Wareham
OS Grid Reference:	SY923873
Lat/Lon:	50°41′N 2°06′W
Population:	8,417
Dwellings:	1,146
Formal status:	Town
Administration
County:	Dorset
Region:	South West
Nation:	England
Post Office and Telephone
Post town:	Wareham
Postcode:	BH20
Dialling Code:	01929

Wareham is a historic market town in the Purbeck district of Dorset, England. The town is situated on the River Frome eight miles south west of Poole. The population of Wareham is 8,417¹. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1802x2589, 189 KB) Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1. ... The British national grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references commonly used in Great Britain, different from using latitude or longitude. ... A dwelling is a structure in which humans or other animals live. ... Originally, in continental Europe, a county was the land under the jurisdiction of a count. ... Dorset (pronounced Dorsit, sometimes in the past called Dorsetshire) is a county in the southwest 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 in England. ... South West England is one of the regions of England. ... Home Nations is a term used to refer to the four constituent parts of the United Kingdom - England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland - collectively, but also as separate entities, distinct from the United Kingdom as a whole. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location within the British Isles Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population – Total (mid-2004) – Total (2001 Census) – Density Ranked 1st UK... A post town is a required part of all UK postal addresses. ... UK and Australian postal codes are known as postcodes. ... 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. ... The market town is a medieval phenomenon. ... Purbeck is a local government district in Dorset, England, named for the Isle of Purbeck. ... Dorset (pronounced Dorsit, sometimes in the past called Dorsetshire) is a county in the southwest of England, on the English Channel coast. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location within the British Isles Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population – Total (mid-2004) – Total (2001 Census) – Density Ranked 1st UK... The River Frome is a river in Dorset in the south of England. ... A mile is a unit of distance (or, in physics terminology, length) currently defined as 5,280 feet, 1,760 yards, or 63,360 inches. ... Poole is a coastal town, port and tourist destination in the traditional county of Dorset in southern England. ...

Situation and geography

The town is built on a strategic dry point between the River Frome and the River Piddle and beside 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. In geography a dry point is an area of firm or flood-free ground in an area of wetland, marsh or flood plains. ... The River Frome is a river in Dorset in the south of England. ... The River Piddle or Trent or North River is a small rural Dorset river which rises next to Alton Pancras church (Alton Pancras was originally named Awultune, a Saxon name meaning the village at the source of a river) and flows south and then south-easterly more or less parallel... Poole Harbour is a harbour in Dorset, south England. ... Flood Plain along Lynches River Johnsonville, South Carolina Showing high water mark on tupelo and cypress trees In geography, a flood plain is a plain formed of sediment, typically dropped by a river. ... Freshwater marsh in Florida In geography, a marsh is a type of wetland, featuring grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, and other herbaceous plants (possibly with low-growing woody plants) in a context of shallow water. ... Estuaries and coastal waters are among the most productive ecosystems on Earth, providing numerous ecological, economic, cultural, and aesthetic benefits and services. ... Port Hacking, in the southern suburbs of Sydney (Australia) is a ria, or drowned river valley. ...

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 near Corfe Castle, to Worgret Junction and into Wareham again. Location within the British Isles Swanage station, the terminus of the Swanage heritage railway. ... Dorchester Dorchester is a market town in south west Dorset, England, situated on the River Frome and A35 road 20 miles west of Poole and five miles north of Weymouth. ... See also: Sherborne, Gloucestershire Sherborne is an affluent market town in north west Dorset, England, situated on the River Yeo and A30 road, on the edge of the Blackmore Vale six miles east of Yeovil. ... Bypass may refer to: bypass (road) - a road or highway that bypasses a built-up area. ... The South Western Main Line is the railway line from London Waterloo to Weymouth on the Dorset coast. ... Swanage station is decorated with railway memorabilia. ...

