Rampisham
| Rampisham | |
| Dorset | |
|---|---|
 Cottages in Rampisham village | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | ST562022 |
| Location: | 50°49’7"N, 2°37’26"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 110 (2013 est.) |
| Post town: | Dorchester |
| Postcode: | DT2 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Dorset |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
West Dorset |
Rampisham is a village Dorset, eleven miles north-west of the county town, Dorchester. The village is sited on greensand in a valley surrounded by the chalk hills of the Dorset Downs. The parish includes the hamlet of Uphall northwest of the main village.
A 2013 mid-year estimate for the population of Rampisham parish was 110. The principal means of making a living is agricultural, on mainly cereal farms.
History
In 1799 a Roman pavement was found about a mile north of the church. It measured approximately 14 feet by 10 feet and was well preserved, having a pattern of concentric rings and a floral decoration, but it was removed by treasure-hunters.[1]
In the Domesday Book in 1086 Rampisham is recorded as Ramesham,[2] in the Tollerford Hundred. It had seventeen households and the tenant-in-chief was Bishop Odo of Bayeaux.[3]
Parish church
Rampisham's parish church, dedicated to St Michael and All Saints, has a mediæval south tower which was built in phases in the early 14th (1326) and 15th centuries.[1][4] The rest of the building was largely rebuilt in two bouts of Victorian restoration: first in 1845–7 and then in 1858–60.[1][4]
Augustus Pugin was involved in the first restoration, designing a new east window and chancel.[4] He also built a school and rectory for the village, though both these are now private houses.[5] The second restoration involved an extension to the tower and a rebuilding of the nave; this was undertaken by John Hicks, possibly with assistance from a young Thomas Hardy.[4]
A quarter of a mile north of the church is the base and part of the shaft of a 15th-century wayside cross.[1]
Geography
Rampisham village is sited on greensand in a tributary valley of the River Frome. It is surrounded by the chalk hills of the Dorset Downs, which rise to 735 feet at West Hill to the north.[6]
Measured directly, the village is eight miles north-east of Bridport, eleven miles north-west of Dorchester and eight and a half miles south of Yeovil in Somerset.
Communications station
In November 1939, the BBC acquired 189 acres of land on Rampisham Down, a hill south-west of the village. It became the location of one of the main transmitters of the BBC World Service in Europe until it was shut in 2011. There were 26 transmitter pylons on the down.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Rampisham) |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Rampisham: An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 1, pages 191-193
- ↑ "Dorset H–R". The Domesday Book Online. domesdaybook.co.uk. 1999–2013. http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/dorset2.html#rampisham. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
- ↑ "Place: Rampisham". Open Domesday. domesdaymap.co.uk. http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/ST5602/rampisham/. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Rampisham". Dorset OPC Project. http://www.opcdorset.org/RampishamFiles/Rampisham.htm. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
- ↑ "In the footsteps of Treves — The Tollers, Wynford Eagle, Rampisham and Evershot". Dorset Life Magazine. November 2009. http://www.dorsetlife.co.uk/2009/11/in-the-footsteps-of-treves-the-tollers-wynford-eagle-rampisham-and-evershot/. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
- ↑ Ralph Wightman (1983). Portrait of Dorset (4 ed.). Robert Hale Ltd. pp. 16, 95. ISBN 0 7090 0844 9.