Loders
| Loders | |
| Dorset | |
|---|---|
 The Loders Arms | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SY495942 |
| Location: | 50°44’43"N, 2°43’0"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 518 (2011) |
| Post town: | Bridport |
| Postcode: | DT6 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Dorset |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
West Dorset |
Loders is a village in Dorset two miles north-east of the coastal town of Bridport. It is a linear village, sited in the valley of the small River Asker, between Waddon Hill and Boarsbarrow Hill. The 2011 census noted a parish population of 518.
The village school was opened in 1869 on land owned by the Nepean family of Loders Court. It was originally called Lady Nepean's School.
Description
The parish of Loders comprises three settlements. In the east is Uploders which has a public house, "The Crown", and a chapel. To the west of Uploders and separated from it by a few fields is Yondover, where the village road crosses the River Asker. The village playing field and two farms are located here. West of Yondover and separated from it by the river and the disused railway line of the Maiden Newton to Bridport branch line, is Lower Loders, generally known as just Loders. Lower Loders has a public house, "The Loders Arms", a church, a village hall, several farms, and a primary school, which celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2019. In his book Portrait of Dorset, Ralph Wightman gave an agricultural assessment of Loders as having "more than its share of soil variations but most of them are good soils. The result is a village of fertile fields but with an amazing difference in levels."[1]
History
In 1086 Loders is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Lodres.[2]
During the reign of King Henry I, Baldwin de Redvers founded a seat of a Benedictine priory at Loders. The monks were reputedly the first to introduce cider-making into Dorset.[3]
A railway line used to pass through the village, although this has been in disuse for many years, since the closing of the Bridport to Maiden Newton branch line in 1975. However some features are still visible; most prominently, there are two bridges, one of which must be passed under to get from one end of the village to the other.
In popular culture
Johnny Coppin's Westcountry Christmas album includes a song called Song for Loders, which mentions many places around the area, including Eggerton, Askerswell and Muckleford, amongst others.
When frost lies thick on Egerton
And every pool begins to freeze
From Muckleford to Nettle Coombe
And hills are hung with sparkling trees
Then to Loders we must go
Before the world is drowned in snow
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Loders) |
References
- ↑ Ralph Wightman (1983). Portrait of Dorset (4 ed.). Robert Hale Ltd. p. 156. ISBN 0 7090 0844 9.
- ↑ "Dorset H–R". The Domesday Book Online. domesdaybook.co.uk. 1999–2013. http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/dorset2.html#loders. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
- ↑ Reginald J. W. Hammond (1979). Dorset Coast (4 ed.). Ward Lock Ltd. p. 40. ISBN 0-7063-5494-X.