place

Wakeham

Accuracy disputes from June 2022Isle of PortlandVillages in Dorset
Wakeham, Portland, Dorset geograph.org.uk 1288719
Wakeham, Portland, Dorset geograph.org.uk 1288719

Wakeham is a hamlet near the village of Easton, in Tophill on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. It is situated between the Straits part of Easton, and Pennsylvania Castle. As with the rest of Portland's villages and settlements, Wakeham has been designated as a conservation area, as it is a place of special architectural and historic interest. Easton, Wakeham and Reforne were designated pre-1974. The hamlet features a distinctively wide road running through it, once built to allow space for horse-drawn carts transporting stone by road. Many of Wakeham's older buildings of the 17th and 18th century survive.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Wakeham (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 50.542706 ° E -2.430769 °
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Address

Bumpers Lane

Bumpers Lane
DT5 1FZ , Portland
England, United Kingdom
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Wakeham, Portland, Dorset geograph.org.uk 1288719
Wakeham, Portland, Dorset geograph.org.uk 1288719
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Nearby Places

Rufus Castle
Rufus Castle

Rufus Castle, also known as Bow and Arrow Castle, is a partially ruined castle overlooking Church Ope Cove on Portland, England. Its name derives from King William II, known as William Rufus, for whom the original castle was built. The existing structure dates largely from the late 15th century, making it Portland's oldest castle. Built on a pinnacle of rock, some of the original structure has been lost to erosion and collapse over the years. The remaining castle appears to have been the keep of a stronghold, the foundation of which was much above the top of the church tower of St Andrews which lay in the valley below. The pentagonal tower of the castle has late Medieval gun holes, but rests on an earlier foundation to the north and stepped plinth to the west which may have been a 12th-century keep. Remains include parts of the keep, sections of wall with gun ports and a 19th-century round-arched bridge across Church Ope Road. The castle, including its bridge, has been a Grade I listed building since January 1951. It is one of three buildings on Portland to be Grade I listed. In addition to this, the castle has become a scheduled monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.Rufus Castle looks out over the Shambles sandbank, approximately 3 miles (5 km) out to sea, one of the most feared navigational hazards in the area. It was here in 1805 that the East Indianman, the Earl of Abergavenny, foundered and eventually sank, killing 263. Among the dead was the captain of the ship, John Wordsworth, brother of the Romantic poet William Wordsworth. The poet immortalised the catastrophe and death of his brother in his poem: To the Daisy. It was beyond the Shambles that the Battle of Portland took place in 1653 between the English navy led by General at Sea Robert Blake fighting the Dutch Navy led by Lieutenant-Admiral Maarten Tromp. There is no public access to the castle as it is privately owned, though it can be seen well from public footpaths along the coast.