1.
A30 road
–
The A30 is a major road in England, running south-west from London to Lands End. The road has one of the most important in Britain since the 17th century. It used to provide the most direct route from London to the South West, nowadays much of this function is performed by the M3 motorway, however, the section from Honiton to Lands End is a dual carriageway for most of its length and retains trunk road status. The A30 begins at Henlys Roundabout, a junction with the A4 near Hounslow and it runs along the south side of Heathrow Airport, then past Ashford and Staines-upon-Thames, before reaching the M25 motorway. This first section is entirely dual carriageway, after crossing the M25, the A30 runs parallel to the M3 all the way to Basingstoke, bypassing Egham and passing through Bagshot, Camberley, Hartley Wintney and Hook. Just west of Basingstoke, at junction 8 of the M3, the A30 runs parallel to this road all the way to just north-east of Honiton, passing through Stockbridge, Salisbury, Shaftesbury, Sherborne, Yeovil, Crewkerne and Chard. Between the M25 and Honiton, the A30 is mostly single carriageway, however, there are short stretches of dual carriageway from Camberley to Basingstoke, which has a dualled inner ring road, two between Stockbridge and Salisbury, and between Sherborne and Yeovil. This section is a road as far as Penzance. It is mostly dual carriageway, but there are short sections of single carriageway. To pass Exeter, through traffic can join the M5 motorway for three miles, West of Exeter, the A30 is dual carriageway through Devon and into Cornwall, bypassing Whiddon Down, Okehampton and Launceston. The dual carriageway continues through Cornwall to Bodmin Moor, where there is a stretch of single carriageway. The dual carriageway resumes until Carland Cross, after there is a single carriageway stretch to Chiverton Cross. Highways England are currently progressing plans to dual this section of carriageway, from Chiverton Cross, the dual carriageway bypasses Redruth and Camborne. The A30 returns to single carriageway west of Camborne, and a bypass takes the road around Hayle. Between Hayle and Penzance, the A30 returns to the original route, approaching Penzance, the A30 briefly becomes a dual carriageway once again. Once west of Penzance, the A30 becomes a rural road running through or past several villages. A large section of the A30 follows the course of the historic London – Lands End coaching road, the road appeared on John Ogilbys map of Britain in 1675, and was covered by Ogilbys later strip-maps showing The Road from London to The Lands End in Cornwall. Beyond Exeter, the route went via Plymouth and then followed the Cornish south coast via St Austell down to Penzance, some distance away from the modern A30
2.
A350 road
–
The A350 is a north-south primary route in southern England, that runs from the M4 motorway in Wiltshire to Poole in Dorset. The Chippenham bypass is punctuated by six more roundabouts, the last being at the Lackham College, in so doing it crosses the A420 to Bristol and the A4 for Bath to the West and Calne to the East. It then goes past the village of Lacock before reaching Melksham four miles later. The road then follows the Semington bypass, opened in 2004, to Westbury and this section of the road has two light-controlled junctions to connect the road to outlying areas of Trowbridge before reaching the Yarnbrook roundabout. This section is approximately 5 miles long, the road passes through the hamlet of Cann and the villages of Compton Abbas, Fontmell Magna, Sutton Waldron, Iwerne Minster and Stourpaine before reaching Blandford Forum. At Blandford Forum is another bypass built to ease town centre traffic where the A350 crossed and merged with the A354, the bypass still merges the two roads for a short stretch. There are four roundabouts on this section, the last of which sees the two go their separate ways. The road then passes through the villages of Charlton Marshall, Spetisbury, before reaching Poole, the road joins the A35 at a grade separated junction before separating again at a roundabout at the north east end of Holes Bay. This section is a dual carriageway as far as Poole Railway Station, the final section crosses the Black Water Channel by the Poole Bridge before terminating at the roundabout on New Harbour Road where the Ferry Port is located. When first designated in 1922 the A350 ran only from Warminster to Poole, by 1948 the road had been extended north from Warminster to Chippenham on the former routes of the A363 and the A364. In the 1990s the road was extended north from Chippenham to the M4 Motorway by renumbering the A429, the Chippenham bypass was built in the 1990s as a single carriageway and was designed for future widening to dual carriageway. Outline plans have been submitted to complete the sections, as far south as the junction with the A4 Bath Road. In 2004, the route between Melksham and Semington was replaced by a new road that bypassed Semington and, like the Chippenham bypass, was designed to be dualled at a future date, an aqueduct, New Semington Aqueduct, carries the Kennet and Avon Canal over this section. A controversial £33 million bypass around Westbury was initially proposed in 1997 with public consultation, the council submitted an initial planning application during 2005. The council said that the government indicated that it was in favour of the project in 2006, the Council presented a further planning application in 2007. The councils selected route would pass to the east of the town, the council expects it to reduce traffic through Westbury, create more space for cyclists & pedestrians and improve journey time reliability on the A350, by two minutes. The eastern bypass route is supported by the Westbury Bypass Now group, the route has been described as highly intrusive by the councils landscape officer. The scheme was called in in 2007, an Inquiry into the scheme was held in July 2008
3.
