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The grid pattern of its streets indicates the Saxon origins of WAREHAM , and the town is surrounded by even older earth ramparts known as the Walls. A riverside setting adds greatly to its charms, though the major road junction at its heart causes horrible traffic queues in summer, and the scenic stretch along the Quay also gets fairly overrun. Nearby lies an oasis of quaint houses around Lady St Mary's Church , which contains the marble coffin of Edward the Martyr, murdered at Corfe Castle in 978 by his stepmother, to make way for her unready son Ethelred. St Martin's Church , at the north end of town, dates from Saxon times and the chancel contains a faded twelfth-century mural of St Martin offering his cloak to a beggar, but the church's most striking feature is a romantic effigy of T.E. Lawrence in Arab dress, which was originally destined for Salisbury Cathedral, but was rejected by the dean there who disapproved of Lawrence's sexual proclivities. Lawrence was killed in 1935 in a motorbike accident on the road from Bovington, after returning to Dorset from his Middle Eastern adventures. His simply furnished cottage is at Clouds Hill , seven miles northwest of Wareham (April-Oct Wed-Fri & Sun noon-5pm or dusk; GBP2.60; NT). In Wareham the small museum next to the town hall in East Street (Easter-Oct Mon-Sat 11am-1pm & 2-4pm; free) displays some of Lawrence's memorabilia, as does the absorbing Tank Museum in Bovington Camp, five miles west of Wareham (daily 10am-5pm; GBP7; ). Holy Trinity Church, on South Street, contains Wareham's tourist office (June to mid-Sept Mon-Sat 9.30am-5pm, Sun 10am-1pm; mid-Sept to May Mon-Sat 9.30am-1pm & 1.45-5pm; tel 01929/552740). From the nearby Quay, row- and motor-boats are available to rent (GBP8-12 an hour). The best accommodation options are Anglebury House , 15 North St (tel 01929/552988; GBP50-60), and the Old Granary on the Quay (tel 01929/552010; GBP40-50), also a restaurant , with views over the river.
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