Description
Winterborne Whitechurch, a parish, with Winterborne Whatcombe hamlet and Law Lee tithing, in Dorsetshire, 5 miles WSW of Spetisbury station on the Somerset and Dorset Joint railway, and 5 1/2 SW of Blandford. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Blandford. Acreage, 2922; population of the civil parish, 414; of the ecclesiastical, 422. Whatcombe Mansion is a handsome building, and belongs to the Mansel-Pleydell family. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury; net value, £90 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Salisbury. The church is a building of stone and flint in mixed styles of architecture, and has been restored. There are a Wesleyan chapel and a working-men's club.
Parish Church
The church of St. Mary is an edifice of stone and flint, in mixed styles, consisting of nave, aisles, south transept, south porch and a central embattled tower containing 5 bells: the font bears date 1450, and the beautifully decorated pulpit, brought from the old parish church at Milton, has been restored: there are several tablets to former vicars and residents: the east and west windows are stained, and there are others, two being in memory of Lieut. Tyrwhitt, son of a former vicar: in 1829 the church was restored, at a cost of about £2,000, and in 1870 a new organ was added and further restoration effected, at a cost of £69: there are 400 sittings: the yew trees in the churchyard form a delightful avenue from the east entrance to the church.
The register dates from the year 1599.
