Description
Piddletown or Puddletown, a village and a parish in Dorsetshire. The village stands on the river Piddle, 5 miles NE by E of Dorchester stations on the G.W.R. and S.W.R. It was once a market-town, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Dorchester, and a fair on 29 Oct. The parish contains also the hamlets of Admiston Hill, Bourne, Chinehill, Druce, Duddle, Ilsington, Little Piddle, Troytown, and Waterson. Acreage, 7186; population of the civil parish, 1028; of the ecclesiastical, 1077. There is a parish council consisting of nine members. Ilsington House is the chief residence. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury; net value, £335 with residence. The church is Decorated English and Perpendicular, and contains a figured Norman font, some old effigies dating back to the 13th century, and several brasses. There is a Congregational chapel.
Parish Church
The church of St. Mary is a large building of stone, principally in the Perpendicular style, and consisting of chancel, nave, north aisle, south aisle or chapel dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, north and south porches, and an embattled western tower with pinnacles, containing a clock and 6 bells, rehung, one recast and one added, in 1897, at a total cost of £300: the chancel and north aisle were lengthened in 1911 at the cost of the Rev. J. G. Brymer M.A. the lay rector: in the Athelhampton chapel there are several effigies of the Martin family, the earliest dating from 1250, and numerous alter tombs and brasses: the stained east window is a memorial to the late Rev. F. E. Freeman M.A. vicar 1868-1906: and there is another in the aisle presented by Alfred de Lafontaine esq. of Athelhampton: there are 455 sittings.
The registers of marriages and burials date from the year 1538, and baptisms from 1547.
Villages, Hamlets, &c.
Barton, a hamlet in Piddletown parish, Dorsetshire, 5 1/2 miles NE of Dorchester.
Chine Hill, a hamlet in Piddletown parish, Dorsetshire,. 5g- miles NE of Dorchester.
Cliffe, a locality 3 miles from Piddletown, and 6^ from Dorchester, in Dorsetshire, with a post office under Dorchester.
Druce, a hamlet in Piddlctown parish, Dorsetshire, 5 1/2 miles NE of Dorchester.
Duddle, a hamlet in Piddletown parish, Dorsetshire, 2 miles E of Dorchester.
Piddle, Little, a hamlet in Piddletown parish, Dorsetshire, near Piddletown.
