Difference between revisions of "Yetminster"

Latest revision as of 19:05, 6 July 2020

Yetminster
Dorset
Yetminster
Location
Grid reference:	ST594108
Location:	50°53’42"N, 2°34’41"W
Data
Population:	1,105  (2011)
Post town:	Sherborne
Postcode:	DT9
Local Government
Council:	Dorset
Parliamentary constituency:	West Dorset

Yetminster is a village in northern Dorset, distinctive and very pretty, as its houses are built almost entirely of honey-coloured limestone, which gives the village an appearance reminiscent of Cotswold villages.

The village gives its name to the county's Yetminster Hundred. It is to be found four miles south-west of Sherborne, on the River Wriggle, a tributary of the River Yeo. The 2011 census recorded a parish population of 1,105.

Parish church

The parish church, St Andrew has Saxon origins, though only part of a 10th-century standing cross remains from that period.^[1][2]

The current building dates mostly from the mid-15th century, though the chancel was built around 1300 and the whole church was restored in 1890, with several instances of work subsequently.^[3]

The church has a 300-year-old faceless clock which chimes the national anthem every three hours.

History

In 1086 in the Domesday Book, Yetminster is recorded as Etiminstre;^[4] it had 76 households, 26 ploughlands, 42 acres of meadow and 2 mills. The tenant-in-chief was the Bishop of Salisbury.^[5]

In 1300 the Bishop of Salisbury founded a weekly market and three-day annual fair in the village. Records do not state whether the market thrived, but the fair continued until the 19th century.^[6] It was revived in the 20th century, and today takes place on the second Saturday in July.

Robert Boyle, pioneer of modern chemistry who is best known for Boyle's Law, left an endowment for the provision of a school for poor boys in the district; the building was constructed in 1697 and functioned as a school between 1711 and 1945.^[7]

Records from 1848 indicate Yetminster's degree of self-sufficiency as a community; nearly 20 trades and crafts were conducted in the village, including a glazier, a saddler, several shoe and boot makers, a tailor and a maltster.^[8]

In 1857 the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway between Weymouth and Westbury opened; it passed through Yetminster and a station was built for the village.^[9]

About the village

Yetminster Fair in 2003

Upbury Farm, Church Street

Many of the buildings still standing in the village were built from the local limestone between the end of the 16th and the middle of the 18th centuries,^[10] resulting in an unusually unified architectural appearance. Writing in 1905 Sir Frederick Treves described the village as "probably the most consistent old-world village or townlet in the county",^[11] in 1965 Ralph Wightman stated that "Yetminster [...] is the nearest Dorset equivalent to the stone building of the Cotswold country",^[12] and in 1980 Roland Gant wrote that "little has come since to spoil this largish village"^[10]

Yetminster does not sits beside a main road and experiences mostly local traffic. It has its own railway station (on the Heart of Wessex Line), which is sited close to the village centre.

As well as the expected local store and pub, Yetminster still possesses a variety of village amenities and services, including a GP surgery and health centre, and a sports/social club with playing grounds and tennis court.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Yetminster)

References

• Bettey, J. H. (1974). Dorset. City & County Histories. David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-6371-9.