Abbotsbury (St. Nicholas)
The town, situated in a valley surrounded by lofty hills, near the sea-shore, consists of three streets, partially paved, and is well supplied with water: the western part of it was consumed by fire in 1706. Fishing is the chief occupation of the inhabitants, great quantities of mackerel being taken on the coast. The weaving of cotton was introduced about fifty years since, but has of late much declined. The market, which was on Thursday, has fallen into disuse; it was granted, together with two fairs, to Sir John Strangeways in the 8th of James I., a former market, granted to one of the abbots, and held on Friday, having been long discontinued. One of the fairs has also been lost; the other, which is for sheep and toys, is held on the 10th of July. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £10; net. income, £140; patron and impropriator, the Earl of Ilchester, whose tithes have been commuted for £127. 10. The church is a large handsome structure in the later style of English architecture, with a square embattled tower; and is thought to contain the remains of the founder of the abbey and his wife, which were removed hither from the conventual church at the Dissolution. A school, originally founded for twenty boys, was further endowed in 1754, by Mrs. Horner, with £21 per annum, for instructing ten additional boys. St. Catherine's chapel, supposed to have been erected in the reign of Edward IV., stands on an eminence south-west of the town, and serves only as a land-mark: it is built wholly of freestone dug out of the hill on which it is situated; the roof is finely groined, and on each side of the edifice is a handsome porch. About a mile and a half to the west of Abbotsbury is an ancient intrenchment, occupying an area of nearly 20 acres; and near the town is a cromlech.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.