Bradpole is a village in the

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 ...

Bridport Bridport is a market town and civil parish in Dorset, England, inland from the English Channel near the confluence of the River Brit and its tributary the River Asker, Asker. Its origins are Anglo-Saxons, Saxon and it has a long history as a ...

, in south west

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 ...

, England, in the Brit valley, outside Bridport. In the 2011 census the population of the parish was 2,339. In 1651 Charles II passed through Bradpole in his efforts to evade capture after he failed to sail to France from

Charmouth Charmouth is a village and civil parish in west Dorset, England. The village is situated on the mouth of the River Char, around north-east of Lyme Regis. Dorset County Council estimated that in 2013 the population of the civil parish was 1,31 ...

following his defeat at the

Battle of Worcester The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 in and around the city of Worcester, England and was the last major battle of the 1642 to 1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A Parliamentarian army of around 28,000 under Oliver Cromwell def ...

. An inscribed stone in the south of the parish, where Lee Lane meets the A35 trunk road between Bridport and Dorchester, marks the place where he took a turning off the main road to escape from his pursuers. Bradpole is the birthplace of industrialist and

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

politician

William Edward Forster William Edward Forster, Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, PC, Royal Society, FRS (11 July 18185 April 1886) was an English industrialist, philanthropist and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party statesman. As a minister in Gladstone's g ...

(1818–1886), who was instrumental in bringing through the 1870 Elementary Education Act. He is commemorated by the village Memorial Hall. The parish church was built in 1845, following two previous buildings on the same site. Its communion cup dates from the 16th century. A

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

, St Andrew's, was built in 1858-60 and is now redundant. The civil parish and parish council were abolished with effect from 1 April 2024, with the parish area taken into Bridport, part also went to Symondsbury.Dorset Council (Reorganisation of Community Governance) Order
accessed 2 May 2024

References

External links

Official Bradpole Parish Council WebsiteBradpole Parish Plan
Villages in Dorset Former civil parishes in Dorset Bridport {{Dorset-geo-stub