Ashmore is a village and civil parish in the

North Dorset North Dorset was a local government district in Dorset, England. It was largely rural, but included the towns of Blandford Forum, Gillingham, Shaftesbury, Stalbridge and Sturminster Newton. Much of North Dorset was in the River Stour vall ...

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".North Dorset District Council,''North Dorset Official District Guide'', Home Publishing Co. Ltd.,c.1983. p30 In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 188.

History

Three

round barrows A round barrow is a type of tumulus and is one of the most common types of archaeological monuments. Although concentrated in Europe, they are found in many parts of the world, probably because of their simple construction and universal purpose. ...

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 Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

from

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

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 Cranborne Hundred was a hundred in the county of Dorset, England, containing the following parishes: *Ashmore * Belchalwell (divided between Okeford Fitzpaine and Fifehead Neville 1884) *Cranborne (part) * East Woodyates (created 1858) * Edmondsh ...

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 open-field system was the prevalent agricultural system in much of Europe during the Middle Ages and lasted into the 20th century in Russia, Iran, and Turkey. Each manor or village had two or three large fields, usually several hundred acre ...

; 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 Cranborne Chase () is an area of central southern England, straddling the counties Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. It is part of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The area is dominated by, ...

southeast of Shaftesbury and north of

Blandford Forum Blandford Forum ( ), commonly Blandford, is a market town in Dorset, England, sited by the River Stour, Dorset, River Stour about northwest of Poole. It was the administrative headquarters of North Dorset District until April 2019, when this ...

. 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 within the

Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) covering of Dorset, Hampshire, Somerset and Wiltshire. It is the sixth largest AONB in England. The area was designated as an AONB in 1981 and confirmed i ...

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The nearest rail link is from the village at

Tisbury railway station Tisbury railway station serves the village of Tisbury, Wiltshire, Tisbury in Wiltshire, England. It is currently managed by South Western Railway (train operating company), South Western Railway and is on the West of England Main Line, down the ...

and the nearest air link ( Bournemouth International Airport) is away. Ashmore St Nicholas church

Church and Chapel

The parish church of St. Nicholas is about 100 metres west of the village pond, west of High Street. Its chancel arch is said to date from the 13th century and it was rebuilt in 1874. On the opposite side of the High Street is a Wesleyan chapel which dates from 1855.

Demography

In the 2011 census the parish had 97 dwellings, 87 households and a population of 188. In the first national census in 1891 the village had a population of 228.

Culture

In midsummer a celebration known as 'Filly Loo' (or 'Filleigh Loo') takes place around Ashmore pond, with a Green Man, country dancing, morris dancers and live music. The event's ancient origins are mysterious but may have

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

influences; theories include that it celebrated either the pond's constancy as a water supply, the summer solstice, or the end of the cultivated filbert (hazelnut) harvest. The meaning of the name 'Filly Loo' has also attracted more than one explanation, including that it is West Country dialect for 'uproar', a corruption of the French 'La Fille de l'Eau', ('maiden of the water'), or a corruption of 'Filbert Louis', a nickname of Louis Rideout, one of the historical instigators of the event. The event was revived in 1956 as a folk dance festival, and takes place on the Friday night nearest to Midsummer Day or the Feast of St. John the Baptist.

References

* Pitt-Rivers, Michael, 1968. ''Dorset''. London: Faber & Faber. * Taylor, Christopher, 1970. ''The Making of the Dorset Landscape''. London: Hodder & Stoughton.

External links

*
The Dorset Page: Ashmore
{{authority control Villages in Dorset