Southampton
–
Southampton, on the south coast of England, is the largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire. It is 75 miles south-west of London and 19 miles north-west of Portsmouth, Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest. It lies at the northernmost point of Southampton Water at the confluence of the Rivers Test and Itchen, the city, which is a unitary authority, has an estimated population of 253,651. The citys name is abbreviated in writing to Soton or Soton. Significant employers in the city include the University of Southampton, Southampton Solent University, Southampton Airport, Ordnance Survey, BBC South, Southampton has a large shopping centre and retail park, Westquay. In 2014, the city approved a follow-up from the Westquay park, WestQuay Watermark. This built-up area is part of the area known as South Hampshire. With a population of over 1.5 million this makes the one of the United Kingdoms most populous metropolitan areas. Archaeological finds suggest that the area has been inhabited since the stone age, following the Roman invasion of Britain in AD43 and the conquering of the local Britons in 70 AD the fortress settlement of Clausentum was established. It was an important trading port and defensive outpost of Winchester, Clausentum was defended by a wall and two ditches and is thought to have contained a bath house. Clausentum was not abandoned until around 410, the Anglo-Saxons formed a new, larger, settlement across the Itchen centred on what is now the St Marys area of the city. The settlement was known as Hamwic, which evolved into Hamtun, archaeological excavations of this site have uncovered one of the best collections of Saxon artefacts in Europe. It is from this town that the county of Hampshire gets its name, viking raids from 840 onwards contributed to the decline of Hamwic in the 9th century, and by the 10th century a fortified settlement, which became medieval Southampton, had been established. Following the Norman Conquest in 1066, Southampton became the port of transit between the then capital of England, Winchester, and Normandy. By the 13th century Southampton had become a port, particularly involved in the import of French wine in exchange for English cloth. The Franciscan friary in Southampton was founded circa 1233, the friars constructed a water supply system in 1290, which carried water from Conduit Head some 1.7 kilometres to the site of the friary inside the town walls. Further remains can be observed at Conduit House on Commercial Road, the friars granted use of the water to the town in 1310. The town was sacked in 1338 by French, Genoese and Monegasque ships, on visiting Southampton in 1339, Edward III ordered that walls be built to close the town
4.
