Description
Melbury Sampford, a parish in Dorsetshire, 1 1/2 mil& NW of Evershot station on the G.W.R., and 7 1/4 miles SW of Sherborne. Post town, Dorchester; money order and telegraph office, Evershot. Acreage, 1041; population, 108. The property belongs to the Earl of Ilchester. Melbury House is the Earl's seat, stands on high ground commanding a fine prospect to the Mendip and the Quantock Hills, is an ancient edifice mainly rebuilt about the beginning of the 18th century, and has an E front of weather-beaten stone, ornamented with Corinthian pillars. It has been greatly enlarged, and a new wing with lofty tower added. The living is a rectory, annexed to the rectory of Melbury Osmond, in the diocese of Salisbury. The church is ancient, has a pinnacled tower, and contains monuments of the Brownings and the Straugeways; it was restored in 1878.
Parish Church
St. Mary's church is an ancient cruciform edifice of stone, in the Decorated style, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch, transepts and an embattled western tower: the windows contain ancient stained glass, and there are many tombs of the Fox-Strangeways family: the church was restored in 1878, and affords 51 sittings.
The register dates from 1550.
