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Dorset

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   CAPTION: Dorset

   Image:EnglandDorset.png
   Geography
          Status         Ceremonial & (smaller) Non-metropolitan county
          Origin:        Historic
          Region:        South West England
           Area
   - Total
   - Admin. council
   - Admin. area         Ranked 20th
                         2,653 km²
                         Ranked 21st
                         2,542  km²
         Admin HQ:       Dorchester
    Largest City/Town:   Bournemouth (Unitary Authority)
        ISO 3166-2:      GB-DOR
         ONS code:       19
          NUTS 3:        UKK22
   Demographics
        Population
   - Total (2005 est.)
   - Density
   - Admin. council
   - Admin. pop.         Ranked 30th
                         701,900
                         265 / km²
                         Ranked 31st
                         401,200
        Ethnicity:       98.1% White
   Politics
   Arms of Dorset County Council
   Dorset County Council
   http://www.dorsetforyou.com/
         Executive       Conservative
   Members of Parliament
                           * Annette Brooke
                           * John Butterfill
                           * Christopher Chope
                           * Tobias Ellwood
                           * Jim Knight
                           * Oliver Letwin
                           * Robert Syms
                           * Robert Walter

   Districts

                    Image:Dorset_Ceremonial_Numbered.png

    1. Weymouth and Portland
    2. West Dorset
    3. North Dorset
    4. Purbeck
    5. East Dorset
    6. Christchurch
    7. Bournemouth (Unitary)
    8. Poole (Unitary)

   Dorset (pronounced 'DOR-sit' or [dɔ.sət], and sometimes in the past
   called Dorset shire) is a county in the south-west of England, on the
   English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester, situated in the
   south of the county at 50°43′00″N, 02°26′00″W. Between its extreme
   points Dorset measures 50 miles (80 km) from east to west and 40 miles
   (64 km) north to south, and has an area of 1,024 square miles (2,653
   km²). Dorset borders Devon to the west, Somerset to the north-west,
   Wiltshire to the north-east, and Hampshire to the east. The county is
   largely rural with a relatively low population and population density.
   Dorset's motto is 'Who's Afear'd'.

   Dorset is famous for its beautiful coastline, the Jurassic Coast, which
   features landforms such as Lulworth Cove, the Isle of Portland, Chesil
   Beach and Durdle Door, as well as the holiday resorts of Poole,
   Bournemouth, Weymouth, Swanage, West Bay and Lyme Regis. Dorset is the
   setting of the novels of Thomas Hardy, who was born near the county
   town of Dorchester. The county has a long history of human settlement
   and some notable archaeology, including the hill forts of Maiden Castle
   and Hod Hill.

History

   The earliest recorded use of the name was in AD 940 as Dorseteschire,
   meaning the dwellers (saete) of 'Dornuuarana' (Dorchester), the place
   of fisticuffs ( Welsh: 'Dwrn', 'fist'; and 'gwarae', 'play').

   The first known settlement of Dorset was by Mesolithic hunters, from
   around 8000  BC. Their populations were small and concentrated along
   the coast in the Isle of Purbeck, Weymouth and Chesil Beach and along
   the Stour valley. These populations used tools and fire to clear these
   areas of some of the native Oak forest. Dorset's high chalk hills have
   provided a location for defensive settlements for millennia, with
   neolithic and bronze age burial mounds on almost every chalk hill in
   the county, and a number of iron age hill forts, the most famous being
   Maiden Castle. The chalk downs would have been deforested in these
   times, making way for farmland.

   Dorset has many notable Roman artifacts, particularly around the Roman
   town Dorchester, where Maiden Castle was captured from the Celtic
   Durotriges by Vespasian in 54 AD, early in the Roman occupation. Roman
   roads radiated from Dorchester, following the tops of the chalk ridges
   to the many small Roman villages around the county. In the Roman era,
   settlements moved from the hill tops to the valleys, and the hilltops
   had been abandoned by the 4th century. A large defensive ditch,
   Bokerley Dyke, delayed the Saxon conquest of Dorset from the north east
   for up to two hundred years. The Domesday Book documents many Saxon
   settlements corresponding to modern towns and villages, mostly in the
   valleys. There have been few changes to the parishes since the Domesday
   Book. Over the next few centuries the settlers established the pattern
   of farmland which prevailed into the 19th century, as well as many
   monasteries, which were important landowners and centres of power.

