| Chickerell | |
|---|---|
 B3157 road at Chickerell | |
  Chickerell Location within Dorset | |
| Population | 5,515 [1] |
| OS grid reference | SY643804 |
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | WEYMOUTH |
| Postcode district | DT3 |
| Dialling code | 01305 |
| Police | Dorset |
| Fire | Dorset and Wiltshire |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| UK Parliament | |
Chickerell is a town and parish in Dorset, England. In the 2011 census the parish and the electoral ward had a population of 5,515. [1]
Although Roman remains have been found, indicating that there has been settlement in the area for many years, as a modern town, Chickerell is recent and one of Dorset's newest towns. [2] Chickerell has seen much development over the last twenty years.
The parish of Chickerell has to the west the Fleet Lagoon, East Fleet and Langton Herring. To the north-west is Portesham, to the east Weymouth, and to the south the Isle of Portland. Chesil Beach runs alongside to the west of the village which is part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. A major attraction in Chickerell is the Bennetts Water Gardens which is situated next to Chickerell Downs, a Woodland Trust wood. The Chickerell Rifle Range is also located close to the Fleet Lagoon, and is part of the Wyke Regis Training Area.
At the lower tier of local government, Chickerell is a civil parish. Its parish council is Chickerell Town Council, [3] which has ten councillors elected from two wards. [4]
At the upper tier, Chickerell is in the Dorset unitary authority. Chickerell electoral ward elects 2 members to Dorset Council. [5]
For elections to the UK Parliament, Chickerell is in the South Dorset parliamentary constituency.
Historically, Chickerell was in Culliford Tree Hundred. [6] It was part of Weymouth Rural District from 1894 to 1933, [7] and Dorchester Rural District from 1933 to 1974. [8] From 1974 to 2019, Chickerell was part of West Dorset district and returned three councillors for the district council, [9] and one councillor for the Chickerell & Chesil Bank ward of Dorset County Council.
At the 2011 census Chickerell's population was 5,515. [10] Most of the residents (97.4%) considered themselves to be of a white, British ethnicity. Some 18% of the population were under 15, 2.8% were 16 or 17, 25.9% were between 18 and 44, 22.3% were 45 to 59, and the largest proportion (32.3%) were over 60 years of age. [10] The birth rate in Chickerell exceeds the death rate and there is a net inward migration resulting in a steady increase of the population. [11] Chickerell's population has grown considerably since 1960. Between 1961 and 1971 it increased by 43% from 2,300 to 3,300 and has continued to grow ever since, although at a slower rate. [2]
| Historical population of Chickerell | |||||||||||
| Year | 1921 | 1931 | 1951 | 1961 | 1971 | 1981 | 1991 | 2001 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 1,130 | 1,320 | 2,450 | 2,300 | 3,300 | 3,680 | 4,160 | 5,280 | |||
| Source: Census 1921–2001 [10] | |||||||||||
There are two industrial estates: Granby Industrial Estate and the Lynch Lane Industrial Estate. [10] Blundell Harling Ltd, KEMET Electronics Corp., ASM Assembly Systems Ltd (formerly DEK Printing Machines Ltd), Tecan Components Ltd, Ultra Electronics, Weymouth Land Registry are some of the area's major employers. [10]
Several sites for camping and motorhomes are located along the coast and inland.
A 45 MW gas power station [12] and a small solar farm is located at the Chickerell Substation, where a 2.4 GWh grid battery is approved for 2028. [13]
The nearest railway station to Chickerell is Weymouth, 2.0 miles (3.2 km) away from the town. [10] The nearest coach station is at Weymouth, the nearest airport is Bournemouth Airport.
The B3157 Chickerell Road connects Chickerell to Weymouth east bound, and Bridport along the coast to the west. This is the only major road in or near the town.
