I'll recommend Wareham as I am in Wareham at the moment. It is a lovely sunny spring day although a bit breezy. Wareham appears in Hardy's novels as "Anglebury". It is a Market Town with a population of six or seven thousand I think. In King Alfred's time, around 800 AD earth walls were built to keep out the Vikings and they are almost entirely intact today. St Martin's on the Walls is a small saxon church linked with Lawrence of Arabia. The main church is Lady St Mary which is near the quay, on the banks of the River Frome. There is also a nonconformist Meeting House which was rebuilt in the late 18th Century. Also in the 18th Century Wareham had quite a serious fire which burnt down most of the time Today is is a thriving small town - plenty to interest the tourists but not taken over by them with lots of old fashioned small shops such as butchers and greengrocers. Every Thursday there is a Farmers' Market and on Saturdays there are stalls in the main streets.Well worth a visit! Ros

Hello Ros You missed out Wareham fish and chips! For many years the best in Dorset, it was a regular ritual to visit the chippy opposite the "Bear" on the return from Poole Speedway some 30 years ago and they were still just as good fairly recently. Wareham was also the home of eminent historian Hutchins and the fire you mention almost deprived us of the classic "Hutchins History of Dorset". Ray Collins Weymouth, Dorset ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ros Dunning" <ros@archbishops.demon.co.uk> To: <ENG-DORSET-LIFE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, May 05, 2003 5:21 PM Subject: RE: [DOR-LIFE] Favourite Dorset Place - Wareham > I'll recommend Wareham as I am in Wareham at the moment. It is a lovely > sunny spring day although a bit breezy. Wareham appears in Hardy's novels as > "Anglebury". It is a Market Town with a population of six or seven thousand > I think. In King Alfred's time, around 800 AD earth walls were built to keep > out the Vikings and they are almost entirely intact today. > > St Martin's on the Walls is a small saxon church linked with Lawrence of > Arabia. The main church is Lady St Mary which is near the quay, on the banks > of the River Frome. There is also a nonconformist Meeting House which was > rebuilt in the late 18th Century. Also in the 18th Century Wareham had quite > a serious fire which burnt down most of the time > > Today is is a thriving small town - plenty to interest the tourists but not > taken over by them with lots of old fashioned small shops such as butchers > and greengrocers. Every Thursday there is a Farmers' Market and on Saturdays > there are stalls in the main streets.Well worth a visit! > > Ros > > > > > ==== ENG-DORSET-LIFE Mailing List ==== > For Looks Up in Dorset resources by list members, > http://www.melcombe.freeserve.co.uk/dorset/lookups.htm > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > >