Buckland Newton

8 BUCKLAND NEWTON (6805)

(O.S. 6 ins. ST 60 NE, ST 60 SE, ST 70 NW, ST 70 sw)

The parish, covering about 6,000 acres, straddles the Chalk escarpment which at this point is relatively low, and extensively cut into by N.-flowing streams. The S. half of the parish rises from 500 ft. to 800 ft. above sea-level and is almost entirely Chalk; in the N. half the land undulates gently between 300 ft. and 500 ft. and is composed of Gault, Kimmeridge Clay and Corallian Beds, except for the 600 ft. Chalk outlier of Dungeon Hill.

The hill-fort on Dungeon Hill, now incorporated in Buckland Newton, has already been described in Dorset I (Minterne Magna (6)); conversely the monuments of Minterne Parva are described in this volume although they now lie within the boundaries of Minterne Magna. Plush, a detached part of Buckland Newton until 1933, is now in Piddletrenthide (see p. 212).

The mediaeval and later history of the parish is complex and in some respects obscure. There appear to have been five original settlements: Minterne Parva, Buckland Newton, Henley (probably identical with the Knoll of some early documents), Duntish and Brockhampton. Each settlement probably had its own open field system. Beyond the open fields, secondary settlements associated with small enclosures were established by the 13th century; for instance Chaston Farm, Revels Farm, and perhaps Bookham. (fn. 1) There are extensive areas of 'Celtic' fields in the S., and a Deer Park of about 190 acres, which was made at the latest in the 13th century, has been identified N.W. of Duntish. (fn. 2) Large parts of the parish were still uncultivated at a late date and extensive areas of Common were not enclosed until the middle of the 19th century. (fn. 3)

The principal monument is the Parish Church. Castle Hill (4), another important monument, was demolished in 1965.

Ecclesiastical

(1) The Parish Church of the Holy Rood, which stands near the centre of the parish, was extensively restored in the second half of the 19th century, and external rendering makes analysis of the architectural development difficult. The walls are probably of rubble with ashlar dressings; the roofs are lead-covered. The Chancel is largely of the 13th century and the Nave and the North and South Aisles are of the 15th century; the uniformity of the aisle windows might suggest Victorian restoration but Hutchins's early 19th-century account of the church (2nd ed., vol. iii (1813), p. 262f., and illustration on p. 254) leaves no doubt that they are original. The West Tower and the South Porch date from the 15th century; above the porch is an upper chamber. Although the chancel is the oldest standing part of the church, fragments of 12th-century sculpture bear witness to an earlier building; they include a representation of Christ in Majesty, formerly in the tower but recently reset in the porch.

The 13th-century windows in the side walls of the chancel (Plate 120) are unusually fine work for a country church of that date, and the 15th-century nave and aisles (Plate 120) are notable for their symmetry and spaciousness.

Architectural Description—The Chancel (33½ ft. by 18½ ft.) was restored in 1869 but it appears to retain the original N. wall; the S. wall is 7 ins. thinner than the N. and it may have been rebuilt, the original windows being reset. In 1841 the original E. window, of three lancets, was replaced by an opening in the Perpendicular style but this was removed in 1869 and the present three-light window, of 13th-century style, was substituted. Externally, the walls have moulded ashlar plinths, hollow-chamfered plaster string-courses and embattled parapets. The N. wall has three uniform lancet windows with chamfered external reveals and plaster hood-moulds; internally, the splays are flanked by Purbeck marble shafts, with moulded bases and capitals, supporting chamfered trefoil rear-arches of Ham Hill stone; the rear-arches are restored but the shafts are original. The moulded internal sills are continuous with that of the 19th-century E. window. The S. wall has three lancet windows uniform with those to the N., and a later doorway with a chamfered two-centred head and a segmental rear-arch. On both sides of the chancel, at the W. end, are small squints from the aisles, with chamfered segmental heads. The late 15th-century chancel arch is two-centred; the responds and soffit are decorated with tiers of cusped stone panelling flanked to E. and W. by continuous mouldings. The N. respond is pierced, high up, by the rood stair passage, the chamfered half-arch of which is seen in the N. aisle. The 19th-century roof is supported on sculptured corbels that are probably of the 15th century: N. wall, (i) and (iv) an angel with folded wings bearing a shield; (ii) a mitred bishop, blessing; (iii) a king. S. wall, (i) a human face; (ii) a head flanked by hands bearing torches; (iii) a similar head and hands bearing a cross and a book; (iv) a bearded head.

