Description
Osmington, a village and a parish in Dorsetshire. The village stands in a wooded valley among lofty hills, three-quarters of a mile N of the coast, and 4 miles NE of Weymouth station on the G.W.R. and L. & S.W.R. It dates. from ancient times, and was named after St Osmund, is now a small but pretty place, and has a post office under Weymouth; money order and telegraph office, Weymouth. The parish contains also the hamlets of Osmington Mills, Ringstead, and Upton, and comprises 2209 acres; population, 292. The manor belonged to King Athelstane, and was given by him to Milton Abbey. Osmington House is the chief residence. A peculiar kind of excellent building stone is worked. A figure of George III. on horseback is cut on the steep slope of a chalk hill, occupies nearly an acre, and serves as a landmark to ships at sea. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury; net value, £150 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Salisbury. The church was rebuilt and enlarged in 1846, retains the tower of the previous church, and contains a very ancient monument of the Warhams.
Parish Church
The church of St. Osmund is a building of stone in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, south porch, and an embattled western tower with turret and pinnacles containing a clock and 4 bells: in the chancel is an ancient monument, with the arms of Warham and an inscription rudely cut upon it: there is a stained window, placed by E. A. Wood esq. to his first wife, and one erected by the parishioners in 1879, to his second wife: the church was rebuilt, with the exception of the tower, in 1846, and the south aisle added: the church affords 220 sittings.
The register dates from the year 1678.
Villages, Hamlets, &c.
Osmington Mills, a hamlet in Osmington parish, Dorsetshire, on the coast, three-quarters of a mile S of Osmington village. There are a coastguard station and a cascade.
Ringstead, a hamlet in Osmington parish, Dorsetshire, on a bay of its own name, 5 1/4 miles NE of Weymouth.
