Towns

Description

(John Porter) Dorset’s towns are the survivors of a once much larger number of urban settlements.  Bere Regis, Cerne Abbas, Charmouth, Corfe Castle, Cranborne, Milton Abbas and Stalbridge, were all once towns, with markets and fairs, even MPs, yet none today is much more than a large village.

The story of Dorset’s towns and coastal ports spans 2000 years, from Roman Dorchester to Victorian Bournemouth.  Some, like the Nova Villa on the shores of Poole Harbour, were doomed from the start.  Others owe their success to the patronage of the crown or the arrival of the railway.

88 pages.  Soft covers.