Чайдок: История и природа прибрежной деревни в Дорсете.

Chideock ('/tʃ//ɪ//d//ə//k/ CHIDək) is a village and civil parish in south west Dorset, England, situated close to the English Channel between Bridport and Lyme Regis. Dorset County Council's 2013 estimate of the parish population is 550. Chideock's economy mostly comprises agriculture (arable and pastoral) and tourism. The parish includes part of the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site. During much of its history Chideock has had a strong tradition of Catholicism; in the late 16th century four Chideock men were executed for their faith and became known as the Chideock Martyrs. There is a memorial to the men in the village. The A35 trunk road passes through the village, which means the main street can have high volumes of traffic.

In 1086 Chideock was recorded in the Domesday Book as 'Cidihoc'. In 1379–80 John de Chideock, a manorial lord, built Chideock Castle just north of the village. During the Middle Ages ownership passed to the Catholic Arundell family, who used it to provide refuge for priests and loyal followers during subsequent religious persecution. and the locality witnessed considerable religious strife. Among other surviving relics claimed by this location is St. Thomas More's hair shirt, sent to Margaret Roper the day before his martyrdom and later presented for safe keeping by Margaret Clement. This was long in the custody of the community of Augustinian canonesses who, until 1983, lived at the convent at Abbotskerswell Priory, Devon. More recent sources, however, state that the shirt is now preserved at the Roman Catholic Buckfast Abbey, part of a Benedictine monastery, in Devon.

Chideock is in the electoral ward of Chideock and Symondsbury, which encompasses much of the coast between Charmouth and West Bay plus inland beyond Symondsbury. The total population of this ward is 1,745. This ward is one of 32 that comprise the West Dorset parliamentary constituency, which is currently represented in the UK national parliament by the Conservative Chris Loder.

Chideock is situated in the Dorset Council administrative area about 2.5 mile (4 km) west of Bridport, 5 mile (8 km) east of Lyme Regis and 0.75 mile (1 km) inland from the English Channel. The parish includes the coastal hamlet of Seatown, which is less than 1 mile (2 km) to the south on the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site. Seatown has a long shelving pebble beach, with views up towards the hill which forms Golden Cap, which at is the highest cliff on the south coast of England. Fossilised ammonites and belemnites can often be found on the beach due to continued coastal erosion of the soft blue lias clays which make up the cliffs. Iron rich rocks such as lodestone and magnetite can also be found on the beaches near the village – these are thought to have been transported down the coast from Chesil Beach, having been deposited there by a shipwreck in the 1800s. Similar collections of these rocks can be found on beaches along the Jurassic Coast and in the neighbouring counties of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

The A35 trunk road between Honiton and Southampton passes through Chideock, which in 1997 was the first village in Britain to have two speed cameras installed in response to perceived excessive speed. The National Trust refused permission for a prospective bypass This campaign continued for a year and may result in restrictions on heavy goods vehicles in the village.