Wool, Dorset

Wool /wʊl/ is a large village, civil parish and electoral ward in the Purbeck district of Dorset, England. In the 2011 census the parish—which includes Bovington Camp army base to the north—had 2,015 households and a population of 5,310. The village lies at a historic bridging point on the River Frome, half-way between Dorchester and Wareham. Woolbridge Manor House, a 14th-century building, is a prominent feature just outside the village and the location of Tess's honeymoon in Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Other prominent features of the village include the medieval church of Holy Rood, the railway station on the South Western Main Line from London Waterloo to Weymouth, and the thatched cottages along Spring Street.

Map of Wool, UK

Nearby, to the east of the village, are the ruins of Bindon Abbey, which was demolished in the Dissolution of the Monasteries of 1539, the stone being used to build castles in Portland, Lulworth and Sandsfoot.

According to local knowledge, only one building was destroyed during the war - on 3 May 1941. The building was a small bungalow by the name of "Two Birches", located on Bailey's Drove. The house was later rebuilt.

A small single lane hump backed stone bridge about 200m north from the railway station is no longer used for vehicular traffic. It has a stone half-way along it stating that those who deface or damage the bridge will be transported (sent to Australia or another penal colony) for the rest of their lives.

Local places of interest include The Tank Museum and Monkey World. It also boasts surrounding hamlets, including East Burton and Giddy Green

The village received significant media coverage in January 2012, after a fuel tanker crashed into the front of a bungalow, starting a fire. No one was injured in the incident, but the tanker driver was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.