Roads in the United Kingdom
–
Roads in the United Kingdom form a network of varied quality and capacity. Road distances are shown in miles or yards and UK speed limits are indicated in miles per hour or by the use of the speed limit symbol. Some vehicle categories have various lower maximum limits enforced by speed limiters, enforcement of UK road speed limits increasingly uses speed guns, automated in-vehicle systems and automated roadside traffic cameras. A unified numbering system is in place for Great Britain, whilst in Northern Ireland, the earliest specifically engineered roads were built during the British Iron Age. The road network was expanded during the Roman occupation, some of these survive and others were lost. New roads were added in the Middle Ages and from the 17th century onwards, certain aspects of the legal framework remain under the competence of the United Kingdom parliament. Although some roads have much older origins, the network was subject to development from the 1950s to the mid-1990s. From then, construction of roads has become controversial with direct action campaigns by environmentalists in opposition. In the UK, vehicles drive on the left and on multi-lane carriageways drivers are expected to keep to the left lane except when overtaking, in Great Britain, the Highway Code applies to drivers. In Northern Ireland, the Highway Code for Northern Ireland applies, UK speed limits are shown in mph. With a few exceptions, they are in multiples of 10, unless a lower speed limit is posted on a road, the national speed limit applies, which varies between class of vehicles and the type of road. In a built-up area, unless signs indicate otherwise, a limit of 30 miles per hour applies, other limits are shown in the table. For a road to be classed as a carriageway, the two directions of traffic flow must be physically separated by a central reservation. Roads in the UK are classified as M, A, or B roads, as well as categories of more minor roads, for internal purposes. These numbers follow a zonal system, there is no available explanation for the allocation of road numbers in Northern Ireland. The majority of the major routes are motorways, and are designed to carry long distance traffic. The next category is the A roads, which form the route network. A primary route is defined as, primary destinations are usually cities and large towns, to which, as a result of their size, a high volume of traffic is expected to go
5.
Bridport
–
Bridport is a market town in Dorset, England, situated approximately 1.5 miles inland from the English Channel near the confluence of the small River Brit and its tributary the Asker. Its origins are Saxon and it has a history as a rope-making centre. On the coast and within the boundary is West Bay. In the 21st century Bridports arts scene has contributed to the town becoming increasingly popular with people from outside the locality and it has an arts centre, theatre, library, cinema and museum, and several annual events. It features as Port Bredy in the fictional Wessex of Thomas Hardys novels, in the 2011 census the population of Bridports built-up area was 13,568. The town is twinned with Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue, France, Bridports name probably derives from another location nearby. In the early 10th century the Burghal Hidage recorded the existence of a centre or burh in this area, called Brydian. A probable location for an earlier burh is at Littlebredy, in 1086 the Domesday Book recorded that the town was called Brideport, port is Old English for a market town, thus Brideport may have described the market town belonging to or associated with Bredy. At a later date, in a reversal of a more typical derivation, the town lent its name to the river on which it stood, previously this had been the River Wooth, the Domesday Book recorded that Bridport had 120 houses in the reign of Edward the Confessor. In 1253 the town was awarded its first charter by Henry III, around this time the town was also subjected to attacks by raiding French and Spanish forces. Since the Middle Ages Bridport has been associated with the production of rope, the earliest official record of this industry dates from 1211, when King John ordered that Bridport make as many ropes for ships both large and small and as many cables as you can. The raw materials needed, flax and hemp, used to be grown in the surrounding countryside, Bridports main street is particularly wide due to it previously having been used to dry the ropes, after they had been spun in long gardens behind the houses. Ropes for gallows used to be made in the town, hence the phrase stabbed with a Bridport dagger being used to describe a hanging, in the English Civil War the population of Bridport mainly supported the royalists. At the end of the war in 1651 Charles II briefly stayed in the town as he sought to escape Parliamentarian forces after his defeat at the Battle of Worcester, many buildings in Bridport, particularly in the main street, date from the 18th century. Bridport Town Hall was built in 1785-6, with its clock tower, older buildings can be found in South Street, and include the 13th-century St. Marys parish church, the 14th-century chantry and the 16th-century Bridport Museum. In 1857 the Bridport Railway was opened, which joined the town with the national rail network. This benefitted the towns industry and brought cheaper goods such as coal to the area. In 1884 the line was extended from Bridports station to a new terminus on the coast at Bridport Harbour, the West Bay extension closed to passengers in 1930 and all traffic in 1962
6.
