This description of Weymouth & Melcombe Regis, Dorset, England is taken from The representative history of Great Britain and Ireland by Thomas Hinton Burley Oldfield published in 1816.
Weymouth is a sea-port, borough, and market town, situated in the parish of Wyke Regis, Dorsetshire, divided from Melcombe Regis by the river Wye, 8 miles from Dorchester, and 131 from London; containing 236 houses, and 1,267 inhabitants, Weymouth formerly carried on a considerable trade, and was the principal port of the county, but it is now rivalled by Poole. Being sheltered by the surrounding hills, possessing a pure air, a fine beach of sand, and a calm bay, formed by a semi-circle of more than two miles, it is well adapted as a bathing place. The market days are on Tuesday and Friday.
Melcombe Regis is a borough and market town in the parish of Radipole, hundred of Colliford Tree, division of Dorchester, Dorset, 127 miles from London, situated at the mouth of the river Wey, which separates it from Weymouth, over which river there is a wooden bridge of seventeen arches. It contains 423 houses, and 2,350 inhabitants, viz. 962 males, and 1,388 females, of whom 423 were returned employed in various trades. It is united to Weymouth as a sea-port, corporation, and market town.
