Blandford Forum
Coordinates: 50.856° N 2.168° W Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ... Blandford Forum shown within Dorset
Population	8,755 (2001)
OS grid reference	ST881064
District	North Dorset
Shire county	Dorset
Region	South West
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BLANDFORD
Postcode district	DT11
Dial code	01258
Police	Dorset
Fire	Dorset
Ambulance	South Western
UK Parliament	North Dorset Constituency
European Parliament	South West England
List of places: UK • England • Dorset

Blandford Forum, or Blandford is a market town on the River Stour in Dorset, England. In the 2001 census the population was 8,755 people. Blandford is the location of North Dorset's district council, though it is situated in the far south-east of the district. Nearby is the small village of Blandford St Mary. Blandford is situated between Cranborne Chase and the Dorset Downs, at the south eastern corner of the Blackmore Vale, 25 km (16 miles) north-west of Poole and 34 km (21 miles) south-west of Salisbury. The town lies at the junction of the A350 and A354 main roads but is skirted by an eastern bypass. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 583 pixelsFull resolution (1016 × 740 pixel, file size: 130 KB, MIME type: image/png) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Wimborne Minster Bournemouth Lyme Regis Shaftesbury... Image File history File links Red_pog. ... Dorset (pronounced DOR-sit or [dÉ”.sÉ™t], and sometimes in the past called Dorsetshire) is a county in the south-west of England, on the English Channel coast. ... The British national grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references commonly used in Great Britain, different from using latitude or longitude. ... The districts of England are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. ... North Dorset is a local government district in Dorset, England. ... Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. ... Dorset (pronounced DOR-sit or [dÉ”.sÉ™t], and sometimes in the past called Dorsetshire) is a county in the south-west of England, on the English Channel coast. ... The region, also known as Government Office Region, is currently the highest tier of local government subnational entity of England in the United Kingdom. ... South West England is one of the regions of England. ... This is an alphabetical list of countries of the world, including independent states (both those that are internationally recognised and generally unrecognised), inhabited dependent territories and areas of special sovereignty. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the King (Queen) England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Queen Queen Elizabeth II  -  Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification  -  by Athelstan 967  Area... This is an alphabetical list of the sovereign states of the world, including both de jure and de facto independent states. ... A post town is a required part of all UK postal addresses. ... UK postal codes are known as postcodes. ... The DT postcode area, also known as the Dorchester postcode area[1], is a group of postal districts around Beaminster, Blandford Forum, Bridport, Dorchester, Lyme Regis, Portland, Sherborne, Sturminster Newton and Weymouth in England. ... The UK telephone numbering plan, also known as the National Numbering Plan, is regulated by the Office of Communications (Ofcom), which replaced the Office of Telecommunications (Oftel) in 2003. ... Dorset Police is the Home Office police force with the responsibility of policing the English county of Dorset. ... A Fire Appliance belonging to the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service The fire service in the United Kingdom has undergone dramatic changes since the beginning of the 21st century, a process that has been propelled by a devolution of central government powers, new legislation and a change to operational... Dorset Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service for the area of Dorset, south-west England. ... Crest of NHS ambulance services in England Crest of the Scottish Ambulance Service In the UK, the majority of ambulance services are provided under the National Health Service through local ambulance trusts. Each trust is specific to a county or area, and so the country is divided across a number... The South Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust is the authority responsible for providing NHS ambulance services in the counties of Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset (including the Bournemouth, Plymouth, Poole, Torbay and Isles of Scilly unitary authorities) in South West England. ... The United Kingdom House of Commons is made up of Members of Parliament (MPs). ... North Dorset is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... This is a list of Members of the European Parliament for the United Kingdom in the 2004 to 2009 session, ordered by name. ... The constituency (first used 2004) within England; Gibraltar is in the inset. ... List of cities in the United Kingdom List of towns in England Lists of places within counties List of places in Bedfordshire List of places in Berkshire List of places in Buckinghamshire List of places in Cambridgeshire List of places in Cheshire List of places in Cleveland List of places... This is a list of settlements in Dorset, England. ... The market town is a medieval phenomenon. ... Sturminster Newton water mill on a July evening. ... Dorset (pronounced DOR-sit or [dÉ”.sÉ™t], and sometimes in the past called Dorsetshire) is a county in the south-west of England, on the English Channel coast. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the King (Queen) England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Queen Queen Elizabeth II  -  Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification  -  by Athelstan 967  Area... 1870 US Census for New York City A census is the process of obtaining information about every member of a population (not necessarily a human population). ... North Dorset is a local government district in Dorset, England. ... Masouleh village, Gilan Province, Iran. ... Blandford St. ... Ashmore pond Cranborne Chase is a Chalk plateau in central southern England, straddling the counties Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. ... The Dorset Downs shown within Dorset The Dorset Downs are an area of Chalk downland in the centre of the county Dorset in south west England. ... Sturminster Newton watermill. ... Poole is a coastal town, port and tourist destination, situated on the shores of the English Channel, in the ceremonial county of Dorset in southern England. ... Salisbury (IPA: , or — moving from RP to local dialect) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England. ... The A350 is a north south primary route in southern England. ... The A354 is a primary route in England which runs from Salisbury in Wiltshire to the Isle of Portland in Dorset. ... Bypass routes are a type of bannered highway usually used when the main route of the highway goes through a town and an alternate route of the same highway goes around the highway. ...

