Colehill

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For the Irish Village see Colehill, County Longford

Colehill is a parish, neighbouring Wimborne Minster, in Dorset, England, with a population of 7,000 (2001).^[1]

1 History
2 Colehill Today
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

The name Colehill originated in 1431 as Colhulle, becoming Colhill in 1518 and Collehill in 1547, but the origins of Colehill as a settlement predate this by a long way.

Six round barrows, which can still be seen, show that people lived here as early as 2,000 BC. The River Stour would have been navigable and there is evidence that in about 500 BC peoples from Continental Europe were populating the South West, bringing with them the culture of the early Iron Age. Fortifications at Hengistbury Head and more forts inland were established then.

Part of the tracks survive, running parallel to the river from the coastal fort through modern locations such as Parley and Stapehill to Badbury Rings. It is very likely that the line of Middlehill Road derives from these very early tracks.

Later in Roman times Wimborne developed as an important trading centre on the River Stour, and as a junction for further tracks from Poole to Badbury Rings and on to Salisbury. Another track radiating eastward possibly set the line for what was to become in modern times the A31. Bridges replaced the fords (Canford) in about 100 AD.

There then followed the Saxon invasion and the formation of the Kingdom of Wessex. Agriculture became established and with it clearance of some small plots on the sunny heathland slopes around Colehill. Over the centuries farms grew until, with the impetus of the Inclosure Acts (1750 to 1860), they were consolidated into the estates that we know of today - Kingston Lacy, Hanham and Uddens.

[edit] Colehill Today

In Colehill there are three first or primary schools^[2]:namely, Colehill First School, Hayeswood School and St Catherine's. The middle school is St Michael's.. There is a Memorial Hall and also a County Library, which had been under threat of closure until recently. Colehill has two Post Offices (the Co-op Stores and the Furzehill Stores), a pharmacy and a hairdressers. The Parish Plan for Colehill has been published, and there will be a public meeting in the Memorial Hall at 7.30 pm on 18th June 2008 to discuss it and meet the Service Providers.

There are a few fine old houses in Colehill dating from the 1860s. But rapid expansion took place in the last century. The population rose from 1786 in 1951 to 5370 in 1971. Several large estates of modern family homes were built and there is quite a lot of infill building. The Parish Church, Church of England, is St Michael and All Angels.^[3] It was designed by Caröe in 1893 and is a half brick and half timber construction in the Arts and Crafts style. Nearby and close to the War Memorial at the centre of the village are the Triangle Woods which has village green status. There are areas of common land, a recreation ground at Oliver's Park, and a Local Nature Reserve at Leigh Common. The area is well wooded and the local Forestry Commission Plantation at Cannon Hill is available for recreation.

Famous residents of Colehill include Tim Berners Lee and musician Paul Holman.