Woodsford
| Woodsford | |
| Dorset | |
|---|---|
 Woodsford Castle | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SY762905 |
| Location: | 50°42’50"N, 2°20’17"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 80 (2013 est.) |
| Post town: | Dorchester |
| Postcode: | DT2 |
| Dialling code: | 01305 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Dorset |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
South Dorset |
Woodsford is a village in Dorset standing beside the River Frome, about four miles east of the county town, Dorchester. A mid-year estimate in 2013 out the parish population at 80.
In the Frome Valley at Woodsford there used to be a system of watermeadows.[1]
Manor
The Domesday Book of 1086 records the manor as Waredesford,[2] which the 18th-century historian John Hutchins]] interpreted as meaning a ford across the 'Varia', an alternative name, he asserts, for the River Frome. More recent opinion is that Waredesford referred to a ford belonging to a man named Weard. Two holdings were recorded in Woodsford, which have been interpreted as corresponding to East Woodsford (the current village) and West Woodsford (now Woodsford Castle).[3]
Woodsford Castle is the surviving range of a 14th-century fortified manor house. King Edward III granted William de Whitefield a licence to crenellate in 1335. The house has the largest thatched roof in the county[4] and has been restored by the Landmark Trust.[5] The house is a Grade I listed building.[6]
Parish church
The parish church of St John the Baptist is of the 13th-century. It was largely rebuilt in 1862–63 to designs by the Gothic Revival architect Thomas Henry Wyatt, who was responsible for many Victorian church restorations. Remnants of the 13th-century church include the lower part of the west tower and an Early English Gothic lancet on the south side of the nave west of the south porch.[7] The parish is part of the Benefice of Moreton, Woodsford and Crossways with Tincleton.[8]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Woodsford) |
References
- ↑ Wightman 1983, p. 49.
- ↑ Open Domesday: Woodford
- ↑ RCHME 1970, pp. 397–402.
- ↑ Rodger, MA (February 2009). "Some Lost Castles Of Dorset". Dorset Life. http://www.dorsetlife.co.uk/2009/02/some-lost-castles-of-dorset/. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
- ↑ "Woodsford Castle". Landmark Trust. http://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/search-and-book/properties/woodsford-castle-13233. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1155314: Woodsford Castle (Grade I listing)
- ↑ National Heritage List 1155283: Church of Saint John the Baptist (Grade II listing)
- ↑ Archbishops' Council. "Benefice of Moreton, Woodsford and Crossways with Tincleton". A Church Near You. Church of England. http://www.achurchnearyou.com/benefice.php?B=34/237BK. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
- Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Dorset, 1972 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-09598-2
- Woodsford: An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 2, pages 397–402
- Wightman, Ralph (1983) [1965]. Portrait of Dorset. Portrait Books (4 ed.). London: Robert Hale. p. 49. ISBN 0-7090-0844-9.