Alarms and Excursions

Over the last 2,000 years, four invading armies have fought their way across Dorset; the county has suffered raids and plunderings and civil wars; it has mounted defences against threatened invasion, and has taken part in English attacks on mainland Europe.

Broadmayne’s inhabitants have known alarms and martial excursions in plenty, and have been within sight of fightings; but the parish itself, tucked away as it is between the River Frome to the north and the sheltering ridge of the downs to the south, has not been the site of battle. Attacks by land have for the most part by-passed our corner of Dorset, keeping to the north of the river until they reached Dorchester or thereabouts. Sea-borne attacks have been matters of raid rather than conquest, and the coastal strip has borne the brunt of them.

Invasion and Conquest AD 43 - 1066
Civil Wars in the 12th and 17th centuries
Raids and Threats between AD 1066 and 1900