Description
Wool, a parish, with three hamlets, in Dorsetshire, on the river Frome, with a station on the L. & S.W.R., 125 miles from London, and 5 1/2 W by S of Wareham. It has a fair on 14 May, and a post, money order, and telegraph office under Wareham. Acreage, 2587; population, 621. There is a parish council consisting of six members. A Cistercian abbey was founded at Great Bindon in 1172 by R. de Newburgh. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury; net value, £120 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Salisbury. The church is a building of stone in the Late Perpendicular style, with an embattled tower. There are Wesleyan and Roman Catholic chapels.
Parish Church
The church of the Holy Rood is a building of stone, chiefly in the Late Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, and an embattled western tower containing 4 bells, re-hung and two new bells added in 1907 at a cost of £240: a piece of very ancient tapestry, at one time used here as a pulpit cloth, is now deposited in the museum at Dorchester: there is also an ancient stone cresset, with four cups, dating from the 12th century, in very good preservation: there are 270 sittings.
The register of baptisms dates from 1585, burials from 1586, and of marriages from 1583.
Villages, Hamlets, &c.
Bindon, a hamlet in Wool parish, and a liberty in Cerne, Wareham, and Wimbome divisions, Dorsetshire. The hamlet lies on the river Frome, 1/2 a mile E of Wool station on the L. & S.W.R., and 5 miles W by S of Wareham. A Cistercian abbey was founded here in 1172 by Robert de Newburgh; was given at the dissolution to Thomas, Lord Poynings; descended to the Earl of Suffolk; and was sold to the family of Weld. The remains of it, in foundation walls of the church, have been cleared out, and include part of the tomb of one of the abbots; and some features of the grounds connected with it, in canals, fish ponds, and shady walks amid thick woods, have been restored to their original state. The materials of the buildings were carried off for the construction of Lulworth Castle, the seat of Lords Suffolk and the Welds. Bindon Hill, in the vicinity, towards the coast, has sand cliffs, succeeded by precipices. The area and population are included in Wool.
