Wareham Dorset |
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Wareham is a historic market town in Dorset situated on a strategic dry point between the rivers Piddle and Frome at the head of the Wareham Channel of Poole Harbour eight miles (13 km) south west of Poole. The River Frome serves as a small harbour and the town was a port in centuries when boats were smaller and before the river silted up. The town's strategic setting has made it an important settlement throughout its long history. Wareham was founded by the Saxons though the older streets in the town follow a Roman grid pattern. The town retains its earth-embankment Saxon town walls, which were built by Alfred the Great in the 9th century to defend the town from Norsemen. The town was a Saxon royal burial 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. 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. 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. The most complete example of a Saxon church in Dorset the Anglo-Saxon St Martin’s Church, contains several wall paintings from the 12th century and an effigy of T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) in Arab clothing. He is buried at Moreton churchyard where every year a quantity (decreases by one each year) of red roses are left. Near the town is Clouds Hill and Bovington army camp where Lawrence died after a motorcycle accident. Wareham has been a market town since the 15th century, and still holds a market on Thursdays and Saturdays.
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