Fifehead Neville
| Fifehead Neville | |
| Dorset | |
|---|---|
 All Saints Church | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | ST766109 |
| Location: | 50°53’51"N, 2°19’51"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 147 (2011) |
| Post town: | Sturminster Newton |
| Postcode: | DT10 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Dorset |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
North Dorset |
Fifehead Neville is a village in Dorset, in the Blackmore Vale beside the River Divelish. It is found about two miles south-west of the town of Sturminster Newton. A sister village, Fifehead St Quintin, stands half a mile to the south, on the other side of the river.
The 2011 census noted a parish population of 147.
The Hardy Way, a long-distance walking route around Dorset, passes through the village.
Name
The first part of the name Fifehead Neville derives from the Old English fif hid, meaning '(estate of) five hides of land'. It is recorded as Fifhide in the Domesday Book of 1086. The second part derives from the de Neville family who were here in the 13th century; in 1287 the name Fyfhud Neuyle was recorded.[1] This differentiated this Fifehead from other Dorset manorial holdings called Fifehead (Fifehead St Quintin and Fifehead Magdalen).
History
In a field bordering the River Divelish, the remains of two wings of a Roman villa were found in 1880 and 1903. Floor mosaics and part of a hypocaust system were uncovered.[2] The archaeological findings are on view in the Dorset County Museum in Dorchester.
The Domesday Book records that in 1086 the estate of Fifehead Neville had eight households and was part of Pimperne Hundred.[3] The tenant-in-chief of the estate was Waleran the Hunter whose tenant was Ingelrann.[3][4] The overlordship descended to Walter Walerand (d. 1200–1) and to his daughter and co-heiress Isabel de Waleran who married William de Nevill. The overlordship was inherited by Isabel de Nevill's daughter Joan de Nevill (d. 1263), wife of Jordan de St. Martin.[4]
Crossing the Divelish is an old packhorse bridge[2] that has two pointed arches and is probably mediæval.[5]
Before 1920 the parish was in two parts, each with its own settlement—Fifehead Neville in the north and Lower Fifehead or Fifehead St Quentin in the south. It is probable each settlement had previously had its own open field system.[5] Fifehead St Quentin (or Fifehead St Quintin) was previously a detached part of the Parish of Belchalwell.
Geography
Fifehead Neville parish is in the Blackmore Vale, sited next to the River Divelish which drains land north of the Dorset Downs around Bulbarrow Hill. The parish, which covers 1,350 acres at an altitude of 200 feet to 300 feet, is also drained by a small tributary of the River Lydden in the west.[5]
The underlying geology is mostly Corallian Limestone, with a small amount of Kimmeridge clay in the east and some Oxford clay at Deadmoor Common in the west.[5][6] Measured directly, Fifehead Neville village is about two miles south-west of Sturminster Newton, eight miles north of Blandford Forum and fourteen miles north of the county town, Dorchester.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Fifehead Neville) |
References
- ↑ David Mills, ed (2011). A Dictionary of British Place Names. Oxford University Press. p. 188. ISBN 978-0-19-960908-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=tXucAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA188&lpg=PA188&dq=fifehead+neville+dictionary+british+place+names&source=bl&ots=D1ii97CpyJ&sig=M6z0Ww7pI-BbTneUtVj1lDiOJwo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=A2zHU-WbIqXb7AbVsIBA&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=fifehead%20neville%20dictionary%20british%20place%20names&f=false.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 North Dorset District Council (c. 1982). North Dorset District Official Guide. Home Publishing Co. Ltd. p. 33.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Fifehead [Neville]: Open Domesday
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 A History of the County of Dorset, Volume 3
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Fifehead Neville: An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 3, pages 92–94
- ↑ Ralph Wightman (1983). Portrait of Dorset (4 ed.). Robert Hale Ltd. p. 17. ISBN 0-7090-0844-9.