Mappowder (St. Peter and St. Paul)

MAPPOWDER (St. Peter and St. Paul), a parish, in the union of Cerne, hundred of Buckland-Newton, Cerne division of Dorset, 6 miles (S. W. by S.) from Sturminster-Newton; containing 275 inhabitants. The parish comprises by computation 1800 acres. Good stone for rough kinds of building, and for the roads, is quarried. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £17. 14. 7., and in the gift of Earl Beauchamp: the tithes have been commuted for £330, and the glebe contains 82½ acres. The church is an embattled structure in the later English style, with a low plain tower, and contains a Norman font of Purbeck marble, and several monuments to the family of Coker, whose ancient mansion, a large and handsome building erected in the reign of Elizabeth, has been converted into a farmhouse. Of this family was Mr. Coker, author of the Survey of Dorsetshire.