Gazetteer - A-Z of Dorset towns and villages

Dorset Towns, Villages and City

As well as having some of the most beautiful coastal scenery to be found anywhere, Dorset is home to some fascinating towns and idyllic villages. The list below includes all the major towns and villages in Dorset. For a full list of places in Dorset, large and small, check out the gazetteer.

  • The charming village of Abbotsbury marks the centre of an area that has been settled for more than 6000 years. Within the present parish are over 20 tumili or burial mounds, which indicate that there was a high population here from very early times.… more

  • Beaminster is an old settlement, dating back to around the 7th century, when it was known as Bebingmynster, meaning the church of Bebbe. The present church is dedicated to St Mary and dates from the 13th to the 15th centuries.

    In the late 13th century, a charter… more

  • Bere Regis is an ancient Dorset village situated halfway between Poole and Dorchester whose main claim to fame is its association with the aristocratic Turbeville family, upon whom Thomas Hardy based his famous novel '… more

  • Blandford Forum was a major market town during the later medieval period. This was principally due to the fact that both the main road from Salisbury to Dorchester and that from Poole to Shaftesbury… more

  • It is possible for the tourist to view Bournemouth’s seven miles of golden sands and surrounding countryside from a hot air balloon. However this is a recent innovation and the town has been a tourist resort for many years. The resort is an ideal centre for visiting well-known… more

  • Bridport is a small market town and fishing port, for many years the main producer of ropes in the country. It became a fortified burgh, established by Alfred the Great, in the late 9th century. In the middle of the… more

  • Broadwindsor is a small village, two miles from Beaminster, surrounded by the beautiful Dorset countryside. It is a sleepy little place with a school and a shop and few encroachments from the modern world. There were signs of… more

  • Cerne Abbas is a well-preserved historic village nestling in the valley of the River Cerne, among the steep chalk downland of central Dorset. Famous for the enigmatic and well-endowed Cerne Abbas Giant, one of the largest… more

  • Charmouth is a historic seaside village and one of the access points to Dorset's world famous Jurassic Coast. Spectacular fossils that formed here 200 million years ago are now being exposed as the cliffs erode in massive landslides. A huge … more

  • During the Iron Age, the area between the rivers Avon and Stour were settled and the town of Christchurch was born. From Saxon times, the Great Priory Church… more

  • Corfe Castle is a village, civil parish and ruined castle with views stretching across the width of the Isle of Purbeck.
    The castle, which overlooks the village, commands a gap in the Purbeck hills between… more

  • The Royal Forest of Cranborne covers an area of around 100 square miles. At the time it was claimed by William the Conqueror in the 11th century, it would have been much more heavily wooded. Today Cranborne Chase… more

  • Dorchester is the county town of Dorset. To anyone who has read and enjoyed the novels of Thomas Hardy it is synonymous with the Wessex novels. Hardy was born in the nearby village of Higher Brockhampton.… more

  • Evershot is a small picturesque village midway between Beaminster and Cerne Abbas on the River Frome. It is one of the highest villages in the county at 700 feet above sea level. The name of the village is derived… more

  • The name, Ferndown, is believed to have been derived from the Anglo-Saxon word “fiergen”, which means wooded hill, and this area, on the edge of the beautiful New Forest, still boasts many woodlands. The name was originally two separate words, which were… more

  • Gillingham, the Leddenton of Thomas Hardy's novels, is situated in the Blackmore Vale, and is the most northerly town in Dorset. The town is in a convenient position for anyone wishing to explore the… more

  • Located in the heart of the Dorset countryside, two miles from the charmingly named Sixpenny Handley, is the hamlet of Gussage Saint Andrew, which now essentially consists of a few cottages and farms. in In the surrounding area there are have been numerous Celtic burial mounds discovered as well… more

  • Iwerne Minster is a small village and civil parish on the edge of the Blackmore Vale, halfway between the towns of Shaftesbury and Blandford Forum. It is positioned within the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Down Area of Outstanding… more

  • West Lulworth and Lulworth Cove

    Situated between Weymouth and Swanage in south Dorset, Lulworth Cove represents one of the finest examples of a natural cove in the world. Recently incorporated into the… more

  • Situated at the mouth of the river Lym, Lyme Regis is the most westerly town in Dorset. It lies halfway between Exeter, to the west, and Dorchester, to the east,… more

  • Maiden Newton is a large chalk stream village north of Dorchester. Today the village has a population of around a thousand. It straddles the River Frome and lies in the heart of the Dorset chalk lands.