The Nave (39 ft. by 18 ft.) is flanked to N. and S. by uniform arcades of three bays; that to the N. was extensively restored in 1877. The arches are two-centred and of two hollow-chamfered orders springing from slender piers and responds, composed of attached shafts separated by hollow-chamfers, with moulded capitals and bases. The North Aisle (10 ft. wide) has, externally, a chamfered and moulded plinth, a hollow-chamfered parapet string-course and an embattled parapet with a moulded coping, all rendered. The N.E. and N.W. corners have two-stage diagonal buttresses with weathered offsets; the two intermediate square-set buttresses, of ashlar and rubble, are of 1877. The E. window and the three N. windows are uniform except that the sill of the central N. window incorporates the head of the N. doorway; each window is of three transomed lights with vertical tracery in a two-centred head, and with casement-moulded outer reveals; the transoms are composed of the four-centred cinquefoil heads of the lower lights combined with inverted trefoils at the foot of the upper lights; the upper lights have cinquefoil ogee heads; the tracery lights are cinque-foiled at top and bottom. The N. doorway has a two-centred head with ogee and hollow-chamfered mouldings, continuous jambs and chamfered stops. The South Aisle is uniform with the N. aisle except that the middle bay, masked by the two-storied porch, has no window. The S. doorway has a moulded four-centred head with continuous jambs; beside it, in the S. aisle, is a four-centred doorway to the porch chamber vice; both openings are of c. 1877.

The West Tower (12½ ft. by 12 ft.) is set a little to the S. of the nave centre-line. It has three storeys internally and two stages externally; the N.W. and S.W. diagonal buttresses are of two weathered stages; they do not extend into the upper stage of the tower, suggesting that it may originally have been lower than at present. At the base is a chamfered plinth; the upper stage is defined by a hollow-chamfered string-course and below the parapet is a moulded string-course with gargoyles. The parapet is embattled, with a crocketed finial on each corner. The two-centred tower arch is of two moulded orders, the outer order continuous and the inner order dying into the responds at springing level. The tower vice, on the N. side, has a 19th-century external doorway and an original internal doorway with a chamfered two-centred head. The 15th-century W. doorway has a two-centred head with a concentric hollow-chamfered label terminating to the N. in a lion stop and to the S. in a beast; above, the W. window has three cinquefoil-headed lights with vertical tracery in a casementmoulded two-centred outer head, with a hollow-chamfered label. The upper stage has square-headed two-light belfry windows on the E., N. and W. sides; at a lower level the N. side also has a square-headed two-light window to the clock chamber. The clock-face is to the W. and a 12th-century figure of Christ in Majesty, now in the S. porch, was formerly set in a small niche above it.

The South Porch (10 ft. square) has an upper chamber and at the S.E. and S.W. corners are diagonal buttresses of two weathered stages. The rendered, embattled parapet is continuous with that of the aisle; it has a hollow-chamfered parapet string with a gargoyle at each southern corner. The S. archway, probably of the 19th century, is of ashlar, with a moulded four-centred head under a square label; the spandrels are decorated with trefoils and quatrefoils. Above, the square-headed two-light window of the upper chamber is probably of the 18th century. The 15th-century lierne vault of the porch has hollow-chamfered wall, diagonal and intermediate ribs springing from moulded angle corbels; the ridge and diagonal ribs meet at a large central boss carved with a double rose; the intersections of the intermediate ribs and liernes are masked by foliate bosses while smaller leaf bosses mask the outer intersections.

Fittings—Bells: six; 2nd, by John Wallis, inscribed 'Iohn Phillippes Vicar Gilbert Duning John Squier' with monogram IW and date 1581; 3rd, inscribed 'Ave Maria' in Lombardic capitals; 4th, by Thomas Purdue, 1670; 5th, by T. and J. Bilbie, 1793; 6th, by John Wallis, inscribed 'John Phillipps vicar Edward Boxly Thomas Frye churchwardens', with monogram IW and date 1609. Books: Bible in black-letter, 8 ins. by 6 ins., 1589, rebound. Brasses: In chancel, on S. wall, (1) to Leonard Pount, 1829, inscription-tablet (8 ins. by 16 ins.) by J. Latten. In S. aisle, on W. wall, (2) to Thomas Barnes, 1624, brass plate (8 ins. by 14½ ins.) with Latin inscription (Plate 41). Chair: of mahogany, with reeded sabre-shaped legs and carved shell-shaped back, early 19th century. Chest: of oak, (1¼ ft. by 3¾ ft.) with three locks, mid to late 18th century. Coffin stools: two, with turned legs. 17th and early 18th century. Font: Octagonal stone bowl with vertical sides carved with formalised flowers, hollow-chamfered underside and moulded octagonal stem, 15th century.

