Three Legged Cross

Woolsbridge is a village in Dorset, England. Woolsbridge was formerly under the control of the Earl of Normanton and is a part of the civil parish of Cranbourne. It is located near the New Forest.

West Moors is a closed railway station in Dorset. Opened in 1867, it became the junction of the Southampton and Dorchester Railway and the Salisbury and Dorset Junction Railway. Although passenger services were withdrawn in 1964 as a result of the Beeching Report, the line remained open until 1974 for freight trains serving the Royal Army Ordnance Corps fuel depot at West Moors. The track was lifted in 1974.

Mannington and its southerly neighbour Lower Mannington are hamlets in the English county of Dorset. They are located within Holt parish 2.5 miles (4 km) north of Ferndown and 2.5 miles (4 km) south-east of Verwood in the East Dorset district. The village is home to a large electricity substation on the National Grid 400kV transmission network.

West Moors is a village in Dorset, England, on the northern fringe of the Poole-Bournemouth conurbation, just outside the larger settlements of Ferndown and Verwood. The parish of West Moors had an estimated population of 7,400 in 2004, increasing to 7,561 for both the parish and electoral ward at the 2011 Census. The parish council was renamed West Moors Town Council in 2020.West Moors rose to local prominence with the building of the Southampton and Dorchester and Salisbury and Dorset Junction railway lines in the late 19th century and although main line services were later diverted via Bournemouth, West Moors railway station was served by a branch line railway until 4 May 1964. The only remnants of these lines through the village are the original level crossing gatekeeper's cottage on Station Road, and the Castleman Trailway footpath following the original trackbed leading to Ringwood to the east and Poole to the west. This however, was recently resurfaced and the central reservation was removed, rendering the southernmost of the two tracks largely unusable, and causing it to lose its former authentic look. The village expanded with the development of the military fuel depot located outside the village but within the West Moors civil parish. The depot is home to the Defence School of Petroleum, and also to the Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service Training Centre. In April 2017 the Royal Air Force relocated their Fuels Training school from RAF Halton to MoD West Moors. In July 2018 it was announced that after over 80 years the Military would move from West Moors, under project Wellsley the RAF would relocate to MoD Worthy Down in January 2019 and the Army would have moved by April 2020. In the past many military families were housed in their own housing estates, however most jobs are now undertaken by civilian personnel and the military housing sold off. More recent population increases have been due to the influx of commuters, both to Bournemouth and Poole, and to more remote destinations such as Southampton, and London. West Moors has a mixed population, with a relatively high proportion of elderly people. There are two first schools, one middle school, two youth clubs; including the west moors scout group, and a skatepark. There are various shops including one butcher, one baker and two pubs. There is also the West Moors Social Club which has entertainment nights. Moors Valley Country Park is just outside the parish boundary (3 miles from the village), and is easily accessible from the Castleman Trailway. The village's sports facilities include two football pitches (Fryers Playing Field). The tennis courts have recently been refurbished into an artificial floodlit grass football facility and a multi-use area that can be used as two tennis courts (tarmacadam surface) or other sports. There is also a playpark on Fryer’s field and on the other side of the village (Shaftesbury Road) there is another slighter smaller play park.

Verwood Town Football Club are a football club based in Verwood, Dorset, England. The club is affiliated to the Dorset County Football Association and is a FA chartered Standard club. They play in the Wessex League Division One. Long term manager Adie Arnold resigned from his post in March 2014, ending an 8+1⁄2-year association with the club. After a succession of management changes Adie Arnold came back to manage the club once again for a period through to December 2021. Shepherd & Tabor were appointed on the 3rd January 2022 and went on to win their first game in charge 2-3 away to local rivals Ringwood Town on the same day.

The Hub (also known as the Verwood Hub) is a multi-purpose venue based in Verwood, Dorset, England, hosting a range of live music, theatre, art, conferences, workshops, children’s activities and other community based projects. There is also a 7.1 surround sound cinema, a state-of-the-art gym and a café.

