Editing Dorset (section)

=== Early history ===
The first human visitors to Dorset were [[Mesolithic]] hunters, from around 8000&nbsp;BC.<ref name=Put15>Putnam (p. 15)</ref><ref name="Cullingford p13">Cullingford (p. 13)</ref> The first permanent [[Neolithic]] settlers appeared around 3000&nbsp;BC and were responsible for the creation of the [[Dorset Cursus]], a {{convert|10.5|km|adj=on}} monument for ritual or ceremonial purposes.<ref name=Put19>Putnam (p. 19)</ref><ref name="Cullingford p.14">Cullingford (p. 14)</ref> From 2800&nbsp;BC onwards [[Bronze Age]] farmers cleared Dorset's woodlands for agricultural use and Dorset's high chalk hills provided a location for numerous [[round barrows]].<ref name="DFY Culture">{{cite web |url=http://www.dorsetforyou.com/339547 |title=Cultural History |work=Dorset For You |publisher=[[Dorset County Council]] |access-date=24 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710145637/http://www.dorsetforyou.com/339547 |archive-date=10 July 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Cullingford (p. 15)</ref> During the [[Iron Age]], the [[Britons (Celtic people)|British]] tribe known as the [[Durotriges]] established a series of [[hill fort]]s across the county—most notably [[Maiden Castle, Dorset|Maiden Castle]] which is one of the largest in Europe.<ref name="Cullingford p.16">Cullingford (pp. 16–17)</ref><ref>{{PastScape|mnumber=451864|mname=Maiden Castle|year=2007|access-date=12 February 2011}}</ref>

The Romans arrived in Dorset during their [[Roman conquest of Britain|conquest of Britain]] in AD&nbsp;43. Maiden Castle was captured by the [[Legio II Augusta]] under the command of [[Vespasian]], and the Roman settlement of Durnovaria was established nearby.<ref>Cullingford (pp. 18–19)</ref><ref name="vespasian">{{cite web |year=2007 |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/vespasian.shtml |title=Vespasian (9 AD&nbsp;– 79 AD) |publisher=[[BBC]] |access-date=2 April 2008 |archive-date=21 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130421201934/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/vespasian.shtml |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Bokerley Dyke]], a large defensive ditch built by the county's post-Roman inhabitants near the border with modern-day [[Hampshire]], delayed the advance of the Saxons into Dorset for almost 150 years.<ref>Cullingford (p. 26)</ref> It appears to have been re-fortified during this period, with the former Roman Road at [[Ackling Dyke]] also being blocked by the Britons, apparently to prevent the West Saxon advance into Dorset.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hinton |first=David A. |title=Saxons and Vikings |publisher=Dovecote Press |year=1998 |isbn=1874336504 |pages=19}}</ref>

However, by the end of the 7th century Dorset had fallen under Saxon control and been incorporated into the [[Kingdom of Wessex]].<ref name="Draper142">Draper (p. 142)</ref> The precise details of this West Saxon conquest and how it took place are not clear, but it appears to have substantially taken place by the start of the reign of [[Caedwalla]] in 685.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yorke |first=Barbara |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BC6EAgAAQBAJ&q=yorke+kings+and+kingship |title=Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-70725-6 |pages=137 |language=en}}</ref> The Saxons established a diocese at [[Sherborne]] (later to develop into the [[Diocese of Salisbury]]) and Dorset was made a [[shire]]—an administrative district of Wessex and predecessor to the [[Ancient counties of England|English county]] system—with borders that have changed little since.<ref>Cullingford (p. 28)</ref> In 789 the first recorded [[Viking]] attack on the British Isles took place in Dorset on the Portland coast, and they continued to raid into the county for the next two centuries.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/timeline/vikinganglosaxons_timeline_noflash.shtml |title=Vikings and Anglo-Saxons |publisher=[[BBC]] |year=2012 |access-date=13 May 2012 |archive-date=23 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423064907/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/timeline/vikinganglosaxons_timeline_noflash.shtml |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Cullingford (pp. 30–36)</ref>

After the [[Norman conquest of England|Norman Conquest]] in 1066, [[Feudalism in England|feudal]] rule was established in Dorset and the bulk of the land was divided between the Crown and ecclesiastical institutions.<ref>Cullingford (pp. 37–38)</ref> The Normans consolidated their control over the area by constructing castles at [[Corfe Castle|Corfe]], [[Wareham Castle|Wareham]] and [[Dorchester Castle|Dorchester]] in the early part of the 12th century.<ref>Cullingford (p. 43)</ref> Over the next 200 years Dorset's population grew substantially and additional land was enclosed for farming to provide the extra food required.<ref name="Cullingford p52">Cullingford (p. 52)</ref> The wool trade, the quarrying of [[Purbeck Marble]] and the busy ports of [[Weymouth, Dorset|Weymouth]], [[Melcombe Regis]], [[Lyme Regis]] and [[Bridport]] brought prosperity to the county.<ref>Cullingford (pp. 52–54)</ref> However, Dorset was devastated by the bubonic plague in 1348 which arrived in Melcombe Regis on a ship from [[Gascony]].<ref>Cullingford (pp. 54–55)</ref> The disease, more commonly known as the [[Black Death]], created an epidemic that spread rapidly and wiped out a third of the population of the country.<ref>Cullingford (pp. 55–56)</ref><ref>Hilliam (p. 17)</ref> Dorset came under the political influence of a number of different nobles during the Middle Ages. During the Wars of the Roses, for instance, Dorset came into the area influenced by [[Humphrey Stafford, 1st Earl of Devon|Humphrey Stafford, earl of Devon]] (originally of [[Hooke, Dorset|Hooke]], Dorset) whose wider influence stretched from Cornwall to Wiltshire. After 1485, one of the most influential Dorset figures was Henry VII's chamberlain [[Giles Daubeney, 1st Baron Daubeney|Giles Daubeney]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stansfield-Cudworth |first=R. E. |title=Political Elites in South-West England, 1450–1500: Politics, Governance, and the Wars of the Roses |publisher=[[Edwin Mellen Press]] |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-77344-714-1 |location=[[Lewiston, New York]] |pages=191–225, 317–321}}</ref>