Canis Major
 

 


Lamberts Castle

Pilsden Pen and Lewesdon Hill
the highest points in Dorset -
"Tall Pilsdon Pen is a foretaste of the Tors of Devon, treeless and formed on decaying granite, but neighbouring Lewesdon Hill, until recently thought to be 15 feet shorter, but now measured to be taller, "

Canis Major constellation map.svgSirius is the brightest star (in fact, a star system) in the Earth's night sky.  The name "Sirius" is derived from the Ancient Greek: Σείριος Seirios("glowing" or "scorcher").

 ...... What the naked eye perceives as a single star is actually a
binary star system, 

wikipedia HERE 

 

Tall Pilsdon Pen is a foretaste of the Tors of Devon, treeless and formed on decaying granite, but neighbouring Lewesdon Hill, until recently thought to be 15 feet shorter, but now measured to be taller, has all the character of a Dorset height, curvaceous and green. Both look south with Channel views.

Pilsdon is crowned with an Iron Age fortification, and Lewesdon is the highest peak of Dorset and both hills stand guard on the north slopes of the lush Marshwood Vale.
 The Hill fort on Pilsdon Pen was excavated in the 1960's revealing late Iron Age huts, and parts of a probably medieval rabbit warren. The rectangular mounds inside the fort are pillow mounds, constructed for rabbits to breed in  ....

The tiny village of Pilsdon has the narrowest possible approach roads between high hedges down the side of the Marshwood Vale. The village still basks in the ancient glory in that it has a house where a Royalist judge, Sir Hugh Wyndham, lived. At the battle of Worcester, the future King Charles II fled from the field and his pursuers came to this house thinking he was hiding there. They ransacked it as Sir Hugh fumed and raged in the Hall. Intelligence was at fault, the prince being at Sir Hugh's nephew's house at Trent.

The little church of St. Mary is of undistinguished Victorian origins and is a chapel to the large 17th century manor house which lies beyond. The house is constructed in such a way that the front appears to be composed entirely of windows.

Nearby is Racedown Farm where Wordsworth first started to write seriously, and the Pildson Pen consoled his sister Dorothy, who pined for her Lakeland Hills.

HERE

Lyme Regis

The Cob



 

The Jurrassic Coast and Fossils


Mary Anning

Mary Anning was born in Lyme Regis in 1799. Her discoveries of dinosaur fossils along the Jurassic Coast were ground-breaking at the time and laid the foundations for much of our knowledge of dinosaurs. 

She was known as "Princess of palaeontology". Each year the Philpott Museum holds a special Mary Anning weekend of events to commemorate her life.