   In the 12th century civil war, Dorset was fortified with the
   construction of the defensive castles at Corfe Castle, Powerstock,
   Wareham and Shaftesbury, and the strengthening of the monasteries such
   as at Abbotsbury. In the 17th century English Civil War, Dorset had a
   number of royalist strongholds, such as Sherborne Castle and Corfe
   Castle, which were ruined by Parliamentarian forces in the war. In the
   intervening years, the county was used by the monarchy and nobility for
   hunting and the county still has a number of Deer Parks. Throughout the
   late Medieval times, the remaining hilltop settlements shrank further
   and disappeared. From the Tudor to Georgian periods, farms specialised
   and the monastic estates were broke up, leading to an increase in
   population and settlement size. During the industrial revolution,
   Dorset remained largely rural and still retains its agricultural
   economy. The Tolpuddle Martyrs lived in Dorset, and the farming economy
   of Dorset was central in the formation of the trade union movement.

Physical geography

   Most of Dorset's landscape falls into two categories, determined by the
   underlying geology. There are a number of large ridges of limestone
   downland, much of which have been cleared of the native forest and are
   mostly grassland and some arable agriculture. These limestone areas
   include a band of chalk which crosses the county from south-west to
   north-east incorporating Cranborne Chase, the Dorset Downs and Purbeck
   Hills. Between the areas of downland are large, wide clay vales
   (primarily Oxford Clay with some Weald Clay and London Clay) with wide
   flood plains. These vales are primarily used for dairy agriculture,
   dotted with small villages, farms and coppices. They include the
   Blackmore Vale ( Stour valley) and Frome valley.

   South-east Dorset, around Poole and Bournemouth, lies on very
   nonresistant Eocene clays (mainly London Clay and Gault Clay), sands
   and gravels. These thin soils support a heathland habitat which
   supports all seven native British reptile species. The River Frome
   estuary runs through this weak rock, and its many tributaries have
   carved out a wide estuary. At the mouth of the estuary sand spits have
   been deposited turning the estuary into Poole Harbour, the second
   largest natural harbour in the world (after Sydney Harbour, though
   Sydney's claim is disputed). The harbour is very shallow in places and
   contains a number of islands, notably Brownsea Island, famous for its
   Red Squirrel sanctuary and as the birthplace of the Scouting movement.
   The harbour, and the chalk and limestone hills of the Purbecks to the
   south, lie atop Britain's largest onshore oil field. The field,
   operated by BP from Wytch Farm, produces a high-quality oil and boasts
   the world's oldest continuously pumping well ( Kimmeridge, since the
   early 1960s) and longest horizontal drill (5 miles, ending underneath
   Bournemouth pier). The pottery produced by Poole Pottery from the local
   clays is famous for its quality.

   Most of Dorset's coastline was designated a World Heritage Site in 2001
   because of its geological landforms. The coast documents the entire
   Mesozoic era from Triassic to Cretaceous, and has yielded many
   important fossils, including the first complete Ichthyosaur and
   fossilised Jurassic trees.
   Durdle Door natural arch
   Enlarge
   Durdle Door natural arch

   The coast also features examples of most notable coastal landforms,
   including a textbook example of cove ( Lulworth Cove) and natural arch
   ( Durdle Door). Jutting out into the English Channel is a limestone
   island, the Isle of Portland, connected to the mainland by Chesil
   Beach, a tombolo. One of the best ways to explore the Jurassic Coast is
   to follow the South West Coast Path National Trail that runs along it.

   In the west of the county the chalk and clay of south-east England
   begins to give way to the marl and granite of neighbouring Devon. Until
   recently Pilsdon Pen at 909  ft (277  m), was thought to be the highest
   hill in Dorset, but recent surveys have shown nearby Lewesdon Hill to
   be higher, at 279 m (915 ft). It is also a Marilyn.

   The county has the highest proportion of 'Areas of Outstanding Natural
   Beauty' (44% of the whole county), 'World Heritage Sites', and 'Sites
   of Special Scientific interest' in England.
   Lulworth Cove, a fine example of a cove.
   Enlarge
   Lulworth Cove, a fine example of a cove.

   The county has warm summers and mild winters, being the third most
   southern county in the UK, but not westerly enough to be afflicted by
   the Atlantic storms of Cornwall and Devon. The average annual
   temperature of the county is 9.8 to 12 °C (49.6 to 53.6 °F), with the
   exception of the highest areas of the downs. In coastal areas around
   Dorset it is rare to have frosts, and it almost never snows. The county
   enjoys more sunshine than any other county, along with Hampshire, Kent
   and East and West Sussex, with all five counties receiving 1541–1885
   hours. Average annual rainfall is 871–1060 mm, less than counties to
   the west but slightly more than those to the east. This slightly high
   rainfall means that Dorset has lush vegetation.

