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Poorstock (St. Mary)

POORSTOCK (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Beaminster, partly in the hundred of Eggerton, but chiefly in the liberty of Poorstock, Bridport division of Dorset, 4 miles (N. E. by E.) from Bridport; containing, with the tythings of West Milton, Mappercombe with Nettlecombe, South Poorton with Loscombe, and Witherston, 1090 inhabitants. It is said, traditionally, that King Athelstan had a castle here; a hill called Castle Hill is pointed out as its site, and some fields in the vicinity bear the name of Park fields. In the 7th of Edward III., a market on Thursday, and a fair on the eve, day, and morrow of St. Philip and St. James, and two days afterwards, were granted to John Wroxhale, to be held here; but no market or fair now takes place. The parish comprises 3317 acres, of which 422 are common or waste land: stone for paving, and an inferior freestone, are quarried. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £16. 16. 8.; net income, £195; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury. The great tithes have been commuted for £303, and the vicarial for £230; there is a glebe-house, on about ¾ of an acre of land. The church is a handsome edifice, erected about the beginning of Henry VIIth's reign. At West Milton is a chapel of ease, and at Mappercombe are the remains of an ancient chapel.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

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