No precise date can be assigned for the establishment of the shire system in Wessex, but in the time of Ecgbert the kingdom was divided into definite pagi, each under an ealdorman, which no doubt represented the later shires. The Inquisitio Geldi, drawn up two years before the Domesday Survey, gives the names of the 39 pre-Conquest hundreds of Dorset. The 33 hundreds and 21 liberties of the present day retain some of the original names, but the boundaries have suffered much alteration. The 8000 acres of Stockland and Dalwood reckoned in the Dorset Domesday are now annexed to Devon, and the manor of Holwell now included in Dorset was reckoned with Somerset until the 19th century. Until the reign of Elizabeth Dorset and Somerset were united under one sheriff.
After the transference of the West Saxon see from Sherborne to Sarum in 1075, Dorset remained part of that diocese until 1542, when it was included in the newly formed diocese of Bristol. The archdeaconry was coextensive with the shire, and was divided into five rural deaneries at least as early as 1291.
The vast power and wealth monopolized by the Church in Dorsetshire tended to check the rise of any great county families. The representatives of the families of Mohun, Brewer and Arundel held large estates after the Conquest, and William Mohun was created earl of Dorset by the empress Maud. The families of Clavel, Lovell, Maundeville, Mautravers, Peverel and St Lo also came over with the Conqueror and figure prominently in the early annals of the county.
Dorsetshire took no active part in the struggles of the Norman and Plantagenet period. In 1627 the county refused to send men to La Rochelle, and was reproved for its lack of zeal in the service of the state. On the outbreak of the Civil War of the 17th century the general feeling was in favour of the king, and after a series of royalist successes in 1643 Lyme Regis and Poole were the only garrisons in the county left to the parliament. By the next year however, the parliament had gained the whole county with the exception of Sherborne and the Isle of Portland. The general aversion of the Dorsetshire people to warlike pursuits is demonstrated at this period by the rise of the “clubmen,” so called from their appearance without pikes or fire-arms at the county musters, whose object was peace at all costs, and who punished members of either party discovered in the act of plundering.
In the 14th century Dorsetshire produced large quantities of wheat and wool, and had a prosperous clothing trade. In 1626 the county was severely visited by the plague, and from this date the clothing industry began to decline. The hundred of Pimperne produced large quantities of saltpeter in the 17th century, and the serge manufacture was introduced about this time. Portland freestone was first brought into use in the reign of James I., when it was employed for the new banqueting house at Whitehall, and after the Great Fire it was extensively used by Sir Christopher Wren. In the 18th century Blandford, Sherborne and Lyme Regis were famous for their lace, but the industry has now declined.
The county returned two members to parliament in 1290, and as the chief towns acquired representation the number was increased, until in 1572 the county and nine boroughs returned a total of twenty members. Under the Reform Act of 1832 the county returned three members, and Corfe Castle was disfranchised. By the Representation of the People Act of 1868 Lyme Regis was disfranchised, and by the Redistribution Act of 1885 the remaining boroughs were disfranchised.
Antiquities.—Remains of medieval castles are inconsiderable, with the notable exception of Corfe Castle and the picturesque ruins of Sherborne Castle, both destroyed after the Civil War of the 17th century. The three finest churches in the county are the abbey church of Sherborne, Wimborne Minster and Milton Abbey church, a Decorated and Perpendicular structure erected on the site of a Norman church which was burnt. It has transepts, chancel and central tower, but the nave was not built. This was a Benedictine foundation of the 10th century, and the refectory of the 15th century is incorporated in the mansion built in 1772. At Ford Abbey part of the buildings of a Cistercian house are similarly incorporated. There are lesser monastic remains at Abbotsbury, Cerne and Bindon. The parish churches of Dorsetshire are not especially noteworthy as a whole, but those at Cerne Abbas and Beaminster are fine examples of the Perpendicular style, which is the most common in the county. A little good Norman work remains, as in the churches of Bere Regis and Piddletrenthide, but both these were reconstructed in the Perpendicular period; Bere Regis church having a superb timber roof of that period.
The dialect of the county, perfectly distinguishable from those of Wiltshire and Somersetshire, yet bearing many common marks of Saxon origin, is admirably illustrated in some of the poems of William Barnes (q.v.). Many towns, villages and localities are readily to be recognized from their descriptions in the “Wessex” novels of Thomas Hardy (q.v.).
A curious ancient Survey of Dorsetshire was written by the Rev. Mr Coker, about the middle of the 17th century, and published from his MS. (London, 1732). See also J. Hutchins, History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset (London, 1774); 2nd ed. by R. Gough and E. B. Nichols (1796-1815); 3rd ed. by W. Shipp and J. W. Hodson (1861-1873); C. Warne, Ancient Dorset (London, 1865); R. W. Eyton, A Key to Domesday, exemplified by an analysis and digest of the Dorset Survey (London, 1878); C. H. Mayo, Bibliotheca Dorsetiensis (London, 1885); W. Barnes, Glossary of Dorset Dialect (Dorchester, 1886); H. J. Moule, Old Dorset (London, 1893); Victoria County History, Dorsetshire.