East Holme is a small
village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...
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 ...
situated about halfway between
Wool
Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool.
As ...
and
Wareham in
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 ...
,
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 ...
. The village is sprawled around a large house called Holme Priory. In 2013 the estimated population of the civil parish was 50.
The
South West Main Line
The South West Main Line (SWML) is a 143-mile (230 km) major railway line between Waterloo station in central London and Weymouth on the south coast of England. A predominantly passenger line, it serves many commuter areas including south we ...
from London Waterloo to Weymouth runs through the village and, although the train does not stop, the village contains one of only a few of the remaining manned gate crossings. These have become particularly rare in the area.
Parish church
East Holme is also fortunate to contain the church of St, John the Evangelist standing rather apart from the rest of the village. The footpath across the park to the church is signposted and crosses in front of the priory, a fine late 18th century house, built on the site of a former, small Cluniac priory.
Following the dissolution the Priory church survived as the parish church until 1715. A new parish church was built in 1865 to the designs of John Hicks, and is one of his more elaborate churches. Now it has a faintly seedy air, which somehow suits this fine example of high Victorian taste. Built from local materials - dark brown hearthstone quarried close by, With a Purbeck limestone roof, and Purbeck Marble shafts inside,
The painted decoration inside the church is by Miss Selina Bond.
See also
*
Holme Priory
References
External links
{{authority control
Villages in Dorset