Description
Handley or Sixpenny Handley, a village and a parish in Dorsetshire. The village stands near the boundary with Wiltshire, 5 miles NW of Cranborne, and 8 from Verwood station on the L. & S.W.R. It was once a market-town, and has a post and money order office under Salisbury; telegraph office, Salisbury. The parish includes also the villages of Newton and Deanlane, and contains the tithings of Gussage, Minchington, and Woodcutts. Acreage, 6014; population, 869. The manor belongs to Lord Rivers. The living is a-vicarage, united with the chapelry of Gussage St Andrew, in the diocese of Salisbury; value, £265 with residence. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Windsor. The church is ancient,. was well restored in 1879, and has an embattled tower. There is a Wesleyan chapel.
Parish Church
The church of St. Mary, restored and enlarged in 1879 at a cost of £3,000, is an ancient Gothic edifice of stone and flint, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles and north transept, south porch and an embattled western tower, with pinnacles, containing 3 bells : within the communion rails is a tomb to John Alye esq. d. Dec. 1579, and his wife, Dorothy. d. May 1577, beside, other members of the family; a stained window was erected in 1901 by Mrs. Cartwright as a memorial to the late Mrs. Parke, of Henbury, Dorset, and in 1914 a brass was erected to the memory of Mr. James Isaac, the last to hold the position of parish clerk, that position having been held by his family continuously for 138 years: there are 396 sittings.
The register dates from the year 1736.
Villages, Hamlets, &c.
Deanlane, a village in Handley parish, Dorsetshire, 5 miles NW of Cranborne.
Gussage, a chapelry in Handley parish, Dorsetshire. There is an ancient 13th-century chapel in the Early English style, consisting of nave only. The chapelry bears the name of Gussage St Andrew.
Minchington, a tithing, conjoint with Gussage, in Handley parish, Dorsetshire, 6 1/2 miles WNW of Cranborne.
Newton, a village in Handley parish, Dorsetshire, 6 1/2 miles NW of Cranborne.
