How old is swanage

The more energetic can always do their exploring by mountain-biking along the Purbeck Hills. Of course, there is plenty to see around Swanage itself, with its parks, gardens, museums and shops, along the attractive winding streets. There are various other places of interest around Swanage.

Perhaps the best known is Corfe Castle , scene of one of the great battles of the English Civil War , ending in defeat for the Royalists. The site is believed to have originally been a Roman defensive position, but the castle is known to have been built as a wooden edifice in the 9th century. The present ruins are the remains of the 11th century rebuilt Purbeck Stone castle.

The nature reserve of Durlston Country Park on the coast south of Swanage is another place worth visiting, covering more than acres of land. It is home to various species of animals, birds and reptiles. The reserve is popular with bird watchers and there are always sight-seers coming to watch the dolphins in the sea below the park. Skip to main content. Old Harry Rocks. Church Hill.

Swanage Pier view. Swanage Bay. Corfe Castle. Villages nearby Worth Matravers. Weather nearby. The Church of St. Mark , Herston, see 1 , Font under Fittings.

Densham and J. Ogle Congregational Churches of Dorset , In the late 19th century a new chapel was built to the E. The S. In the porch are two doorways with semicircular fanlights and keystones inscribed 'Built ' and 'Rebuilt '; above the doorways is a window with semicircular head; the other windows have low segmental heads. Fittings— Monument : on W. The lower part is rusticated and has a central doorway, round-headed and with continuous moulded and enriched jambs and scrolled keystone; to each side are pilasters with panels filled with banded foliage and supporting heavily enriched brackets carrying a balcony; between the brackets are cupids and swags flanking a female bust; the upper part is in fine ashlar and has two Ionic pilasters carrying a broken segmental pediment; outside the main pilasters, half pilasters are finished to scrolls at the bottom; a central round-headed window is flanked by small pilasters with a hood above carried on console brackets.

Flanking the central window are niches and inscription panels—'Old front of Mercers' Hall designed by Sir Christopher Wren' sic ; 'Erected by George Burt Sheriff of London and Middlesex '; 'Cheapside '; 'Swanage '; and above is an oval window with carved wreath surround.

The attic storey has a niche, rising out of the broken pediment, flanked by circular windows with carved wreath surrounds with a dentilled cornice and balustraded parapet above. The balcony has a wrought iron balustrade with fluted and enriched balusters and panels of foliage with the date The door is nail-studded and the one small window is fitted with a grill. Pump , beside the lock-up, of cast iron surmounted by a finial with reeded base and ball top Plate 63 , is of the second quarter of the 19th century.

George and the Dragon, above which bands of monsters' heads, gadrooning, rosettes and foliage support the main fluted shafts Plate One standard has a square base splayed to an octagon with crowned monograms of George IV. All removed. The interior has been drastically altered and converted to two dwellings. In the E. July 10th; close to it are the remains of a blocked opening with chamfered trefoiled head.

The initials and date are probably for William Rose, instituted as Rector in that year cf. Monument 1 , Floor-slab 1 under Fittings. Barn , 20 yds. The walls are rendered with stucco, the roofs covered with slates.

It is of the first half of the 18th century, with flanking wings of the early 19th century and later additions. The N. The middle part is recessed and has four giant Ionic pilasters to the two main storeys carrying an entablature and pediment with dentils.

The central doorway has a rusticated and moulded architrave and keystone and a segmental pediment over. The first-floor windows have moulded stone architraves and retain the original sashes with thick glazing bars but the sashes of the original ground-floor windows have been reused in the glazed portico. To each side the elevation breaks forward and has plain hung-sash windows.

Early 19th century wings project further on each side, each with a bay window on the inward-facing elevation and a window on the end elevation of three unequal lights separated by pilasters under a segmental head and with a wrought iron balcony.

Inside, the basement is mostly covered with brick vaulting carried on circular stone pillars; on the second floor some of the rooms retain 18th-century panelling, doors, dadorails and cornices. Stable , to S. The other elevations are symmetrically designed, with hungsash windows.

Windows , reset in a length of stone wall, two, of one and two two-centred lights in square heads with sunk spandrels and moulded labels, 17th-century. Window , adjoining last, of two cinque-foiled lights with sunk spandrels in a square head, 15th-century, said to have been brought from Kingston Church, see Corfe Castle 2. The main part of the house was refronted in the late 19th century in ashlar with the addition of an embattled parapet and embattled porch.

The barn which forms the main part of the W. At the W. The interior has been much altered but contains a number of fittings brought from elsewhere in the late 19th century by Sir Charles Robinson, Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum: these include a staircase with scrolled balusters of the 17th or early 18th century and several doors, all of foreign origin; a pair of late 18th-century doors, said to have come from Wareham, with the upper panels glazed behind iron bars and fleurs-de-lys; and pieces of carved frieze-work with the dates and Outbuilding , immediately S.

In the early 17th century the main part of the house was drastically altered: the N. In the mid 18th century a kitchen wing was added to the N.

In the late 19th century the cross wing was rebuilt after a fire and the mediaeval building was remodelled inside. The main S. The square-headed windows with stone mullions are mainly of the early 17th century. The W. The tower has stone nesting boxes above the level of the former first-floor ceiling. Talbot ; it has been converted to a dwelling, with modern stone-mullioned windows.

Stable , of the early 19th century, has two semicircular windows in the S. The following monuments, unless otherwise described, are of two storeys or two storeys and attics, with rubble walls and stone-slated roofs, and are of the late 18th century.

The majority are designed on a two-room plan giving a symmetrical front elevation with central entrance and chimneys in the end gables. The front elevation has a platband at first-floor level and central doorway with pedimental timber door-case between hung-sash windows with segmental-arched heads; an open passageway is entered under a round arch with keystone inscribed W.

The entrance to No. The ground floor has later shop fronts; the first-floor windows have wrought-iron balconies.

The front is symmetrical, with later two-storey bay windows flanking the segmental-headed entrance. Both the original hotel and the adjoining house have walls rendered in stucco and roofs covered with modern slates and are of the early 19th century. The entrance porch has timber columns supporting a plain hood and is flanked by bay windows. The house has hung-sash windows regularly disposed and a later bay window added.

Until the early 19 th century the town was a small fishing port, but the arrival of the steam railway and the popularity of the Victorian seaside holiday resulted in the rapid expansion of the town, and it retains many of the Victorian buildings and character. The stone trade has always been very important to the town dating back to the 1st century AD. Purbeck Stone is used in buildings across the country and in London. The stone boats returned from the city with cast iron bollards, relics and monuments as ballast from the city and these can still be found in the area to this day.

The town has a many shops ranging from small gift shops to two medium sized supermarkets; the only bank remaining is a Lloyds Bank in the High Street. There are two post offices in the town, the main post office located in Kings Road near the railway station and small sub-post office in Costcutter at Herston.

The area has many miles of footpaths and bridleways making it the ideal place for exploring for walkers, cyclists and horse riders. Swanage has a population of over 11, people and in the summer months this number nearly doubles.