Dorset is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of 2,653 square kilometres (1,024 sq mi), Dorset borders Devon to the west, Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north-east, and Hampshire to the east. The county town is Dorchester which is in the south. After the reorganisation of local government in 1974 the county's border was extended eastward to incorporate the Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch. Around half of the population lives in the South East Dorset conurbation, while the rest of the county is largely rural with a low population density.
Axminster is a market town and civil parish on the eastern border of the county of Devon in England, some 28 miles (45 km) from the county town of Exeter. The town is built on a hill overlooking the River Axe which heads towards the English Channel at Axmouth, and is in the East Devon local government district. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 5,626, increasing to 5,761 at the 2011 census. The town contains two electoral wards the total sum of both wards being a population of 7,110. The market is still held every Thursday.
Lyme Regis is a town in West Dorset, England, 25 miles (40 km) west of Dorchester and 25 miles (40 km) east of Exeter. Styled "The Pearl of Dorset", it lies at Lyme Bay on the English Channel coast at the Dorset–Devon border. It is noted for fossils found in cliffs and beaches on the Heritage Coast or Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site. 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, which was partly shot in the town. A former mayor and MP was Admiral Sir George Somers, who founded the English colonial settlement of Somers Isles, now Bermuda, where Lyme Regis is twinned with St George's. In July 2015, Lyme Regis also joined Jamestown, Virginia, in a Historic Atlantic Triangle with St George's. The 2011 Census gave the parish and electoral ward a population of 3,671.
A listed building, or listed structure, is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, Cadw in Wales, and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency in Northern Ireland.
Charmouth is a village and civil parish in west Dorset, England. The village is situated on the mouth of the River Char, around 1.5 miles (2.4 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.
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. 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, 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.
Wootton Fitzpaine is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in South West England. It lies approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) north-east of Lyme Regis in a small side valley of the River Char, close to the Marshwood Vale. The civil parish covers an area of 3,307 acres (1,338 ha) and includes the ecclesiastical parish and small settlement of Monkton Wyld to the west. In the 2011 census the civil parish had 180 dwellings, 134 households and a population of 345.
West Dorset is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Chris Loder, a Conservative.
Lyme Bay is an area of the English Channel situated in the southwest of England between Start Bay in the west and Portland in the east. The counties of Devon and Dorset front onto the bay.
The Undercliff is the name of several areas of landslip on the south coast of England. They include ones on the Isle of Wight; on the Dorset-Devon border near Lyme Regis; on cliffs near Branscombe in East Devon; and at White Nothe, Dorset. All arose from slump of harder strata over softer clay, giving rise to irregular landscapes of peaks, gullies and slipped blocks, that have become densely vegetated due to their isolation and change of land use. The Kent coast at Folkestone and Sandgate also has similar undercliff areas.
Sturminster Newton United Football Club is a football club based in Sturminster Newton, Dorset, England, currently playing in the Dorset Premier League. The club is affiliated to the Dorset County Football Association and is a FA Charter Standard Community Club.
Uplyme is an English village in East Devon on the Devon-Dorset border and the River Lym, adjacent to the Dorset coastal town of Lyme Regis. It has a population of approximately 1700 recounted as 1663 at the 2011 census. Uplyme is situated in the electoral ward of Trinity whose population at the above census was 2,521.
The Grand Hotel is a large hotel in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England, overlooking the town's South Bay. It is a Grade II* listed building that is owned by Britannia Hotels. At the time of its grand opening in 1867, it was the largest hotel and the largest brick structure in Europe.
Lyme Regis was a parliamentary borough in Dorset, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons from 1295 until 1832, and then one member from 1832 until 1868, when the borough was abolished.
Weymouth is a seaside town in Dorset, England, situated on a sheltered bay at the mouth of the River Wey on the English Channel coast. The town is 11 kilometres (7 mi) south of Dorchester and 8 kilometres (5 mi) north of the Isle of Portland. Weymouth has a metropolitan population of 71,611 (2018). The town is the third largest settlement in Dorset after Bournemouth and Poole.
Dinosaurland Fossil Museum is a privately owned fossil museum in Lyme Regis, on the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, England. The museum is located in a historic Grade I listed former congregational church building.
Sir Walter Erle or Earle was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1648. He was a vigorous opponent of King Charles I in the Parliamentary cause both before and during the English Civil War.
A 28-mile (45.1 km) trail between Ham Hill in Somerset and Lyme Regis in Dorset, England.
The Siege of Lyme Regis was an eight-week blockade during the First English Civil War. The port of Lyme Regis, in Dorset, was considered to be of strategic importance because of its position along the main shipping route between Bristol and the English Channel. Thomas Ceeley and Robert Blake commanded the town's Parliamentarian defences during the siege, which was laid by Prince Maurice between 20 April and 16 June 1644.
Bridport Arts Centre is an arts centre in Bridport, Dorset, England. Founded in 1973, it is housed in and around a 19th-century, Grade II listed building, formerly known as the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel. The complex includes the Marlow Theatre, the Allsop Gallery and a cinema.
