Wool

Named after a spring. Not sheep. Stop asking.

Twinned with a sheep that's had enough

10/100Crap Score

Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 10. Higher scores are crapper.

How the score works

Have your say

Crap Town of the Year 2026/27

See the race

The public vote. It's separate from the Crap Score, and it closes on 31 December 2027.

Letters from the locals

Got something to say about Wool? Write in.

Wool. Waiting at the crossing.

Somebody wanted it renamed Vegan Wool. The level crossing barriers are still down.

Wool's named after a spring, not sheep, but that didn't stop some campaigners asking it to change its name to Vegan Wool. It told them where to go. There's a nice old bridge from an old novel. The level crossing barriers come down and the whole village stops.

The last bus home is at 5.51pm and there's nothing at all on a Sunday. Gigabit broadband reaches 33.6% of premises, and the storm overflows go off for over seven times the typical town's hours. Crime's next to nothing. The sheep jokes do the rest.

The editor, waiting at the barriers

What the score is made of

Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.

Wool's 99 for broadband means it's crapper than 99% of towns.

Broadband99/10066.4% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 23.3% across the Dorset council area
Sewage spills93/1001,992 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
Rain43/100125 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
Food hygiene28/1000.0% rated 0 to 2, of the 33 food businesses with a rating
Serious road collisions20/1001.3 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
Anti-social behaviour18/1009.8 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
Deliberate fires11/1001.7 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
Air pollution8/1003.9 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
Fly-tipping8/1004.2 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Dorset council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
Criminal damage and arson1/1002.7 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026

**Your patch: Dorset**Towns in the same county. Top of the table is crappest.
Pos	Town	National	Score
7	West Moors	785th	20
8	Sherborne	793rd	19
9	Wimborne Minster	794th	19
10	Corfe Mullen	848th	14
–	Wool	–	10
11	Ferndown	885th	10
12	Blandford Forum	901st	8
13	Gillingham	902nd	8
14	Verwood	962nd	2

Wool by numbers

Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.

Crime, muck and dodgy water

What's left on the high street

Getting about, getting online, getting rained on

Dorset council

Have a crap-off

Wool against your mate's town, and a match ticket to rub it in.

Against

WoolCrap Score 10

WarehamCrap Score 22

Ten ingredients. One verdict. Who's crapper? The higher Crap Score takes it.