Description
Holwell, a parish in Dorsetshire, on a branch of the river Lidden, 6 miles SE of Sherbome station on the L. & S.W.R. It includes the hamlet of Bnckshaw, and till 1844 was part of Somerset. There is a post office under Sherbome; money order office, Bishops Caundle; telegraph office, Sherbome. Acreage, 2423; population, 377. The parish was part of Blackmore Forest, and had within its limits the principal lodge of that forest. King John appears to have visited Holwell at several times, probably for hunting. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury; value, £340 with residence. Patron, Queen's College, Oxford. The church, excepting the chancel, is Later English, and was restored in 1885.
Parish Church
The church of St. Laurence, restored in 1885, at a cost of about £1,400, is a building of stone in tbe Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave of four bays, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower. with pinnacles, containing 5 bells : there are memorial windows to members of the Warry family and to Mr. Robert English, many years churchwarden: there are 220 sittings.
The register dates from the year 1653.