Demographics

   Poole Quay
   Enlarge
   Poole Quay

   Dorset has a population of 407,217, plus 165,370 in Bournemouth and
   137,562 in Poole (total 710,149 — mid-year estimates for 2006). The
   following statistics exclude Poole and Bournemouth, which are no longer
   part of the administrative county.

   91.3% of Dorset's population were born in England and 95.2% were born
   within the United Kingdom. 98.8% are indigenous, an extreme example of
   the disproportionately small ethnic minority population in rural areas.

   78% of the population are Christian, 13.7% are not religious.

   Dorset has the second highest proportion of elderly people of any
   county in Britain, second only to East Sussex, with 25.9% of the
   population over 65 and 13.9% of the 16–74 age range retired. The county
   has the lowest birth rate of the 34 English counties, at 9.6 births per
   1000. It has the third highest mortality rate, behind East Sussex and
   Devon. In 1996 deaths exceeded births by 1,056, giving a natural
   population decline of 2.7 per 1000, however, in 1997 there were 7,200
   migrants moving to Dorset and the Poole-Bournemouth conurbation, giving
   Dorset the second highest net population-growth, behind Cambridgeshire,
   at 17.3%.

Politics

   Dorset County Council is based at County Hall in Dorchester. Following
   the local council elections in May 2005, 24 Conservative, 16 Liberal
   Democrat, four Labour and one independent councillor sit on the county
   council. All Labour councillors were elected in the built up area of
   Weymouth and Portland, with rural areas returning Conservatives and
   Liberal Democrat councillors.

   This pattern is repeated at the national level. South Dorset is
   represented in Parliament by Labour MP Jim Knight, though this
   constituency was Labour's smallest majority and was one of the most
   fiercely contested seats in the General Election of 2005. In the event,
   the seat went against the national trend and Mr Knight's majority
   increased slightly on a swing from the Conservatives. In all other
   Dorset constituencies, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are the
   most successful parties: Mid-Dorset and North Poole is represented by
   the Liberal Democrats, and West Dorset, Christchurch and North Dorset
   by the Conservatives.

   The built up area of Poole and Bournemouth is divided into three
   constituencies, Bournemouth East, Bournemouth West and Poole, all of
   which are currently represented by Conservative MPs.

Economy and industry

   Abbotsbury Great Barn
   Enlarge
   Abbotsbury Great Barn

   In 2003 the gross value added (GVA) for the county was £4,673 million,
   with an additional £4,705 million for Poole and Bournemouth. 4% of GVA
   was produced by primary industry, 26% from secondary industry and 70%
   from tertiary industry. The average GVA for the 12 statistics regions
   of South West England was £6,257 million. Using 2004 population
   estimates, the GVA per person was £6,671 for Dorset, £15,683 for Poole
   and Bournemouth, £15,235 for the South West and £16,100 for the UK.

   The principal industry in Dorset was once agriculture. It has not,
   however, been the largest employer for many decades as mechanisation
   has substantially reduced the number of workers required. Agriculture
   has become less profitable and the industry has declined further.
   Between 1995 and 2003 GVA for primary industry (largely agriculture
   with some fishing and quarrying) declined from £229 to 188 million—7.1%
   to 4.0% of the county's GVA. In 2002, 1,903 km² of the county was in
   agricultural use, down from 1,986 km² in 1989, although the figure has
   fluctuated somewhat. Cattle, the principal animal stock in the county,
   fell from 240,413 to 178,328 in the same period, the dairy herds
   falling from 102,589 to 73,476. Sheep and pig farming has declined in a
   similar fashion.

   One of Dorset's famous products is the Dorset Knob, a hard biscuit. It
   can be used as an accompaniment to cheese, especially the local Dorset
   cheese, Blue Vinney.

   Tourism has grown as an industry in Dorset since the early 19th
   century. 4.2 million British tourists and 260,000 foreign tourists
   visited the county in 2002, spending a combined total of £768 million.
   Foreign tourism declined in 1999 (310,000, down from 410,000 in 1998),
   and again in 2002 (down from 320,000), the latter decline being blamed
   on the effects of the global economy and security.