Dorchester, Dorset
–
Dorchester is the county town of Dorset, England. It is situated between Poole and Bridport on the A35 trunk route, the area around the town was first settled in prehistoric times. After the departure of the Romans, the town diminished in significance and it was the site of the Bloody Assizes presided over by Judge Jeffreys after the Monmouth Rebellion, and later the trial of the Tolpuddle Martyrs. In the 2011 census, the population of Dorchester was 19,060, the Brewery Square redevelopment project is taking place in phases, with other development projects planned. The town has a college, Kingston Maurward College, the Thomas Hardye Upper School. The Dorset County Hospital offers an accident and emergency service, through vehicular traffic is routed round the town by means of a bypass. The town has a club and a rugby union club, several museums. It is twinned with three towns in Europe, as well as having many listed buildings, a number of notable people have been associated with the town. It was for years the home and inspiration of the author Thomas Hardy. Dorchesters roots stem back to prehistoric times, different tribes lived there from 4000 BC. The Durotriges were likely to have been there when the Romans arrived in Britain in 43 AD and it appears to have taken part of its name from the local Durotriges tribe who inhabited the area. The remains of the Roman walls that surrounded the town can still be seen, the majority have been replaced by pathways that form a square inside modern Dorchester known as The Walks. A small segment of the wall remains near the Top o Town roundabout. Other Roman remains include part of the walls and the foundations of a town house near the county hall. Modern building works within the walls have unearthed Roman finds, in 1936 a cache of 22,000 3rd-century Roman coins was discovered in South Street. Other Roman finds include silver and copper known as Dorn pennies, a gold ring. The County Museum contains many Roman artefacts, the Romans built an aqueduct to supply the town with water. It was rediscovered in 1900 as the remains of a cut into the chalk
7.
Poole
–
Poole /puːl/ is a large coastal town and seaport in the county of Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is 33 kilometres east of Dorchester, and adjoins Bournemouth to the east, the local council is Borough of Poole and was made a unitary authority in 1997, gaining administrative independence from Dorset County Council. The borough had a population of 147,645 at the 2011 census, together with Bournemouth and Christchurch, the town forms the South East Dorset conurbation with a total population of over 465,000. Human settlement in the dates back to before the Iron Age. The earliest recorded use of the name was in the 12th century when the town began to emerge as an important port. Later, the town had important trade links with North America and, at its peak during the 18th century, in the Second World War, Poole was one of the main departing points for the Normandy landings. Poole is a tourist resort, attracting visitors with its natural harbour, history. The town has a port with cross-Channel freight and passenger ferry services. The headquarters of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution are in Poole, despite their names, Poole is the home of The Arts University Bournemouth, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and a significant part of Bournemouth University. The towns name derives from a corruption of the Celtic word bol, variants include Pool, Pole, Poles, Poll, Polle, Polman, and Poolman. The area around modern Poole has been inhabited for the past 2,500 years, during the 3rd century BC, Celts known as the Durotriges moved from hilltop settlements at Maiden Castle and Badbury Rings to heathland around the River Frome and Poole Harbour. The Romans landed at Poole during their conquest of Britain in the 1st century and took over an Iron Age settlement at Hamworthy, in Anglo-Saxon times, Poole was included in the Kingdom of Wessex. The settlement was used as a base for fishing and the harbour a place for ships to anchor on their way to the River Frome, following the Norman conquest of England, Poole rapidly grew into a busy port as the importance of Wareham declined. The town was part of the manor of Canford, but does not exist as an entry in the Domesday Book. The earliest written mention of Poole occurred on a document from 1196 describing the newly built St Jamess Chapel in La Pole. The Lord of the Manor, Sir William Longspée, sold a charter of liberties to the burgesses of Poole in 1248 to raise funds for his participation in the Seventh Crusade. Consequently, Poole gained a measure of freedom from feudal rule and acquired the right to appoint a mayor. In 1568, Poole gained further autonomy when it was granted independence from Dorset
8.
