place

Five Marys

Archaeological sites in DorsetBarrows in EnglandScheduled monuments in Dorset
Five Marys Tumuli geograph.org.uk 417487
Five Marys Tumuli geograph.org.uk 417487

The Five Marys is a group of Bronze Age round barrows near the village of Chaldon Herring, in Dorset, England. The site is a scheduled monument.

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

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 50.657111111111 ° E -2.2981111111111 °
placeShow on map

Address


DT2 8DN , Chaldon Herring
England, United Kingdom
mapOpen on Google Maps

Five Marys Tumuli geograph.org.uk 417487
Five Marys Tumuli geograph.org.uk 417487
Share experience

Nearby Places

Chaldon Herring
Chaldon Herring

Chaldon Herring or East Chaldon is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset, about 8 miles (13 km) south-east of the county town of Dorchester. It is sited 2 miles (3.2 km) from the coast in the chalk hills of the South Dorset Downs. The highest point in the area is Chaldon Hill about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the south, overlooking the sea. In the 2011 census the civil parish had 59 households and a population of 140. In 1086 in the Domesday Book, Chaldon Herring was recorded as Calvedone and, together with West Chaldon, appears in three entries. The Herring family were landowners for a long period (as early as 1166 until at least 1372), so the village and parish appended their family name to the placename. Elizabeth Herring, daughter of John Herring of Chaldon Herring, was the great grandmother of John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford; the Herringham arms are displayed in the second grand quarter of Bedford's coat of arms. Chaldon Herring is notable for being the home of Llewelyn Powys and his wife, Alyse Gregory. In 1925 the couple moved to Dorset: firstly to the Coastguard Cottages on White Nothe and then to the nearby farmhouse Chydyok, where his two sisters, the poet and novelist, Philippa Powys, and the artist, Gertrude Powys, occupied the adjacent cottage. Various other writers and artists lived in the village at different times. These include the sisters Elizabeth Muntz, a sculptor and author, and Hope Muntz, a historian, who wrote The Golden Warrior; novelists Sylvia Townsend Warner and David Garnett; the poets Valentine Ackland and Gamel Woolsey; and the sculptor Stephen Tomlin. The novelist Theodore "T. F." Powys, older brother of Llewelyn, lived in Chaldon from 1904 until 1940, when he moved to Mappowder because of the war. Chaldon Herring was the inspiration for the fictitious village of Folly Down in his novel Mr Weston's Good Wine and other works. It was at Theodore Powys's house that novelist Sylvia Townsend Warner first met the poet Valentine Ackland. Warner's diaries record that the two women lived together in Frome Vauchurch from 1930 until Valentine's death in 1969; she died there on 1 May 1978. Just north of the village are four prehistoric bowl barrows. The Five Marys, a group of round barrows, are on a ridge farther north with two more bowl barrows. These are all scheduled monuments. The parish church is St. Nicholas. There is a restaurant-pub, The Sailor's Return, and B. & B. accommodation. The newest shop is in Winfrith Newburgh, a mile away. The village has 18 listed buildings, all at Grade II.

White Nothe
White Nothe

White Nothe (meaning "White Nose") is a chalk headland on the English Channel coast at the eastern end of Ringstead Bay, east of Weymouth in Dorset, England. The area is well known for its geology and fossils. Its flanks are the result of prehistoric landslides and the inaccessible slopes of the undercliff provide a secluded wildlife habitat. A zigzag path up the cliff is believed to be one of the locations alluded to as a smuggler's path in the British children's book Moonfleet by J. Meade Falkner. Walking to the base of White Nothe along the shore from Ringstead Bay is possible, but it is cut off at high tide, so much care should be taken. At the top of the Smugglers path, a protruding nose shape comes out of the white cliff, giving the name to the area. The area is partly owned by the National Trust. From the top of White Nothe, to the east, the chalk headland of Bat's Head can be viewed. Walking east along a clifftop path below the summit of Chaldon Hill is possible to Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove. The Isle of Portland can be seen to the southwest across the sea. Immediately to the northwest of White Nothe is the Burning Cliff, which from 1826 smouldered with an underground fire for several years due to the bituminous shale. Situated at the top of White Nothe is a World War II pillbox, constructed in 1940–41 of brick and concrete, as part of the anti-invasion measures. Unusually, the structure is also fitted with a Royal Observer Corps observation post built on top, which was to spot and report aircraft. There is also a row of former coastguards' cottages. White Nothe has featured in artworks.

Dragon reactor
Dragon reactor

Dragon was an experimental high temperature gas-cooled reactor at Winfrith in Dorset, England, operated by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA). Its purpose was to test fuel and materials for the European High Temperature Reactor programme, which was exploring the use of tristructural-isotropic (TRISO) fuel and gas cooling for future high-efficiency reactor designs. The project was built and managed as an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development/Nuclear Energy Agency international project. In total, 13 countries were involved in its design and operation during the project lifetime. Originally conceived as a small research reactor, during the design phase it grew larger. The choice of helium coolant was made after a long debate within the UKAEA between proponents of helium and carbon dioxide, with helium ultimately selected. Groundbreaking occurred in 1960. It operated from 1965 to 1976, and is generally considered extremely successful. Dragon's construction was followed by similar work in the US, leading ultimately to the much larger Fort Saint Vrain Nuclear Power Plant. This suffered from a number of problems due to corrosion and the customer soured on the design. Contracts for similar models in the US that were being signed were cancelled, and although Dragon suffered none of these issues, no orders were forthcoming in Europe either. By this time the market had largely standardized on the pressurized water reactor (PWR) for the large buildout that occurred during the 1970s and 80s, and the decision was made to shut down Dragon. As of 2023, Dragon is being decommissioned.