Tolpuddle

Tolpuddle is a small village in the southern English county of Dorset, situated in the Piddle valley, eight miles east of Dorchester and 12 miles west of Poole. The village has a population of 331 (2001).

In 1999 the A35 trunk road, which cuts through south Dorset, was moved to bypass the village. The effect of the bypass was dramatic and is still being felt in 2011, with regard to the release of land for building purposes in the village alongside the old A35. The road from Puddletown has been passed to district council ownership. The quality of new developments is not the concern of an information page, except to remark that the village has fairly chronic foul water drainage problems, with the water authority spending a substantial sum on a new pumping system to the nearest main foul drain at Affpuddle. Many houses are still using septic tanks and are happy with that arrangement. A vain attempt was made by the water authority to persuade them to join the foul main, but the cost put many householders off.

Many of the new houses have been bought by second home owners from London and other cities, but the population figures have increased considerably since 2000.

The crash barriers of the old A35 are still in place in some of the gardens below the road. Many cars used to end up in the gardens in the days of the hectic main road. Eleven years after the village has been "relieved", they are still there, and owners are still fearful, although the road is now down classified.

Although the village has a historical reputation for the working man, no attempt whatsoever was made to provide cost price housing, or housing for otherwise excluded minorities, or local people. The price of the properties excluded such people by a multiple factor of ten.

It has, in places, been attractively infilled, at the level of the road, and up against the pavement.

It has useful street lighting.

The village is famous as the home of the Tolpuddle Martyrs who were sentenced to transported to Australia after they formed a trade union in 1833. A row of cottages, housing agricultural workers and a museum, and a row of seated statues commemorate the martyrs. The annual Tolpuddle Martyrs festival is held in the village in the third weekend of July.

The village museum is visited by thousands of Unionists and historians, every year, many of whom are making a pilgrimage to the village. They are welcomed at the Martyrs' pub, and at the cottages' museum.

It has a Manor house with a disused mill pond and a church adjacent. The Mill House is now occupied as a private residence. These may be seen from the small bridge below the Martyrs' Tree.

A larger manor house of fine proportions is to be found at Southover 500m further down the Mill pond road, known as Southover house, and belongs to a local land owner.

The River Piddle is well stocked with Trout in this vicinity, since it is a chalk stream, very well suited for the purpose.

External links

• Census data

References

• Pitt-Rivers, Michael, 1969. Dorset. London: Faber & Faber.