A number of renowned private schools are located near Blandford, such as Knighton House, Bryanston School and Canford School. The town and surrounding villages are home to many primary Schools, students then move to The Blandford School which is a specialist technology college in the town at the age of 11, the School also has a sixth form. The term public school has two distinct meanings: elementary or secondary school supported and administered by state and local officials, or, in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, a private or independent, fee-paying school, generally not coeducational, which prepares pupils for university. ... There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ... Bryanston School is an independent public school in Blandford, north Dorset, near the village of Bryanston. ... Canford School is a full boarding coeducational public school with a significant minority of day pupils, in Merley, Wimborne Minster, Dorset. ... The town hall Blandford Forum, or Blandford is a town on the River Stour in Dorset, England. ...

Thousands of people attend the Georgian Fayre which fills the town centre and is held in the first week of May each year. The Fayre combines georgian celebrations with presentations from different groups, stalls, and a fun fair.

The nearby village of Tarrant Hinton is home to the well renowned Great Dorset Steam Fair which can attract in excess of 250,000 in the last week of August each year. The fair is a showcase for steam engines from across the UK and Europe. Craft stools, camping, and a giant fair are among the other attractions. Tarrant Hinton is a village in north Dorset, England, situated in the Tarrant Valley five miles east of Blandford Forum. ... The Great Dorset Steam Fair is an annual show featuring steam powered vehicles and machinery. ... For other uses, see August (disambiguation). ... A steam engine is a heat engine that makes use of the thermal energy that exists in steam, converting it to mechanical work. ... This article is 150 kilobytes or more in size. ...

One less pleasant local resident is 'The Blandford Fly', a local biting insect which has caused several fatalities. In recent years the weed beds in the river have had to be sprayed to stop it breeding. The Blandford Fly (Simulium posticalim) is a biting insect found locally around Blandford Forum and villages bordering the River Stour in Dorset, UK. Its larvae breed in the weedbeds of the slow flowing river and when the fly emerges,the female seeks a blood meal before mating. ...

History

Blandford has been a fording point since Anglo-Saxon times, when it was recorded as Blaen-y-ford and as Blaneford in the Domesday Book, meaning ford of the river of blay or gudgeon. By the 13th century it had become an important market town, with a livestock market serving the nearby Blackmore Vale with its many dairy farms. The Latin word Forum, meaning market, was recorded in 1540.^[1] It was an important break on the journey between the port of Weymouth and the capital London. There is still a bi-weekly market held in the town. A ford is a section of water (most commonly a section of a river) that is sufficiently shallow as to be traversable by wading. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... A line drawing entitled Domesday Book from Andrew Williamss Historic Byways and Highways of Old England. ... Blay (pronounced bleh) is a commune of the Calvados département, in the Basse_Normandie région in France. ... In general, a gudgeon is a circular fitting, often made of metal, which is fixed onto some surface. ... (12th century - 13th century - 14th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 to 1300. ... The market town is a medieval phenomenon. ... Sturminster Newton watermill. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Weymouth Promenade in 1993 Weymouth is a coastal town in Dorset, England. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...

In 1731 much of the town was destroyed in a fire. John and William Bastard rebuilt the town over the following 30 years and the town centre is an excellent example of Georgian architecture from the 1730s to 1760s. The Town Hall, Blandford Forum John (ca 1668–1770) and William Bastard (ca 1689–1766) were British surveyor-architects, and civic dignitaries [1] of the town of Blandford Forum in Dorset. ... A Georgian house in Salisbury Georgian architecture is the name given in English-speaking countries to the architectural styles current between about 1720 and 1840, named after the four British monarchs named George. ...

