Colehill
Encyclopedia
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
, neighbouring Wimborne Minster
Wimborne Minster
Wimborne Minster is a market town in the East Dorset district of Dorset in South West England, and the name of the Church of England church in that town...
, in Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, with a population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
of 7,000 (2001).
History
The name Colehill originated in 1431 as Colhulle, becoming Colhill in 1518 and Collehill in 1547, but the origins of Colehill as a settlement predate this by a long way.Six round barrows, which can still be seen, show that people lived here as early as 2000 BC. The River Stour
River Stour, Dorset
The River Stour is a 60.5 mile long river which flows through Wiltshire and Dorset in southern England, and drains into the English Channel. It is sometimes called the Dorset Stour to distinguish it from rivers of the same name...
would have been navigable and there is evidence that in about 500 BC peoples from Continental Europe were populating the South West, bringing with them the culture of the early Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
. Fortifications at Hengistbury Head
Hengistbury Head
Hengistbury Head is a headland jutting into the English Channel between Bournemouth and Milford on Sea in the English county of Dorset.At the end is a spit which creates the narrow entrance to Christchurch Harbour.-Location:...
and more forts inland were established then.
Part of the tracks survive, running parallel to the river from the coastal fort through modern locations such as Parley and Stapehill to Badbury Rings
Badbury Rings
Badbury Rings is an Iron Age hill fort in east Dorset, England, dating from 800 BC and in use until the Roman occupation of 43 AD.-Iron Age:...
. It is very likely that the line of Middlehill Road derives from these very early tracks.
Later in Roman times Wimborne developed as an important trading centre on the River Stour, and as a junction for further tracks from Poole to Badbury Rings and on to Salisbury. Another track radiating eastward possibly set the line for what was to become in modern times the A31
A31 road
The A31 is a major trunk road in southern England that runs from Guildford in Surrey to Bere Regis in Dorset.-Route of road:The road begins in the centre of Guildford, meeting the A3 road before running south west along the Hog's Back. It continues past Farnham, Alton and New Alresford before...
. Bridges replaced the fords (Canford) in about 100 AD.
There then followed the Saxon invasion and the formation of the Kingdom of Wessex
Wessex
The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest...
. Agriculture became established and with it clearance of some small plots on the sunny heathland slopes around Colehill. Over the centuries farms grew until, with the impetus of the Inclosure Act
Inclosure Act
The Inclosure or Enclosure Acts were a series of United Kingdom Acts of Parliament which enclosed open fields and common land in the country. They removed previously existing rights of local people to carry out activities in these areas, such as cultivation, cutting hay, grazing animals or using...
s (1750 to 1860), they were consolidated into the estates that we know of today - Kingston Lacy
Kingston Lacy
Kingston Lacy is a country house and estate near Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England, now owned by the National Trust. From the 17th to the late 20th centuries it was the family seat of the Bankes family, who had previously resided nearby at Corfe Castle until its destruction in the English Civil War...
, Hanham and Uddens.
Colehill Today
In Colehill there are three firstFirst School
First school and lower school are terms used in some areas of the United Kingdom to describe the first stage of primary education. Some English Local Education Authorities have introduced First Schools since the 1960s...
or primary schools: namely, Colehill First School
Colehill First School
Colehill First School, originally known as Middlehill School, is an infant school in the village of Colehill, near Wimborne and Poole, along the south coast of Dorset. Open since Victorian times, it educates children from their reception year to year four . It is part of the Queen Elizabeth pyramid...
, Hayeswood School and St Catherine's. The middle school
Middle school
Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...
is St Michael's. There is a Memorial Hall and also a County Library, which had been under threat of closure until recently. Colehill has two Post Offices (the Co-op Stores and the Furzehill Stores), a pharmacy and a hairdresser. The Parish Plan for Colehill has been published, and there was a public meeting in the Memorial Hall on 18 June 2008 when a hundred residents met the Service Providers. Several of the planned actions have already been implemented, and a comprehensive newly-designed website was published in November 2008 and is updated regularly. All local organisations are encouraged to contribute. A half-yearly newsletter, the Colehill Clarion, carries the news from the Parish Council. Traffic calming in Middlehill Road has been introduced but remains an issue for a minority of the residents. The latest parish initiative is a project to rebuild the Reef as a community centre for the young people of Colehill and Wimborne. Funds are being raised, and a mortgage/loan is being funded by East Dorset District Council.
There are a few fine old houses in Colehill dating from the 1860s but rapid expansion took place in the last century. The population rose from 1786 in 1951 to 5370 in 1971. Several large estates of modern family homes were built and there is quite a lot of infill building. The Parish Church, Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, is St Michaels and All Angels. It was designed by Caröe in 1893 and is a half brick and half timber construction in the Arts and Crafts style. Nearby and close to the War Memorial at the centre of the village are the Triangle Woods which have village green status. There are areas of common land, a recreation ground at Oliver's Park, and a Local Nature Reserve
Local Nature Reserve
Local nature reserve or LNR is a designation for nature reserves in the United Kingdom. The designation has its origin in the recommendations of the Wild Life Conservation Special Committee which established the framework for nature conservation in the United Kingdom and suggested a national suite...
at Leigh Common. The area is well wooded and the local Forestry Commission
Forestry Commission
The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for forestry in Great Britain. Its mission is to protect and expand Britain's forests and woodlands and increase their value to society and the environment....
Plantation at Cannon Hill is available for recreation.
Notable residents of Colehill include Tim Berners Lee, the founder of the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
. Footballer Roger Johnson
Roger Johnson (footballer)
Roger Johnson is an English footballer who plays as a defender for Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers....
spent most of his childhood
Childhood
Childhood is the age span ranging from birth to adolescence. In developmental psychology, childhood is divided up into the developmental stages of toddlerhood , early childhood , middle childhood , and adolescence .- Age ranges of childhood :The term childhood is non-specific and can imply a...
in the village.