Babylon Hill

The battle of Babylon Hill was an indecisive skirmish that took place between Royalist and Parliamentarian forces near Yeovil, in South West England, on 7 September 1642, during the early stages of the First English Civil War. The engagement occurred after a failed Parliamentarian siege of nearby Royalist-held Sherborne. After the Parliamentarians had retreated to Yeovil, a force of around 350 Royalists was sent to reconnoitre their movements. Under the command of Sir Ralph Hopton, the Royalist detachment established itself on Babylon Hill, on the outskirts of Yeovil. Around half an hour before sunset, the Royalists decided to withdraw and began marching their infantry off the hill. As they were doing so, they spotted Parliamentarian soldiers approaching, and Hopton hurriedly recalled the infantry and set his men to meet the attack. The battle became chaotic, mostly due to the inexperience of the soldiers involved. The Parliamentarian force, which also numbered around 350, made a three-pronged cavalry attack, which the Royalists were able to repel, though sections of both forces were routed. In the confusion, they were eventually able to pull back under the cover of darkness. Neither side suffered heavy casualties; although both sides claimed they had killed sixty or more, a modern estimate suggests that the Royalists lost around twenty, and the Parliamentarians five. The Parliamentarians subsequently withdrew from Yeovil to Dorchester to the south, while around two weeks later the Royalists retreated from the area entirely.

Over Compton is a village and civil parish in north west Dorset, England, situated in the Yeo valley 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Yeovil. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 183.Compton House, formerly the home of the Goodden family, lies outside the village. St Michael's Church is on the estate. The MCC cricketer Cecil Goodden was born in Compton House.

Bradford Abbas is a village and civil parish in north-west Dorset, England, on the border with Somerset. The village is 3 miles (5 km) south-east of Yeovil and 5 miles (8 km) south-west of Sherborne. The parish includes the small settlement of Saxon Maybank to the north, and had a population of 975 at the 2011 Census.The name of the village signifies the "Abbot's broad ford" on the River Ivel, the abbot in question being that of Sherborne; the land was given to Sherborne Abbey by King Alfred the Great. In the dry summer of 2010 cropmarks in sun-parched fields of barley, visible from the air, revealed the existence of a previously unsuspected 1st-century temporary Roman camp, one of only four detected in southwest Britain. In the 19th century five Roman kilns were found in a field to the east of the village. Also found at the site were pottery, roof slates, bracelets and querns.

St Michael's Church is a Church of England church in Over Compton, Dorset, England. The church dates to the 15th-century, with later additions and restorations. The church is a Grade I listed building. In the churchyard is also a table tomb of early 18th-century date which is Grade II listed.

Yeovil Pen Mill railway station is one of two stations serving the town of Yeovil, Somerset, England. The station is situated just under a mile to the east of the town centre. The station is located 59.5 miles (96 km) south of Bristol Temple Meads, on the Heart of Wessex Line. The station is managed by Great Western Railway, with trains being operated by them and by South Western Railway.

Bradford Abbas Railway Cutting (grid reference ST592145) is a 1.4 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Dorset, notified in 1990.

Nether Compton is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset, situated approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Sherborne and 3 miles east of Yeovil in Somerset. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 328.

Clifton Maybank is a hamlet and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. It is located about a mile southwest of the village of Bradford Abbas. It is known for Clifton Maybank House, a country house with surviving Tudor fabric. Dorset County Council estimate that the population of the parish in 2013 was 40.

Newton Surmaville is a 15,129-square-foot (1,405.5 m2) stately home with gardens and a park south of Yeovil, Somerset in the district of South Somerset, in England. It lies just outside the town in the parish of Barwick.

Trent is a village and civil parish in northwest Dorset, England, situated in the Yeo valley 4 miles (6.4 km) northwest of Sherborne and four miles northeast of Yeovil. It was formerly in Somerset. In the 2011 census the parish—which includes the hamlets of Adber and Hummer to the north—had a population of 317.The parish was part of the Somerset hundred of Horethorne.Charles II of England stayed at Trent House for several days during his escape to France in 1651. The Trent Estate is owned by the Ernest Cook Trust, purchased by Ernest Cook in 1935 as the first of a number of English estates he purchased for their protection. The village has good architecture from the Medieval, Tudor, and later periods, with many trees in the background. The church of St Andrew is architecturally interesting and the lateral tower is topped by one of the three ancient stone spires of Dorset. The church was built in the 13th century and enlarged in the 14th and 15th centuries. Restoration and refitting was done about 1840 in a pre-Victorian way. Features of interest include the rood screen, the pulpit of continental origin, the 16th century bench ends and the old painted glass in the east window.

Yeovil Junction railway station is the busier, but less central, of two railway stations serving the town of Yeovil in England. The station is 2 miles (3.2 km) outside the town, in the village of Stoford. Although Yeovil is in Somerset, the station was in Dorset until 1991. It is 122 miles 48 chains (197.3 km) down the line from London Waterloo. It was opened by the London and South Western Railway in 1860 on its London to Exeter line now known as the West of England Main Line. Today it is managed by South Western Railway and is also the home of the Yeovil Railway Centre.

Yeovil Town railway station was a railway station serving the town of Yeovil in Somerset, England. The station was on the Yeovil to Taunton Line and also had shuttle services to Pen Mill and Yeovil Junction stations. The station opened on 1 June 1861, replacing an earlier Yeovil Hendford railway station when the line was extended. It closed to passenger traffic on 3 October 1966, but freight and parcels traffic continued to use the station until 3 March 1967, when these services were also withdrawn.