   Dorset has little manufacturing industry, at 14.6% of employment
   (compared to 18.8% for the UK), and is ranked 30th out the 34 English
   counties. The gross domestic product for the county is 84% that of the
   national average.

   Dorset will host the only Olympic event at the 2012 Summer Olympics
   held outside London – sailing – at the Weymouth and Portland National
   Sailing Academy in Portland Harbour. The seas around Weymouth and
   Portland rank amongst the best in Northern Europe for sailing.

Dorset people

   Cerne Abbas Manor House
   Enlarge
   Cerne Abbas Manor House

   Dorset is famed in literature for being the native county of author and
   poet Thomas Hardy. Many of the places he describes in his novels in the
   fictional Wessex are in Dorset. The National Trust owns Thomas Hardy's
   Cottage, in woodland east of Dorchester, and Max Gate, his house in
   Dorchester. Stalbridge was home of Douglas Adams, author of The
   Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Poet William Barnes, authors Theodore
   Francis Powys, John le Carré, P.D. James and satirical novelist Thomas
   Love Peacock are also locals. John Cowper Powys set a number of his
   most famous novels in Dorset and Somerset. The author John Fowles lived
   in Lyme Regis before he died in late 2005. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote
   The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde while living in Bournemouth.

   Dorset is also the birthplace of artist Sir James Thornhill, musicians
   P.J. Harvey and Robert Fripp, photographer Jane Bown, paleontologist
   Mary Anning and archbishops John Morton and William Wake. Explorer Sir
   Walter Raleigh lived in Dorset for a time. Scientist and philosopher
   Robert Boyle lived in Stalbridge Manor for a time. Dorset is a popular
   home for celebrities. Those who have moved to or own second homes in
   Dorset include Madonna and Guy Ritchie, actor Martin Clunes,
   singer-songwriter Billy Bragg, Jonathan Ross, and footballer Jamie
   Redknapp. Many of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's television programmes
   are filmed at his home, just outside of Bridport. Tim Berners-Lee,
   inventor of the World Wide Web lived in Colehill near Wimborne.

Settlements and communications

   Gold Hill, Shaftesbury
   Enlarge
   Gold Hill, Shaftesbury
   Fortuneswell and Chesil Beach
   Enlarge
   Fortuneswell and Chesil Beach
   Weymouth Promenade
   Enlarge
   Weymouth Promenade

   Dorset is largely rural with many small villages, few large towns, and
   no cities. The largest conurbation is the South East Dorset conurbation
   which consists of the seaside resort of Bournemouth, the historic port
   of Poole and the town of Christchurch plus many villages. Bournemouth
   was created in the Victorian era when sea bathing became popular. As an
   example of how affluent the area has become, Sandbanks in Poole was
   worthless land unwanted by farmers in the 19th century, but is said to
   be amongst the highest land values by area in the world . Bournemouth
   and Christchurch were added to the county from Hampshire in the county
   boundary changes of 1974.

   The other two major settlements in the county are Dorchester, the
   county town, and Weymouth, one of the first tourist towns, frequented
   by George III, and still very popular today.

   Blandford Forum, Sherborne, Gillingham, Shaftesbury and Sturminster
   Newton are historical market towns which serve the farms and villages
   of the Blackmore Vale (Hardy's Vale of the Little Dairies). Blandford
   is home to the Badger brewery of Hall and Woodhouse. Bridport, Lyme
   Regis, Wareham and Wimborne Minster are also market towns. Lyme Regis
   and Swanage are small coastal towns popular with tourists.

   Currently in construction on the western edge of Dorchester is the
   experimental new town of Poundbury, commissioned and co-designed by
   Prince Charles. The suburb is designed to integrate residential and
   retail buildings and counter the growth of dormitory towns and
   car-oriented development.

   Dorset is connected to London by two main railway lines. The West of
   England Main Line runs through the north of the county at Gillingham
   and Sherborne. The South Western Main Line runs through the south at
   Bournemouth, Poole, Dorchester and the terminus at Weymouth.
   Additionally, the Wessex Main Line runs from Weymouth to Bristol.
   Dorset is one of only four non-urban counties in England to not have a
   single motorway, along with Cornwall, Norfolk and Suffolk. The A303,
   A31 and A35 trunk roads run through the county. The only passenger
   airport in the county is Bournemouth International Airport, and there
   are two passenger sea ports, at Poole and Weymouth.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorset"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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