Description
Askerswell, a parish in Dorset, on the Asker, an affluent of the river Brid, 2 miles from Powerstock station on the G.W.R., and 5 from Bridport, under which it has a post office, and at which is the money order and telegraph office. Acreage, 1724; population of the civil parish, 230; of the ecclesiastical, 194. The surface is a pleasant valey surrounded by hills. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury; gross value, £410. The church was rebuilt and enlarged in 1858, but has a tower which belonged to a previous edifice.
Parish Church
The church of St Michael is a stone edifice in the Perpendicular style, and consists of chancel, nave, north aisle, south porch and an embattled western tower, with pinnacles, containing 5 bells, one of which was added in 1747, and two were recast in 1886: on the base of the tower is an ancient stone carved with a representation of the "Crucifixion:" with the exception of the tower the whole structure was rebuilt in 1858: the font is Norman: in 1897 a brass cross for the alter table was presented by Mrs Bryan in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the accession of Her late Majesty Queen Victoria: there are 200 sittings.
The register dates from the year 1558.
