Dorset

Description

One of the first batch of Pimlico County History Guides - a new and original sub-series, in which a well-known writer provides a personal guided tour of his/her favourite county - covering its history, folklore, geography, architecture etc. Unique guides, providing an unrivalled sense of place, they are intended as much for the armchair traveller as they are for the visitor. Dorset delights by its differences. It is a county of villages and small towns languidly spread over countryside that never remains the same for more than fifteen or twenty miles in any direction. There are no big towns - Bournemouth was only wrenched out of Hampshire a few years ago to help with the rates and has no Dorset characteristics. The county has no cathedral. It has no university. It has never fielded a first-class side at county Cricket. It hardly has any main through road. . . . Yet the last adjective that could be applied for Dorset is dim. It has always counted at every stage of our history and in our pre-history it was without rival. From the first chapter Dorset is a county brimming with history - Iron Age forts, saxon churches, remnants of the Civil War. In this affectionate and beautifully written volume. Richard Ollard takes readers around the county he most loves, giving them sound advice on where to go and what to do.

Richard Ollard was born in 1923 and educated at Eton College. For twelve years from 1948 to 1959 Ollard taught history at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich in London. In 1960 he joined the publisher Collins as a senior editor, where he worked until his retirement in 1983. Since his retirement from Collins he has continued to research and publish widely. He lives in Morecombelake, Dorset.