Dorchester

Dorchester is a market town in southern central Dorset, England, on the River Frome at the junction of the A35 and A37 roads, 20 miles (32 km) west of Poole and 8 miles (13 km) north of Weymouth. In 2001 the town had a population of 16,171. There were 7,386 dwellings in 2001 and 205 shops in 1991. Dorchester has been the county town of Dorset since 1305.

A market is held on Wednesdays. Major employers include Dorset County Council, West Dorset District Council and Dorset County Hospital.

The town has two private schools, three first schools, two middle schools and one upper school. The upper school, The Thomas Hardye School, can trace its origins back to 1569, when it was founded by a Dorchester merchant of that name. The Dorset County Museum is centrally located in a Gothic-style building.

The town has two railway stations. Dorchester South railway station on the South Western Main Line to London, Bournemouth & Southampton, until the 1970s an idiosyncratic structure where trains to London reversed twice, then rejoined the through line, was rebuilt in 1989, but Dorchester West railway station, serving Westbury, Bath and Bristol via the Heart of Wessex Line, is still the original Great Western Railway structure designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. A bypass road was completed in 1988 by construction company Mowlem to the south and west of the town, diverting through traffic using the A35 and A37 from the town.