The village of Witchampton and civil parish lies 5 miles north of Wimborne Minster and is situated within the Cranborne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The village was designated etc first National Conservation Area in Dorset. Witchampton lies on the east bank of the River Allen in the Vale of Allen.
According to Sir Frederick Treves in Highways and Byways in Dorset, published in 1906:
‘Witchampton is one of the most beautiful villages in the entire county. Placed in a wooded dip by the Allen River, it is like a garden in a dell. Many of its thatch-roofed cottages are almost hidden by roses, while there is hardly a wall of faded brick that is not covered by jasmine or honeysuckle. The village is everywhere ablaze with flowers."
The Church of St Mary, St Cuthburga and All Saints.
St Cuthburga was a Saxon Princess, dressed as an abbess holding a crosier in one hand and a model of Wimborne Minster, of which she is founder, in the other. Her statue stands over the beautiful Arts and Crafts style lychgate. St Cuthburga was the first abbess of Wimborne.
Lychgate - a roofed gateway to a churchyard, formerly used at burials for sheltering a coffin until the clergyman's arrival.
The main Church dates back to 1832 rebuilt after a fire, only the Tower is Saxon.
In the churchyard there is a circular mounting block, in the centre of which can be seen where the pillar topped by an Angel once stood.
This pillar is now on top of the war memorial by the side of the church.
The memorial which is located in front of the the church is dedicated to the fallen soldiers from the Parish who served during WWI and WWII.
"There are the ancient manor house with its crown of gables, the little stream with its mill and its venerable stone bridge, and the water meadow with its ivy clad ruin of the Abbey Barn."
Gateway and lodge to Crichel House.
The gateway was built in 1874 and is Grade II listed.
The property was Alington-family ownership for 300 years, until Mary Marten, goddaughter of the late Queen Mother and childhood friend of Princess Margaret, who died at age 80 in 2010.
Crichel belonged to the Napier and Sturt families for 400 years, but, after the death in 2010 of the late Mary Anna Marten, only daughter of the 3rd and last Lord Alington, the property was sold as she left six children and beneficiaries.
The well-managed estate, which comprised 10,000 acres and 150 houses and cottages, was broken up and dispersed in 2012.
Fortunately, the main house, with some of its contents, and 1,500 acres including the park and 50 cottages, have been acquired by an anglophile American family, the Chiltons (Mr Chilton was a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum and Mrs Chilton president of the New York Botanical Garden), who have made it their English home and refurbished the interior, restoring several James Wyatt rooms, which can now be seen as the masterpieces they are.
Much of the rest of the estate has been bought by Lord Phillimore, son of the neo-Georgian architect Claud Phillimore, so cultural disaster has been averted and this beautiful part of Dorset continues to be cherished and managed on traditional lines by sympathetic new owners.
Read more with photo: The magnificent puzzle of Crichel, one of Dorset’s grandest Georgian houses - Country Life
Witchampton Old Post Office.
Until the middle of the 20th century the village was pre-dominantly belonged to the Crichel Estate which was most recently held by the Marten family, prior to that the estate was held by the Matraver family, the Earls of Arundel, the Cole family, and the Napier family before it came into the Sturt family. In 1765 the Humphrey Sturt re-modelled the house and extended the park by including the voyage of Moor Crichel and re-locating the villagers to Newtown half a mile out of Witchampton.
Read more with photo:
- The Dorset Walk: Woodlands, Horton Tower and Chalbury | Dorset Life - The Dorset Magazine
- Chinese ornaments sell for £12.5m - more than double the value of the stately home they were found in | Daily Mail Online
- The magnificent puzzle of Crichel, one of Dorset’s grandest Georgian houses - Country Life
According to Sir Frederick Treves in Highways and Byways in Dorset, published in 1906:
‘Witchampton is one of the most beautiful villages in the entire county. Placed in a wooded dip by the Allen River, it is like a garden in a dell. Many of its thatch-roofed cottages are almost hidden by roses, while there is hardly a wall of faded brick that is not covered by jasmine or honeysuckle. The village is everywhere ablaze with flowers."
The Church of St Mary, St Cuthburga and All Saints.
St Cuthburga was a Saxon Princess, dressed as an abbess holding a crosier in one hand and a model of Wimborne Minster, of which she is founder, in the other. Her statue stands over the beautiful Arts and Crafts style lychgate. St Cuthburga was the first abbess of Wimborne.
Lychgate - a roofed gateway to a churchyard, formerly used at burials for sheltering a coffin until the clergyman's arrival.
The main Church dates back to 1832 rebuilt after a fire, only the Tower is Saxon.
In the churchyard there is a circular mounting block, in the centre of which can be seen where the pillar topped by an Angel once stood.
This pillar is now on top of the war memorial by the side of the church.
The memorial which is located in front of the the church is dedicated to the fallen soldiers from the Parish who served during WWI and WWII.
"There are the ancient manor house with its crown of gables, the little stream with its mill and its venerable stone bridge, and the water meadow with its ivy clad ruin of the Abbey Barn."
Gateway and lodge to Crichel House.
The gateway was built in 1874 and is Grade II listed.
The property was Alington-family ownership for 300 years, until Mary Marten, goddaughter of the late Queen Mother and childhood friend of Princess Margaret, who died at age 80 in 2010.
Crichel belonged to the Napier and Sturt families for 400 years, but, after the death in 2010 of the late Mary Anna Marten, only daughter of the 3rd and last Lord Alington, the property was sold as she left six children and beneficiaries.
The well-managed estate, which comprised 10,000 acres and 150 houses and cottages, was broken up and dispersed in 2012.
Fortunately, the main house, with some of its contents, and 1,500 acres including the park and 50 cottages, have been acquired by an anglophile American family, the Chiltons (Mr Chilton was a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum and Mrs Chilton president of the New York Botanical Garden), who have made it their English home and refurbished the interior, restoring several James Wyatt rooms, which can now be seen as the masterpieces they are.
Much of the rest of the estate has been bought by Lord Phillimore, son of the neo-Georgian architect Claud Phillimore, so cultural disaster has been averted and this beautiful part of Dorset continues to be cherished and managed on traditional lines by sympathetic new owners.
Read more with photo: The magnificent puzzle of Crichel, one of Dorset’s grandest Georgian houses - Country Life
Witchampton Old Post Office.
Until the middle of the 20th century the village was pre-dominantly belonged to the Crichel Estate which was most recently held by the Marten family, prior to that the estate was held by the Matraver family, the Earls of Arundel, the Cole family, and the Napier family before it came into the Sturt family. In 1765 the Humphrey Sturt re-modelled the house and extended the park by including the voyage of Moor Crichel and re-locating the villagers to Newtown half a mile out of Witchampton.
Read more with photo:
- The Dorset Walk: Woodlands, Horton Tower and Chalbury | Dorset Life - The Dorset Magazine
- Chinese ornaments sell for £12.5m - more than double the value of the stately home they were found in | Daily Mail Online
- The magnificent puzzle of Crichel, one of Dorset’s grandest Georgian houses - Country Life
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