Architecture

The town hall

Blandford Forum is often given as an example of a Georgian town, as the entire centre was rebuilt at once in the 1700s, due to a fire, and is hence uniformly Georgian. All facades remain in fair to good condition, and notable buildings include The Corn Exchange, and the 1732 parish church of St Peter and St Paul, a classical building with a copula on top of the tower. To the south of the town a six arch stone bridge spans the slow-moving River Stour. Download high resolution version (700x675, 516 KB)Blandford Forum Dorset, taken by Joe D, November 5, 2004. ... Download high resolution version (700x675, 516 KB)Blandford Forum Dorset, taken by Joe D, November 5, 2004. ...

Economy

One of the largest industries in the town is the Badger Brewery which supplies beer and ale to public houses across the region. Badger Brewery is an independent family brewery based in Blandford Forum, Dorset, UK. It is owned by the company Hall and Woodhouse, which also operates over 250 pubs. ... A selection of bottled beers A selection of cask beers Beer is one of the worlds oldest[1] and most popular[2] alcoholic beverage, selling more than 133 billion liters (35 billion gallons) per year - producing total global revenues of $294. ... A pint of ale Ale is a beer style brewed from barley malt with a top fermenting brewers yeast that ferments quickly, giving a sweet, full body and a fruity, and sometimes a butter-like, taste. ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ...

Some 2 km northeast of the town lies Blandford Camp, which has long been home to the Royal Corps of Signals, the communications wing of the British Army. The base incorporates a modern technology training college plus a cinema for military personnel, and the National Signals Museum (a museum of items relating to the history of the Royal Signals since its inception) which is open to the public. The museum contains many items of interest including uniforms, medals, signals equipment, (some of which is interactive) and not least, an Enigma cryptographic machine, famous for cracking the German High Level ciphers during World War 2. Blandford Camp is a military base comprising some 390 hectares of downland lying 2 miles (3 km) north-east of Blandford Forum in the county of Dorset in southern England. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ... The plugboard, keyboard, lamps and finger-wheels of the rotors emerging from the inner lid of a three-rotor German military Enigma machine (version with labels) In the history of cryptography, the Enigma was a cipher machine used to encrypt and decrypt secret messages. ...

Shopping

Blandford has a blend of small unique shops as well as larger stores such as Tesco, Woolworths, Homebase, WH Smith, Somerfield, Argos, Spar, Mackays/M&CO. The town also has a number of banks including HSBC, Natwest and Barclays. Tesco plc is a UK-based international grocery and general merchandising retail chain. ... F.W. Woolworth Company the original USA based chain of high street shops. ... For the former US home improvement store, see HomeBase. ... This article is about the bookshop chain; for the businessman and politician of that name, see William Henry Smith. ... Somerfield is a chain of small to medium-sized supermarkets operating in the United Kingdom. ... Coordinates 37°37′ N 22°43′ E Country Greece Periphery Peloponnese Prefecture Argolis Province Argos Population 29,505 Area 5. ... This article is about the convenience store. ... HSBC Holdings plc (LSE: HSBA, SEHK: 005, NYSE: HBC, Euronext: HSBC, BSX: 1077223879) is one of the largest banking groups in the world, ranked the fifth-largest company and third-largest banking company in the world in Forbes Global 2000. ... The Classic NatWest logo National Westminster Bank Plc, trading as NatWest, is a commercial bank in the United Kingdom, part of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group. ... Barclays Bank is the fourth largest bank in the United Kingdom. ...

Literature

Blandford features in Thomas Hardy's novels as the Wessex town of "Shottesford Forum". In 1590, Edmund Spenser mentioned the town in The Faerie Queene. Blandford Forum railway station was mentioned in the song "Slow Train" by Flanders and Swann. Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy, OM (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) — an English novelist, short story writer, and poet of the naturalist movement — delineated characters struggling against their passions and circumstances. ... Map of the British Isles circa 802 Wessex was one of the seven major Anglo-Saxon kingdoms (the Heptarchy) that preceded the Kingdom of England. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Una and the Lion by Briton Rivière The Faerie Queene is an English epic poem by Edmund Spenser, published first in three books in 1590, and later in six books in 1596. ... Blandford Forum railway station was a station on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway between Templecombe and Broadstone Junction. ... Slow Train is a song by Flanders and Swann, written in 1964. ... Michael Flanders Donald Swann The British duo Flanders and Swann were the actor and singer Michael Flanders (1922–1975) and the composer, pianist and linguist Donald Swann (1923–1994) who collaborated in writing comic songs. ...

References

1. ^ Mills, A.D., 1986. Dorset Place Names. Ensign, Southampton.

• Blandford Forum Information at Dorset County Council (pdf) - Accessed January 2006

External links

Photographs

• Images of Dorset: Blandford
• Photographs of Blandford Forum by a local photographer (Includes images of monuments to the Bastard Brothers)