Worth Matravers

For details of places to stay and things to do near Worth Matravers, please try the links on the right. The nearest featured town to Worth Matravers is Corfe Castle.

Just to the west of Swanage sits the small village of Worth Matravers, which can trace its history back as far as pre-Roman times. Still in evidence are the medieval lynchets, terraces that were cut into the steep hillsides, thus allowing the land to be cultivated more easily.

Farming, stone quarrying and fishing were the mainstay of the local economy and although these industries still continue today they are much smaller than in days gone by. Any new houses built in the village must be constructed of the local stone, ensuring that the quarries to the east of the village are kept working.

The Church of St Nicholas dates back to Norman times and is one of the oldest in Dorset. In the churchyard is the grave of local farmer Benjamen Jesty who, in 1774, developed a smallpox vaccine based on cowpox inoculations, which he used to protect his family from the disease. This was prior to the pioneering Dr Edward Jenner developing a successful vaccine some 25 years later.

Worth Matravers is a village with is a real community, it has a thriving Post Office and village store, a lovely craft centre and a popular pub. In the village centre the green, with its pretty duck pond and picturesque cottages, features in many visitors' photo albums, as it makes such a pretty picture.