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Top Attractions in North Dorset

Hod Hill

Hod Hill is a large hill fort in the Blackmore Vale, 3 miles north-west of Blandford Forum, Dorset, England. The fort sits on a 143 m chalk hill of the same name that lies between the adjacent Dorset Downs and Cranborne Chase. The hill fort at Hambledon Hill is just to the north. The fort is roughly rectangular ), with an enclosed area of 22 ha . There is a steep natural slope down to the River Stour to the west, the other sides have an artificial rampart, ditch and counterscarp, with an additional rampart on the north side. The main entrance is at the south-east corner, with other openings at the south-west and north-east corners. The hillfort was inhabited by the Durotriges in the late Iron Age; whether this is the same tribe who fortified the hilltop in the middle Iron Age is unknown. There is extensive evidence of settlement within the fort, including platforms for roundhouses. Hod Hill is the second in a series of Iron Age earthworks, starting from Hambledon Hill, and including Hod Hill, Spetisbury Rings, Buzbury Rings, Badbury Rings and Dudsbury Camp. The Iron Age port at Hengistbury Head forms a final Iron Age monument in this small chain of sites. The hill was captured in AD 43 by the Roman Second Legion, led by Vespasian, who had already captured Maiden Castle and other hill forts to the south. Eleven iron ballista bolts have been found on the hill, clustered in the so-called "Chieftains hut" area but there are no other signs of a struggle, suggesting the Durotriges surrendered to the superior Roman army. The Romans built a camp in the north-west corner of the original fort, occupied by a mixed force of 720 legionaries and auxiliaries. The fort was used as a base for about 5 or 6 years, but passed out of use by about AD 50, when troops were withdrawn for the campaigns against Caractacus in Wales, and the remaining men were moved to a new fort further west at Waddon Hill. The site was excavated in the 1950s by Sir Ian Richmond and his final report was published in 1969. Today the hill is an important calcareous grassland habitat, home to spectacular wild flowers and butterflies.

Breeze Hill

Breeze Hill is a prominent, largely treeless, rounded summit, 262 metres high, on the edge of Cranborne Chase about a mile east of the village of Melbury Abbas, Dorset. Breeze Hill is 2 miles northeast of Compton Abbas and some 2½ miles southeast of the town of Shaftesbury. The county boundary with Wiltshire runs past the summit some 200 metres to the northeast on the upper slopes of Charlton Down. The terrain drops steeply on three sides; the ridge on the fourth side running away to the southeast and east in a gently curve towards Win Green hill, the highest point on Cranborne Chase. On the steep western scarp is Zig Zag Hill with the hairpin bends of the B3081. Near the hill is evidence of prehistoric activity in the form of tumuli, long barrows, earthworks and cross dykes. About a mile and a half away to the west-southwest is another prominent summit, Melbury Beacon

Bulbarrow Hill

Bulbarrow Hill is a 274-metre hill near Woolland, five miles west of Blandford Forum and ten miles north of Dorchester in Dorset, England. The chalk hill is part of the scarp of Dorset Downs, which form the western end of the Southern England Chalk Formation. Part of the hill is used for arable agriculture, but most is calcareous grassland. The hill overlooks the Blackmore Vale, and offers views of Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire and Devon. Rawlsbury Camp, a five acre Iron Age hill fort, is situated on a promontory of the hill. Little remains of the camp except the twin embankments and intermediate ditch which surrounded it. The hill gets its name from the several barrows that adorn the hill. Additionally, a medieval trackway crosses the ridge. A more recent addition is the twin radio transmitter towers used by the emergency services. The hill is a popular launch site for paragliders. The TV presenter Jack Hargreaves who died in 1994 had his ashes spread on Bulbarrow Hill above his home, Raven Cottage.

St Mary the Virgin

The Church of St Mary the Virgin in Tarrant Crawford, Dorset, England, was built in the 12th century. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is now a redundant church in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. It was vested in the Trust on 1 July 1988. The church is all that remains of Tarrant Abbey, for which it may have been a lay church. The Abbey was founded in the 13th century by Ralph de Kahaines as a Cistercian nunnery. The flint chancel, dates from the 12th century, with the nave, tower and porch being built in the 14th century. The 15th-century tower houses three bells, two of them medieval and one 17th century. The nave roof added in the early 16th century. In 1911 a major restoration of the church was undertaken. The interior includes several coffin lids from the 13th century. These have been moved from the Abbey and may relate to two of the famous people associated with it. The first is Queen Joan, the wife of Alexander II of Scotland and daughter of King John of England who is buried in the grave yard (supposedly in a golden coffin). The second is Bishop Richard Poore, builder of Salisbury Cathedral, who was baptised in the abbey church and later buried in the abbey, which he founded. He was at one time Dean of the old cathedral at Old Sarum, and later became bishop of first Chichester, then Salisbury and finally Durham. There are also 15th century stained glass, a font from the 16th century and an octagonal pulpit pews with moulded panelling from the 17th century. Mediaeval wall paintings cover most of the walls of the nave and chancel, dating from the 13th and 14th centuries. One set of pictures depicts the acts of St Margaret of Antioch. The Annunciation dates from the 14th century and shows the winged figure of Gabriel and the virgin. The south wall has two rows of paintings one above the other. The lower set show three kings or princes, and three skeletons, which are believed to represent "the emptiness of earthly rank and riches". Attendance at the church fell after World War II and it was declared redundant becoming the responsibility of the Churches Conservation Trust in 1988. £100,000 was spent on masonry repairs and make it weather-proof. Another £68,000 was spent between 2003 and 2007 to improve the drainage, eradicate death watch beetle and stabilise and re-roof the tower.

Piddles Wood

Piddles Wood is a small area of woodland south of the River Stour, Dorset, and a Site of Special Scientific Interest . The site was notified as an SSSI in 1985. The nearest settlement is the town of Sturminster Newton. The local planning authority is North Dorset District Council and Dorset County Council, but part of the site is managed by the Dorset Naturalists Trust. Piddles Wood was first documented in the 13th century as Puttekwurth and Putteleswurthe. A "wurth" is an enclosure, and "Pyttel" was an Old English surname, so the name could mean "Pyttels enclosure". However, another etymology is possible as "puttoc" is an Old English word for a Kite, with "pyttel" or "piddle" also being used. It is also known as "Hanging Ground". The area of the site is 62.2 hectares . Woodlands in North Dorset are scarce, and Piddles Wood is one of only a handful of such sites. Due to the heavy neutral and lighter acid soil types—caused by the underlying Kimmeridge Clay and Plateau Gravels—the site has a varying woodland flora, containing broadleaved, mixed and yew lowland. However, it is dominated by oak and coppiced hazel—for which reason the site was listed as an SSSI—and its flaura and fauna is typical of oak woodland in Dorset. Piddles Wood has an abundance of ground flora, including Woodruff, Sanicle, Early Purple Orchid, Wood Spurge and Orpine . The site is also very rich for insect fauna, and among the butterflies found on the site are the White Admiral, Wood White and Silver-washed Fritillary; it was previously home to the Pearl-bordered Fritillary, although this is now believed to be extinct in Dorset. Adjacent to the edge of the site is an extensive poultry farm, containing approximately 100,000 birds.
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