Toller Whelme is a small hamlet 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. Covering an area of , ...

, England, situated in the

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 ...

Corscombe Corscombe is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset, in the Dorset Council administrative area. The parish includes the small settlements of Benville and Toller Whelme to the south and in the 2011 census had a population of ...

approximately east of

Beaminster Beaminster ( ) is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England, situated in the Dorset Council administrative area approximately northwest of the county town Dorchester. It is sited in a bowl-shaped valley near the source of the small River ...

, north of

Bridport Bridport is a market town in Dorset, England, inland from the English Channel near the confluence of the River Brit and its tributary the Asker. Its origins are Saxon and it has a long history as a rope-making centre. On the coast and wit ...

and north-west of Dorchester. There are seven homes in the hamlet: West Farm, Norcombe Hayes, Manor House, 1 & 2 West Farm Cottages, East Farm and Lake Farm. Toller Whelme takes its name from the River Toller (the former name of the present River Hooke), at the source of which it stands: the second element ''Whelme'' means ''river source'' or ''spring'' in Anglo-Saxon. It has occasionally in the past also been known as ''Pinny's Toller'' or ''Penny Toller'', from the name of the landowning Pinney family formerly established here at the

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

. The Manor House was once the principle residence of a single estate farmstead which has been subsequently divided into separate properties and holdings. The Manor was once a grange farm of Forde Abbey near Chard. Older buildings in the hamlet include the Manor House, a nearby converted barn, and two nearby adjoining cottages (1 & 2 West Farm Cottages). The Manor House perimeter wall exterior exhibits 'sockets' that in the past held the roof joists of a series of small lean-to style cottages that no longer exist. In the hamlet there is also a farm, with a relatively new farmhouse that replaced the old dairy. A lake was created in front of the farmhouse in the 1970s to provide water for the farm cattle during drought conditions. A little further down the valley is Michael's Peace, a nature reserve managed by the Dorset Wildlife Trust. The reserve was created by Beaminster GP and environmental activist Dr Mike Hudson. Toller Whelme is a modern ecclesiastical parish, formed in 1871 from the ancient parish of

; the Anglican church of St John was built the previous year. The church belongs to the Manor and has an unusual set of steel bells.

External links

Villages in Dorset {{Dorset-geo-stub

See also

External links