Bredy, Little

BREDY, LITTLE, a chapelry, in the parish of Long Bredy, union of Dorchester, hundred of Uggscombe, Dorchester division of Dorset, 7 miles (W. by S.) from Dorchester; containing 196 inhabitants. The chapelry comprises by measurement 1637 acres; and is situated one mile south of the London road, through Dorchester, to Exeter. The soil is generally calcareous, and the surface hilly: there is a large quarry, from which the stone for erecting Winterborne Abbey was obtained. The river Brede, or Bride, has its source in a small lake here called Bride Head, near which is a Druidical circle of stones. The chapel, dedicated to St. Michael, was rebuilt about 15 years since: the chancel of the former edifice remains, and, from its style of architecture, is supposed to have been erected in the thirteenth century.