Tadnoll and Winfrith Heath

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.

Winfrith Newburgh (), commonly called just Winfrith, is a village and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is about 8 miles (13 km) west of Wareham and 10 miles (16 km) east of the county town Dorchester. It was historically part of the Winfrith hundred. In the 2011 Census the civil parish – which includes the hamlet of East Knighton to the northeast – had 300 households and a population of 669. An electoral ward simply named "Winfrith" exists but extends northwards to Briantspuddle. The total population of this ward was 1,618.

Dorset Innovation Park (formerly Dorset Green Technology Park, and earlier known as Winfrith Technology Centre) is a science and technology park which is owned by the Homes and Communities Agency. The site was the former UKAEA Winfrith Atomic Energy Establishment which was in service from the 1950s to early 1990s. The Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor was also developed at the site. The centre is situated near the village of Winfrith Newburgh, which is some eight miles west of Wareham and nine miles east of Dorchester. It is now home to the Defence BattleLab, which was officially opened in May 2022.

Winfrith Atomic Energy Establishment, or AEE Winfrith, was a United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority site near Winfrith Newburgh in Dorset. It covered an area on Winfrith Heath to the west of the village of Wool between the A352 road and the South West Main Line. Winfrith was set up in order to test a variety of new nuclear reactor designs with the intention of selecting a new design for power generation and other tasks. The main design built at the site was the demonstration steam-generating heavy water reactor (SGHWR) providing power to the National Grid. A number of smaller designs were also constructed at the site. The site officially opened with the ZENITH reactor in 1960. SGHWR opened in 1967 and was shut down in 1990. All of the reactors have been shut down and are in various stages of removal. The site is now being re-used for other purposes while decommissioning continues.

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.

St Nicholas' is a Church of England parish church at Moreton, Dorset, England. It is known for its thirteen windows, engraved by the poet and artist Sir Laurence Whistler. T. E. Lawrence was buried in the separate churchyard.

Moreton is a village and civil parish in Dorset, England, situated on the River Frome about 8 miles (13 km) east of Dorchester. In the 2011 census the civil parish had 158 households and a population of 373. It has a number of long distance footpaths and cycle ways passing through it: the Purbeck cycle way, Route 2 (Sustrans), the Frome valley trail, the Jubilee trail, and the Hardy Way. The railway station is a little way out of the village, towards Crossways. The Moreton Estate hosts a number of horse riding events throughout the year, including some of national stature. A number of cycle racing events are also held, based in the village hall. The Frampton family have been Lords of the Manor of Moreton since at least the 14th Century. The most famous member of the family was James Frampton (1769-1855) who was responsible for the prosecution of the Tolpuddle Martyrs. His sister Mary Frampton was a noted diarist. Moreton has become synonymous with the memory of T. E. Lawrence, also known as Lawrence of Arabia. He rented nearby Clouds Hill cottage from his cousins, the Framptons, while serving at Bovington Camp. Following his death in 1935 he was buried in Moreton churchyard where his grave attracts tourists from around the world. Moreton is also known for the windows of its church, St Nicholas, which were designed and engraved by Sir Laurence Whistler over a period of about 30 years. These replaced the dull panels of coloured glass that had been installed when the original windows were blown out by a bomb in World War II. The River Frome race in the village is also a popular tourist attraction. A pedestrian bridge spans the shallow ford and gives access to a number of short forest walks.

The Norcon pillbox is a type of hardened field fortification built in Britain during the invasion crisis of 1940–1941. It was a small circular pillbox named after the company that manufactured it as a private commercial venture. The Norcon pillbox was made from a concrete pipe 6 feet (1.8 m) diameter and 4 feet (1.2 m) high; the walls were 4 inches (10 cm) of non-reinforced concrete with several cut loopholes. The pipe would be sunk into the ground over a pit that would provide a total of 6 feet (1.8 m) headroom. The standard model had a roof made of timber, corrugated iron, and earth. Some installations were fitted with a concrete roof, others had no roof at all. The walls were given extra protection by a layer of sandbags. The exit may be via an open roof, through a hatch in the roof or through a low entrance cut into the pipe to a slit trench. Norcon was not the only company to design a defence made from pipes. A similar design was the Croft pillbox developed by the Croft Granite, Brick and Concrete Company. However, the Norcon was by far the most common and gave its name to the general type. Norcon Ltd was a small company specialising in the manufacture of large spun concrete pipes. In 1938, looking for new ways to market their products, the company experimented with producing air raid shelters. Although this venture does not appear to have been very successful, at least one very small and cramped Norcon shelter has recently been found. In July 1940, as Norcons were being installed, one officer raised concerns after one pipe section had broken while being rolled into position and an installed Norcon had not stood up well to a concentrated burst of machine gun fire. Concerns of these sorts have understandably led to the Norcon being regarded as "possibly the most dangerous, cheap and nasty of all pillbox designs"; certainly, it cannot have offered the protection equivalent to a conventional reinforced concrete pillbox, but according to the Chief Engineer of Eastern Command "it would appear to be considerably better than many sandbag emplacements under construction." The pipe was made from a high alumina fondue cement which set quickly, making it possible to turn out about 20 units a day. Also, the fondue cement cured quickly reaching a strength in 24 hours for which Portland cement required 28 days. Although relatively few were actually built, Norcons were found all over the United Kingdom, from southwest England to the Orkney Islands. Twenty-seven Norcon pillbox sites are recorded in the Defence of Britain database. Holding company Bowmaker purchased a controlling interest in Norcon Limited in 1943 and Norcon managed to show a profit; the company prospered after the end of hostilities.

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.

Bindon Liberty was a liberty in the county of Dorset, England, containing the following parishes: Chaldon Herring Edmondsham (part) Moreton (part) Pulham (part) West Lulworth Wool

Little Willie was a prototype in the development of the British Mark I tank. Constructed in the autumn of 1915 at the behest of the Landship Committee, it was the first completed tank prototype in history. Little Willie is the oldest surviving individual tank, and is preserved as one of the most famous pieces in the collection of The Tank Museum, Bovington, England.

The Tank Museum (previously The Bovington Tank Museum) is a collection of armoured fighting vehicles at Bovington Camp in Dorset, South West England. It is about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the village of Wool and 12 miles (19 km) west of the major port of Poole. The collection traces the history of the tank. With almost 300 vehicles on exhibition from 26 countries it is the largest collection of tanks and the third largest collection of armoured vehicles in the world. It includes Tiger 131, the only working example of a German Tiger I tank, and a British First World War Mark I, the world's oldest surviving combat tank. It is the museum of the Royal Tank Regiment and the Royal Armoured Corps and is a registered charity.