Bradford-Abbas (St. Mary)

BRADFORD-ABBAS (St. Mary), a parish, in the union and hundred of Sherborne, Sherborne division of Dorset, 4 miles (W. S. W.) from Sherborne; containing 652 inhabitants. It comprises 1139a. 1r. 30p., of which 774 acres are arable, 336 pasture, and 29 woodland: the soil is partly of a sandy and partly of a stony nature; the surface is generally hilly, and where flat subject to inundation. The river Ivel passes through. The living is a vicarage, with which the rectory of Clifton-Mabank was united in 1824, valued in the king's books at £7. 17. 11., and in the gift of the Warden and Fellows of Winchester College, who exchanged the living of Milbourne-Port for this in 1824. The Marquess of Anglesey has commuted his share of the great tithes for £193. 17. 11.; the Warden and Fellows receive £45, and the vicarial tithes of the parish have been commuted for £156: the glebe belonging to the impropriator comprises nearly nine acres, and that of the vicar nearly 9½. The church is an elegant structure in the later English style, with a lofty square embattled tower of graceful elevation. The Rev. William Preston, in 1738, gave an estate now worth £24 per annum; and in 1781, Mark West and William Read gave property producing £12. 5. per annum; for which sums children are educated on the national system.