Bothenhampton 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 authorit ...
in southwest
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
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 ...
, just outside the town 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 ...
. It is separated from the town only by the River Asker and the A35 Bridport by-pass. In the
2011 census the civil parish—which includes the settlement of
Walditch
Walditch is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Bothenhampton, in the Dorset district, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. It is situated about to the east of the town of Bridport. The name Walditch is derived ...
—had a
population
Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...
of 2,131.
[
The parish church, Holy Trinity, was designed by the Arts and Crafts movement architect ]Edward Schroeder Prior
Edward Schroeder Prior (1852–1932) was an architect, instrumental in establishing the arts and crafts movement. He was one of the foremost theorists of the second generation of the movement, writing extensively on architecture, art, craftsma ...
in 1889. It was his first church. By the late 19th century the 15th century Old Holy Trinity Church had fallen into disrepair. There are
Commonwealth War Graves
in the old churchyard. The new church was funded by J. P. F. Gundry, one of the directors of the West Bay Building Company, by public subscription and anonymous donation. The roof is the most radical feature of the church. The arches spring at 2’6 above floor level and rise to a ridge 30’ high. The windows are filled with a forerunner of Prior's Early English glass. The altar table and furnishings were designed by another leading Arts and Crafts Movement architect, William Lethaby
William Richard Lethaby (18 January 1857 – 17 July 1931) was an English architect and architectural historian whose ideas were highly influential on the late Arts and Crafts and early Modern movements in architecture, and in the fields of co ...
, as was the altar front with its intertwined wild roses, leaves and stems.
At the end of the village is the village park, which is a memorial to John Holt. Annual events, such as a barn dance organised by the Bothenhampton village hall committee, take place in the John Holt play area.
In 1801 the population was 334 and in 1901 this was still only 423. New houses were built between the 1st and 2nd world wars and there was a lot of building in the 1960s. By 1980 the population had grown to approx 1200 and by 2001 it had become 2186. By 2001 11% of Bothenhampton's population were aged under 16, 42% were aged between 16 and 59 and 47% were aged 60 and over.
References
External links
Bothenhampton Village website
Villages in Dorset
{{Dorset-geo-stub