Monuments: In chancel, on S. wall, (1) of Anna Selleck, 1680, stone cartouche, part of a monument recorded by Hutchins (III, 712). In S. aisle, (2) of Fitzwalter Foy, 1781, and Elizabeth Maria his wife, 1806, erected by their daughter E. M. Foy, grey and white marble tablet flanked by reeded pilasters, surmounted by female figure posed beside urn, fluted apron below, signed 'T. King, Bath' (Plate 39). In churchyard, E. of chancel, (3) of Ann Venables, 1817, table-tomb with arms, (4) of Richard Childes, 1627, table-tomb, (5) of Henry Lewis, 1845, Mary Caroline Venables, 1846, and J. Venables, 1850, table-tomb in form of Hellenistic altar; N. of chancel, (6) of Michael Millar, 1681, and others of the same family, table-tomb with 17th, 18th and 19th-century inscriptions; S.E. of chancel, (7) of Dunning family, 1600 and later, table-tomb; W. of porch, (8) of Rev. Timothy Collins, 1766, table-tomb with arms; E. of porch, (9) of Mary Tucksberry, 1698, headstone.

Plate: includes silver cup of 1571 and pair of stand-patens of 1827 and 1829, also silver flagon of 1762. Poor-box: of oak, 3 ft. high, with chamfered post with diagonal banding on two sides supporting square coffer carved on each face with crocketed ogee ornament and decorated at corners with knopped standards; lid fastened by hinged iron cross-straps, one fixed, three with locks; 16th century (Plate 22). Pulpit: of oak, hexagonal, with moulded base and cornice, each face with two fielded panels with marquetry decoration; 18th century. Seating: In chancel and nave, twenty-two 15th-century oak bench ends with moulded edges and linenfold panels, four with foliate finials, others square-topped, many with new top rails; twelve similar panels incorporated in desks to front pews. Sundial: On parapet of S. porch, rectangular stone dial with initials I.H., H.E. and date 1704. Weather-vane: of wrought-iron, inscribed FF, 1735, now in porch chamber. Miscellanea: Loose in porch chamber, (1) floor-tiles, 15th or 16th century; (2) three carved stone fragments with chevron ornament and roll-mouldings, 12th century. In S. aisle, reset over S. doorway, (3) mica-schist relief (13 ins. by 10 ins.) representing warrior with bow and spear, possibly N. European, 7th or 8th century (cf. Böhner, Bonner Jahrbuch (1951), 108 f.), discovered in Vicarage garden, 1910 (Plate 13). In porch, over S. doorway, (4) sculptured limestone fragment depicting Christ in Majesty, with right hand raised in blessing and left arm across waist, perhaps holding book, 12th century (Plate 12); moved from W. side of tower, 1960.

Secular

(2) Brockhampton Bridge (71690622), 12 ft. wide by 21 ft. long, is of the early 19th century and has two spans and round-ended rubble piers. The rubble parapets are capped with rough stones set on edge.

(3) Wayside Cross (66430345), at Minterne Parva, is probably of the 15th century. It now consists of a stone plinth, 3 ft. square and 1 ft. 3 ins. high, upon which rests an octagonal base, 3 ft. across and 6 ins. high, into which is morticed the stump of a shaft, 1 ft. 3 ins. square on plan and 2 ft. 4 ins. high. Vertical grooves suggest that the shaft had a moulded standard at each corner.

(4) Castle Hill (69230682), 1 m. N.N.E. of the parish church, also called Duntish Court, was designed c. 1760 by Sir William Chambers for Fitzwalter Foy. The house was originally of brick with stone dressings but the walls were rendered in the 19th century; at the same time the roof was heightened. The house was demolished in 1965 and in the course of its destruction the finely jointed red brickwork of the original fabric was revealed.

