UK Travel Guide - Dorset, UK is Worth a Visit

28th December 2008 - by Julian Davis

Dorset, UK is Worth a Visit

Dorset primarily called Dorsetshire is a British county existing in South West on the English Channel sea shore. Its county town is called Dorchester, which is situated in the south of the county. Dorset measures 50 miles, 80 kilometres, between its farthest points from east to west and 40 miles, 64 kilometers, from north to south. It has an area of 1,024 square miles 2,653 square kilometres.

Dorset shares its borders with Devon to the west Hampshire to the east, Wiltshire to the north east and Somerset to the north west. Dorset s almost half of population resides in the South East Dorset urban sprawl. Remaining county is mostly rural with a low density of population.

Jurassic Coast in Dorset is very popular because it is granted the World Heritage Site, which displays different landforms such as the Isle of Portland, Chesil Beach, Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door. Along with these are the holiday resorts of Poole, Bournemouth, Weymouth, Lyme Regis and Swanage.

Setting of the novels of Thomas Hardy adds importance to Dorset, who took birth near Dorchester. The county has a vast history about humans settling there and some noteworthy archaeology was done, with that of the hill forts of Hod Hill and Maiden Castle.

The first recorded use of the name happened in 940 AD as Dorseteschire, meaning the residents of Dornuuarana or Dorchester. People are believed to have settled here since 8000 BC, but most of the goods recovered by archeologists tell us of the Bronze Age and Forts built in the county describe about Iron Age. Most of the people used to do farming and hunted animals for living.

Roman artifacts were found in Dorset, especially in the Roman inhabited city called Dorchester. Roads of the Romans were sketched, leading from Dorchester, to the peaks of the chalk ridges and to the various tiny Roman villages, which are spread around the county. The Romans presence is also felt on the Islands of Portland, where you can find defensive earthworks constructed or adapted on hilltop, Verne Hill.

Then the Saxons came and built many structures in the valleys. The settlers started the process of constructing farmlands in the next few centuries, which succeeded up to the nineteenth century. Several monasteries were also constructed, which were important and belonged to their landowners and centres of power.

Dorset built forts during the 12th century civil war and up came several defensive castles. Such constructions were broken down or vanished in the passing time. Dorset remained mostly rural during the Industrial Revolution and it retains its agricultural background and economy even today. The farming economy of Dorset played the role of a catalyst in the creation of the trade union movement.

The land of the county is divided in two categories. The lowlands are comprised of mainly forests, which have been cleared now and many grasslands have been formed. Many fertile agricultural lands have also been created, giving rise to various farms and making this county rather a rural one in comparison to its neighbours.