Rampisham
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox UK place
Rampisham (Template:IPAc-en<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> or Template:IPAc-en<ref name=Gant>Template:Cite book</ref>) is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England, situated approximately Template:Convert northwest of the county town Dorchester. The village is sited on greensand in a valley surrounded by the chalk hills of the Dorset Downs. The parish includes the hamlet of Uphall northwest of the main village.
Dorset County Council's 2013 mid-year estimate for the population of Rampisham parish is 110.<ref name=dfy/> The principal means of making a living is agricultural, mainly grain production.
HistoryEdit
In 1799 a Roman pavement was found about Template:Convert north-northwest of the church; it measured approximately Template:Convert by Template:Convert and was well preserved, having a pattern of concentric rings and a floral decoration, but it was destroyed by treasure-hunters.<ref name=inventory>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In the Domesday Book in 1086 Rampisham was recorded as Ramesham.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was in the hundred of Tollerford, had seventeen households and the tenant-in-chief was Bishop Odo of Bayeaux.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Rampisham's parish church, dedicated to St Michael and All Saints, has a medieval south tower which was built in phases in the early 14th (1326) and 15th centuries.<ref name=inventory/><ref name=opc>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The rest of the building was largely rebuilt in two bouts of Victorian restoration: first in 1845–7 and then in 1858–60.<ref name=Gant/><ref name=inventory/><ref name=opc/> Augustus Pugin was involved in the first restoration, designing a new east window and chancel.<ref name=opc/> He also built a a rectory for the village, though this is now a private house.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The second restoration involved an extension to the tower and a rebuilding of the nave; this was undertaken by John Hicks, possibly with assistance from a young Thomas Hardy.<ref name=opc/>
A quarter of a mile north-northeast of the church is the base and part of the shaft of a 15th-century wayside cross.<ref name=inventory/>
GeographyEdit
Rampisham village is sited on greensand at an altitude of Template:Convert in a tributary valley of the River Frome. It is surrounded by the chalk hills of the Dorset Downs, which rise to Template:Convert at West Hill to the north.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Pathfinder Series, Sheet ST 40/50 Crewkerne & Beaminster, published 1984</ref> Measured directly, the village is Template:Convert northeast of Bridport, Template:Convert northwest of Dorchester and Template:Convert south of Yeovil in Somerset.<ref>Bartholomew 1:100,000 National Map Series, Sheet 4 Dorset, published by John Bartholomew & Son Ltd, 1980. Template:ISBN</ref>
Communications stationEdit
In November 1939 the BBC acquired Template:Convert of land on Rampisham Down, a hill southwest of the village. It became the location of one of the main transmitters of the BBC World Service in Europe until it was shut in 2011. There were 26 transmitter pylons on the down.
It is now the home for a small business park,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> with 2 pylons left on site, one used as a home for nesting Peregrine Falcons.