Buckland Newton
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox UK place
Buckland Newton is a village and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is situated beneath the scarp slope of the Dorset Downs, Template:Convert south of Sherborne.<ref>Template:Google Maps</ref> In the 2011 census the civil parish had a population of 622.<ref name=ons/> The village covers around 6000 acres.<ref name=bho />
The village lies within the Buckland Newton Hundred. Amenities in the village include a pub (The Gaggle of Geese), shop, primary school and village hall.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Approximately three quarters of the parish lies within the Dorset National Landscape area.<ref>Neighbourhood Plan | http://www.planvu.co.uk/wdwp/written/cptbnnp3.htm</ref>
HistoryEdit
The name 'Buckland' derives from bōc-land, Old English for 'charter land' or land with special privileges created by royal diploma, while 'Newton' is a more recent addition taken from Sturminster Newton, a nearby town.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Evidence for prehistoric settlement comes from Bronze Age barrows at Gales Hill and the Iron Age hill fort of Dungeon Hill.<ref>'Buckland Newton', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 3, Central (London, 1970), pp. 48-54. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/dorset/vol3/pp48-54.</ref>
The parish originally had five settlements, each with their own open field system: Buckland Newton, Brockhampton, Duntish, Henley (perhaps previously known as Knoll) and Minterne Parva, the last now part of Minterne Magna parish.<ref name=bho>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Farms based on small mediaeval enclosures include Chaston Farm, Revels Farm, and possibly Bookham.<ref name=bho />
Although the Parish Church of the Holy Rood was restored in the 19th century, it has a 13th-century chancel and 15th-century nave, west tower and aisles, plus fragments of 12th-century sculpture which are evidence of an earlier structure.<ref name=bho/> In 1980 the writer and literary director Roland Gant described Holy Rood as "a lovely church", but that the first impression it created was not favourable due to its exterior having been rendered in cement, "giving the Perpendicular square tower the look of a Foreign Legion fort".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The church has six bells, the oldest having been cast around 1380.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
Duntish Court, sited about Template:Convert north of the main village, was a compact, classical country house built in 1764 beside the main Weymouth to Bath turnpike road. Designed by Sir William Chambers for Fitzwalter Foy, the Court — originally named Castle Hill — had notable plasterwork, grounds of Template:Convert and played a role in the arrest of agricultural labourers in Dorset's 'Captain Swing' riots of 1830. It was demolished in 1965.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
GeographyEdit
Prominent nearby hills at the top of the escarpment to the southeast include the Template:Cvt Ball Hill and the Template:Cvt Lyscombe Hill near the Dorsetshire Gap.<ref name="ReferenceA">Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger series</ref> The southern part of the parish is mainly chalk with an elevation ranging from Template:Convert. The northern lies between Template:Convert above sea-level and is mainly clay with Gault and Corallian Limestone beds.<ref name=bho />
The River Lydden rises in the numerous springs round the village, principally Buckland Bottom and Bladeley Bottom <ref name="ReferenceA"/>
There are 11 locally recognised Sites of Nature Conservation Interest within or close to the parish, as well as areas of Ancient Woodland. The main habitat types for sites of wildlife interest are deciduous woodland and calcareous grassland (the latter is particularly significant for butterflies). There is also a small area of lowland meadows within Buckland Newton Itself.<ref>Neighbourhood Plan - http://www.planvu.co.uk/wdwp/written/cptbnnp3.htm</ref>
ReferencesEdit
<references/>