Beaminster
Beaminster is a village and also civil parish in Dorset, England, situated in the Dorset Council administrative location around 15 miles (24 kilometres) northwest of the county town Dorchester. It is sited in a bowl-shaped valley near the source of the tiny River Brit. The 2013 mid-year estimate of the population of Beaminster parish is 3,100. In its history Beaminster has actually been a centre of manufacture of bed linen as well as woollens, the raw materials for which were produced in the surrounding countryside. The town experienced three significant fires in the 17th as well as 18th centuries; the very first of these, during the English Civil War, virtually destroyed the textile of the town. Beaminster parish church is significant for its style, especially its tower.