The Isle of Portland is a tied island, 6 kilometres (4 mi) long by 2.7 kilometres (1.7 mi) wide, in the English Channel. The southern tip, Portland Bill, lies 8 kilometres (5 mi) south of the resort of Weymouth, forming the southernmost point of the county of Dorset, England. A barrier beach called Chesil Beach joins Portland with mainland England. The A354 road passes down the Portland end of the beach and then over the Fleet Lagoon by bridge to the mainland. The population of Portland is 13,417.
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.
Chetnole is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England. It lies approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) south-southwest of Sherborne and 5.5 miles (8.9 km) southeast of Yeovil in Somerset. It is sited on Oxford clay by the small Wriggle River at the western end of the Blackmore Vale. There are around 128 houses in the village. It has a railway station on the Heart of Wessex Line that is served by Great Western Railway services. Dorset County Council estimate that in 2013 the population of the parish was 330. In the 2011 census the population of Chetnole parish combined with the small parish of Stockwood to the west was 344.
Langton Herring is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in South West England. It lies about 5 miles (8.0 km) north-west of the coastal resort town of Weymouth. It is "prudently set on a ridge above the Fleet", the Fleet being a brackish lagoon behind Chesil Beach. Dorset County Council estimate that in 2013 the population of the civil parish was 120. In the 2011 census the population of the parish combined with the small parish of Fleet to the south was 240.
Wyke Regis is a village in the civil parish of Weymouth, in south Dorset, England. The village is part of the south western suburbs of Weymouth, on the northern shore of Portland Harbour and the south-eastern end of Chesil Beach. Wyke is 15 kilometres (9 mi) south of the county town, Dorchester. The village has a population of around 5,500.
Leigh is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England, situated approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) south-southwest of Sherborne. It is known as the site of a former Miz Maze. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 480.
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.
South Dorset is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Lloyd Hatton, of the Labour Party. The constituency was created as a consequence of the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, although the area covered has changed since then.
Radipole is a suburb of Weymouth in Dorset, England.
Fleet is a small, scattered village and civil parish in south Dorset, England, situated approximately 2.5 miles (4.0 km) west of Weymouth. It consists of the small settlements of East Fleet, West Fleet, Fleet House, and Fleet Common, all of which are close to the shore of The Fleet, a brackish lagoon behind Chesil Beach. The name "Fleet" is derived from fleot, Old English for an inlet or estuary. Dorset County Council estimated that the population of the civil parish was 60 in 2013.
Weymouth is a seaside town and civil parish in the Dorset district, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. Situated on a sheltered bay at the mouth of the River Wey, 7 miles (11 km) south of the county town of Dorchester, Weymouth had a population of 53,416 in 2021. It is the third-largest settlement in Dorset after Bournemouth and Poole.
Bennetts Water Gardens is an 8-acre (32,000 m2) garden in Chickerell, near Weymouth, Dorset, in southern England. It holds national and international collections of water lilies which flower from late May through to September. The plants are displayed in a series of ponds and lakes. A feature of the garden is a blue Japanese bridge built in 1999 to celebrate 100 years since Claude Monet painted his famous piece Water Lily Pond 1899.
Wyke Regis Training Area is an army training area primarily located in the parish and town of Chickerell, but near to the parish of Wyke Regis in neighbouring Weymouth, Dorset, England. The training area is located at three different sites. It is part of the Ministry of Defence's Defence Training Estate (DTE), which covers 240,000 hectares of land across the country, used to train armed forces. Although mainly used by the army, the training area has allowed an increasing amount of public use of both the climbing facilities and adventure training over the last few years. When the firing range is in use, signs, restriction gates and red flags are used to require walkers to divert inland around the back of the range before returning to the Coastal Path.
Holy Trinity Church is a Church of England church in Fleet, Dorset, England. It was built in 1827–29, replacing an earlier parish church which was partially destroyed during the Great Storm of 1824. Holy Trinity remains in religious use and has been Grade I Listed since 1956.
Chickerell is an electoral ward in Dorset. Since 2019, the ward has elected 2 councillors to Dorset Council.