Description
Netherbury, a village and a parish in Dorsetshire. The village lies on the river Brit, 1 1/2 mile SSW of Beaminster, and 5 miles from Bridport station on the G.W.R. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office. The civil parish contains also the tithings of Ashe, Bowood, and Melplash, and part of the hamlet of Loscombe. Acreage, 6274; population, 1454. It is divided into two ecclesiastical districts - Netherbury-cum-Solway (population, 1071) and Melplash (412). There is a parish council consisting of eleven members. Upper and Greater Stroude, Hatchlands, and Slape are the chief residences. The old manor house, called Melplash Court, formerly the seat of the More family, is now a farmhouse. The land is very fertile, and is watered by numerous streamlets traversing wooded ravines. A considerable area is occupied by cider orchards. There is a flax and tow manufactory. The living is a vicarage, united with the chapelry of Ashe, in the diocese of Salisbury; value, £175 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Salisbury. The church is Early Perpendicular, in good condition, with a tower and chancel. It has been restored, and contains a monument to one of the More family. The great tithes used to form the endowments of the three prebendaries connected with the parish-the prebendary of "Netherbury-in-Terra," "Nether-bury-in-Ecclesia," and " Slape "-but are now in the hands of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The unendowed prebends as canons still occupy their stalls in the Cathedral Church. The vicarage of Melplash is a separate benefice. There are four dissenting chapels-one in Netherbnry, one in Weytown, and two in Solway Ashe.
Parish Church
The church of St. Mary is a building of stone, in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave of four bays, aisles, south porch, vestry and an embattled western tower, containing a clock and 6 bells: in the south aisle is a mutilated recumbent alabaster effigy, under a canopy, to one of the More family, and there are three stained windows and a Norman font: an organ chanber was built in 1894, at a cost of £200, and the organ was renovated and enlarged in 1906 at a cost of £200: the church affords 400 sittings.
The register dates from the year 1580.
Villages, Hamlets, &c.
Ashe, or Ash, a tithing in Netherbury parish, Dorset, 1 mile SW of Beaminster. It is a curacy annexed to Netherby.
Loscombe, a hamlet in Netherbury, North Poorton, and Poorstock parishes, Dorsetshire, 3 1/4 miles SE of Beaminster.
