Winterborne Abbas 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 south west
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 ...
, situated in a
valley
A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...
on the
A35 road
The A35 is a major road in southern England, connecting Honiton in Devon and Southampton in Hampshire. It is a trunk road for some of its length. Most of its route passes through Dorset and the New Forest. It originally connected Exeter and So ...
west of
Dorchester. In the
2011 census the parish had a population of 355.
[
]
The village
Winterbourne Abbas is a pleasant rural village, only spoilt by the heavy traffic which passes through on the A35. The Coach and Horses Inn dates from 1814 or earlier and was a coaching inn on the turnpike road from Dorchester to 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 ...
. The Baptist Chapel dates from 1872 and has been converted to residential use. Other notable buildings include the Old Post Office in the middle of a terrace of cottages and the Grange.[
]
The church
The parish church is dedicated to St Mary and 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 ...
, being inscribed in the register on 26 January 1956. The church is built from coursed rubble stone and flint, dressed with local stone from Ham Hill, Somerset
Ham Hill is a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Scheduled Ancient Monument, Iron Age hill fort, Roman site, Local Nature Reserve and country park, to the west of Yeovil in Somerset, England.
The hill has given its name to ...
and the Ridgeway. The roof is slate and the tower, at the west end, has three stages and is supported by buttresses. The oldest parts of the church are the thirteenth century nave and the chancel, the chancel having been rebuilt in the fourteenth century. In the fifteenth century, the nave was widened to the north and the tower and rood stair installed. In the sixteenth century the entrance to the former south chapel was blocked, and in the seventeenth century, the porch was added. The eighteenth century saw an alteration to the chancel and the addition of buttresses to the nave.piscina
A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. For Roman Ca ...
from about 1320 with a pyramidal hood and canopy supported by two figures.[
]
References
External links
Winterbourne Abbas OPC (Online Parish Clerk)
{{authority control
Villages in Dorset