    Towards the end of the… more

  • Milton Abbas, a charming and quaint thatch village sits on the Milton Abbey estate, and is often featured on postcards showing rural Dorset at its most idyllic. The village consists of 36 thatched cottages each made from cob and almost identical. The cottages were originally… more

  • Moreton is a tranquil Dorset village famous for its association with the prolific writer, celebrated soldier and pioneering archaeologist, T. E. Lawrence, perhaps better known as Lawrence of Arabia.Situated on the River Frome, just eight miles east of… more

  • There has been a settlement in this area since the Bronze Age and several artefacts have been found around Osmington. However, the village is first recorded in the middle of the 10th century, when mentioned in a charter document. The church was originally built in 1170 but there… more

  • Dorset's largest town and industrial centre is the old port of Poole, which boasts one of the largest natural harbours in the world. The River Frome flows into the western end of the harbour. Most of the historic old town is clustered around the harbour area.

    The… more

  • Portland is not really an island but is reached over a narrow causeway from Chesil Beach. It is a huge block of limestone, measuring 4.5 miles by 1.75 miles and rising to a height of 400 feet above sea level in the north. The famous … more

  • Puddletown is a small crossroads village close to Dorchester that retains a magical sense of times past. Formerly called Piddletown, for its proximity to the River Piddle, legend has it that Queen Victoria insisted the name… more

  • Purbeck is a district of Dorset that takes its name from the peninsula known locally as the 'Isle of Purbeck'. This sixty square mile chunk of land jutting into the English Channel is bordered on three sides by water and, although not actually an island, has an insular… more

  • Sandbanks is a sandy peninsula little more than a kilometre square that juts out across the mouth of Poole harbour. It was once offered for sale by the Guest family, who owned it, for £200. There were no takers and this tiny slip of land, connected to the… more

  • At over 750 feet above sea level, Shaftesbury is one of the highest towns in England. It was known as 'Caer Palladur' in Celtic times. The Saxons built a hilltop settlement here, because of the commanding position overlooking the… more

  • Sherborne has much to offer visitors and is one of the most beautiful towns in England. Situated on the Dorset and Somerset border it has excellent transport links making it a great centre from which to explore the… more

  • Stalbridge stands in the Blackmore Vale, close to the Somerset border, and is Dorset’s smallest town. The long main street runs from the church to the 15th century market cross, which is the finest in … more

  • Sturminster Newton is a pretty Dorset town, in the Stour farmlands, where there has been a market since 1272. It is situated in the beautiful Blackmore Vale, between Sherborne and Blandford… more

  • The town of Swanage is on the Isle Of Purbeck, a spur of land jutting out into the English Channel. The wide Swanage Bay gives good views to the Isle of Wight in good weather. To the north are chalk cliffs leading to Old… more

  • Tolpuddle is a small village in the Piddle Valley with a clutch of thatched cottages and a pretty little medieval church. The village was made famous by the Tolpuddle Martyrs, a group of local men whose activities in the early part of the 19th century directly… more

  • When the two hundred and fifty two inhabitants of Tyneham were displaced during the second world war, so that the War Office could use the land around the village as a firing range for training troops, they left a polite notice on the door to the church:

    '… more

  • There was a Roman settlement at Wareham and the modern town has grown up over this. It is believed that the transport of that time took advantage of the various rivers in the area and the closeness to the natural harbour at Poole. Wareham lies between the… more

  • Weymouth Bay has often been described as England’s Bay of Naples. It has something to offer everyone with golden sands, safe bathing and beautiful coastline scenery. It is ideally situated for exploring much of the lovely surrounding countryside and is largely unspoilt by tourism. The… more

  • Wimborne lies on the River Stour. It was an old Saxon settlement and the foundation of the Wimborne Minster dates back to the beginning of the 8th century, when the sisters of the King of the West Saxons endowed a… more

  • Wool today is mainly modern and scattered, but there are a few remaining historic buildings. The 17th century gabled Woolbridge Manor House, stands beside the River Frome. This was where “Tess of the d’Urbevilles” spent her honeymoon in Hardy’s novel… more

  • Worth Matravers is a picturesque collection of limestone cottages and farmhouses centred around a village green complete with duckpond. The village, situated just west of Swanage, is close to the dramatic limestone cliffs that form part of the South West… more

  • Yetminster is a lovely village, situated on the River Wriggle and built almost entirely of honey coloured limestone, and is well worth visiting. Its sleepy, old fashioned atmosphere is at least partly due to the lack of through traffic. Many of the houses date back to the 17th… more

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