BLANDFORD FORUM , the gateway into mid-Dorset from Bournemouth, owes its latinate name not to the Romans but to medieval pedantry - the original Saxon name Cheping, meaning "market", was translated as Forum by Latin-speaking tax officials in the thirteenth century. The Romans weren't far away, however - their main route from Old Sarum to Dorchester ran through the Iron Age fortification of Badbury Rings, just east of the town, where it made an uncharacteristic bend.

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