Castle Hill was a dignified country residence showing Palladian influence in the massing of the central block and flanking pavilions. It is illustrated in Vitruvius Britannicus, V, pls. 61–3, and in Hutchins (1st ed., II, opp. p. 257). These illustrations show that the central block was originally without attics and that the pavilions were joined to the central block only by low screen walls, pierced by gateways. Each pavilion was surmounted by a square lantern with arched sides and a concave tent-shaped roof, probably lead-covered, supporting a weather-vane. Subsequently, to enlarge the house, the roof-level of the centre block was raised and dormer-windowed attic rooms were provided; the stairs were remodelled and a vestibule was added; the N. pavilion, originally containing stables, was made into kitchens and service rooms; the pavilions were joined to the central block by converting the screen walls into ground-floor passages, and the lanterns on the pavilions were turned into chimneys by removing the tent-shaped roof and inserting a tall octagonal flue at the centre of each. These changes were made in the second half of the 19th century.

The following description, compiled while the house was still standing, is given in the present tense in the usual terms of the Commission's survey.

Architectural Description—The main part of the house is of three storeys with dormer-windowed attics. The ground floor, originally service rooms, now contains a billiard room and living rooms of secondary importance; the principal rooms are on the first floor and are approached from the garden by ornamental flights of steps; the principal bedrooms are on the second floor. The main entrance, at ground level on the W., is preceded by a 19th-century octagonal vestibule, rusticated externally and roofed with a lead dome. The vestibule and the passages on either side, leading to the N. and S. pavilions, conceal the lower part of the main block. Above them, the W. façade is symmetrical and of five bays, the three middle bays being grouped in a slightly projecting pedimented feature; the windows of the flanking bays are more isolated; the central projection is also emphasised by a subsidiary cornice at second-floor sill level. The main cornice, with modillions, is set some distance above the second-floor window heads; the same mouldings with the addition of a corona form the inclined coping of the pediment. Above the flanking bays the original cornice is surmounted by a high plaster cove decorated at intervals with acanthus scrolls in relief; the cove and the dormer windows in the heightened roof are of the 19th century.

The E. façade (Plate 123) resembles the W. in having a pedimented central projection of three bays, and single-windowed flanking bays. The ground floor has rusticated quoins at the outer angles and window lintels with heavily rusticated voussoirs. In the centre a double stone stair sweeps up to a balustraded platform in front of the central first-floor opening, which extends down to the floor and has a semicircular head, and glazed doors in place of the lower sash. The other first-floor windows have moulded stone architraves with horizontal entablatures; the second-floor windows have architraves only. The cornice, pediment and coved eaves are similar to those of the W. front. The S. façade is without a pediment, but otherwise repeats the details of the E. front; it has three openings on each floor including a doorway at the centre on the ground floor; a pedimented hood distinguishes the central window on the first floor. The N. façade has fenestration similar to that on the S. but the openings resemble those of the W. front in having no architrave mouldings.

The N. and S. pavilions are single-storied. The N. pavilion is faced on the E. side with rusticated round-headed arcading in five bays, the end bays projecting a little in front of the other three. The middle arch has a doorway with a fanlight above, the other four arches have rectangular windows. The roof is of slate with lead dressings and the eaves have coved cornices. The plan of the service rooms inside the pavilion bears no relation to the E. façade, being separated from it by a corridor. The S. pavilion is similar to the N., except that the S. bay of the arcaded E. front is replaced by a glass conservatory. The great central chimney-stack on each pavilion is a prominent feature; it comprises an embattled octagonal flue rising through an open aedicule, square on plan, with a round-headed arch in each side and ball finials on canted pedestals at the corners. The aedicules appear to survive from the roof lanterns of the original design.

