18 Facts About Dorchester Dorset

Dorchester Dorset has been suggested as the centre of a sub-kingdom of Dumnonia or other regional power base.

At the time of the Norman conquest, Dorchester Dorset was not a place of great significance; the Normans did build a castle but it has not survived.

The town was heavily defended against the Royalists in the civil war and Dorchester Dorset was known as "the southern capital of coat-turning", as the county gentry found it expedient to change allegiance and to swap the sides they supported on several occasions.

Dorchester Dorset Prison was constructed in the town during the 19th century and was used for holding convicted and remanded inmates from the local courts until it closed in December 2013.

Dorchester Dorset remained a compact town within the boundaries of the old town walls until the latter part of the 19th century because all land immediately adjacent to the west, south and east was owned by the Duchy of Cornwall.

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Transition Town Dorchester Dorset is a community response to the challenges and opportunities of peak oil and climate change.

On 15 December 2004, Dorchester was the first town in Dorset to be granted Fairtrade status.

In 2011, Dorchester Dorset was one of more than 20 towns across the country to apply for city status to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II, although in March 2012 it was revealed that Dorchester Dorset's bid had been unsuccessful.

In June 2018 the Dorchester Dorset BID was successful in being voted in for a second term.

Powys had lived in Dorchester Dorset as a child, between May 1880 and Christmas 1885, when his father was a curate there.

Dorchester Dorset Arts, based in a former school building, runs a seasonal programme of music, dance and theatre events, participatory arts projects for socially excluded groups and the biannual Dorchester Dorset Festival.

Dorchester Dorset Arts has been resident at the corn exchange since 2015.

Dorchester museums include the Roman Town House, the Dinosaur Museum, the Terracotta Warriors Museum, the Dorset Teddy Bear Museum, the Keep Military Museum, Dorset County Museum.

Dorchester Dorset has thirteen first schools, three middle schools: St Osmund's Church of England Middle School, St Mary's Church of England Middle School, Puddletown and Dorchester Dorset Middle School and an upper school; The Thomas Hardye School which was founded in 1569 and endowed by Thomas Hardye, a merchant in 1579.

Town has two railway stations: Dorchester Dorset South is on the South West Main Line to Bournemouth, Southampton and London Waterloo, and is operated by South Western Railway.

Dorchester Dorset West, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, is on the Heart of Wessex Line, operated by Great Western Railway and connects with Yeovil, Bath, Bristol and Gloucester.

Dorchester Dorset was served by two local radio stations: Wessex FM, and BBC Radio Solent.

Many homes in Dorchester Dorset have access to fibre broadband services provided by private companies.