Everything about Wareham Dorset totally explained
Wareham is a historic
market town and, under the name
Wareham Town, a
civil parish, in the
English county of
Dorset. The town is situated on the
River Frome eight miles (13 km) south west of
Poole.
Situation and geography
The town is built on a strategic
dry point between the River Frome and the
River Piddle at the head of the Wareham Channel of
Poole Harbour. The Frome valley runs through an area of unresistant sand, clay and gravel rocks, and much of its valley has wide
flood plains and
marsh land. At its
estuary the river has formed the wide shallow
ria of Poole Harbour. Wareham is built on a low dry island between the marshy river plains.
The town is situated on the A351 Poole-
Swanage road and at the eastern terminus of the A352 road to
Dorchester and
Sherborne, both roads now
bypassing the town centre. The town has a station on the
South Western Main Line railway, and was formerly the junction station for services along the branch line to Swanage, now preserved as the
Swanage Railway. The Steam Railway has ambitions to extend its service, currently from Swanage to Norden, near
Corfe Castle back to Worgret Junction (where the mainline and branch divided) and into Wareham again.
To the north-west of the town a large conifer plantation,
Wareham Forest stretches several miles to the
A35 road and the southern foothills of the
Dorset Downs. To the south east is Corfe Castle and the heathland that borders Poole Harbour, including
Wytch Farm oil field and
Studland & Godlingstone Heath Nature Reserve. Five miles (8 km) to the south is a Chalk ridge, the
Purbeck Hills, and ten miles (16 km) to the south is the
English Channel.
History
The town's strategic setting has made it an important settlement throughout its long history. The older streets in the town follow a
Roman grid pattern, though the current town was founded by the
Saxons. The town's oldest features are the town Walls, ancient earth
ramparts surrounding the town, which were built by
Alfred the Great in the 9th century to defend the town from
Norsemen. The town was a Saxon royal burial place, notably that of
King Beorhtric (800
CE); also in the town is the coffin of
Edward the Martyr, dating from 978, his remains now to be found in
Shaftesbury Abbey in north Dorset. The River Frome serves as a small harbour and the town was a port in centuries when boats were smaller and before the river silted up.
After the
Monmouth Rebellion of 1685, Wareham was one of a number of towns in Dorset where
Judge Jeffreys held the
Bloody Assizes, with traitors being hanged from the town walls.
In 1762 a fire destroyed two thirds of the town, which has been rebuilt in
Georgian architecture with red brick and
Purbeck limestone, following the Roman street pattern. The town is divided into four quarters by the two main roads, which cross at right-angles. The
medieval Almshouses escaped the fire, and some of the Georgian facades are in fact disguising earlier buildings which also survived. Because of the constraints of the rivers and marshland Wareham grew little during the 20th century, while nearby towns, such as
Poole, grew rapidly.
In the
Anglo-Saxon St Martin's Church, there's a recumbent effigy of
T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) in
Arab clothing. He is buried at
Moreton churchyard where every year a quantity (decreases by one each year) of red roses are left. Near the town is
Clouds Hill and
Bovington army camp where Lawrence died after a motorcycle accident.
Wareham Town Museum, in East Street, has an interesting section on T. E. Lawrence and in 2006 produced an hour long DVD entitled
T. E. Lawrence - His Final Years in Dorset, including a reconstruction of the fatal accident. The Museum also contains many artefacts on all aspects of the history of the town.
Since the 15th century Wareham has been a market town, and still holds a market on Thursdays and Saturdays.
Government
The civil parish of Wareham Town encompasses the walled town of Wareham, situated on the land between the Rivers Frome and Piddle, together with the area of
Northport to the north of the River Piddle, and a relatively small amount of the surrounding rural area. The parish has an area of 6.52 square kilometres and, at the time of the
2001 census, it had a population of 5,665 living in 2,642 dwellings.
The sister civil parish of
Wareham St. Martin covers much of the rural area to the north of Wareham, including the village of
Sandford. Taken together the two Wareham parishes have an area of 36.18 square kilomtres, with a 2001 population of 8,417 in 3,788 dwellings.
Both parishes forms part of the
Purbeck local government district within the
county of
Dorset. They are within the
Mid Dorset and North Poole constituency of the
House of Commons and the
South West England constituency of the
European Parliament.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Wareham Dorset'.
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