West Moors

Coordinates: 50°49′26″N 1°53′19″W / 50.824°N 1.8885°W / 50.824; -1.8885

West Moors is a village in East Dorset, England, on the northern fringe of the Poole-Bournemouth conurbation, just outside the larger settlements of Ferndown and Verwood. The parish of West Moors had an estimated population of 7,400 in 2004, increasing to 7,561 for both the parish and electoral ward at the 2011 Census.

West Moors rose to local prominence with the building of the Southampton and Dorchester and Salisbury and Dorset Junction railway lines in the late 19th century and, although main line services were later diverted via Bournemouth, West Moors railway station was served by a branch line railway until 4 May 1964. The only remnants of these lines through the village are the original level crossing gatekeeper's cottage on Station Road, and the Castleman Trailway footpath following the original trackbed leading to Ringwood to the east and Poole to the west. This however, was recently resurfaced and the central reservation was removed, rendering the southernmost of the two tracks largely unusable, and causing it to lose its former authentic look.

Moors

The Moors were Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily, and Malta during the Middle Ages. The Moors were initially of Berber and Arab descent, though the term was later applied to Africans, Iberian Christian converts to Islam, and people of mixed ancestry.

In 711 the Moors invaded the Iberian Peninsula from North Africa and called the territory Al-Andalus, which at its peak included most of modern-day Spain, Portugal, and Septimania. The Moors occupied Mazara on Sicily in 827, developing it as a port, and they eventually consolidated the rest of the island and some of southern Italy. Differences in religion and culture led to a centuries-long conflict with the Christian kingdoms of Europe, which tried to reclaim control of Muslim areas; this conflict was referred to as the Reconquista. In 1224 the Muslims were expelled from Sicily to the settlement of Lucera, which was destroyed by European Christians in 1300. The fall of Granada in 1492 marked the end of Muslim rule in Iberia, although a Muslim minority persisted until their expulsion in 1609.

Moor

Moor may refer to:

Ethnicity

Places

People