Description
Compton-Abbas, a parish in Dorsetshire, 2 1/2 miles S by E of Shaftesbury, and 5 1/4 miles S of Semley station on the L. & S.W.R. It includes Twyford hamlet, and its post town is Shaftesbury, under Salisbury; money order office, Fontnell Magna. Acreage, 1491; population, 299. The manor belonged to Shaftesbury Abbey. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury; net value, £170. The church is good. There is a Wesleyan chapel.
Parish Church
The church of St. Mary, built and opened in 1867, is of stone, and consists of apsidal chancel, nave, north aisle, south porch and a tower, with spire, containing 5 bells: the nave is divided from the aisle by two fine arches springing from cylindrical piers, and is seated with open benches : in the chancel is a brass tablet to the Rev. William S. Hadley M.A. who, as curate and rector, ministered to the parishioners of Compton Abbas for thirty-five years : there is also a silver cross mounted on ebony to Canon Hook Dyke, rector 1871 to 1895: there are 250 sittings.
The register dates from the year 1650.
Villages, Hamlets, &c.
Bedhurst, a tithing in Compton-Abbas parish, Dorset, 8 miles NNW of Dorchester.
