Dorset
A county of chalk downs, limestone ridges and clay vales between Devon and Hampshire, with most of its coast in the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole make one town along the south east shore; the rest is largely rural, with Dorchester as its county town. Bournemouth and Christchurch were in Hampshire until 1974.
796,865 people at the mid 2025 estimate, on 2,653 square kilometres, in 264 civil parishes. 16 of them are on this site. Two councils run it: Dorset Council (opens in a new tab) and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council (opens in a new tab).
Where the villages are
The hollow dots are villages on this site just over the border: Closworth and Milborne Port, in Somerset.
- Batcombe (opens in a new tab), street map
- Beer Hackett (opens in a new tab), street map
- Bradford Abbas (opens in a new tab), street map
- Cattistock (opens in a new tab), street map
- Chetnole (opens in a new tab), street map
- Evershot (opens in a new tab), street map
- Leigh (opens in a new tab), street map
- Longburton (opens in a new tab), street map
- Maiden Newton (opens in a new tab), street map
- Melbury Bubb (opens in a new tab), street map
- Melbury Osmond (opens in a new tab), street map
- Nether Compton (opens in a new tab), street map
- Ryme Intrinseca (opens in a new tab), street map
- Thornford (opens in a new tab), street map
- Trent (opens in a new tab), street map
- Yetminster (opens in a new tab), street map
Who runs it
| Council | People, mid 2025 | Land | Parishes | Based in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dorset Council (opens in a new tab) | 391,036 | 2,491 km² | 259 | Dorchester |
| Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council (opens in a new tab) | 405,829 | 162 km² | 5 | Bournemouth |
| Police | Dorset Police (opens in a new tab) | the whole county |
|---|---|---|
| Fire and rescue | Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service (opens in a new tab) | the whole county |
Council areas from the ONS Counties and Unitary Authorities, December 2025, super generalised. Land from the ONS Standard Area Measurements, December 2024. Parishes from the ONS parish to ward to district lookup, 2025. People from the ONS mid-year population estimates, mid 2025. Towns from OS Open Names, through postcodes.io. Read on 16 September 2026; the councils, police and fire services were written in by hand. The description is from Wikipedia, read 16 September 2026. Something wrong? Email hello@heathfold.uk.
Source: Office for National Statistics, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (opens in a new tab). Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.