Shaftesbury is a town and civil parish in Dorset,England. It is on the A30 road,20 miles west of Salisbury and 23 miles north-northeast of Dorchester,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.
Stalbridge is a town and civil parish in Dorset,England,situated in the Blackmore Vale,near the border with Somerset. In the 2021 census the civil parish—which includes the hamlets of Stalbridge Weston,and Thornhill—had 1,224 households and a population of 2,668. The nearest towns are Sturminster Newton,four miles southeast,Sherborne,6 mi (10 km) west,and Shaftesbury,7 mi (11 km) northeast. Stalbridge is situated on the A357 on a low limestone ridge,one mile west of the River Stour. It officially became a town in April 1992.
The Blackmore Vale is a vale,or wide valley,in north Dorset,and to a lesser extent south Somerset and southwest Wiltshire in southern England.
North Dorset was a local government district in Dorset,England,between 1974 and 2019. Its area was largely rural,but included the towns of Blandford Forum,Gillingham,Shaftesbury,Stalbridge and Sturminster Newton. Much of North Dorset was in the River Stour valley,known as the Blackmore Vale. The economy of North Dorset was largely based on dairy agriculture.
Stourton Caundle is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southwest England. It lies within the Blackmore Vale,about five miles east of Sherborne. In the 2011 census the parish had 181 households and a population of 439.
Silton is a small village and civil parish in north Dorset,England,situated in the Blackmore Vale four miles northwest of Gillingham. In the 2011 census,the civil parish had 57 households and a population of 123.
Templecombe is a village in Somerset,England,situated on the A357 road five miles south of Wincanton,12 miles (19 km) east of Yeovil,and 30 miles (48 km) west of Salisbury. It is in the Blackmore Vale.
Anthony Ashley-Cooper,Lord Ashley,OStJ,TD,DL,was a British Army officer. As the eldest son of Anthony Ashley-Cooper,9th Earl of Shaftesbury,he used the courtesy title "Lord Ashley".
Anthony Ashley-Cooper,9th Earl of Shaftesbury was an English peer,soldier,and public servant. He was the son of the 8th Earl of Shaftesbury and Lady Harriet Augusta Anna Seymourina Chichester,the daughter of the 3rd Marquess of Donegall and Lady Harriet Anne Butler. He inherited the earldom at age 15.
Anthony Ashley-Cooper,8th Earl of Shaftesbury Bt DL,styled Lord Ashley between 1851 and 1885,was a British peer. He was the son of The 7th Earl of Shaftesbury.
Margaret Beauchamp was the oldest daughter of Sir John Beauchamp of Bletsoe,and his second wife,Edith Stourton. She was the maternal grandmother of Henry VII.
Sir John Hody of Stowell in Somerset and of Pilsdon in Dorset,was Chief Justice of the King's Bench.
Sir George Orby Wombwell,4th Baronet was a British baronet.
St Giles House is located at Wimborne St Giles in East Dorset in England,just south of Cranborne Chase. It is the ancestral seat of the Ashley-Cooper family,which is headed by the Earl of Shaftesbury. The estate covers over 5,500 acres (22 km2).
John Seymour of Wulfhall,of Stalbridge,of Stinchcombe and of Huish,all in Wiltshire,England,was warden of Savernake Forest and a prominent member of the landed gentry in the counties of Wiltshire,Somerset and Dorset. He was the grandfather of Jane Seymour,the third wife of King Henry VIII,and was thus great-grandfather of King Edward VI.
The Dorset Rifle Volunteers,,was a unit of the Volunteer Force of the British Army located in the county of Dorset. The volunteers amalgamated to form the 3rd Volunteer Battalion,Dorset Regiment as a result of the Childers Reforms in 1881.
