Blandford Forum is a market town in Dorset, England, by the River Stour 13 miles northwest of Poole. It had a population of 10,355 at the 2021 census.
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.
Hilton is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England. It is sited at an elevation of 135 metres in a small valley which drains chalk hills in the eastern part of the Dorset Downs, approximately 8 miles west-southwest of the town of Blandford Forum. The summit of Bulbarrow Hill is 1+1⁄2 miles north of the village. In the 2011 census the parish—which includes the settlement of Ansty to the west—had 231 dwellings, 206 households and a population of 477.
Melbury Abbas is a village and civil parish in north Dorset, England, 3 km SSW of the town of Shaftesbury, east of the A350 Shaftesbury to Blandford Forum road.
Shillingstone is a village and civil parish in the Blackmore Vale area of north Dorset, England, situated on the River Stour between Sturminster Newton and Blandford Forum. In the 2011 Census the civil parish had 479 households and a population of 1,170.
Chettle is a small village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England. It lies 6 miles northeast of Blandford Forum. It is sited at the head of a gently sloping valley on the dip slope of the chalk formation called Cranborne Chase. The A354 trunk road crosses the valley about 1 km to the south. In 2013 the estimated population of the civil parish was 90.
Durweston is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. It lies two miles northwest of the town of Blandford Forum. It is sited by the River Stour at the point where it flows out of the Blackmore Vale through a steep, narrow gap between the Dorset Downs and Cranborne Chase. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 398.
Pimperne is a village and civil parish in north Dorset, England, situated on Cranborne Chase two miles northeast of the town of Blandford Forum. At the 2011 census the civil parish had 478 households and a population of 1109.
Stourpaine is a village and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Dorset in southern England. It is situated in the valley of the River Stour in the Dorset administrative district, three miles northwest of Blandford Forum. The A350 road, which connects Blandford to Shaftesbury to the north, passes through the village. The chalk hills of Cranborne Chase and the Dorset Downs lie immediately northeast and southwest respectively. In the 2011 census the civil parish had 277 dwellings, 265 households and a population of 617.
Tarrant Keyneston is a village and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is situated in the Tarrant Valley, five miles southeast of Blandford Forum. In the 2011 census the parish had 152 dwellings, 145 households and a population of 310.
Tarrant Launceston is a small village and civil parish in north Dorset, England, situated in the Tarrant Valley 5 miles northeast of Blandford Forum. The parish includes part of Blandford Camp to the west and a few buildings on the northern edge of neighbouring Tarrant Monkton to the south. In the 2011 census the parish had 156 households and a population of 498.
Tarrant Monkton is a village and civil parish in north Dorset, England, situated in the Tarrant Valley about four miles east-northeast of Blandford Forum. Within the parish boundary, 1+1⁄2 miles over hills to the west, lies the major part of Blandford Camp army base. In the 2011 census the parish—including the army base—had a population of 1,986. The village is centred on the All Saints Parish Church, opposite which is the Langton Arms, a public house and restaurant.
Winterborne Stickland is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England. It lies about four miles west of the town of Blandford Forum. In 2013 the civil parish had an estimated population of 520. In the 2011 census the parish, combined with the smaller neighbouring parishes of Winterborne Clenston to the south and Turnworth to the north, recorded a population of 653. For unknown reasons, the 1881 census listed 10 residents of Chorley, Lancashire as having been born in the village.
Winterborne Whitechurch is a village and civil parish in central Dorset, England, situated in a winterbourne valley on the A354 road on the Dorset Downs five miles southwest of Blandford Forum. In the 2011 census the civil parish had 354 dwellings, 331 households and a population of 757.
Farnham is a village and civil parish in North Dorset, in the south of England, on Cranborne Chase, seven miles northeast of Blandford Forum. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 183.
North Dorset is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Simon Hoare, a Conservative.
Blandford St Mary is a village and civil parish in the North Dorset district of Dorset, England. The village is on the south bank of the River Stour, immediately opposite the larger town of Blandford Forum. The village grew up around the Badger Brewery, owned by Hall and Woodhouse, which is based there. At the 2001 census it had a population of 1,233. The appropriate electoral ward is called 'Portman' with naturally the most populous area being south of the river. The ward includes Bryanston School and also runs south west almost to Thornicombe. The total ward population at the abovementioned census was 2,436.
Blandford Forum railway station was a station on the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway which served the town of Blandford Forum.
John and William Bastard were British surveyor-architects, and civic dignitaries of the town of Blandford Forum in Dorset. John and William generally worked together and are known as the "Bastard brothers". They were builders, furniture makers, ecclesiastical carvers and experts at plasterwork, but are most notable for their rebuilding work at Blandford Forum following a large fire of 1731, and for work in the neighbourhood that Colvin describes as "mostly designed in a vernacular baroque style of considerable merit though of no great sophistication.". Their work was chiefly inspired by the buildings of Wren, Archer and Gibbs. Thus the Bastards' architecture was retrospective and did not follow the ideals of the more austere Palladianism which by the 1730s was highly popular in England.
Langton Long, Blandford is a small village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England. It is sited by the River Stour, approximately 3⁄4 mile southeast of Blandford Forum. In 2013 the estimated population of the parish was 120.
