Shaftesbury ” ” ” 240 Gold Hill, Shaftesbury ” ” ” 248 Piddletown Church ” ” ” 258 Athelhampton Hall ” ” ” 262 Wolfeton House ” ” ” 264 The East Drawing Room, Wolfeton House 268 (_From a photograph by the Rev. T. Perkins_) William Barnes (_From a photograph by Messrs. Dickinsons_) 280 Thomas Hardy (_From a photograph by the Rev. T. Perkins_) 284 Came Rectory (_From a drawing by Mr. Sidney Heath_) 291 HISTORIC DORSET BY THE REV. THOMAS PERKINS, M.A. The physical features due to the geological formation of the district now called Dorset have had such an influence on the inhabitants and their history that it seems necessary to point out briefly what series of stratified rocks may be seen in Dorset, and the lines of their outcrop. There are no igneous rocks, nor any of those classed as primary, but, beginning with the Rhætic beds, we find every division of the secondary formations, with the possible exception of the Lower Greensand, represented, and in the south-eastern part of the district several of the tertiary beds may be met with on the surface. The dip of the strata is generally towards the east; hence the earlier formations are found in the west. Nowhere else in England could a traveller in a journey of a little under fifty miles—which is about the distance from Lyme to the eastern boundary of Dorset—cross the outcrop of so many strata. A glance at a geological map of England will show that the Lias, starting from Lyme Regis, sweeps along a curve slightly concave towards the west, almost due north, until it reaches the sea again at Redcar, while the southern boundary of the chalk starting within about ten miles of Lyme runs out eastward to Beechy Head. Hence it is seen that the outcrops of the various strata are wider the further away they are from Lyme Regis. Dorset has given names to three well-known formations and to one less well known: (1) The Portland beds, first quarried for building stone about 1660; (2) the Purbeck beds, which supplied the Early English church builders with marble for their ornamental shafts; (3) Kimmeridge clay; and (4) the Punfield beds.