Description
Cheselborne or Chesilborne, a parish in Dorsetshire, on an affluent of the river Piddle, 6 1/2 miles E by S of Cerne Abbas, and 8 from Dorchester station on the G.W.R. and L. & S.W.R. There is a post and money order office under Dorchester; telegraph office, Dorchester. Acreage, 3031; population of the civil parish, 256; of the ecclesiastical, 243. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury; net value, £220 with residence. The church is good, and has an embattled tower. There is a Methodist chapel.
Parish Church
The church of St. Martin is an ancient edifice of flint and stone in the Gothic style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, north and south porches and an embattled western tower, with pinnacles, containing 5 bells: it was restored in 1875, and has 200 sittings. The church plate consists of an Elizabethan cup with cover, dated 1574, and two patens, the larger of 18th century date, and the smaller the gift in 1910 of the Rev. T.O. Marshall B.A. of Teddington, Middlesex.
The register dates from the year 1560.
