Church of St Michael - Askerswell - geograph

Askerswell () is a small village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

in southwest England. It is sited on the small

River Asker The River Asker is a small river in Dorset, England. It rises on the chalk slopes of Eggardon Hill, approximately east of Bridport. It flows west-northwest through the villages of Askerswell to which it gives its name, Uploders, where many cotta ...

. It lies west of the county town Dorchester. The parish has an area of and in the northeast includes the western slopes of

Eggardon Hill Eggardon Hill is a prehistoric hillfort on a hill in Dorset, England. It is located on chalk uplands approximately four miles to the east of the town of Bridport. The Hill Eggardon Hill stands above sea level and is classified as a Hump (hil ...

, including part of the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

hill fort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

close to its summit. In the 2011 census the civil parish had a population of 154.

Toponymy

The name Askerswell is derived from ''Osgar's Well'' or its

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

equivalent ''Asger's Well'', though local tradition is that Askers' Well is Dorset dialect for newts' well and refers to the name of the stream flowing through the village ("Askers" or the

History

In 1086 in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

Askerswell was recorded as ''Oscherwille''; it had 30 households, was in Eggardon Hundred and the lord and

tenant-in-chief In medieval and early modern Europe, a tenant-in-chief (or vassal-in-chief) was a person who held his lands under various forms of feudal land tenure directly from the king or territorial prince to whom he did homage, as opposed to holding them ...

was

Tavistock Abbey Tavistock Abbey, also known as the Abbey of Mary, the mother of Jesus, Saint Mary and Saint Rumon, is a ruined Order of Saint Benedict, Benedictine abbey in Tavistock, Devon. The Abbey was surrendered in 1539 during the Dissolution of the Monaste ...

. Askerswell parish church has an early 15th-century west tower, but the rest of the building was rebuilt by Talbot Bury in 1858. There are twenty structures in the parish that are listed by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

for their historic or architectural interest. There are no structures listed as Grade I (the highest rating), but the parish church and South Eggardon Farmhouse are Grade II*.

Governance

At the lower tier of local government, Askerswell is a

. It does not have a parish council; instead it has a

parish meeting A parish meeting is a meeting all the electors in a civil parish in England are entitled to attend. In some cases, where a parish or group of parishes has fewer than 200 electors, the parish meeting can take on the role of a parish council, with ...

. At the upper tier, Askerwell is in the Dorset unitary authority. For elections to Dorset Council, Askerswell is in the Eggardon

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

. Historically, Askerswell was in Eggerton Hundred, Bridport Rural District from 1894 to 1974, and

West Dorset West Dorset was a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Dorset, England. The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, and was a merger of the boroughs of Bridport, Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester ...

district from 1974 to 2019. In the United Kingdom national parliament Askerswell is in the West Dorset parliamentary constituency.

Geography

Askerswell civil parish extends from the A35 trunk road on Askerswell Down in the south to the

hillfort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

in the northeast and Knowle Hill in the northwest. Its altitude is between about where the River Asker leaves the parish in the west up to about on Eggardon Hill. The surrounding parishes are

Loders Loders is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the English county of Dorset. It lies north-east of the town of Bridport. It is a linear village, sited in the valley of the small River Asker, between Waddon Hill and Boarsb ...

to the west, Shipton Gorge to the southwest, Chilcombe to the south, Litton Cheney to the southeast and east, West Compton to the northeast and Powerstock to the north. All of Askerswell parish is within the

Dorset National Landscape Dorset National Landscape is a Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, National Landscape area in Dorset, southern England, formerly known as and still legally designated as the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The conservation desig ...

area.

The local travel links are located from the village to Maiden Newton railway station and to

Exeter International Airport Exeter Airport , formerly ''Exeter International Airport'', is an international airport located at Clyst Honiton in East Devon, close to the city of Exeter and within the county of Devon, South West England. Exeter has a CAA Public Use Aero ...

. The main road running through the village is Hembury Road.

Demography

In the 2011 census Askerswell civil parish had 86 dwellings, 71 households and a population of 154. The average age of residents was 51.7, compared to 39.3 for England as a whole. 27.9% of residents were age 65 or over, compared to 16.4% for England as a whole.

Amenities

Askerswell village has a

village hall A village hall is a public building in a rural or suburban community which functions as a community centre without a religious affiliation. United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a village hall is a building which is owned by a local gover ...

, located by the road to Spyway. There is also a village pub, first licensed in 1845 - The Spyway Inn.

References

External links

* {{authority control Villages in Dorset