| Abbotsbury (picture by Peter Watts) |  |
Abbotsbury
Photographer Description of Abbotsbury
Abbotsbury is a very picturesque village in rural Dorset, and a popular travel destination. It is famous for beautiful stone buildings seen in this picture. This panoramic image was shot from the main road through the village. Nearby are St. Catherine's Chapel set on a hill above the village and The Swannery, a famous and popular tourist attraction near the village.Abbotsbury - Further Information
Abbotsbury is a small village, about half way between Weymouth and Lyme Regis, set a little back from the coastline in the Dorset hills. Aside from being a very picturesque village, it is a popular tourist destination. Among the attractions are St Catherine's Chapel built on a hill outside the village and the Abbotsbury Swannery a little to the south on the sea front. The old abbey has been turned, in part, into a recreation / activity center and a museum. Within the town is the 14C church of St Nicholas, whose pulpit has 2 bullet holes in it from the English Civil War. The town has an unusually warm micro climate, which has permitted the development of the famous Abbotsbury Sub-Tropical Gardens.This picture was taken from West Street near the center of the village opposite the Swannery Pub. Just to the west is a jucncion. The road to the right leads up Bishop Hill to the Thomas Hardy Monument and then on to Dorchester. The main road bends round sharply to the right and continues onto Rodden Row and Church Street which heads past St. Nicholas Chruch to the Abbotsbury Swannery.
The most dramatic approach to Abbotsbury is from the west. Here the road runs just below the ridge of The Ridgeway, a long hill, used as a natural causeway by for millennia. This ridge, used from Neolithic Ages (4500 BC) through to the Iron Age around 50 AD, provides a strong defensive position against attack when traveling. The ridge ends at Abbotsbury hill, and then descends steeply to the village. This offers fantastic panoramic views over the area, with St. Catherine's Chapel standing prominently on the top of one of the surrounding hills (another vantage point with fantastic panoramic views). From here it is possible to see all the way along the coast to Portland in the east and back west to Birdport and Lyme Regis and, on a clear day, all the way to Plymouth. All of this coastline is part of the Jurassic Coast and has been declared a World Heritage Site.
Quite a number of the cottages in the village date back to the 16C (1500's) and are built of rubble ironstone with thatched roofs. Virtually all of the cottages along parts of Market Street are from the 16C and 17C and are now Grade II listed. Building restrictions are in place to ensure that any improvements of future developments retain the character of the village.
The area around Abbotsbury has been occupied for at least 6000 years and there are numerous archeological sites of interest. Crude cutting tools for clearing the original forest have been found along the margins of the Fleet tidal inlet near to Chesil Bank. The earliest barrow in the area is called the 'Grey Mare and her Colts'. It dates from 3000BC and was built by the first farmers in the middle Stone Age. The barrow has a single burial chamber made of Sarsen stones and a cap-stone roof.
To the northwest of Abbotsbury is an Iron Age earthwork hill fort known as Abbotsbury Castle. This is a Celtic hill fort, whose presence may have contributed to the establishment of the village in the valley below. Abbotsbury Castle has an unusual triangular shape with a single entrance on the northeast point. It is surrounded by a double rampart that enclose some 4 acres of land. Inside are circular depressions in the ground left by the huts and buildings. The climb to the castle is steep, but worth the effort. Another famous hill fort in Dorset is Badbury Rings near to Wimborne.
Travel and Getting There:
Abbotsbury is 9 miles west of Weymouth on the B3157. This road continues west past the village along The Ridgeway to Bridport and Lyme Regis.
