Woodlands, Dorset
| Woodlands | |
| Dorset | |
|---|---|
 The Church of the Ascension, Woodlands | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SU051090 |
| Location: | 50°52’52"N, 1°55’41"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 522 (2011) |
| Post town: | Wimborne |
| Postcode: | BH21 |
| Dialling code: | 01202 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Dorset |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
North Dorset |
Woodlands' is a small village in the easterly tracts of Dorset, five miles north of Wimborne Minster.
The village is traceable to the Middle Ages, and in the modern era it was part of the Shaftesbury Estate until after the Second World War.
The 2011 census recorded a parish population of 522.
Parish Church
The parish church is a Victorian edifice, the Church of the Ascension. The church was given to the village by Harriet, the Countess of Shaftesbury, in memory of her husband Anthony who was the 8th Earl of Shaftesbury,[1] and was dedicated in 1892. The church was designed by prolific church architect G. F. Bodley R.A who also designed cathedrals in Tasmania and in Washington in the United States.[2] It is a Grade I listed building.[3]
The exterior of the church is a plain brick structure but the inside is prominent. There are three central columns arcading down the middle of the nave. On entering the church there is a large Saxon/Normal Font which, according to tradition, was used at Knowlton church (a henge church two miles west) and was said to have been used for baptisms by Saint Adhelm.[1]
History
Woodlands village was then first recorded in 1244.[4]
Woodlands parish was established when the hamlets of Baggeridge, Woodlands and Knowlton (the earliest settlement) were detached from Horton in the 19th century. Within the parish is Knowlton, a hamlet by which are found the prehistoric henges known as Knowlton Circles.
Woodlands was part of the Shaftesbury estate until after the Second World War.[2]
In 1870-72 John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales said that in Woodlands:
- "The Duke of Monmouth, after the battle of Sedgemoor, was taken here in a ditch."[5]
The village is mentioned in 'Owen's book of Fairs' in 1788 as having a yearly fair selling horses, cheese and toys on the 5th of July.[6]
Recreation
- Golf: Remedy Oak Golf Club
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Woodlands, Dorset) |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Quintet Group of Parishes
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Church of Ascension
- ↑ National Heritage List 1120073: Church of the Ascension (Grade I listing)
- ↑ Woodlands: An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 5, pages 111-116
- ↑ Woodlands, Dorset: Wilson, John Marius: Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (A. Fullerton & Co., 1870)
- ↑ Owen's New Book of Fairs, page 20
