Description
Portisham, a village and a parish in Dorsetshire, under Black Down, 2 miles NE of Abbotsbury, with a station on the G.W.R., 144 miles from London. There is a post and money order office under Dorchester; telegraph office, Abbotsbury. The parish contains also the hamlets of Coryatts, Shilvington, and Waddon. Acreage, 4511; population, 634. There is a parish council consisting of seven members and a chairman. The manor belongs to Earl Fitzhardinge. A cromlech, called Hell Stone, is on Ridge Hill; comprises nine upright stones about 3 feet broad and 6 high, and an oval horizontal one 10 1/4 feet long and about 2 thick; stands on a tumulus, with connecting terrace 60 feet long; and has been restored. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury; gross value, £300 with residence. The church is ancient but good, and has a pinnacled tower. There is a Methodist chapel, and a temperance hall was erected in 1882. Admiral Sir Thomas Hardy, who served with Nelson, was a native.
Villages, Hamlets, &c.
Corfe Gate or Coryatts, a hamlet in Portisham parish, Dorsetshire, 5 1/4 miles SW of Dorchester.
