Description
Ibberton, a parish in Dorsetshire, on an affluent of the river Stour, 4 miles SW of Shillingstone station on the Somerset and Dorset railway, and 7 W of Blandford. It has a post office under Blandford; money order office, Okeford Fitzpaine; telegraph office, Shillingstone. Acreage, 1384; population of the civil parish, 137; of the ecclesiastical, 298. The manor belongs to the Eivers family. A range of hills runs through the parish from E to W. The curfew bell is still rung for six months of the year. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury, and is united with the rectory of Belchalwell; value, £300 with residence. The church is ancient, has a tower, and stands on the side of a hill, commanding a good view. There are Primitive Methodist and Wesleyan chapels.
Parish Church
The church of St. Eustace stands on a high hill, commanding extensive views of the Blackmoor vale, and is reached from the village by a flight of 47 steps : it is a plain but ancient edifice of stone, In the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, north aisle, south porch and an embattled western tower containing 4 bells: an old Book of Homilies, dated 1673, with chain attached, has been repaired, and is preserved in the church, which, after being for some years disused, was thoroughly restored in 1903.
The register dates from the year 1671, the older registers having been destroyed by fire.
