Tarrant-Gunville (St. Mary)

TARRANT-GUNVILLE (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Blandford, hundred of Cranborne, Blandford division of Dorset, 5 miles (N. N. E.) from Blandford; containing 518 inhabitants. It is situated about a mile from the great western road, and comprises by computation 3360a. 1r. 30p., of which 1232 acres are arable, 372 meadow and pasture, 911 down and common, 722 coppice wood, and 70 in shrubberies and plantations. The soil is in general light, resting for the most part on chalk. Many of the females are employed in making shirt-buttons. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £19. 7. 11.; net income, £448; patrons, the Master and Fellows of University College, Oxford. The church, rebuilt, and consecrated in Oct. 1845, is a beautiful structure; the windows of the chancel are of stained glass. Henry VIII. successively assigned the parish, with the advowson, as part of the dowry to bis queens, Catherine Howard and Catharine Parr.