Warmwell

Warmwell is a small village and civil parish in south-west Dorset, on the B3390 about 5 miles (8 km) south-east of Dorchester. The parish had 152 residents at the 2021 census. The name means “the warm spring”, after a spring just to the north of the village, and the road straddles a series of bends as it passes through on the way to Affpuddle.

The Church of the Holy Trinity has a 13th-century nave and a west tower added in the 17th century. It was restored in 1851, a chancel higher than the nave was built in 1881, and it holds a Grade II* listing. Warmwell House, a Grade I listed manor house, dates from the early 17th century and has gabled ranges and tall chimney stacks. Beyond the village are heath and former gravel workings.

The airfield that gave the area its modern history opened in May 1937 as RAF Woodsford and was soon renamed RAF Warmwell. In the Second World War it provided fighter defence for Portland and Portsmouth, and the USAAF’s 474th Fighter Group flew P-38 Lightnings from it from March 1944. The flying field was later worked away for sand and gravel. The technical site is now the village of Crossways, 6 miles east of Dorchester, where two Bellman hangars still stand and the old station cinema serves as the village hall.