Orcheston ) is a

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 authorit ...

and village in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, England, lying on Salisbury Plain less than a mile north-west of neighbouring

Shrewton Shrewton is a village and civil parish on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, around west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. It lies on the A360 road between Stonehenge and Tilshead. It is close to the source of the River Till, which fl ...

. The present-day parish combines the two former parishes of Orcheston St Mary and Orcheston St George and includes the hamlet of Elston.

History and description

The manor is recorded in the 1086

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 manus ...

with the spelling ''Orcestone'' in three entries and ''Orchestone'' in a fourth. The two civil parishes of Orcheston, based on the two

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

es of St Mary and St George, were united into a single civil parish in 1934 and into a single ecclesiastical parish in 1971. The parish gives its name to the 'Orcheston long grass' (''Agrostis stolonifera''), also called 'Creeping Bent', the most commonly used species of Agrostis. The Rough-Stalked Meadow Grass (''

Poa trivialis ''Poa trivialis'' (rough bluegrass; ''UK:'' rough-stalked meadow-grass or rough meadow-grass), is a perennial plant regarded in the US as an ornamental plant. It is part of the grass family. Description It is very common in meadows and pastur ...

''), is also called Orcheston Grass, and in the early 19th century there was something of a controversy among botanists as to which was the true Orcheston Grass. The source of the River Till is near the village; the entire river is a

biological Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

(SSSI). As of 2009, Orcheston contains about sixty-five houses, of which twenty-six are

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

s, and has a single parish council. Almost all local government services are provided by the

Wiltshire Council Wiltshire Council is a council for the unitary authority of Wiltshire (excluding the separate unitary authority of Swindon) in South West England, created in 2009. It is the successor authority to Wiltshire County Council (1889–2009) and the ...

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

Churches

St Mary's Church dates from the 13th century and is Grade II* listed. In 1971 the benefice was united with those of

Chitterne Chitterne is a village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, in the south west of England. The village lies in the middle of Salisbury Plain, about east of the town of Warminster. The Chitterne Brook, a small tributary of the River Wyly ...

and

Tilshead Tilshead () is a village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire in Southern England, about northwest of the town of Amesbury. It is close to the geographical centre of Salisbury Plain, on the A360 road approximately midway between the ...

; today the church is part of the Salisbury Plain benefice, which also includes the churches at

. St George's Church is also from the 13th century and also Grade II* listed. Having been declared redundant in 1982, it is in the care of the

Churches Conservation Trust The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...

Notable people

Maurice Roy Ridley Maurice Roy Ridley (25 January 1890, in Orcheston St Mary – 12 June 1969) was a writer and poet, Fellow and Chaplain of Balliol College, Oxford. He was also a visiting professor at Bowdoin under the auspices of the Tallman Foundation, and ...

(1890–1969), writer and poet, Fellow and Chaplain of Balliol College, Oxford, was born in Orcheston.

Dorothy L. Sayers Dorothy Leigh Sayers (; 13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957) was an English crime writer and poet. She was also a student of classical and modern languages. She is best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and short stories set between th ...

is reputed to have based the appearance of her fictional detective

Lord Peter Wimsey Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey (later 17th Duke of Denver) is the fictional protagonist in a series of detective novels and short stories by Dorothy L. Sayers (and their continuation by Jill Paton Walsh). A dilettante who solves mysteries fo ...

on him.

Mick Channon Michael Roger Channon (born 28 November 1948) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward, most notably for Southampton, and went on to represent the England national team in the 1970s. Scoring over 250 goals in his c ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

and

racehorse trainer A horse trainer is a person who tends to horses and teaches them different disciplines. Some of the responsibilities trainers have are caring for the animals' physical needs, as well as teaching them submissive behaviors and/or coaching them for e ...

, was born in the village.

Bibliography

*'Orcheston St George' in ''A History of the County of Wiltshire'', Volume XIX (work in progress) *Peter Daniels, ''Around Amesbury in old photographs'' (1990)

References

External links

*
Orcheston St Mary
at genuki.org.uk
Orcheston St George
at genuki.org.uk
Salisbury Diocesan Guild of Ringers, Orcheston, St George
at sdgr.org.uk {{authority control Villages in Wiltshire Civil parishes in Wiltshire