Witchampton (All Saints)

WITCHAMPTON (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Wimborne and Cranborne, hundred of Cranborne, Wimborne division of Dorset, 5 miles (N. by W.) from Wimborne; containing 461 inhabitants. It is situated a little west of the road from Wimborne to Cranborne, and comprises by admeasurement 1462 acres, chiefly arable. The surface is undulated, the soil in some parts a gravelly loam, and in others a black earth, resting principally on chalk and flint. The grounds are intersected by the rapid river Allen, which turns a paper-mill giving employment to about 27 persons. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £12. 12. 3½., and in the gift of H. C. Sturt, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for £269. 10.; there is a parsonage-house, and the glebe comprises 20 acres. The church is a large handsome edifice in the later English style, with a square tower, which is the only remaining part of the original fabric erected in the 14th century. Here is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists. Remains exist of a monastery that was subordinate to the abbots of Crawford.