Everything about Gillingham Dorset totally explained
» Not to be confused with Gillingham, Kent
Gillingham is a town in the
Blackmore Vale area of
Dorset,
England. The town is the most northerly in the county. It is 3 miles south of the
A303 lying on the B3095 and B3081. It is near to the town of
Shaftesbury which lies 7 miles to the south east. Neighbouring hamlets included
Peacemarsh,
Bay and
Wyke. These hamlets have now however become part of Gillingham as it expanded.
Gillingham is pronounced with the G as in 'goat'. It isn't to be confused with
Gillingham in Kent, in which the G is pronounced as a J as in the girl's name Jill.
History
There is a
stone age barrow in the town, and evidence of
Roman settlement in the
second century and
third century. The town was really established by the
Saxons. The
church of St Mary the Virgin has a
Saxon cross shaft dating to 800-900AD.
The name Gillingham was used for the town in the Saxon
charter of the
10th century, and also in the annals of
1016 as the location of a
battle between
Edmund II of England and the Danish
Vikings. In the
Domesday book of
1086 it's
Gelingham, and later spellings include
Gellingeham in
1130,
Gyllingeham in
1152 and
Gilingeham in
1209. The name implies a “homestead of the family or followers of a man called Gylla”, a model consistent with the occupation of Dorset by the Saxons from the
7th century.
In October 1348, fifty percent of the 2,000 people living in the town died of the
Black Death in the following four months.
In the
Middle Ages, Gillingham was the seat of a royal hunting lodge, visited by King
Henry I,
Henry II,
John and
Henry III. A nearby royal forest was set aside for the king's
deer. The lodge fell into disrepair and was destroyed in
1369 by
Edward III.
Edward Rawson, the first secretary to the
Massachusetts Bay Colony was born in Gillingham.
Gillingham became a centre for local farming, gained the first
Grammar School in Dorset in
1526 and a
mill for
silk in
1769. Gillingham's church has a
14th century chancel, though most of the rest of the building was built in the 19th and 20th centuries. Many other buildings in the town are of
Tudor origin.
In the
1850s, the arrival of the
railway to the town brought prosperity and new industries including
brickmaking,
cheese production,
printing,
soap manufacture and at the end of the 19th century one of the first
petrol engine plants in the country. In the
second world war Gillingham's place on the railway, which went from
London to
Exeter, was key to its rapid growth. In
1940 and
1941 there was large scale
evacuation of London, and other industrial cities, to rural towns, particularly in the north, southwest and
Wales. Gillingham, being on the railway, grew rapidly because of this, and hasn't stopped growing since. Gillingham's position 4 miles south of the
A303, the main London to southwest England road, means it remains a popular commuter town.
Gillingham was the centre of a
Liberty of the same name.
John Constable's painting of the old town bridge is in the
Tate Gallery.
Today
In the
2001 census, the town had a population of 9,323; a large increase from 6,187 in
1991. 35% of the population are retired. The town has 70 shops, and the Gillingham education area has 7 primary schools (4 in the town) and 1 secondary school.
Gillingham railway station is on the
Exeter to
London railway line, and 4
miles away from the
A303, the main London to south-west England road.
Mrs S Dobie is the chair of Gillingham town council.
See
List of hundreds in Dorset.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Gillingham Dorset'.
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