Map
This is a list of hundreds in the county of Dorset, England. Between the Anglo-Saxon period and the Local Government Act 1888, the county of Dorset was divided into hundreds and boroughs (and from the mediaeval period, liberties as well). The Local Government Act 1888 replaced the hundreds and liberties with urban and rural districts, based on the sanitary districts of the Poor Law Unions which existed in parallel with the hundreds/liberties from 1834.
While numerous minor changes took place during that period, the general pattern remained stable. The subdivisions below within hundreds and liberties are the old civil parishes, into which the tithings (the original sub-divisions of the hundreds) came to be fitted. (Civil parish is used here in the sense of an "area for which a poor rate is or can be assessed", a unit which has thus been in existence de facto from the establishment of the Elizabethan Poor Law; the term itself dates from mid 19th century legislation such as the Poor Law Amendment Act 1866.)
The following are the units existing immediately prior to the act of 1834, with some additional changes noted up to the reforms of the Local Government Act 1894 and their immediate aftermath. Liberties and Boroughs are listed for completeness.
Prior to the 1834 act, the hundreds were grouped, mostly for taxation purposes, by divisions, which were rearranged by local act of Parliament [ which? ] in 1830. See List of divisions in Dorset.
For full details see List of liberties in Dorset
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.
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.
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.
Fifehead Neville is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England, situated in the Blackmore Vale about two miles southwest of the town of Sturminster Newton. In the 2011 census the population of the parish was 147.
The Diocese of Salisbury is a Church of England diocese in the south of England, within the ecclesiastical Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the historic county of Dorset, and most of Wiltshire. The diocese is led by Stephen Lake, Bishop of Salisbury, and by the diocesan synod. The bishop's seat is at Salisbury Cathedral.
North Dorset is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Simon Hoare of the Conservative Party.
Belchalwell is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Okeford Fitzpaine in the Blackmore Vale, in the Dorset district, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. It lies 2+1⁄2 miles south of Sturminster Newton and 6 miles northwest of Blandford Forum. Belchalwell Street is sited on Upper Greensand, with Lower Belchalwell on the boundary of Gault and Kimmeridge Clay, both beneath the north slopes of Bell Hill, part of the Dorset Downs. In 1881 the parish had a population of 169. On 25 March 1885 the parish was abolished and merged with Okeford Fitzpaine and Fifehead Neville.
The Stour Valley Way is a 64-mile (103 km) long-distance footpath in southern England. From Stourton, Wiltshire, the path travels southeast through Dorset to Hengistbury Head near Christchurch.
Pimperne Hundred was a hundred in the county of Dorset, England, containing the following parishes:
Cranborne Hundred was a hundred in the county of Dorset, England, containing the following parishes:
The High Sheriff of Dorset is an ancient high sheriff title which has been in existence for over one thousand years. Until 1567 the Sheriff of Somerset was also the Sheriff of Dorset.
Blandford Forest is a scattered area of woodland centred to the northwest of the town of Blandford Forum in North Dorset, England.
Blackmore Vale is an electoral ward in Dorset. Since 2019, the ward has elected 1 councillor to Dorset Council.