Ashmore is a village and civil parish in the North Dorset district of Dorset, England, southwest of Salisbury. The village is centred on a circular pond and has a church and several stone cottages and farms, many with thatched roofs. It is the highest village in the county with the contour passing close to the village church (although the north side of the town of Shaftesbury, Dorset, is slightly higher at ). The pond or "mere" gave the village its original name of "Ash-mere". In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 188. History Three round barrows have been found in the parish: two barrows south of the village near Well Bottom, and one west of the village near the boundary with the village of Fontmell Magna; this latter barrow was excavated in the 19th century and bones were recovered. Ashmore may have been the site of a Neolithic market place or settlement. The Roman road from Bath to Badbury Rings passes through the east of the parish. The situation of the village is similar to Romano-British sites in the area, and there may have been a military camp and trading post in the area. It is possible that Ashmore may have been a Romano-British village that has been occupied without a break up to the present day; the parish church is sited West of the pond towards the edge of the village, which could indicate that the village pre-dated the church and Christianity. In 1086 Ashmore was recorded in the Domesday Book as "Aisemare"; it had 24 households, 7 ploughlands and of meadow. It was in Cranborne Hundred and had a value of £15 to the lord of the manor, who was King William. Until 1859 Ashmore had an open field system; the three fields—North Field to the north, and Sandpit Fields and Broadridge to the south—were roughly equal in size and covered an area of . At the same time there was also a considerable area of enclosed fields, covering in 1590. Geography Ashmore parish is situated on the hills of Cranborne Chase southeast of Shaftesbury and north of Blandford Forum. The underlying geology is chalk, overlain by clay-with-flints in the south and southeast. The village, which at above sea level is the highest in Dorset, is sited on a spur of land between dry valleys which drain south and southwest. All of Ashmore parish is