__NOTOC__ Lydlinch 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

Blackmore Vale The Blackmore Vale (; less commonly spelt ''Blackmoor'') is a vale, or wide valley, in north Dorset, and to a lesser extent south Somerset and southwest Wiltshire in southern England. Geography The vale is part of the Stour valley and part of ...

in north

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

, England, about west of

Sturminster Newton Sturminster Newton is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish situated on the River Stour, Dorset, River Stour in the north of Dorset, England. The town is at the centre of the Blackmore Vale, a large dairy agriculture region around w ...

. The village is sited on

Oxford clay The Oxford Clay (or Oxford Clay Formation) is a Jurassic marine sedimentary rock formation underlying much of southeast England, from as far west as Dorset and as far north as Yorkshire. The Oxford Clay Formation dates to the Jurassic, specific ...

close to the small River Lydden. The parish – which includes the village of King's Stag to the south and Stock Gaylard House to the west – is bounded by the Lydden to the east and its tributary, the Caundle Brook, to the north. At the 2021 census, the parish had a population of 442 people living in 205 households. At King's Stag is the King's Stag Memorial Chapel which was built in 1914 at the expense of the Right Rev.

Huyshe Yeatman-Biggs Huyshe Wolcott Yeatman-Biggs (2 February 184514 April 1922; until 1898 known as Huyshe Wolcott Yeatman) was an influential Church of England clergyman who served as the only Anglican Bishop of Southwark, Bishop of Southwark to be a suffragan bis ...

, the

Bishop of Worcester The Bishop of Worcester is the Ordinary (officer), head of the Church of England Anglican Diocese of Worcester, Diocese of Worcester in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title can be traced back to the foundation of the diocese in the ...

, in memory of his wife, Lady Barbara Yeatman-Biggs, who died in 1909.

Governance

At the lower tier of

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

, Lydlinch is a civil parish with a parish council of five elected members. At the upper tier, Lydlinch is in the Dorset unitary authority. For elections to Dorset Council is it in the Blackmore Vale electoral ward. Historically, Lydlinch was in Sturminster Rural District from 1894 to 1974, and

North Dorset North Dorset was a local government district in Dorset, England, between 1974 and 2019. Its area was largely rural, but included the towns of Blandford Forum, Gillingham, Shaftesbury, Stalbridge and Sturminster Newton. Much of North Dorset wa ...

district from 1974 to 2019. For elections to the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

, Lydlinch is in North Dorset constituency.

Parish church

The

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

of St

Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then as Archbishop of Canterbury fr ...

has a 12th-century

baptismal font A baptismal font is an Church architecture, ecclesiastical architectural element, which serves as a receptacle for baptismal water used for baptism, as a part of Christian initiation for both rites of Infant baptism, infant and Believer's bapti ...

, but the rest of the building is

Perpendicular Gothic 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 ...

. The

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

and west tower are 15th century. The north aisle and south porch were added in the 16th century. In the 19th century the north aisle was rebuilt and the north vestry added and the building was twice

restored ''Restored'' is the fourth studio album by American contemporary Christian musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004, by BEC Recordings. Track listing Standard release Enhanced edition Deluxe gold edition Standard Aus ...

, the second time in 1875. The church is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. The tower has a ring of five bells. The 19th-century

Dorset dialect The Dorset dialect is the traditional dialect spoken in Dorset, a county in the West Country of England. Stemming from Old West Saxon, it is preserved in the isolated Blackmore Vale, despite it somewhat falling into disuse throughout the earlier ...

poet

William Barnes William Barnes (22 February 1801 – 7 October 1886) was an English polymath, writer, poet, philologist, priest, mathematician, engraving artist and inventor. He wrote over 800 poems, some in Dorset dialect, and much other work, including a co ...

(1801–86), who was born just outside the parish in nearby

Bagber Bagber is a hamlet in the county of Dorset in southern England, situated about west and northwest of Sturminster Newton in the Dorset unitary authority. It consists of Bagber, Lower Bagber and Bagber Common, which all lie within Sturminster N ...

, wrote of them "Vor Lydlinch bells be good vor sound, And liked by all the neighbours round". Thomas Purdue of

Closworth Closworth is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, south of Yeovil, on the border with Dorset. The village has a population of 220. The parish includes the villages of Pendomer and Sutton Bingham, the location for Sutton Bingham M ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

cast Cast may refer to: Music * Cast (band), an English alternative rock band * Cast (Mexican band), a progressive Mexican rock band * The Cast, a Scottish musical duo: Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis * ''Cast'', a 2012 album by Trespassers William ...

the second, fourth and tenor bells in 1681. Mears & Stainbank of the

Whitechapel Bell Foundry The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bells ...

recast the treble and third bells in 1908. The parish is part of the

Benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

of Sturminster Newton,

Hinton St Mary Hinton St Mary is a village and civil parish in Dorset, southern England. It is sited on a low Corallian limestone ridge beside the River Stour, north of the market town Sturminster Newton. In 2001 the parish had 97 households and a populati ...

and Lydlinch.

References

Notes

General references

* * *

External links

Civil parishes in Dorset Villages in Dorset {{Dorset-geo-stub