Winterborne Houghton 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 north

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 ...

. It is situated in a winterbourne valley on the Dorset Downs, southwest of

Blandford Forum Blandford Forum ( ), commonly Blandford, is a market town in Dorset, England, sited by the River Stour about northwest of Poole. It was the administrative headquarters of North Dorset District until April 2019, when this was abolished and it ...

. In the 2011 census the parish had 82 households and a population of 183. In 2001 the population was 195. The name "Winterborne" derives from the

River Winterborne There are two River Winterbornes in Dorset, England. The rivers only flow overground during the winter, hence the name. They both flow through a number of villages with a first name of "Winterborne" or “Winterbourne”. The North Winterb ...

, which has its source here. The river only flows overground during the winter, hence the name. To the east is Winterborne Stickland and the river flows on to this village, eventually joining the River Stour. To the southwest is

Milton Abbas Milton Abbas is a village and civil parish in Dorset, England, lying around southwest of Blandford Forum. In the 2011 Census the civil parish had a population of 755. This planned community was built after the old Town was demolished in the ...

. Residents of Winterborne Houghton used to be known as "Houghton Owls", in reference to the story of a villager who, when calling for help having got lost in the woods, mistook the calls of owls for answering human voices. In his book ''Dorset Villages'' Roland Gant posits the theory that

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Wor ...

used this tale as inspiration for the scene where Joseph Poorgrass gets lost in Yalbury Wood in ''

Far from the Madding Crowd ''Far from the Madding Crowd'' (1874) is Thomas Hardy's fourth novel and his first major literary success. It originally appeared anonymously as a monthly serial in '' Cornhill Magazine'', where it gained a wide readership. The novel is set ...

''.

Church

The village church is named after

St Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( grc-koi, Ἀνδρέᾱς, Andréās ; la, Andrēās ; , syc, ܐܰܢܕ݁ܪܶܐܘܳܣ, ʾAnd’reʾwās), also called Saint Andrew, was an apostle of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is the brother of Simon Pete ...

and is a Grade II

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 I ...

, being so designated on 14 July 1955. It was designed by

Thomas Henry Wyatt Thomas Henry Wyatt (9 May 1807 – 5 August 1880) was an Anglo-Irish architect. He had a prolific and distinguished career, being elected President of the Royal Institute of British Architects 1870–73 and being awarded its Royal Gold Medal for ...

and built during 1861–62. It is in the

Perpendicular style Perpendicular Gothic (also Perpendicular, Rectilinear, or Third Pointed) architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four-ce ...

and faced with

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start ...

with a tiled roof. It has a simple plan with nave, chancel, north aisle and south porch. The tower is on the west end and is built in two stages with a battlemented parapet. Internally, the nave has a hammer beam roof and the chancel a wagon roof. The fifteenth century font has a carved octagonal bowl on an octagonal stem, and the other fittings are nineteenth century.

Higher Houghton

Higher Houghton is a smaller village (similar to

Winterborne Clenston Winterborne Clenston is a small village and civil parish in Dorset, England, around southwest of Blandford Forum. In 2013 the civil parish had an estimated population of 40. The first part of the village name comes from the River Winterborne, w ...

) located near the top of Winterborne Houghton. It is only accessible through the road from Winterborne Houghton. The village used to have stables and would offer horse riding sessions. Unfortunately, the stables closed down in 2020 due to poor business as a result of the pandemic. Occasionally, cross country horse races are held in fields in Higher Houghton.

Houghton Down

Houghton Down is a series of fields located in the west of Winterborne Houghton. It is accessible from the Bridleway (Footpath) leading to Milton Abbas.

Amenities

There used to be a post office in the village with a shop but this closed down sometime in the 1990's. There is a fish farm in the village called 'Houghton Springs Fish Farm'. This farm provides fish to many restaurants and companies around the UK. As a result of lockdown in 2020, the fish farm started selling fish directly from its farm to locals in the village as many restaurants were closed as a result of the pandemic. This proved popular with residents and they still continue to sell the fish at their farm to this day! To the west of the village there is a small pond called 'The Millennium Pond'. Its called this because it was built in 2000 to commemorate the new millennium. In 2002, the pond won a design award. In the center of the village there is a bench with a small greenery area and a telephone box which is still operating (Only under the use of a BT Card as coins are no longer accepted). In 2017, BT reported that the phone box had not been used for a long period of time and had planned to remove it completely but this didn't happen. Yet again in 2020, BT reported the same issue and wanted to remove the phone box. Fortunately, the village council declined this request as they state that 'the phone box is a key piece in our village'. In 2021, a book swap system had been added into the phone box to make use of the premises. This book swap proved very popular with residents in the village. Unfortunately, at the end of 2021 BT requested that the book swap should be removed from the telephone box as it is obstructing the standing area in the telephone box. Due to this, the book swap system moved into St Andrews Church. At the top of the village, there is an orchard called the 'Jubilee Orchard' as it was put there on the queens Jubilee. It is situated between the footpath leading to Winterborne Stickland.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Dorset