Description
Iwerne Minster, a village and a parish in Dorsetshire. The village stands near the head of the rivulet Iwerne, 3 1/2 miles NE of Shillingstone station on the Somerset and Dorset railway, and 5 1/2 NW by N of Blandford Forum. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Blandford. Acreage, 2865; population, 661. Iwerne Minster House is a handsome mansion standing in a park of 300 acres; it was built in 1880, and is the seat of Lord Wolverton, who is lord of the manor. Iwerne Down lies on the N. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury; net value, £280 with residence. Patrons, the Dean and Canons of Windsor. The church is partly Norman, and has nave, aisles, and chancel, with a spire 132 feet high. The building was restored in 1871, and a chapel was added in 1887. It was under the patronage of the Abbey of Shaftesbury, which made over the rectoral tithes to Edward IV., who gave them to his new chapel of St George at Windsor. There are Baptist and Wesleyan chapels. The village has been much improved by Lord Wolverton.
Parish Church
The church of St. Mary is a handsome cruciform building of stone in the Norman, Early English and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel with south chapel, nave of three bays, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower, with spire, containing 6 bells with chimes: the east window is a memorial to W L. Russell, d. 1866, and T. B. Bower, d. 1868: and there are others to Beatrice Ernestine Channell, d. 1871, and the present vicar's grandfather, who died 1875: the pulpit is of carved oak: the font is Late Perpendicular: a new organ and carved gallery, given by the Misses Ismay in memory of their mother, the late Lady Margaret Ismay, were added in 1913: the church was restored in 1871 and has sittings for 240 persons; the churchyard was enlarged by a piece of land given by the third Lord Wolverton, a portion of which is reserved for the family burying-ground, and has since been added to by J. H. Ismay esq. M.A., J.P.: in the centre of this a magnificent cross of stone, on a base of the same material, reaching a height of 18 feet, the cross itself being a monolith of 11 feet 9 inches: there is a list of vicars from 1320 to the present date.
The register dates from the year 1742, previous records having been destroyed in Blandford great fire.
Villages, Hamlets, &c.
Iwerne Steepleton or Preston, a small village in Dorsetshire, on the rivulet Iweme, 2 1/2 miles E of Shillingstone station on the Somerset and Dorset railway, and 3 1/2 NW of Blandford Forum. Post town, Iwerne Minster. A stud farm is situated at this place for the rearing of thoroughbred horses.
