sive with the shire, and was divided into five rural deaneries at
least as early as 1291.

The vast power and wealth monopolized by the Church in Dorsetshire
tended to check the rise of any great county families. The
representatives of the families of Mohun, Brewer and Arundel held large
estates after the Conquest, and William Mohun was created earl of Dorset
by the empress Maud. The families of Clavel, Lovell, Maundeville,
Mautravers, Peverel and St Lo also came over with the Conqueror and
figure prominently in the early annals of the county.

Dorsetshire took no active part in the struggles of the Norman and
Plantagenet period. In 1627 the county refused to send men to La
Rochelle, and was reproved for its lack of zeal in the service of the
state. On the outbreak of the Civil War of the 17th century the general
feeling was in favour of the king, and after a series of royalist
successes in 1643 Lyme Regis and Poole were the only garrisons in the
county left to the parliament. By the next year however, the parliament
had gained the whole county with the exception of Sherborne and the Isle
of Portland. The general aversion of the Dorsetshire people to warlike
pursuits is demonstrated at this period by the rise of the "clubmen," so
called from their appearance without pikes or fire-arms at the county
musters, whose object was peace at all costs, and who punished members
of either party discovered in the act of plundering.

In the 14th century Dorsetshire produced large quantities of wheat and
wool, and had a prosperous clothing trade. In 1626 the county was
severely visited by the plague, and from this date the clothing industry
began to decline. The hundred of Pimperne produced large quantities of
saltpeter in the 17th century, and the serge manufacture was introduced
about this time. Portland freestone was first brought into use in the
reign of James I., when it was employed for the new banqueting house at
Whitehall, and after the Great Fire it was extensively used by Sir
Christopher Wren. In the 18th century Blandford, Sherborne and Lyme
Regis were famous for their lace, but the industry has now declined.

The county returned two members to parliament in 1290, and as the chief
towns acquired representation the number was increased, until in 1572
the county and nine boroughs returned a total of twenty members. Under
the Reform Act of 1832 the county returned three members, and Corfe
Castle was disfranchised. By the R