To the north-west of the town a large conifer plantation, Wareham Forest stretches several miles to the A35 road and the southerm 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 to the south is a Chalk ridge, the Purbeck Hills, and ten miles to the south is the English Channel. Wareham Forest is a large coniferous plantation beside the A35 road near Wareham, between Poole and Dorchester, in Dorset, England. ... The A35 is a trunk road in England. ... 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. ... Corfe Castle from the south Corfe village and castle Corfe Castle, in Dorset, England, is a small village and ruined castle situated in a gap in the Purbeck Hills five miles south of Wareham. ... Wytch Farm is an oil field and oil refinery in the Purbeck district of Dorset, England, the largest onshore oil field in Europe. ... Studland is a small village in Dorset, England famous for its beaches and Nature Reserve. ... The Purbeck Hills form a headland where they meet the sea at Old Harry Rocks Corfe Castle guards a gap in the ridgeway At Lulworth Cove the sea has broken through the Limestone, eroded away the weak clays and exposed the chalk of the Purbeck hills The Purbeck Hills are... Satellite view of the English Channel The English Channel (French: La Manche, IPA: , the sleeve), also for some time known in England as the British Sea, is the part of the Atlantic Ocean that separates the island of Great Britain from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the...

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 buriel 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. For other uses, see Roman Empire (disambiguation). ... This article is about the Saxons, a Germanic people. ... Ramparts is a radical squatted social centre in East London. ... Alfred (849? – 26 October 899) or Ælfred was king of the southern Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex from 871 to 899. ... As a means of recording the passage of time the 9th century was that century that lasted from 801 to 900. ... Norsemen (the Norse) is the indigenous or ancient name for the people of Scandinavia, including (but not limited to) the Vikings. ... Beorhtric (died 802) was the King of Wessex from 786 until his death. ... Events December 25, Rome, coronation of Charles the Great (Charlemagne) as emperor by Pope Leo III. Celtic monks begin work on the Book of Kells on the Island of Iona. ... The Common Era (CE), also known as the Christian Era and sometimes the Current Era, is the period of measured time beginning with the year 1 until the present. ... King Edward the Martyr or Eadweard II (c. ... Events Badìa Fiorentina, an abbey in Italy, is founded by Willa, Margravine of Tuscany. ... Gold Hill Shaftesbury is a town in North Dorset, England, situated on the A30 road near the Wiltshire border 20 miles west of Salisbury. ...

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. The Monmouth Rebellion of 1685, also known as the Pitchfork Rebellion, was an attempt to overthrow the King of England, James II, who became king when his elder brother, Charles II, died on 6 February 1685. ... Events February 6 - James Stuart, Duke of York becomes King James II of England and Ireland and King James VII of Scotland. ... George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys may also refer to George Darell Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys (1878-1960) George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys (1648 – April 18, 1689), better known as Hanging Judge Jeffreys, became notorious during the reign of King James II, rising to the position of Lord Chancellor (and serving... The Bloody Assizes were the series of trials in the aftermath of the Battle of Sedgemoor, which ended the Monmouth Rebellion in England. ...

The Frome estuary in the east of the parish

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. Image File history File linksMetadata Dorset_Wareham_Frome_Estuary. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Dorset_Wareham_Frome_Estuary. ... 1762 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... A Georgian styled house in Salisbury. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times. ... Categories: Stub ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...

Near the town is Bovington army camp, near the place where T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) died due to a motorcycle accident. There is an effigy of Lawrence in Arab clothing in St Martins Church. He is buried at Moreton churchyard where every year a quantity (decreases by one each year) of red roses are left. Thomas Edward Lawrence, CB , DSO (August 16, 1888 – May 19, 1935), professionally known as T.E. Lawrence and, later, T.E. Shaw, but most famously known as Lawrence of Arabia, gained international renown for his role as a British liaison officer during the Arab Revolt of 1916 to 1918. ... The Arabs (Arabic: عرب ʻarab) are a large and heterogeneous ethnic group found throughout the Middle East and North Africa, originating in the Arabian Peninsula of southwest Asia. ... Moreton is a village in Dorset, England, situated in the Piddle valley six miles east of Dorchester. ...

Since the 15th century Wareham has been a market town, and still holds a market on Thursdays. (14th century - 15th century - 16th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. ... The market town is a medieval phenomenon. ...

Footnotes

1. Figure obtained by combining the populations of Wareham town parish (5,665) and Wareham St Martin parish (2,752) from the Census 2001.

In 2001 censuses were conducted in Canada: Canada 2001 Census Nepal: Demographics of Nepal Portugal Slovakia: Demographics of Slovakia United Kingdom: United Kingdom Census 2001 Categories: Demographics ...

External links

• Census data
• The Dorset Mag: Wareham

References

• Pitt Rivers, Michael, 1970. Dorset. London: Faber & Faber.