Editing Dorset (section)

=== Modern history ===
{{Further|Dorset in the English Civil War}}
[[File:Corfe Castle3.jpg|thumb|left|alt=the ruins of Corfe Castle|[[Corfe Castle]], captured and destroyed by [[Oliver Cromwell|Cromwell's]] army in 1646]]
The [[dissolution of the monasteries]] (1536–1541) met little resistance in Dorset and many of the county's abbeys, including [[Shaftesbury Abbey|Shaftesbury]], [[Cerne Abbey|Cerne]] and [[Milton Abbey School#Abbey church|Milton]], were sold to private owners.<ref>Cullingford (pp. 59–60)</ref> In 1642, at the commencement of the [[English Civil War]], the [[Cavalier|Royalists]] took control of the entire county apart from Poole and Lyme Regis. However, within three years their gains had been almost entirely reversed by the [[Roundhead|Parliamentarians]].<ref>Cullingford (pp. 68–69)</ref> An uprising of [[Clubmen]]—vigilantes weary of the depredations of the war—took place in Dorset in 1645. Some 2,000 of these rebels offered battle to [[Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron|Lord Fairfax's]] Parliamentary army at [[Hambledon Hill]] but they were easily routed.<ref name="Cullingford pp70–71">Cullingford (pp. 70–71)</ref><ref>Hilliam (pp. 144–145)</ref> [[Sherborne Castle]] was taken by Fairfax that same year and in 1646 Corfe Castle, the last remaining Royalist stronghold in Dorset, was captured after an act of betrayal: both were subsequently [[Slighting|slighted]].<ref name="Cullingford pp70–71"/><ref>Yarrow (p. 26)</ref> The [[James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth|Duke of Monmouth's]] unsuccessful [[Monmouth Rebellion|attempt to overthrow James II]] began when he landed at Lyme Regis in 1685.<ref>Cullingford (p. 75)</ref> A series of trials known as the [[Bloody Assizes]] took place to punish the rebels. Over a five-day period in Dorchester, [[Judge Jeffreys]] presided over 312 cases: 74 of the accused were executed, 175 were sentenced to [[penal transportation]], and nine were publicly whipped.<ref>Cullingford (p. 78)</ref> In 1686, at [[Charborough House|Charborough Park]], a meeting took place to plot the downfall of [[James II of England]]. This meeting was effectively the start of the [[Glorious Revolution]].<ref>Cullingford (p. 80)</ref>

During the 18th century, much [[smuggling]] took place along the Dorset coast; its coves, caves and sandy beaches provided opportunities for gangs such as the [[Hawkhurst Gang|Hawkhursts]] to stealthily bring smuggled goods ashore.<ref>Cullingford (p. 99)</ref> Poole became Dorset's busiest port and established prosperous trade links with the fisheries of [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]] which supported cloth, rope and net manufacturing industries in the surrounding towns and villages.<ref>Cullingford (p. 92)</ref> However, the [[Industrial Revolution]] largely bypassed Dorset which lacked coal resources and as a consequence the county remained predominantly agricultural.<ref name="Cullingford p105">Cullingford (p. 105)</ref><ref name="Draper143">Draper (p. 143)</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/data_cube_page.jsp?data_theme=T_LAND&data_cube=N_LAND2001&u_id=10104210&c_id=10001043&add=Y |title=Agriculture and Land Use |work=A Vision of Britain Through Time |publisher=[[University of Portsmouth]] |access-date=8 March 2011 |archive-date=28 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628203312/http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/data_cube_page.jsp?data_theme=T_LAND&data_cube=N_LAND2001&u_id=10104210&c_id=10001043&add=Y |url-status=live}}</ref> Farming has always been central to the economy of Dorset and the county became the birthplace of the modern [[trade union movement]] when, in 1834, six farm labourers formed a union to protest against falling wages. The labourers, who are now known as the [[Tolpuddle Martyrs]], were subsequently arrested for administering "unlawful oaths" and sentenced to transportation but they were pardoned following massive protests by the working classes.<ref>Hilliam (p. 10)</ref><ref>Cullingford (pp. 114–116)</ref>

The [[Dorsetshire Regiment]] were the first British unit to face a [[Chemical weapons in World War I|gas attack]] during the [[First World War]] (1914–1918) and they sustained particularly heavy losses at the [[Battle of the Somme]].<ref>Cullingford (p. 133)</ref><ref name="bbc somme memorial">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-13154655 |work=[[BBC News]] |title=Somme memorial to Dorset World War I soldiers |date=21 April 2011 |access-date=13 May 2012 |archive-date=22 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110422084200/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-13154655 |url-status=live}}</ref> In total some 4,500 Dorset servicemen died in the war and of the county's towns and villages, only one, [[Langton Herring]], known as a [[Thankful Villages|Thankful Village]], had no residents killed.<ref name="bbc somme memorial"/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15671943 |work=[[BBC News]] |title=Thankful villages: The places where everyone came back from the wars |date=11 November 2011 |access-date=17 May 2012 |archive-date=11 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111111131118/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15671943 |url-status=live}}</ref> During the [[Second World War]] (1939–1945) Dorset was heavily involved in the preparations for the [[invasion of Normandy]]: beach landing exercises were carried out at [[Studland]] and Weymouth and the village of [[Tyneham]] was requisitioned for army training.<ref>Cullingford (p. 134)</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/dorset/content/articles/2009/05/18/dday_exercise_smash_feature.shtml |title=BBC Local&nbsp;– Dorset |publisher=[[BBC]] |access-date=1 April 2011 |archive-date=7 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307075923/http://www.bbc.co.uk/dorset/content/articles/2009/05/18/dday_exercise_smash_feature.shtml |url-status=live}}</ref> Tens of thousands of troops departed Weymouth, Portland and Poole harbours during the D-Day [[Normandy landings]] and gliders from [[RAF Tarrant Rushton]] dropped troops near [[Caen]] to begin [[Operation Tonga]].

Dorset experienced an increase in holiday-makers after the war.<ref>Cullingford (p. 135)</ref> First popularised as a tourist destination by [[George III of the United Kingdom|George III's]] frequent visits to Weymouth, the county's coastline, seaside resorts and its sparsely populated rural areas attract millions of visitors each year.<ref name="Cullingford p105"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dorsetforyou.com/370025 |title=Key facts&nbsp;– tourism |work=Dorset For You |year=2005 |publisher=[[Dorset County Council]] |access-date=2 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003124948/http://www.dorsetforyou.com/370025 |archive-date=3 October 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> With farming declining across the country, tourism has edged ahead as the primary revenue-earning sector.<ref name="Draper143"/><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/archive/1255030.stm |title=Panorama&nbsp;– Farming in Decline |date=1 April 2001 |publisher=[[BBC]] |access-date=16 February 2012}}</ref>