Description
Milton Abbas, a village and a parish in Dorsetshire. The village stands along a steep road, between two wooded hills, adjacent to an affluent of the river Puddle, 6 miles SW by W of Blandford station on the Somerset and Dorset railway. It was originally called Middleton, and took the latter part of its name from a neighbouring Benedictine abbey. It was once a market-town; underwent reconstruction by the first Earl of Dorchester; consists of two rows of symmetrical cottages, with church, almshouse, and good inn; presents a tidy and pretty appearance; and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Blandford. Acreage of the civil parish, 4880; population, 728; of the ecclesiastical, 787. A Benedictine abbey was founded here after 938 by King Athelstan; went at the dissolution to Sir John Tregonwell; and, with the exception of the hall and the church, was taken down in 1771 to give place to Milton Abbey, the present seat of the Hambro family. This seat was designed by Sir William Chambers; is a large quadrangular mansion with a central court; consists of white limestone, alternating in parts with layers of flint; presents principal fronts to the N and the W; includes the Abbot's hall, of date 1498; and stands on a natural terrace, at the convergence of three deep vales, under an amphitheatre of wooded heights. The abbey church is of the time of Edward II.; succeeded a previous church, destroyed by lightning; consists of transept, aisled" chancel, and tower; contains a rich altar-screen of 1492, finely carved stalls, three canopied sedilia, a unique specimen of an old English " spire " or sacrament house, two rude old paintings supposed to represent Athelstan and his mother, an " Easter Sepulchre" tomb to Sir John Tregonwell, a monument of 1775 by Carlini to Lord and Lady Milton, a Jesse window of 1849 by Pugin, and a marble font by Prof. Jerichan, pupil of Thorwaldsen. It underwent restoration in 1863, under the superintendence of Scott of London, at a cost of about £4500. An old chapel, dedicated to St Catherine, stands on a hill E of the abbey. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury; value, £150 with residence. The village church was rebuilt by the first Earl of Dorchester, has a pinnacled tower, and was thoroughly restored and enlarged in 1889. There are a Wesleyan chapel, almshouses, a reading-room with library, and a cottage hospital endowed by the late Baron Hambro.
Villages, Hamlets, &c.
Holworth, a hamlet in Milton Abbas parish, Dorsetshire, 5 1/2 miles SW of Blandford Forum.
