Dorset Cursus

Ackling Dyke is a section of Roman road in England which runs for 22 miles (35 km) southwest from Old Sarum (Sorviodunum) to the hill fort at Badbury Rings (Vindocladia). Part of the road on Oakley Down has been scheduled as an ancient monument.Much of the road exists as an exceptionally large embankment (agger), up to 50 ft (15 m) wide and 6 ft (1.8 m) high. This is much wider than most Roman roads. This would have been visible from a great distance and must have been intended to impress the native population, as it was unnecessary from an engineering viewpoint. It provided a rapid transit route for soldiers across Cranborne Chase.In addition, in places the road cuts straight through prehistoric earthworks and barrows, showing the Roman attitude to the existing British social structure as well as proving to early antiquaries that barrows preceded the Roman period. At Bokerley Junction it cuts through both Bokerley Dyke and Grim's Ditch before being overlaid by a turnpike, now the A354. Three miles (5 km) further west at Wyke Down it cuts through the Dorset Cursus. A series of watchtower sites have been identified along the route.After leaving the Salisbury suburbs, the route crosses open country throughout, and nowhere comes close to any settlement. Apart from a one-mile (1.6 km) section of the main Salisbury–Blandford road which follows its course, the road can mostly be followed along minor lanes and tracks. At Old Sarum the road connected with the Port Way to Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum) and London; and from Badbury Rings roads led to the harbour at Hamworthy (Moriconium) and to Dorchester (Durnovaria).Part of the road is on the Heritage at Risk Register because of the potential damage from arable ploughing.

Pentridge is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Sixpenny Handley and Pentridge, in the Dorset district, in the ceremonial of Dorset, England, lying in the north-east of the county. It is situated on the edge of Cranborne Chase down a dead-end minor lane just south of the A354 road between the towns of Blandford Forum (ten miles to the south-west) and Salisbury (twelve miles to the northeast). In 2001 the parish had a population of 215. The civil parish was abolished on 1 April 2015 and merged with Sixpenny Handley to form "Sixpenny Handley and Pentridge".The village name derives from the Celtic pen ("hill") and twrch ("boar"), and thus means "hill of the wild boar"; its existence was first recorded (as "Pentric") in the eighth century, eighty years before the birth of Alfred the Great.The village is located amongst many Neolithic, Roman and Saxon earthworks, notably Bokerley Dyke, a long defensive ditch which was dug by the Romano-British to keep out the Saxon invaders. Nearby is Pentridge Hill, formed by a band of more resistant chalk than the surrounding land. Approximately 2 km East of Pentridge is Blagdon Hill. On 17th January 1947 Mr.A.L.Parke of Salisbury reported that the round barrows on this hill had been recently "trenched" and a grave was opened. He supposed it to be the main interment, it "being situated in a hole scooped in the solid chalk". He further stated that " a few sherds of a well baked urn were found" and "fragments of burnt bone and charcoal accompanied" the urn.

Sixpenny Handley or Handley is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Sixpenny Handley and Pentridge, in north east Dorset, England, situated on Cranborne Chase ten miles (16 km) north east of Blandford Forum. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 1,233. The civil parish was abolished on 1 April 2015 and merged with Pentridge to form Sixpenny Handley and Pentridge.

Wimborne St Giles Hundred was a hundred in the county of Dorset, England, containing the following parishes: Wimborne All Saints (absorbed by Wimborne St Giles 1732) Wimborne St Giles West Woodyates (created 1858)

Garston Wood is a 34-hectare (84-acre) woodland nature reserve on the border between Dorset and Wiltshire in England, around 3 km (2 mi) north of the village of Sixpenny Handley, owned by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds to protect species living in the region. The reserve is a mixture of ancient woodland and managed coppices and scrubland. To help maintain the park, the RSPB sets annual population targets for certain breeding pairs of birds, and manages the forest by clearing out taller and non-native trees. In an effort to help tourists and volunteers enjoy the park, the RSPB holds an annual event programme, biannual volunteer working parties, and publishes a regularly updated trail guide. They also work to improve their visitor facilities, and maintain a media profile.

