Description
Rampisham (popularly Ransom), a parish in Dorsetshire, on the river Frome, 2 1/4 miles WSW of Evershot station on the G.W.R., and 5 1/2 E by N of Beaminster. It has a post office under Dorchester; money order and telegraph office, Evershot. Acreage, 2095; population of the civil parish, 251; of the ecclesiastical, 313. A Roman pavement, 14 feet by 10, was found in 1799. The living is a rectory, united with the rectory of Wraxall, in the diocese of Salisbury ; net value, £300 with residence. Patron, St John's College, Cambridge. The church has been rebuilt and is a stone building in the Perpendicular style. The churchyard contains a curious cross, with sculptures which have occasioned much discussion, but are now nearly effaced. The church at Wrasall, which has been carefully restored, is a specimen of the transition from Norman to Early English.
Parish Church
The church of St. Michael and All Angels, rebuilt in 1846 and 1856, is an edifice of stone in the Decorated style, consisting of chancel, nave of four bays, aisles, north porch, and an embattled tower on the south side, with pinnacles, containing 5 bells: the east window is stained, and there are memorial windows to members of the Rooke family, and two erected by the late A. Martin esq. in memory of his eldest son and a daughter: in 1906 the large west window was filled with glass as a memorial to Arthur Martin esq. and Mrs. Martin: there are also some brasses; the church affords 200 sittings: in the churchyard are the remains of an ancient cross.
The register dates from the year 1574.
