Witchampton 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 ...

East Dorset East Dorset was a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Dorset, England. Its council met in Wimborne Minster between 2016 and 2019. The district (as Wimborne) was formed on 1 April 1974 by merging Wimborne Minster Urban Dist ...

, England, situated on the River Allen north of

Wimborne Minster Wimborne Minster (often referred to as Wimborne, ) is a market town in Dorset in South West England, and the name of the Church of England church in that town. It lies at the confluence of the River Stour and the River Allen, north of Poole ...

. The 2011 census recorded a population of 398. Witchampton lies close to where the

dip slope A dip slope is a topographic (geomorphic) surface which slopes in the same direction, and often by the same amount, as the true dip or apparent dip of the underlying strata.Jackson, JA, J Mehl and K Neuendorf (2005) ''Glossary of Geology.'' Ame ...

of the chalk hills of

Cranborne Chase Cranborne Chase () is an area of central southern England, straddling the counties Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. It is part of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The area is dominated by, ...

is overlain by newer deposits of

London Clay The London Clay Formation is a marine geological formation of Ypresian (early Eocene Epoch, c. 56–49 million years ago) age which crops out in the southeast of England. The London Clay is well known for its fossil content. The fossils from t ...

. Although Witchampton is sited within the area of the chalk, where cob and thatch are the traditional building materials, the nearness of the clay has resulted in many of the older houses in the village being built from brick. The early 16th-century Abbey House contains some of the earliest brickwork in the county. To the northeast of the village there used to be a paper mill by the river. In 1980 it was described by writer Roland Gant as a ''"discreet industrial oasis in an agricultural plain"''. It had been in operation since the early 18th century, but has now been converted to residential accommodation. 11th-century whalebone chess pieces have been found within the parish, and are some of the best surviving early English chess pieces.Chessays - When There is no End to a Good Game
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Villages in Dorset Civil parishes in Dorset {{Dorset-geo-stub