Bournemouth
–
Bournemouth /ˈbɔːrnməθ/ is a large coastal resort town on the south coast of England directly to the east of the Jurassic Coast, a 96-mile World Heritage Site. According to the 2011 census, the town has a population of 183,491 making it the largest settlement in Dorset. With Poole to the west and Christchurch in the east, Bournemouth forms the South East Dorset conurbation, before it was founded in 1810 by Lewis Tregonwell, the area was a deserted heathland occasionally visited by fishermen and smugglers. Initially marketed as a resort, the town received a boost when it appeared in Dr Granvilles book. Bournemouths growth really accelerated with the arrival of the railway and it became a town in 1870. Historically part of Hampshire, it joined Dorset with the reorganisation of government in 1974. Since 1997, the town has been administered by a unitary authority, the local council is Bournemouth Borough Council. The town centre has notable Victorian architecture and the 202-foot spire of St Peters Church, Bournemouths location has made it a popular destination for tourists, attracting over five million visitors annually with its beaches and popular nightlife. The town is also a centre of business, home of the Bournemouth International Centre or BIC. The word bourne, meaning a stream, is a derivative of burna. A travel guide published in 1831 calls the place Bourne Cliffe or Tregonwells Bourne after its founder, the Spas of England, published ten years later, calls it simply Bourne as does an 1838 edition of the Hampshire Advertiser. In the late 19th century Bournemouth became predominant, although its two-word form appears to have remained in use up until at least the early 20th century, in the 12th century the region around the mouth of the River Bourne was part of the Hundred of Holdenhurst. Although the Dorset and Hampshire region surrounding it had been the site of settlement for thousands of years, Westover was largely a remote. In 1574 the Earl of Southampton noted that the area was Devoid of all habitation, on this barren and uncultivated heath there was not a human to direct us. Bronze Age burials near Moordown, and the discovery of Iron Age pottery on the East Cliff in 1969, Hengistbury Head, added to the borough in 1932, was the site of a much older Palaeolithic encampment. No-one lived at the mouth of the Bourne river and the regular visitors to the area before the 19th century were a few fishermen, turf cutters. Prior to the Christchurch Inclosures Act 1802, more than 70% of the Westover area was common land, in 1809 the Tapps Arms public house appeared on the heath. A few years later, in 1812, the first official residents, retired army officer Lewis Tregonwell and his wife, the area was well known to Tregonwell who, during the Napoleonic wars, spent much of his time searching the heath and coastline for French invaders and smugglers
9.
Road
–
Roads consist of one or two roadways, each with one or more lanes and any associated sidewalks and road verges. Roads that are available for use by the public may be referred to as parkways, avenues, freeways, interstates, highways, or primary, secondary, and tertiary local roads. In urban areas roads may diverge through a city or village and be named as streets, serving a function as urban space easement. Modern roads are normally smoothed, paved, or otherwise prepared to allow easy travel, historically many roads were simply recognizable routes without any formal construction or maintenance. In the United Kingdom there is ambiguity between the terms highway and road. The Highway code details rules for road users and this includes footpaths, bridleways and cycle tracks, and also road and driveways on private land and many car parks. Vehicle Excise Duty, a use tax, is payable on some vehicles used on the public road. The definition of a road depends on the definition of a highway, in the United States, laws distinguish between public roads, which are open to public use, and private roads, which are privately controlled. The assertion that the first pathways were the trails made by animals has not been universally accepted, others believe that some roads originated from following animal trails. The Icknield Way is given as an example of type of road origination. By about 10,000 BC, rough roads/pathways were used by human travelers, the worlds oldest known paved road was constructed in Egypt some time between 2600 and 2200 BC. Stone-paved streets are found in the city of Ur in the Middle East dating back to 4000 BC, corduroy roads are found dating to 4000 BC in Glastonbury, England. The Sweet Track, a timber causeway in England, is one of the oldest engineered roads discovered. Built in winter 3807 BC or spring 3806 BC, tree-ring dating enabled very precise dating and it was claimed to be the oldest road in the world until the 2009 discovery of a 6, 000-year-old trackway in Plumstead, London. Brick-paved streets were used in India as early as 3000 BC, in 500 BC, Darius I the Great started an extensive road system for Persia, including the Royal Road, which was one of the finest highways of its time. The road remained in use after Roman times, a hybrid of road transport and ship transport beginning in about 1740 is the horse-drawn boat in which the horse follows a cleared path along the river bank. From about 312 BC, the Roman Empire built straight strong stone Roman roads throughout Europe and North Africa, at its peak the Roman Empire was connected by 29 major roads moving out from Rome and covering 78,000 kilometers or 52,964 Roman miles of paved roads. In the 8th century AD, many roads were built throughout the Arab Empire, the most sophisticated roads were those in Baghdad, which were paved with tar
10.