Inside the main block, the central doorway of the W. front leads into the octagonal vestibule and thence, by a short flight of stairs, to the Hall where are the principal staircase, a doorway to the Saloon on the E., and doorways to the Drawing Room and Boudoir on the S. The stairs and other fittings are of the 19th century. The Saloon has a panelled dado and six-panel doors with a central bead to simulate two leaves. The doorway architraves are capped by heavy entablatures with pulvinated oak-leaf friezes in gesso. The fireplace surround, of plaster in imitation of stone, is decorated with swags of drapery flanking a bull's skull below a Doric cornice. The Drawing Room doors and doorways are generally similar to those in the Saloon. The 18th-century plaster ceiling and cornices are enriched with foliate ornament, swags, reeding and trophies of musical instruments (Plate 72). In the fireplace surround, richly decorated white marble brackets support a white marble frieze and cornice, set off against a background of red marble; the middle panel of the frieze has a classical urn and sprays of foliage, the side panels, over the brackets, have paterae; below the brackets are lion masks and pendent wreaths. In the Dining Room the walls are decorated with large plaster panels. A frieze of pendent drapery between vases is surmounted by a modillion cornice, and the ceiling is enriched with a reeded oval border entwined with vine sprays; at the centre are three wreaths of ears of corn, the central wreath surrounding an urn and patera. The fireplace has an inner surround of red veined marble flanked by wooden Ionic columns which support an entablature with a centre panel depicting putti among vine wreaths. The Morning Room has a wooden fireplace surround enriched with acanthus leaves and a central frieze panel of leaves and wreaths. In the Boudoir, niches flanking the fireplace have glazed doors with traceried glazing bars. The variegated marble fireplace surround is flanked by wooden pilasters carved with masks from which hang wreathed leaf sprays, above is a frieze of classical urns and swags of leaves. On the ground floor, below, the Billiard Room has an ornate fireplace in which the cornice is supported on foliate scroll brackets from which pendent sprays of flowers and fruit hang down on each side; in the frieze swags of grape vine luxuriate on each side of a central urn.

The mullioned stone windows from a 16th or 17th-century building are reset in the flint wall of a Summer House, 100 yds. W. of the main building. They are chamfered and hollow-chamfered and have plain labels. They probably come from the earlier house, which stood to the S. of the 18th-century building (Hutchins, III, 708); Thomas Barnes repaired it in the 17th century (Coker, 95). To the S. of the S. pavilion is an 18th-century Grotto of rubble and flint.

Buckland Newton, Henley and Brockhampton Green

(5) The Vicarage (68810527), 30 yds. E. of (1), has two storeys and attics; the main block is of the first half of the 18th century and a S.W. wing was added about 1850. The E. front is of brickwork in Flemish bond; elsewhere the walls are rendered or tile-hung.

The symmetrical E. front is of seven bays, including a pedimented central block of three bays standing forward some 10 ft. The corners of the centre block and of the extremities have brick pilasters rising from a chamfered plinth and continuing through the parapets, which mask the roof. A moulded brick parapet string-course is returned around the pilasters and at the top is a moulded stone coping. The pediment, an inclined continuation of the parapet, has a central urn finial, rectangular on plan, with a moulded base and a gadrooned bowl. The central doorway is flanked by a pair of rusticated Doric pilasters, in wood, with an entablature with a triple keystone and a dentil cornice. The windows on each side of the doorway and the three windows on the first floor have segmental brick heads with keystones; the window to the right of the doorway and the middle one on the first floor are false, so also is the round window in the pediment; the others are sashed. The sashed windows in the four flanking bays have flat brick lintels without keystones; the ground-floor openings are taller than those above, reaching down to the floor. Inside, the hall and one bedroom contain 18th-century panelling. The open-string stairs have moulded and ramped handrails with a horizontal curtail volute on a Tuscan-column newel post. The balusters, two to a tread, consist of small Tuscan columns above vasehaped pedestals.

(6) The Manor House (68660527), 100 yds. W. of the church, has two storeys with basements and attics. The walls are of rendered rubble with ashlar dressings and the roofs are slated. Although the remains of a 17th-century building are identifiable, particularly in the basement, the greater part of the house is probably of the early 19th century. It is an unusually early but successful example of the revival of the 'Tudor' style. The overall proportions are those of an 18th-century house but most of the architectural ornament is of 16th-century inspiration.

The E. front has two gabled bays flanking a narrow, parapeted middle bay. Low casement windows in the chamfered plinth light the basement. Above, each gabled bay has a three-light mullioned and transomed window with wooden casements on ground and first floors and a smaller three-light attic window in the gable. The middle bay contains the front doorway, above which the first floor has a sashed window with glazing-bars of Gothic design. All windows have hood-moulds, and the shoulders and tops of the gables have crocketed finials. The lead rainwater head of the middle bay bears the initials E.P., the wild-man crest of the Pouletts who formerly owned the house, and the date 1803. The N. and S. fronts have details similar to those of the E. front. The W. front comprises various later additions, among them a drawing-room wing that is probably of the late 19th century. Inside, the original house is represented by a large fireplace in the basement kitchen, spanned by two four-centred arches, by two stone angle fireplaces with four-centred heads, moulded jambs and chamfered stops on the ground and first floors, and by the remains of walled-up stone-mullioned windows in the inner wall of the drawing-room. Some rooms contain reset 17th-century oak panelling.

