district and the rural districts of Beaminster, Bridport, Dorchester and Sherborne. Its council was based in Dorchester.
West Bay, originally known as Bridport Harbour, is a small harbour settlement and resort on the English Channel coast in Dorset, England, sited at the mouth of the River Brit approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south of Bridport. The area is part of the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site.
Charmouth is a village and civil parish in west Dorset, England. The village is situated on the mouth of the River Char, around 1+1⁄2 miles (2 km) north-east of Lyme Regis. Dorset County Council estimated that in 2013 the population of the civil parish was 1,310. In the 2011 Census the population of the parish, combined with the small parish of Catherston Leweston to the north, was 1,352.
Chideock is a village and civil parish in south west Dorset, England, situated close to the English Channel between Bridport and Lyme Regis. Dorset County Council's 2013 estimate of the parish population is 550.
Shipton Gorge is a village and civil parish in southwest Dorset, England, 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Bridport. Dorset County Council's 2013 mid-year estimate of the population of Shipton Gorge parish is 350. In the 2011 national census, results have been published for the parish of Shipton Gorge combined with the small neighbouring parish of Chilcombe to the east; the population of these areas was 381.
Whitchurch Canonicorum is a village and civil parish in southwest Dorset, England, situated in the Marshwood Vale 5 miles (8.0 km) west-northwest of Bridport. In the 2011 Census the parish – which includes the settlements of Morcombelake, Ryall and Fishpond Bottom – had a population of 684.
Littlebredy is a small village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset, situated approximately 6.5 miles (10.5 km) west of the county town Dorchester. It is sited at the head of the valley of the small River Bride, surrounded by wooded chalk hills of the Dorset Downs. The parish contains the Valley of Stones National Nature Reserve and is in an area rich with evidence of early human occupation. In the 2011 census it had a population of 121.
West Bexington is a village in south-west Dorset, England, sited just behind the Chesil Beach about 6 miles (10 km) southeast of Bridport. It forms part of the civil parish of Puncknowle. The coast here is part of the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site.
Dorset is a county located in the middle of the south coast of England. It lies between the latitudes 50.512°N and 51.081°N and the longitudes 1.682°W and 2.958°W, and occupies an area of 2,653 km2. It spans 90 kilometres (56 mi) from east to west and 63 kilometres (39 mi) from north to south.
The River Bride is a river in Dorset, England, situated between the towns of Dorchester and Bridport. It runs through the Bride Valley, a distinct landscape area in the Dorset National Landscape.
Chesil Bank is an electoral ward in Dorset. Since 2019, the ward has elected 1 councillor to Dorset Council.
After 11 happy years living in Burton Bradstock, people here have already made up their minds about me, one way or another.