Verwood is a town and civil parish in eastern Dorset, England. The town lies 10 miles (16 km) north of Bournemouth and 13 miles (21 km) north east of Poole as the crow flies. The civil parish comprises the town of Verwood together with the extended village of Three Legged Cross, and in 2014 had a population of 15,170 (according to Dorset County Council). Verwood is the largest town in Dorset without an upper school.

Verwood railway station served the town of Verwood, Dorset, and its hinterland, from 1866 to 1964. It was one of many casualties of the mass closure of British railway lines in the 1960s; the last train running on 2 May 1964. The village is now much larger than when the line ran as it is within reasonable travelling distance of the South East Dorset conurbation.

Horton Heath is a small village in Dorset, England situated one mile from Three Legged Cross and two miles from Horton. It consists of a main road, with Slough Lane and an unnamed road as the only two paved roads coming off it. There are several farms.

Holt Heath is a 4.88 square kilometres (1.88 sq mi) common situated four miles north-east of Wimborne Minster in east Dorset, southern England, close to the village of Holt. The reserve includes dry and wet heathland, bog and ancient woodland. The common has several nature conservation designations: national nature reserve, Special Protection Area, Special Area of Conservation and Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is owned by the National Trust and managed in association with Natural England. The heath is one of the few places where all six native British reptile species occur, and it also supports many other heathland animals, plants and birds. Rare heathland birds such as Eurasian Hobby, nightjar, Dartford warbler and woodlark have been recorded as breeding on the reserve.As a common, historically it was grazed by livestock owned by local people; as with other heathlands it was this grazing which created and maintained the open habitat. Grazing ceased in the mid-20th century, leading to long-term deterioration in the structure and composition of the habitat. Plans are under way to install cattle grids on the minor roads crossing the heath, and then to begin grazing again.

The Moors Valley Railway is a 7+1⁄4 in (184 mm) narrow gauge passenger railway, in the Moors Valley Country Park at Ashley Heath, Dorset, England near Ringwood in Hampshire. There are 20 steam engines and 2 diesel engines. The railway is fully signalled, with two signal boxes, one in a Great Western Railway style and one in a British Rail Southern Region style. The latter box also contains a mini lever frame and push button panel, for the control of the Lakeside area. The railway was constructed at its present location in 1985/86 and opened to the public in July 1986, after the closure in 1985 of its predecessor at Tucktonia in nearby Christchurch, which had run since 1979. Moors Valley uses a narrow gauge prototype to produce tank engines in which one may sit, allowing running during the harshest of conditions, so much so that it runs throughout the year. A further benefit of the style of locomotives built to this prototype is that, unlike models, and standard gauge 71⁄4 inch locomotives, the locomotives used on the Moors Valley Railway are considerably more powerful due to the increased boiler size that can be achieved through almost freelance prototypes.Roger Marsh was a pioneer of this principle and built Tinkerbell; when this was spotted a tank locomotive, Talos, was ordered and so started the Tinkerbell-class of locomotives. Coincidentally, when Tinkerbell was seen for sale, it was purchased by the then Tucktonia Railway, becoming its second locomotive. Several more were built at Tucktonia, several far more powerful than previous engines, before everything was moved to Moors Valley Railway. Moors Valley Railway owns approximately 12 locomotives and a further 7 are privately owned. Hartfield is the most recent addition, being purchased from an owner who rarely used the loco. 'Hartfield' follows the general idea of Jason (a Tinkerbell variation) as per many other private locomotives. There are many other tender locomotives such as Offa, almost certainly the most powerful 71⁄4 inch gauge locomotive in existence until recently. The carriages at Moors Valley have no roof, but have a bench in the centre to sit on. Each carriage is approximately eight feet long. There are four rakes of eight carriages, in green, brown, olive and red liveries.

The River Crane is a river in Dorset, United Kingdom. It flows past Cranborne Manor. Near Verwood it becomes the Moors River. The name is a shortening of Cranbourne, meaning a stream frequented by cranes (or herons).