The Stables to the S. are of rubble with brick dressings, and have slated roofs; a rainwater head is dated 1839.

Monuments (7–14)

Except as otherwise stated the following dwellings are probably of the latter part of the 18th century. Generally they are two-storied, or of one storey with an attic, and the walls are of cob, rubble or brick; many have thatched roofs.

(7) Cottages (69320532), two adjacent at right angles, are two-storied with thatched roofs. The walls facing S. and E. are of flint with brick dressings; the others are of rubble, with cob in the upper part.

(8) Cottages (68660520), two adjacent, 60 yds. S. of (6), have rendered walls and thatched roofs.

(9) Cottages (68770487), two but now comprising one house, are of coursed rubble and thatch. The S. cottage is of the 17th century; the other was added in the late 18th or early 19th century.

(10) Henley Farm (69600418), of two storeys with rubble walls and thatched roofs, was originally two cottages. Adjacent, to the N., is a brick Barn.

(11) Cottage (69490436), two storied, has been largely rebuilt in recent times but retains one 17th-century bay in which the wall is of banded flint and stone, with stone quoins, and in which occurs a three-light window with hollow-chamfered stone mullions and a label. An arcaded Granary to the S. dates from the late 18th or early 19th century.

(12) Bookham Farm (70660417), house, is probably of the early 18th century. Large parts have been rebuilt in brickwork but the remaining original walls are of rubble. The roof is thatched. Inside are some deeply chamfered beams with plain run-out stops, and there is an open fireplace in the S. end wall.

(13) Brockhampton Farm (71190559), house, is of the early 18th century and has brick and rubble walls with a brick platband at first-floor level; the roof is thatched. A two-storied porch has a round-headed brick doorway with moulded imposts to the S., and bull's-eye windows to E. and W.

(14) New Inn (68730510), now a private house, is two-storied, with rubble walls and a thatched roof, and has a ground plan of three rooms in a straight range. It was built about the end of the 17th century. The chimney-stack on the S. side of the middle room serves two open fireplaces set back-to-back. The entrance is in the W. front, opposite the base of the stack. The N. room has a fireplace with a separate chimney in the N. gable wall.

Early 19th-century buildings in Buckland Newton village include the Post Office, 300 yds. S. of the church, of flint with brick dressings, and Bladeley House (68720479), a two-storied building, gracefully proportioned, with rendered walls, low-pitched slated roofs with wide eaves, and large sashed windows; it was built in 1850. Also of the early 19th century are Millers Farm (70590536), mainly of brick but with the N.E. front of coursed rubble with brick quoins, and a Cottage (70620649), with a symmetrical rendered front, end chimneys and a thatched roof.

Duntish

Castle Hill, see Monument (4).

(15) White House (69000676) is two-storied with rendered walls and a low-pitched slated roof. The W. wing dates from the 18th century and the E. wing was added in the 19th century.

(16) Duntish Mill (69400600) is a single-storied 18th-century dwelling house of coursed rubble with dormerwindowed attics in a thatched roof. The former water-mill has been dismantled.

(17) Cottage (69060652), of cob in one storey with attics under a thatched roof, is probably of the late 16th century; the gabled end walls have been subsequently rebuilt in brick. The ground plan comprises two rooms separated by a chimney-stack, the S. room being the larger of the two. Winding stairs to the E. of the stack give access to the N. attic. The S. room is sub-divided by a timber-framed partition with an ogee-headed doorway. A second staircase in the S.W. corner of the range suggests that the cottage was at some time divided into two tenements. The roof appears to comprise four jointed-cruck trusses.

Monuments of the 19th century in Duntish also include a house at 69520668 and a pair of cottages at 69500649. Cottages at Spring Grove (69060612) were refaced in the 19th century, but probably incorporate 18th-century walls.

Cosmore

(18) Revels Inn Farm (67540603), house, is of two storeys with rendered walls and a slated roof. It was built towards the end of the 18th century and is said to have been an inn formerly and to figure in Thomas Hardy's 'The Woodlanders'. The symmetrical W. front is of five bays, with the doorway in a slightly projecting pedimented centre bay; the windows are sashed. Inside, the room to the N. of the entrance hall-way is lined from floor to ceiling with fielded panelling in two heights, with panelled dado-rail and dentilled cornice; the door-case has details in the Gothic style comprising clustered shafts on each side and a moulded ogee arch with crockets and finials above the lintel.

