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Dorset: Interesting, Paranormal, Fortean...

Coastaljames

Justified & Ancient
Joined
Apr 26, 2015
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Location
East Norfolk coast
Hey you lovely lot.

I'm off to Dorset next week for a bit of a meander and an idle. I'd be very appreciative if any of you might be able to suggest some places and things that would be interesting to visit. I've not had a huge amount of time to research of I'm honest- I'm aware of a number of neolithic sites but which would you recommend visiting?

Apart from that- anything is good with me- areas of any kinds of Fortean interest would be appreciated.

Many thanks and, as ever, my best wishes.
 
It's worth seeing Badbury Rings and less visited but equally spectacular is Maiden Castle just outside Dorchester. Wear a warm jumper.

Corfe Castle is never bad.

There's a tiny stone circle just off the A35 just west of Winterbourne Abbas if you're going past.

Nothe Fort is worth a look, you can wander about the (haunted) bowels of the place. (Weymouth).

Ringstead beach is worth a stroll if it's fine (and very quiet this time of year).

Wimborne Minster has a chained library, not sure about access though.
 
agree - Maiden Castle is amazing. The scale of hill forts is an experience in itself.

Is Badbury Rings the place where there is meant to be atmosphere?
 
agree - Maiden Castle is amazing. The scale of hill forts is an experience in itself.

Is Badbury Rings the place where there is meant to be atmosphere?
I've never noticed one. It's usually chilly up there even in the summer, just windy at altitude and lack of cover. That's why I said wear a warm jumper!
 
^ Huh...great idea! Forgot about the connection. Definitely worth a look- thanks so much.
 
I don't remember ever having gone there but Weymouth - already mentioned in passing - must be worth a visit. It was the setting for John Cowper Powys's 1934 pantheistic novel Weymouth Sands as well as Joseph Losey's cult sci-fi thriller These Are The Damned, aka The Damned (1962).

Some location puzzles for the latter. I imagine the place has changed a lot! :cool:

Dorchester was, of course, Thomas Hardy's birthplace and a central inspiration for his fictional county of Wessex.
 
Abottsbury Swannery. It's on a stretch of water called the Fleet, a geographical anomaly of a sort - it's only separated from Lyme bay by the anomaly of Chesil Beach, miles of it! At the south end The Fleet connects with Portland Harbour. Portland itself is worth a visit. From high up you get good views over the Harbour and Chesil beach.

Portland Harbour was once a major naval base, but now it's given over to sailing
( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weymouth_and_Portland_National_Sailing_Academy )
and commercial shipping. In recent years it's become a popular port of call for cruise ships.

Around Lyme Regis and westward you have the Jurassic Coast
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurassic_Coast

East of Weymouth is Lulworth Cove, Swanage, and Poole harbour.

How many weeks have you got? They won't be enough! :p
 
The Rude Man mentioned by Ermintruder above - is it a Romano-British ancient figure or a 17th century pisstake? Very Fortean :D

Also in Lyme Regis, the home town of Mary Anning the world's first major palaentologist, although she didn't know it at the time! http://www.lymeregismuseum.co.uk/collection/mary-anning/
 
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That museum looks brilliant. I want to go to Dorset !.
It's still good but was, when I first went over a decade back, better. It was 'old fashioned' in that it had tons of artefacts on display and was terrific value for money. Since it got 'revamped' it's got those dreadful "insitu real-life' displays which have a fraction of the exhibits and for me at least are so painfully false they detract from the overall experience.
 
It's still good but was, when I first went over a decade back, better. It was 'old fashioned' in that it had tons of artefacts on display and was terrific value for money. Since it got 'revamped' it's got those dreadful "insitu real-life' displays which have a fraction of the exhibits and for me at least are so painfully false they detract from the overall experience.
Yeah, I prefer the old fashioned museums as well, those instu real-life display things are crap and take up space that could be used for actual objects. I brought back bits of the SS Fernebo from Cromer beach, the steam ship that exploded and made Cromer famous through the RNLA's heroism, they even went to Buckingham Palace to be given medals by the king. I'm the only person who owns bits of the hull but I can't even give them away. The Henry Blogg RNLI museum on the prom aren't interested and neither are Cromer museum or indeed any of the current serving lifeboat men!??? .. WTF?.

They're sat in my back yard until someone comes to their senses .. the boat remains are as old as the Titanic FFS !

...anyway, back to Dorset ...
 
Abottsbury Swannery. It's on a stretch of water called the Fleet, a geographical anomaly of a sort - it's only separated from Lyme bay by the anomaly of Chesil Beach, miles of it! At the south end The Fleet connects with Portland Harbour. Portland itself is worth a visit. From high up you get good views over the Harbour and Chesil beach.

Portland Harbour was once a major naval base, but now it's given over to sailing
( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weymouth_and_Portland_National_Sailing_Academy )
and commercial shipping. In recent years it's become a popular port of call for cruise ships.

Around Lyme Regis and westward you have the Jurassic Coast
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurassic_Coast

East of Weymouth is Lulworth Cove, Swanage, and Poole harbour.

How many weeks have you got? They won't be enough! :p

Thanks Rynner. I just have the one week.

It's still good but was, when I first went over a decade back, better. It was 'old fashioned' in that it had tons of artefacts on display and was terrific value for money. Since it got 'revamped' it's got those dreadful "insitu real-life' displays which have a fraction of the exhibits and for me at least are so painfully false they detract from the overall experience.

Museums have changed haven't they...I rather preferred them when they were dusty and full of "boring" old bits and pieces.
 
That's mad mate! Incredible.
Tell me about !! .... the young couple next door to us is my last hope at the moment because I'm desperate for this stuff to stay in Cromer. I'm from Birmingham so it's not my story, it's Cromers. The young husband is one of the lifeboat team and I haven't asked him yet. If I explain things to him the way I'm typing them here, I reckon he'll adopt them.
 
With excellent timing, much of Today's Antiques Road Trip took place in Dorset. But I can't find it on iPlayer yet. But Marie Stopes lived on Portland for a while, and the Tolpuddle Martyrs are another important part of Dorset history.
 
Tell me about !! .... the young couple next door to us is my last hope at the moment because I'm desperate for this stuff to stay in Cromer. I'm from Birmingham so it's not my story, it's Cromers. The young husband is one of the lifeboat team and I haven't asked him yet. If I explain things to him the way I'm typing them here, I reckon he'll adopt them.

How about contacting your local paper to run a piece? It might be that a local history group or collector might be interested? Just a suggestion :)
 
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