Bradford Abbas

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Bradford Abbas
Dorset

Church Road, Bradford Abbas
Location
Grid reference: ST587144
Location: 50°55’41"N, 2°35’17"W
Data
Population: 975
Post town: Sherborne
Postcode: DT9
Local Government
Council: Dorset
Parliamentary
constituency:
West Dorset

Bradford Abbas is a village in north-western Dorset, three miles southeast of Yeovil (in Somerset) and five miles south-west of Sherborne. The 2011 census recorded a parish population of 975.

The name of the village signifies the "Abbot's broad ford" on the River Ivel, the abbot in question being that of Sherborne; the land was given to Sherborne Abbey by King Alfred the Great.

In the dry summer of 2010 cropmarks in sun-parched fields of barley, visible from the air, revealed the existence of a previously unsuspected 1st-century temporary Roman camp, one of only four detected in southwest Britain.[1] In the 19th century five Roman kilns were found in a field to the east of the village. Also found at the site were pottery, roof slates, bracelets and querns.[2]

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Bradford Abbas)

References

  1. English Heritage reported in BBC News, "Dry weather reveals archaeological 'cropmarks' in fields", 30 August 2010 accessed 7 September 2010.
  2. 'Bradford Abbas' in 'An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset', Volume 1: West (1952), pp. 30-34