Arne
| Arne | |
| Dorset | |
|---|---|
 The Church of St Nicholas of Myra, Arne | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SY972881 |
| Location: | 50°41’34"N, 2°2’25"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Wareham |
| Postcode: | BH20 |
| Dialling code: | 01929 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Dorset |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
South Dorset |
Arne is an abandoned village on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset. It stands four miles east of Wareham on a broad peninsula within Poole Harbour. The village was destroyed during the Second World War and the inhabitants left, until some restoration of some buildings and work on a nature reserve began in the 1960s.
It is best know today for Arne RSPB reserve.
Arne stands is situated on the Arne Peninsula, which protrudes into Poole Harbour opposite the town of Poole, and the village is at the end of a single lane along the peninsula.
There is also a civil parish named Arne, with a population of about 1,200 people, though the main hamlets are off the peninsula, the main villages being Stoborough and Ridge.
Parish church
The parish church, St Nicholas, stands in the heart of the village. It is a Grade I listed building.[1]
The church is of the 13th century, possibly 1200, and is largely unaltered since that time. It is built of ironstone and plain in internal structure reflecting its not having been extended: the nave and chancel are a single cell with no structural division. A belfry is formed in western bay of nave roof with no external projection.
The remains of medieval wall painting can be seen over the door in a simple floral pattern.
There is a 14th century 2-light window in south wall, and a blocked doorway in north wall of chancel. The church was restored in the 19th century and most of the furnishings are of this time. Further work was done, as part of the clearance of the wartime damage to the village, in 1952.[2]
History
Evidence of prehistoric human activity within the civil parish consists of 19 barrows and the remains of 4 linear dykes.[2] [3] The most significant of the barrows is the 'King's Barrow' at Stoborough, which probably dates from the Early Bronze Age.[2] The dykes are on Worgret Heath; they are undated but analogy with similar structures elsewhere suggests Romano-British origins.[3] In the Roman period there was also a salt industry of significant size on the shore of Poole Harbour.[2]
Arne village is not recorded in the Domesday Book. The earliest record of the village is from 1285, though the parish church is earlier.
The village was owned by the wealthy Shaftesbury Abbey until its dissolution in 1539, but was never a large village, and by 1894 its population was only 123. A school had been opened in the village in 1832, but the shrinking population forced it to close in 1922.[4]
In the Middle Ages the parish of Arne was confined to the peninsula and covered 2,700 acres.
During the Second World War, Holton Heath, three miles north west of Arne in the neighbouring parish of Wareham St Martin, was chosen as the site of the Royal Navy Cordite Factory, a key site for the manufacture of explosives used in military shells. Its isolated location would have mitigated civilian losses should an explosion have occurred, but when the War began the factory was a clear target for bombing raids by German aircraft. With the main flight path to Holton Heath passing right over Arne, the government created several "Starfish" decoy sites in the village. These consisted of a heavily guarded site containing a network of tar barrels and pipes containing kerosene that could be ignited when needed to give the appearance of a burning factory, thus confusing pilots into bombing empty countryside.[4]
On the night of 3–4 June 1942, the decoy was brought into action and aircraft heavily bombed the decoy site, causing a fire that burned for six weeks. The decoy operation was a success, leaving the Cordite Factory untouched, but Arne was devastated, with over 200 bomb craters counted on the Arne Peninsula. The Germans, on the other hand, were convinced they had heavily damaged the factory and even Lord Haw Haw reported that it had been badly hit. However, the village was left almost uninhabitable and the remaining occupants were given a month's notice that Arne was to be abandoned by 10 August.[4]
After the war, the village remained largely derelict until the late 1950s, and in 1966 the Arne Peninsula was put under the protection of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.[4]
Arne Peninsula
The Arne Peninsula is a small, low-lying heathland projecting into Poole Harbour between two estuaries: that formed by the Rivers Frome and Piddle along the north and the Wych Channel fed by the River Corfe long the east.
Much of the peninsula is a nature reserve, Arne RSPB reserve, owned by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and adjacent to the village.. Woodland and marsh spread across the root of the peninsula. The old village, Arne, in the midst, with a car park for the reserve.
It lies within the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Gallery
-
The old School House -
View inside the church -
The Organ in the church
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Arne) |
- Church of St Nicholas, Arne
- [ https://arne-parish-council.sycl.net Arne Parish Council]
- Parish Plan and village history
References
- ↑ National Heritage List 1323421: Parish Church of St Nicholas
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "'Arne', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 2, South east (London, 1970), pp. 8–11". British History Online. University of London. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/dorset/vol2/pp8-11. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "'Dykes', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 2, South east (London, 1970), pp. 515–519". British History Online. University of London. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/dorset/vol2/pp515-519. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "How Arne Saved Holton Heath". Dorset Life. March 2009. http://www.dorsetlife.co.uk/2009/03/how-arne-saved-holton-heath/.