You may view the information for ALL the towns and villages
in Dorset (the page may be very large)
or You can view your
preferred location from the list on the left.
This ancient port has a
remarkable history and surroundings that lure
thousands of sightseers each summer. Now a
vibrant resort at the mouth of the River Wey,
it has ferries taking passengers to both
Cherbourg and the Channel Islands.
It owes its modern
popularity to George III who, in 1789, created
a sensational craze by becoming the first
reigning monarch to bathe in a new-fangled
bathing machine. The rest of Britain quickly
followed his example.
Curiously it may have been from Weymouth that
the Black Death spread, though the West
Country author Thomas Hardy saw it in more
innocent terms, calling it ‘Budmouth’ in his
novel ‘The Trumpet Major’.