(19) Revels Farm (67700524), house, is a two-storied building with walls of banded flint and rubble. The nucleus is of the 17th century and has an L-shaped plan; at the S. end is a late 18th or early 19th-century barn with walls of brick and rubble. The E. wall of the 17th-century house has a hollow-chamfered stone window of four square-headed lights with a moulded label on the ground floor and a similar three-light window on the first floor. The original N. wall, concealed by a lean-to addition, includes the remains of similar mullioned windows. The S. side of the W. wing retains stone windows with ovolo-moulded mullions and weathered hood-moulds, and a stone doorway with a chamfered four-centred head; the latter is surmounted by a small three-light stone window. There is a mullioned two-light attic window in the W. gable wall. A fireplace in the W. wing has a four-centred stone head.

Clinger Farm (66890537) is an early 19th-century farmhouse of rubble in two storeys with a tiled roof.

Minterne Parva

(20) Minterne Parva Farm (66450345) includes an early 19th-century House with rendered walls and a slated roof, and a Granary that is probably of the 18th century. The latter is a circular building raised above ground on eight arches; the lower part is of rubble with squared rubble dressings, the upper part is of brick, and the conical roof is slated.

Mediaeval and Later Earthworks

(21) Bank and Ditch (66830523–67590517), on the N. side of Little Minterne Hill in the extreme W. of the parish, encloses about 150 acres and is probably a park pale. Where best preserved, to the S.W., the bank is 20 ft. wide and 3 ft. high with an internal ditch 12 ft. wide and 2 ft. deep. The circuit is very irregular with many changes of direction, especially on the W. side.

(22) Cultivation Remains. Traces of open fields occur in three distinct areas of the parish. Buckland Newton had a twofield system in 1548 (Buckland Manor Court Roll, 1548, P.R.O., S.C.2, Bundle 169, No. 4); it was finally enclosed in 1734 (Enclosure Award, D.C.R.O.). On the S.E. side of Ridge Hill (677046–685052), S.W. of the village, are extensive remains of contour strip lynchets arranged in four end-on interlocking furlongs, 100 yds. to 250 yds. long. To the S.W. the strip lynchets run over 'Celtic' fields (Group (39)). In 1734 all but the S.W. furlong lay in West Field.

Henley, or Knoll, had five separate open fields before enclosure in 1734. Traces of ridge-and-furrow visible on air photographs (R.A.F. CPE/UK 2431: 3353–5) S.E. of Bladely House (687047) appear to have been in Arberry Field in 1734 (Enclosure Award, D.C.R.O.).

Nothing is known of the date of inclosure of the open fields of Duntish but there are remains in three places. Immediately N.W. of Knapp Hill Farm (686057) is a series of strip lynchets running obliquely to the contours, 170 yds. long with low risers and treads 40 yds. wide. Below and to the N. are two furlongs of ridge-and-furrow 6 yds. to 7 yds. wide. On the E. side of Dungeon Hill (691073) are four contour strip lynchets up to 330 yds. long, in poor condition.

There are no remains of the open fields of Minterne Parva, which had a two-field system in 1548 but was enclosed by 1734.

Prehistoric

Probable Settlement, see 'Celtic' Fields.

'Celtic' Fields, see pp. 326–7, Groups (39), (40).

(23) Bowl Barrow (67410320), on the ridge top W. of Holcombe Wood and on the boundary with Cerne Abbas and Minterne Magna, lies in a hedgerow, but ploughing has largely destroyed it on either side; diam. about 50 ft., ht. 5 ft.

(24) Barrow (67670474), at 680 ft. O.D. on Gales Hill, has had most of the top dug away; diam. 42 ft., ht. 2 ft.

(25) Barrow (67660477) 30 yds. N.N.W. of (2); diam. 27 ft., ht. 2 ft.

(26) Barrow (67030430), formerly in Buckland Newton parish and now in Minterne Magna, lies at over 800 ft. O.D. on Little Minterne Hill, in an area of 'Celtic' fields. It is very irregular, having been heavily ploughed; diam. about 50 ft., ht. 1 ft.

Dungeon Hill hill-fort, see Dorset 1, 169, Minterne Magna (6).