Description
Chilcombe, a parish in Dorsetshire, near the coast, 4 1/2 miles ESE of Bridport town and station on the G.W.R. Post town, Bridport. Acreage, 451; population, 24. Chilcombe Hill rises steeply, commands an extensive view, and is crowned by a Saxon camp 1333 feet lond and 672 feet wide, with two of three small barrows in the middle, and a single low rampart and shallow ditch around. The living is a rector in the diocese of Salisbury; value, about £100. There was anciently a preceptory of Knights Hospitallers. The valuable alter-piece in the church, which is in all probability unique, is a massive slab of dark wood about 7 feet long by 2 broad, on which are depicted the various scenes of the life of Christ from the annunciation to the crucifixion. It contains many hundreds of distinct figures. Tradition says that it was thrown up on the beach 3 miles to the south, where several of the Armada vessels were lost. Its work is either Spanish or Italian.
Parish Church
The church (not dedicated) is a very small building of stone, in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and western bell cot containing one bell: there are two stained windows, including one erected in 1895 by Frederick Samways esq. to his father, George Samways, who died Dec. 9, 1870: the font is Early Norman, and is carved with double cable moulding and foliage and with tongue-shaped ornament round the bottom of the bowl: the panelled reredos is of cedar in an oak frame: there is a trefoil-headed piscina, various mural tablets to the Bishop family, dated 1616 and 1692, and a floor stone with an inscription to E. Wadham, 1692: the church affords 34 sittings.
The register dates from the year 1813.