The Church of St Giles is the Church of England parish church for the village of Wimborne St Giles, Dorset. Originally founded in the 13th century and rebuilt several times over the ensuing centuries, the present church is a mixture of Georgian and Gothic Revival architecture. It is located at the start of the main driveway to St Giles House, the seat of the Earl of Shaftesbury, at the end of a row of Stuart-era almshouses.The church has been celebrated by several architectural historians, most notably Sir John Betjeman, who described St Giles as "a treasure-house of Comper work", referring to the restoration carried out on the church by Sir Ninian Comper between 1908 and 1910. The church building has been designated as Grade I listed on the National Heritage List for England, the highest possible rating.

Wimborne St Giles is a village and civil parish in east Dorset, England, on Cranborne Chase, 7 miles (11 km) north of Wimborne Minster and 12 miles (19 km) north of Poole. The village lies within the Shaftesbury estate, owned by the Earl of Shaftesbury. A tributary of the River Allen, formerly known as the Wimborne, snakes its way through the village.The village of St Giles was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. Wimborne St Giles was established in 1733, when the St Giles and All Hallows parishes were merged at the request of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury. In 2001 the population was 366, served by the village hall, post office, parish church, and a primary school. Recreational enterprises include commercial shooting, a trout farm, and fly fishing on the River Allen. The village is largely agricultural, with residents generally commuting to nearby cities and towns for employment.

St Giles House is located at Wimborne St Giles in East Dorset in England, just south of Cranborne Chase. It is the ancestral seat of the Ashley-Cooper family, which is headed by the Earl of Shaftesbury. The estate covers over 5,500 acres (22 km2).Built in 1651, the Grade I listed house stands in a vast park through which the River Allen flows, feeding a seven-acre lake as it winds its way towards the small parish village of Wimborne St Giles. The 17th-century house is a low, quadrangular building. Although the name of the architect is not known, the influence of Inigo Jones is obvious in the Renaissance north and east fronts with their Classical façades. The original plan of the house called for a square courtyard, to which was added two large ground floor rooms, with additional rooms on the second and third floors. The house was once completely crenellated along the edge of the parapet (or shorter walls), however most of these fortifications were removed in the 19th century. The east front, with its seven bays, remains much the same today.The surrounding estate park of 400 acres features a serpentine lake, garden ornaments, a notable grotto and a 1000-yard avenue of beech. The park is Grade II* listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.

Gussage All Saints is a village and parish in the county of Dorset in southern England. It nestles within the East Dorset administrative district of the county, about 8 miles north-east of the town of Blandford Forum. It is sited by the side of a small stream in a shallow valley on the lower dip slope of Cranborne Chase. Ackling Dyke, a disused Roman road, crosses the valley to the northwest, and forms the parish boundary at that point. The village church dates mostly from the early 14th century. Since 2001 The Ecclesiastical Parish of Gussage All Saints has been one of ten Ecclesiastical Parishes which form ‘The Chase Benefice’ under its first incumbent the Reverend Dr Michael Foster. The other Parishes are Gussage St Michael, Farnham, Chettle, Tarrant Gunville, Tarrant Hinton, Tarrant Monkton, Tarrant Rushton, Tarrant Keyneston, and Tollard Royal in Wiltshire. To the south of the village lies an Iron Age settlement excavated in 1972 by Dr G. J. Wainwright, of the Department of the Environment. The settlement is formed by an enclosure that is roughly circular in plan and some 3 acres in extent, with a single entrance in the east defined by two pairs of flanking antennae ditches.

Cranborne Manor is a Grade I listed country house in Cranborne, Dorset, in southern England. The manor dates back to around 1207/8, and was originally a hunting lodge. It was re-modelled for The 1st Earl of Salisbury in the early 17th century. The main seat of the earls and marquesses of Salisbury is Hatfield House in Hertfordshire, and Cranborne Manor is often the home of the heir to the title, who uses the courtesy title Viscount Cranborne.

Gussage is a series of three villages in north Dorset, England, situated along the Gussage Stream, a tributary of the River Allen on Cranborne Chase, 8 mi (13 km) north east of Blandford Forum and 10 mi (16 km) north of Wimborne. The stream runs through all three parishes: Gussage All Saints, population 192, Gussage St Michael, pop. 219 (in 2001) and Gussage St Andrew, population unknown, but smaller than the other two villages.