Place · city

Dorchester, Dorset

Also known as Durnovaria

Dorchester is the county town of Dorset in south-west England. It grew from Durnovaria, the Roman town that became the administrative centre of the Durotriges, close to the great Iron Age hillfort of Maiden Castle. The Tolpuddle Martyrs were tried there in 1834, and the novelist Thomas Hardy, who lived nearby, portrayed it as Casterbridge.

Dorchester, Dorset
Image: Alex Liivet a derivate work by MrPanyGoff · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 state history

Durotriges

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Dorchester, Dorset. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/dorchester-dorset
MLA
“Dorchester, Dorset.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/dorchester-dorset. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Dorchester, Dorset.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/dorchester-dorset.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Dorchester, Dorset’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/dorchester-dorset (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