Devon
–
Devon, also known as Devonshire, which was formerly its common and official name, is a county of England, reaching from the Bristol Channel in the north to the English Channel in the south. It is part of South West England, bounded by Cornwall to the west, Somerset to the northeast, combined as a ceremonial county, Devons area is 6,707 km2 and its population is about 1.1 million. Devon derives its name from Dumnonia, which, during the British Iron Age, Roman Britain, the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain resulted in the partial assimilation of Dumnonia into the Kingdom of Wessex during the eighth and ninth centuries. The western boundary with Cornwall was set at the River Tamar by King Æthelstan in 936, Devon was constituted as a shire of the Kingdom of England thereafter. The north and south coasts of Devon each have both cliffs and sandy shores, and the bays contain seaside resorts, fishing towns. The inland terrain is rural, generally hilly, and has a low density in comparison to many other parts of England. Dartmoor is the largest open space in southern England at 954 km2, to the north of Dartmoor are the Culm Measures and Exmoor. In the valleys and lowlands of south and east Devon the soil is fertile, drained by rivers including the Exe, the Culm, the Teign, the Dart. As well as agriculture, much of the economy of Devon is linked with tourism, in the Brittonic, Devon is known as Welsh, Dyfnaint, Breton, Devnent and Cornish, Dewnens, each meaning deep valleys. One erroneous theory is that the suffix is due to a mistake in the making of the original letters patent for the Duke of Devonshire. However, there are references to Defenascire in Anglo-Saxon texts from before 1000 AD, the term Devonshire may have originated around the 8th century, when it changed from Dumnonia to Defenascir. Kents Cavern in Torquay had produced human remains from 30–40,000 years ago, Dartmoor is thought to have been occupied by Mesolithic hunter-gatherer peoples from about 6000 BC. The Romans held the area under occupation for around 350 years. Devon became a frontier between Brittonic and Anglo-Saxon Wessex, and it was absorbed into Wessex by the mid 9th century. This suggests the Anglo-Saxon migration into Devon was limited rather than a movement of people. The border with Cornwall was set by King Æthelstan on the east bank of the River Tamar in 936 AD, the arrival of William of Orange to launch the Glorious Revolution of 1688 took place at Brixham. Devon has produced tin, copper and other metals from ancient times, Devons tin miners enjoyed a substantial degree of independence through Devons Stannary Parliament, which dates back to the 12th century. The last recorded sitting was in 1748, agriculture has been an important industry in Devon since the 19th century
11.
