DORSET, a south-western county of England, bounded north east by Wiltshire, east by Hampshire, south by the English Chan nel, west by Devon and north-west by Somerset. The area is 987.9 square miles.
In the centre of the county the chalk hills of the western downs sweep south-west from Cranborne Chase through Blandf ord, Milton Abbas and Frampton to Dorchester. Here the chalk out crop narrows and turns south-eastward by Portisham and Bin combe to West Lulworth, whence it is continued eastward as the Purbeck hills. Within this rim of chalk is a fringe of Reading beds and London clay which may be traced from Cranborne through Wimborne Minster, near Bere Regis and Puddletown, then south-eastward through West Knighton, Winfrith and Lul worth, and along the northern side of the Purbeck hills to Stud land. Bounded by this arc and occupying the eastern portion of the county is a low-lying region of sands, gravel and clay, probably an extension of the Hampshire basin. Denudation has revealed the Wealden beds in the vale between Lulworth and Swanage, and also near East Chaldon. The town of Shaftesbury stands upon a hill of Greensand, whilst the Upper Greensand also forms the high ground above Lyme Regis, Golden Cap and Pillesden and Lewes den Pens. It is thought that a stream following the syncline of the Frome valley, the Solent and the Spithead was at one time the chief feature of the drainage. Subsidence, however, has re sulted in the tributaries of this stream now finding their way in dependently to the sea. The Stour rises in Wiltshire, and flows with a general southeasterly course to join the Hampshire Avon near its mouth. It receives the Cale and Lidden, which drain the Vale of Blackmore, in its upper course, and breaches the western downs in its middle course between Sturminster Newton and Blandf ord. The small river Puddle or Trent and the Frome flow across the eastern plain and almost unite their mouths in Poole harbour. In the north-west the Yeo flows northward to join the Parret, and so sends its waters to the Bristol Channel. The Char, the Brit and the Bride drain the south-west. Poole harbour provides further evidence of subsidence, whilst Lulworth Cove is an excellent example of differential marine erosion. Chesil Bank has been formed from debris accumulated there by up-Channel currents.
No Englishman retained important estates after the Conquest, and at the time of the Survey the bulk of the land. except 46 manors held by the king, was in the hands of religious houses, the abbeys of Cerne, Milton and Shaftesbury being the most wealthy. There were 272 mills, and nearly 8o men were employed in work ing salt along the coast. Mints existed at Shaf tesburv, Wareham, Dorchester and Bridport, the three former having been founded by Aethelstan. King John frequently hunted in the county. In the time of Egbert, Wessex was divided into definite pagi, each under an ealdorman, which no doubt represented the later shires. The Inquisitio Geldi, drawn up two years before the Domesday Survey, mentions the 39 pre-Conquest hundreds of Dorset. The 33 hundreds and 21 liberties of the present day retain some original names, but boundaries have changed. Until the reign of Elizabeth, Dorset and Somerset were united under one sheriff. After the transference of the West Saxon see from Sherborne to Sarum, in 1075, Dorset remained part of that diocese until 2542, when it was included in the newly-formed diocese of Bristol. The archdeaconry was coextensive with the shire, and was divided into five rural deaneries at least as early as 1291. The vast power and wealth monopolized by the Church in Dorsetshire tended to check the rise of any great county families. The three finest churches are the abbey church of Sherborne (q.v.), Wimborne Minster (q.v.), and Milton Abbey church, a Decorated and Per pendicular structure erected on the site of a Norman church. The parish churches of Cerne Abbas and Beaminster are fine examples of the Perpendicular style.
Dorset took no active part in the struggles of the Norman and Plantagenet period. In 1627 the county refused to send men to La Rochelle. On the outbreak of the Civil War the general feel ing was in favour of the king, and in 1643 Lyme Regis and Poole were the only garrisons in the county left to the parliament. By 1644, however, parliament had gained the whole county except Sherborne and the Isle of Portland. The remains of Corfe castle (q.v.) and of Sherborne castle may still be seen. The former commanded a gap through the Purbeck hills and was of great strategic importance. The general aversion of Dorset people to warlike pursuits is demonstrated at this period by the rise of the "clubmen," so called from their appearance without pikes or fire arms at county musters, whose object was peace at all costs. In the 14th century Dorset produced much wheat and wool, and had a prosperous clothing trade, which declined after the ravages of the plague in 1626. The hundred of Pimperne produced salt petre in the 17th century, and the serge manufacture was intro duced about this time. Portland freestone was first brought into use in the reign of James I., and after the Great Fire it was ex tensively used by Sir Christopher Wren. In the 28th century Blandford, Sherborne and Lyme Regis were famous for their lace. The county returned two members to parliament in 129o; in 1572 the county and nine boroughs returned a total of 20 members. Under the Reform Act of 1832 the county returned three mem bers, and Corfe castle was disfranchised. Lyme Regis was disfranchised in 1868 and the remaining boroughs in 1885.
The quarries of the Isles of Portland and Purbeck are important. The first supplies a much used white freestone. Purbeck marble was used for many of the most famous Gothic churches in Eng land. A valuable product of Purbeck is a white pipeclay, exported to the potteries of Staffordshire from Purbeck. Some shipbuilding is carried on at Poole, and paper is made at several towns. Other small manufactures are those of flax and hemp, in the neighbour hood of Bridport and Beaminster, of bricks, tiles and pottery in the Poole district, and of nets (braiding, as the industry is called) in some of the villages. There are silk-mills at Sherborne and elsewhere. There are numerous fishing stations along the coast. There are oyster beds in Poole harbour. The chief ports are Poole, Weymouth, Swanage, Bridport and Lyme Regis. The harbour of refuge at Portland. under the Admiralty, is an important fortified naval station.
The main line of the Southern railway serves Gillingham and Sherborne, in the north of the county. Branches of this system serve Wimborne, Poole, Swanage, Dorchester, Weymouth and Portland. The two last towns, with Bridport, are served by the Great Western railway ; the Somerset and Dorset line follows the Stour valley by Blandford and Wimborne ; and Lyme Regis is the terminus of a light railway from Axminster on the Southern railway.
The area of the administrative county is 622,843 ac., pop. The county contains eight municipal boroughs, and four urban districts. The dialect of the county, distinguish able from those of Wiltshire and Somersetshire, yet bearing many common marks of Saxon origin, is admirably illustrated in some of the poems of William Barnes (q.v.) . Many towns, villages and localities are readily to be recognized from their descriptions in the "Wessex" novels of Thomas Hardy (q.v.).