Description
Charlton-Marshall, a parish in Dorsetshire, on the river Stour, near the Blandford railway, 2 miles S of Blandford Forum. It has a post office under Blandford; money order and telegraph office, Spettisbury. Acreage, 2300; population, 569. Roman coins have been found. The living is a perpetual curacy, annexed to the rectory of Spettisbury, in the diocese of Salisbury. The interior of the church contains monuments to the memory of Dr. Sloper, who restored the church in 1713. There are also tablets to the memory of members of the Bastard family. The poor children in this parish participate in the benefit of a free education at Spettisbury endowed school. There is a Baptist chapel.
Parish Church
The church of St. Mary, rebuilt in 1713, is a building of stone and flint, in the Early English style, and consists of chancel, nave, north aisle, south porch and a western tower with pinnacles, containing a clock, presented in 1911 by the Rev. S.A. Walker M.A. and 4 bells: the lofty pulpit is of oak inlaid, and has a canopy of similar character, surmounting which is a gilt pelican. There are monuments to the Rev. Dr. Sloper, d. 1727, and tablets to the Bastard family: the church was restored in 1895 at a cost of £770, and during the progress of the work several previously hidden arches were disclosed: the church affords 200 sittings.
The register dates from the year 1705.
