Human settlement in England
Melcombe Regis
is an area of
Weymouth
in
Dorset
, England. Situated on the north shore of
Weymouth Harbour
and originally part of the waste of
Radipole
,
[
clarification needed
]
it seems only to have developed as a significant settlement and seaport in the 13th century.
Politics
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]
Melcombe Regis received a
charter
as a
borough
in 1268.
Melcombe was one of the first points of entry of the
Black Death
into England in the summer of 1348. (The disease was possibly carried there by infected soldiers and sailors returning from the
Hundred Years' War
, or from a visiting spice ship).
[
citation needed
]
The two boroughs, Melcombe on the north shore and Weymouth on the south, were joined as a double borough in 1571, after which time the name
Weymouth
came to serve for them both. Nevertheless, Melcombe Regis remained a separate parish
[1]
and became a
civil parish
in 1866. In 1911 the parish had a population of 10,952.
[2]
On 1 April 1920 the parish was abolished and merged with Weymouth.
[3]
After two centuries of decline, the town's fortunes were dramatically revived by the patronage of the
Duke of Gloucester
, brother of King
George III
, in the 1780s, and then of the King himself, who regularly used the town as a holiday resort between 1789 and 1811. He is commemorated by a prominent statue on the Esplanade, or sea-front, recording the gratitude of the inhabitants, and by the locally well-known
Osmington White Horse
. The well-known terraces of large late
Georgian
town houses on the Esplanade date from this period, with additional building later in the 19th century. The town has the
Regis
name.
The town was well established as a successful resort by the time that George's visits ceased, and has continued as such to the present day.
Weymouth & Melcombe Regis was used as a base for Allied troops in the
D-Day landings
of
World War II
, and has since operated on and off as a cross-channel ferry terminus.
Politics
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]
In the UK national parliament,
Melcombe Regis
is within the
South Dorset constituency
.
After
2019 structural changes to local government in England
, Morcombelake is part of the
Melcombe Regis ward
which elects 1 member to
Dorset Council
.
[4]
See also
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References
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]
External links
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]