Charlton Down

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Charlton Down is a small village in Dorset, England, about 4 miles north of Dorchester. It lies in the civil parish of Charminster and has around 1,459 residents. The village grew on the site of the old Dorset County Asylum, which became Dorset County Mental Hospital in 1920 and was renamed Herrison Hospital in 1940. The hospital closed in the early 1990s, and three large buildings—Redwood (built 1863), Greenwood (1896) and Herrison House (1904)—have been converted into apartments. Today the area features cottage terraces and larger houses with modern amenities, a cricket ground with a new pavilion, and one large and one small park. There is a shop with a post office and cash machine. Charlton Down does not have a church or pub. The village hall is used for regular social events. The name Charlton Down was chosen to honour a medieval epithet for the hill on which the village sits.