Dorchester

Dorchester, town, England

Dorchester (dôr`chĭstər), town (1991 pop. 13,734), county seat of Dorset, S central England. Dorchester is a busy agricultural market, especially for sheep and lambs. Printing, leatherworking, brewing, and the manufacture of agricultural machinery are important industries. Nearby is Maiden Castle, a fortification originally built in prehistoric times. In Roman times, Dorchester was called Durnovaria; Maumbury Rings, another pre-Roman site, was used by the Romans as an amphitheater. Baron Jeffreys of Wem held his Bloody Assizes in the town in 1685. It was also the site of the 1834 trial of the "Tolpuddle Martyrs," important in the history of British trade unionism. Thomas Hardy lived in Dorchester, which is the "Casterbridge" of his Wessex novels.

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Dorchester, town, United States

Dorchester, Mass.: see Boston.

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Dorchester

Former town, now a ward of Boston, Mass., U.S. It extended nearly to the Rhode Island border and included Dorchester Heights, whose fortification by George Washington's artillery led the British to evacuate Boston on March 17, 1776, at the start of the American Revolution.

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Dorchester

 ancient Durnovaria

Town (pop., 1995 est.: 16,000) and county seat of Dorset, England. On the River Frome, the ancient town was a sizable Roman British centre, and many remains of the period have been found. By 1086 it was a royal borough, and a castle had been built by the 12th century; the Franciscan priory, founded before 1331, is thought to have been constructed from its ruins. The town is now a marketplace serving an extensive rural area. Thomas Hardy was born near Dorchester, the “Casterbridge” of his Wessex novels.

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Dorchester

a town in S England, administrative centre of Dorset: associated with Thomas Hardy, esp as the Casterbridge of his novels. Pop.: 16 171 (2001)