Chetnole is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in the

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

in southern

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It lies approximately south-southwest of

Sherborne Sherborne is a market town and civil parish in north west Dorset, in South West England. It is sited on the River Yeo, on the edge of the Blackmore Vale, east of Yeovil. The parish includes the hamlets of Nether Coombe and Lower Clatcombe. T ...

and southeast of

Yeovil Yeovil ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the district of South Somerset, England. The population of Yeovil at the last census (2011) was 45,784. More recent estimates show a population of 48,564. It is close to Somer ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. It is sited on

Oxford clay The Oxford Clay (or Oxford Clay Formation) is a Jurassic marine sedimentary rock formation underlying much of southeast England, from as far west as Dorset and as far north as Yorkshire. The Oxford Clay Formation dates to the Jurassic, specifical ...

by the small Wriggle River at the western end of the

Blackmore Vale The Blackmore Vale (; less commonly spelt ''Blackmoor'') is a vale, or wide valley, in north Dorset, and to a lesser extent south Somerset and southwest Wiltshire in southern England. Geography The vale is part of the Stour valley, part of t ...

. There are around 128 houses in the village. It has a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

on the

Heart of Wessex Line The Heart of Wessex Line, also known as the Bristol to Weymouth Line, is a railway line that runs from to and Weymouth in England. It shares the Wessex Main Line as far as Westbury and then follows the course of the Reading to Taunton Line a ...

that is served by

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

services.

Dorset County Council Dorset County Council (DCC) was the county council for the county of Dorset in England. It provided the upper tier of local government, below which were district councils, and town and parish councils. The county council had 46 elected council ...

estimate that in 2013 the population of the parish was 330. In the 2011 census the population of Chetnole parish combined with the small parish of Stockwood to the west was 344. Chetnole was not recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

in 1086.

History

The name "Chetnole" is thought to mean ‘Ceatta’s hillock or hilltop’ from an Old English proper name and 'cnoll'. Chetnole is not mentioned in the

of 1086 and there is no convincing evidence of a settlement at that time. The Parish Church of St Peter is made up of several different buildings from different time periods: the 13th Century barrel-vaulted nave, the 15th Century tower, the 17th Century porch and the 19th Century chancel. The country house, Nappers, was used as a

military hospital A military hospital is a hospital owned and operated by a military. They are often reserved for the use of military personnel and their dependents, but in some countries are made available to civilians as well. They may or may not be located on a ...

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Chetnole is situated on the small River Wriggle which flows north from

Hilfield Hilfield is a small, scattered village and civil parish in west Dorset, England, situated under the scarp face of the Dorset Downs south of Sherborne. Dorset County Council's 2013 estimate of the parish population is 50. Hilfield parish churc ...

to the River Yeo near

Bradford Abbas Bradford Abbas is a village and civil parish in north west Dorset, England, southeast of Yeovil and southwest of Sherborne. The parish includes the small settlement of Saxon Maybank to the north. In the 2011 census the population of the parish ...

. There was a school in Chetnole, at the end of School Lane, from 1851 until 1938.

Governance

Chetnole is included in an

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...

with Yetminster and other surrounding areas. The ward is one of 32 that comprise the West Dorset parliamentary constituency, which is currently represented in the UK national parliament by the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

Chris Loder Christopher Lionel John Loder (born 5 September 1981) is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician who has been the MP for West Dorset (UK Parliament constituency), West Dorset since the 2019 United Kingdom general electio ...

, who succeeded

Oliver Letwin Sir Oliver Letwin (born 19 May 1956) is a British politician, Member of Parliament (MP) for West Dorset from 1997 to 2019. Letwin was elected as a member of the Conservative Party, but sat as an independent after having the whip removed in Sep ...

in 2019.

Geography

Chetnole is located approximately 6 miles southwest of

, 5.5 miles southeast of

, 2 miles south of

Yetminster Yetminster is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. It lies south-west of Sherborne. It is sited on the River Wriggle, a tributary of the River Yeo, and is built almost entirely of honey-coloured limestone, which gives ...

, and 2 miles north of

Evershot Evershot is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southwest England, situated approximately south of Yeovil in Somerset. It is the second highest village in the county at above sea-level. Evershot parish encompasses part of th ...

Amenities

Chetnole is located near the Roman road to Dorchester, and is served by the 212 bus service between Dorchester and Yeovil. There is the award-winning, four-star rated Chetnole Inn. The nearest GP surgery is

with the nearest hospitals being the Sherborne Yeatman Hospital or the Yeovil District Hospital.

Chetnole Railway Station

Chetnole railway station is a small rural station serving the village. It was originally opened as a timber structure on 11 September 1933, although this was replaced by the current concrete one in the 1960s.

operate services between

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

and Weymouth via

Bristol Temple Meads Bristol Temple Meads is the oldest and largest railway station in Bristol, England. It is located away from London Paddington. It is an important transport hub for public transport in the city; there are bus services to many parts of the city ...

and Westbury. South Western Railway runs an additional service running once on a Saturday between Weymouth and

Yeovil Junction Yeovil Junction railway station is the busier, but less central, of two railway stations serving the town of Yeovil in England. The station is outside the town, in the village of Stoford. Although Yeovil is in Somerset, the station was in Dor ...

. In 2015/2016, the annual rail passenger usage was 1,946.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Dorset