South Perrott 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 northwest

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 ...

, southeast of

Crewkerne Crewkerne ( ) is a town and electoral ward in Somerset, England, southwest of Yeovil and east of Chard all in the South Somerset district. The civil parish of West Crewkerne includes the hamlets of Coombe, Woolminstone and Henley – and b ...

. In 2012 the estimated population of the parish was 220. Figures from the 2011 census have been published for South Perrott parish combined with the neighbouring parish of

Chedington Chedington is a small village and civil parish in west Dorset, England, situated near the A356 road southeast of Crewkerne in Somerset. Dorset County Council estimate that in 2013 the population of the civil parish was 130. It is administered as ...

; the population in these areas was 367. The name Perrott comes from the

River Parrett The River Parrett flows through the counties of Dorset and Somerset in South West England, from its source in the Thorney Mills springs in the hills around Chedington in Dorset. Flowing northwest through Somerset and the Somerset Levels to it ...

. The manor was held with

North Perrott North Perrott is a village and civil parish in the South Somerset district of the English county of Somerset. History The name Perrott comes from the River Parrett. There is evidence of Ancient Rome, Roman and Iron Age settlement in the village ...

just over the border in

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_ ...

. Immediately south of the church are some earthworks, the remains of the moated enclosures of Mohun Castle. A geophysical survey of this site was undertaken in 1996.

Religious sites

The Parish Church of St. Mary can be found in the southern part of the village. The church is cruciform in shape, with a prominent central tower that has a plain parapet and gargoyles. The central crossing, transepts, nave and west porch date from the 13th century, while the central tower was rebuilt in the 15th century. A chapel was added to the south side of the chancel in the 16th century. Between 1907 and 1913, the chancel and south chapel were rebuilt and a number of other changes made. In the north wall of the chancel there are two roundels of 18th century glass, one depicting the Crucifixion, the other the Last Supper. The weather vane on the tower takes the form of a copper cockerel. The Church is a Grade I

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 ...

. The tower contains six bells, the whole ring being cast by Mears and Stainbank at the Whitechapel foundry and dedicated in 1927 by Bishop Jocelyn, Archdeacon of Sherborne. The bell historian Christopher Dalton points out that this was the first complete ring of bells in Dorset cast by the Whitechapel foundry after it had adopted the true-harmonic principle of tuning (and only its third complete ring using this principle). Before the augmentation there were three bells, the lightest dated 1828 by John Kingston (Bridgewater), the second dated 1602 (inscribed: "ANNO DOMINI 1602 RP") with the tenor apparently from the same founder, but dated 1650. Dalton thinks that the latter may be an error for 1605, and concludes that they were both early works of Richard Purdue I of Stoford, Somerset. Since 1979, St Mary's, South Perrott has been part of the Beaminster Area Team Ministry (

Diocese of Salisbury The Diocese of Salisbury is a Church of England diocese in the south of England, within the ecclesiastical Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers most of Dorset (excepting the deaneries of Bournemouth and Christchurch, which fall within t ...

).Beaminster Area Team Ministry
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References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Dorset