Description
Aff-Puddle, a parish in Dorset, on the river Piddle, 3 1/4 miles N of Moreton station on the S.W.R., and 8 ENE of Dorchester. It contains the hamlet of Pallington and the tithing of Bryants-Puddle. Post town, Dorchester. Acreage, 3630; population, 434. The manor anciently belonged to Cerne Abbey. The living is a vicarage, annexed to the rectory of Toners-Puddle, in the diocese of Salisbury; value, 196. The church is ancient but good, and was restored in 1878.
Parish Church
The church of St Laurence is an ancient edifice of stone and flint, chiefly in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, north aisle, south porch, and a Decorated embattled western tower with pinnacles, containing 4 bells; it was originally appropriated to the Abbey of Cerne, and at the dissolution of that house the vicarage was given to Thomas Lyllyngton, one of the monks of Cerne, who caused the beautiful carved oak pulpit and seats to be erected in the church, on the end of one of which is a carved inscription with the date 1548: there is also a Norman font; the trefoil arch of the south entrance to the church dates from 1220: the stained east window is a memorial to Henry Frampton esq. of Moreton House: the church was restored in 1878, and has 200 sittings.
The register dates from the year 1731.
Villages, Hamlets, &c.
Pallington, a hamlet in Aff Puddle parish, Dorset, 6 1/2 miles E of Dorchester.
