John Newth

After his six wives, Henry VIII may be best known for shutting down the monasteries in around 1540 and pinching their land. It changed social life in England and the landscape, as many of the monastic buildings were knocked down or left to decay. This was the fate of Cerne

The massive stone structure known as the Cobb conjures up in the modern mind the image of a windswept Merle Streep in The French Lieutenant’s Woman, gazing out to sea as she awaits the return of her lover. Or Louisa Musgrove in Jane Austen’s Persuasion falling down the

Many Dorset village crosses are very old, but one of the newest embraces its modernity, portraying Concorde, the double helix and a World War 2 bomb among ancient features such as vines and knots. It stands near St Nicholas’s church, Studland. This masterpiece was created by the late Trevor