Wareham Castle and town defences

Purbeck was a local government district in Dorset, England. The district was named after the Isle of Purbeck, a peninsula that forms a large proportion of the district's area. However, it extended significantly further north and west than the traditional boundary of the Isle of Purbeck which is the River Frome. The district council was based in the town of Wareham, which is itself north of the Frome. The district was formed under the Local Government Act 1972 on 1 April 1974, from the former municipal borough of Wareham, Swanage urban district and Wareham and Purbeck Rural District. The district and its council were abolished on 1 April 2019, together with the other four districts outside the greater Bournemouth area, to form a new Dorset unitary authority.Its name is recorded in 948 AD as Anglo-Saxon Purbicinga, meaning "of the people of Purbic", where Purbic may be a former Celtic name, or may contain a supposed Anglo-Saxon word *pur or "male lamb".

Wareham ( WAIR-əm) is a historic market town and, under the name Wareham Town, a civil parish, in the English county of Dorset. The town is situated on the River Frome eight miles (13 km) southwest of Poole.

Wareham Town Hall is a municipal building in East Street, Wareham, Dorset, England. The town hall, which is the meeting place of Wareham Town Council, also hosts the Wareham Town Museum.

Wareham Town Museum tells the story of the Wareham area of Dorset in southern England from prehistoric times to the present day, with a special exhibition on Lawrence of Arabia, who lived nearby. The museum, which is in the centre of Wareham, in Wareham Town Hall, is supported by the Wareham Town Council and is run by volunteers.

The parish church of Lady St. Mary, Wareham is a church of Anglo-Saxon origin in the town of Wareham, Dorset, in England. The church is notable as the possible burial place of King Beorhtric, and for the discovery of five stones with Brittonic inscriptions dating to the 7th to 9th centuries. A notable feature is the unique hexagonal lead font dating to around 1200. The Anglo-Saxon nave was demolished in 1842.

St Martin's Church, Wareham, sometimes St Martin's-on-the-walls, is an Anglo-Saxon church in the town of Wareham, Dorset in England. It is the most complete example of an Anglo-Saxon church in Dorset.It is a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Wareham Priory was a monastery in Wareham, Dorset, England. A nunnery was founded on the site by the Saxons, possibly in 672, and dispersed during the Danish raids on Wareham in 876. It was refounded in 915 by Elfleda and probably dissolved in 998.A Benedictine priory, a dependency of Lyre Abbey in Normandy, was founded in the early 12th century on the same site. It was suppressed in 1414 as an alien priory, and along with most of the other former possessions of Lyre Abbey was granted by Henry V to the Carthusians of Sheen Priory which he had founded. This house was seized by the Crown in 1539.The site is now occupied by the Priory House, dating mostly from the early 16th century, with a few possibly earlier remains, and operating since the late 1970s as The Priory Hotel.

Stoborough () is a village in the English county of Dorset. It is situated one mile to the south of the town of Wareham, and separated from it by the River Frome. Stoborough and nearby Stoborough Green form part of the civil parish of Arne. Stoborough is a liberty, in the parish of the Holy Trinity, next to the borough of Wareham, and is ¾ of a mile South of Wareham. It has been historically governed by a mayor and bailiff, chosen at Michaelmas; appointed by a jury at the Lord's manor court. Stoborough was reputed to be the settlement from which Wareham was founded. In an 1832 administrative map of liberties and the List of Hundreds in Dorset, the boundaries of Stoborough is shown clearly as a large yellow liberty.

Wareham railway station serves the town of Wareham in Dorset, England. It is situated about 0.6 miles (1 km) north of the town centre. It is 120 miles 70 chains (194.5 km) down the line from London Waterloo. On tickets it is printed "Wareham Dorset" to avoid confusion with Ware railway station.

Purbeck Miniature Railway is a 7+1⁄4 in (184 mm) gauge miniature railway, located at The Purbeck School near Wareham, Dorset, England. Construction started in the late 1980s in co-operation with the Weymouth & District Society of Model Engineers and has closed due to building works on The Purbeck School. The line runs from a passenger station at Monument, around the main playground, before crossing a bridge and passing through a tunnel to reach the second station where the main sheds are located. The line is approximately 250 metres (270 yd) long.

The Purbeck School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Wareham in the central southern area of Dorset, England, on the Isle of Purbeck.The organisation of schools in the Purbeck area is based on a comprehensive two-tier system. Children transfer at the age of 11 from eleven Primary Schools (ages 5 to 11) and most of them will then come to The Purbeck School (11 to 16). The school also operates a sixth form which has students ages 16 to 18. Previously a community school administered by Dorset Council, in May 2022 The Purbeck School converted to academy status. The school is now sponsored by The Thomas Hardye Trust.

Stoborough Green is a village in the English county of Dorset. It is situated to the south of the village of Stoborough and about 2 kilometres south of the town of Wareham. Stoborough Green forms part of the civil parish of Arne, within the Dorset unitary authority.