Hampshire
–
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, the capital city of England. The larger South Hampshire metropolitan area has a population of 1,547,000, Hampshire is notable for housing the birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force. It is bordered by Dorset to the west, Wiltshire to the north-west, Berkshire to the north, Surrey to the north-east, the southern boundary is the coastline of the English Channel and the Solent, facing the Isle of Wight. At its greatest size in 1890, Hampshire was the fifth largest county in England and it now has an overall area of 3,700 square kilometres, and measures about 86 kilometres east–west and 76 kilometres north–south. Hampshires tourist attractions include many seaside resorts and two parks, the New Forest and the South Downs. Hampshire has a maritime history and two of Europes largest ports, Portsmouth and Southampton, lie on its coast. The county is famed as home of writers Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, Hampshire takes its name from the settlement that is now the city of Southampton. Southampton was known in Old English as Hamtun, roughly meaning village-town, the old name was recorded in the Domesday book as Hantescire, and it is from this spelling that the modern abbreviation Hants derives. From 1889 until 1959, the county was named the County of Southampton and has also been known as Southamptonshire. The region is believed to have continuously occupied since the end of the last Ice Age about 12,000 BCE. At this time Britain was still attached to the European continent and was covered with deciduous woodland. The first inhabitants came overland from Europe, these were anatomically and behaviourally modern humans, notable sites from this period include Bouldnor Cliff. Agriculture had arrived in southern Britain by 4000 BCE, and with it a neolithic culture, some deforestation took place at that time, although it was during the Bronze Age, beginning in 2200 BCE, that this became more widespread and systematic. Hampshire has few monuments to show from early periods, although nearby Stonehenge was built in several phases at some time between 3100 BCE and 2200 BCE. It is maintained that by this period the people of Britain predominantly spoke a Celtic language, hillforts largely declined in importance in the second half of the second century BCE, with many being abandoned. Julius Caesar invaded southeastern England briefly in 55 and again in 54 BCE, notable sites from this period include Hengistbury Head, which was a major port. There is a Museum of the Iron Age in Andover, the Romans invaded Britain again in 43 CE, and Hampshire was incorporated into the Roman province of Britannia very quickly
12.
Dorset
–
Dorset /ˈdɔːrsᵻt/ is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the county, which is governed by Dorset County Council. Covering an area of 2,653 square kilometres, Dorset borders Devon to the west, Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north-east, the county town is Dorchester which is in the south. After the reorganisation of government in 1974 the countys border was extended eastward to incorporate the Hampshire towns of Bournemouth. Around half of the lives in the South East Dorset conurbation. The county has a history of human settlement stretching back to the Neolithic era. The Romans conquered Dorsets indigenous Celtic tribe, and during the early Middle Ages, the first recorded Viking raid on the British Isles occurred in Dorset during the eighth century, and the Black Death entered England at Melcombe Regis in 1348. During the Second World War, Dorset was heavily involved in the preparations for the invasion of Normandy, the former was the sailing venue in the 2012 Summer Olympics, and both have clubs or hire venues for sailing, Cornish pilot gig rowing, sea kayaking and powerboating. Dorset has a varied landscape featuring broad elevated chalk downs, steep limestone ridges, over half the county is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Three-quarters of its coastline is part of the Jurassic Coast Natural World Heritage Site due to its geological and it features notable landforms such as Lulworth Cove, the Isle of Portland, Chesil Beach and Durdle Door. Agriculture was traditionally the major industry of Dorset but is now in decline, there are no motorways in Dorset but a network of A roads cross the county and two railway main lines connect to London. Dorset has ports at Poole, Weymouth and Portland, and an international airport, the county has a variety of museums, theatres and festivals, and is host to one of Europes largest outdoor shows. It is the birthplace of Thomas Hardy, who used the county as the setting of his novels. Dorset derives its name from the county town of Dorchester, the Romans established the settlement in the 1st century and named it Durnovaria which was a Latinised version of a Common Brittonic word possibly meaning place with fist-sized pebbles. It is first mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in AD845 and in the 10th century the countys archaic name, the first human visitors to Dorset were Mesolithic hunters, from around 8000 BC. The first permanent Neolithic settlers appeared around 3000 BC and were responsible for the creation of the Dorset Cursus, from 2800 BC onwards Bronze Age farmers cleared Dorsets woodlands for agricultural use and Dorsets high chalk hills provided a location for numerous round barrows. During the Iron Age, the British tribe known as the Durotriges established a series of forts across the county—most notably Maiden Castle which is one of the largest in Europe. The Romans arrived in Dorset during their conquest of Britain in AD43, Maiden Castle was captured by a Roman legion under the command of Vespasian, and the Roman settlement of Durnovaria was established nearby
A27 road
![]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ed/Motorway_Right.svg/5px-Motorway_Right.svg.png "]"){kind=small}
