Description
Bloxworth, a parish in Dorsetshire, 3 miles E of Bere-Regis, and 5 NW of Wareham station on the L. & S.W.R. It has a post office under Wareham ; money order and telegraph office, Bere-Regis. Acreage, 2827; population, 260. Of the surface of the parish, 1100 acres are heath, on which is a British or Danish camp called Woolbarrow. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury; gross value, £263 with residence. The church is very good; the chancel was restored in 1870, and the nave reseated and refitted in 1889.
Parish Church
The church of St. Andrew was originally a Norman structure, of which the only portion now existing is the entrance doorway: it was rebuilt in the 14th century, and again rebuilt in the 17th century in its present substantial though debased Gothic form, portions of the earlier work being re-incorporated, and it now consists of chancel, nave, south porch and an embattled western tower, with pinnacles, containing 2 bells, one of which is of the 14th century, and has around the rim an inscription which consists of the words "Sancta Maria," in capital letters separated by crosses: there are several memorials to the Trenchard and Pickard families, and a manorial pew adorned with the arms of the Savages, lords of the manor previous to the year 1700: the original hour glass and stand still exists: the chancel was rebuilt in 1870 and the nave reseated in 1887, and there are now 125 sittings.
The register dates from the year 1579.
