Description
Motcombe, a village and a parish in Dorsetshire. The village stands 1 mile S by E of Semley station on the L. & S.W.R., 1 1/4 W of the boundary with Wilts, and 1 3/4 NNW of Shaftesbury, and is large and straggling. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office. Acreage of parish, 5063; population, 1309. For parish council purposes Motcombe and Enmore Green has a parish council of eleven members. The manor, with Motcombe House, belongs to Lord Stalbridge. A new mansion in the Early Tudor style was erected in 1894-95 to take the place of Motcombe House. The parish includes Enmore Green. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the diocese of Salisbury; value, £290 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Salisbury. The church was rebuilt in 1846, and has a tower. There are Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels, and a Primitive Methodist chapel at Enmore Green. There is a large butter and dairy produce factory in the parish. Water was led into the whole of Motcombe proper by the late Marchioness of Westminster.
Parish Church
The church of St. Mary, rebuilt in 1846, is an edifice of sandstone in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, south porch, and an embattled western tower containing 5 bells, hung in 1887 at a cost of about £300, two being presented by Lady Theodora Guest, and the remaining four by the parisioners: in 1907 a new organ, a pulpit of Caen stone, and new oak choir stalls were provided at a cost of £250: the church affords 316 sittings.
The register dates from the year 1676.
Villages, Hamlets, &c.
Elmore Green, a hamlet in Motcombe parish, Dorsetshire, half a mile S of Shaftesbury.
