Editing Milton Abbas (section)

==History==
In 1780, [[Joseph Damer, 1st Earl of Dorchester|Joseph Damer]], Lord Milton, the first [[Earl of Dorchester]] and owner of [[Milton Abbey]], decided that the adjacent market town, [[Milton, Dorset|Middleton]], was disturbing his vision of rural peace. He commissioned [[architect]] Sir [[William Chambers (architect)|William Chambers]] and [[landscape gardener]] [[Capability Brown]] (both of whom had already worked on the Abbey building and grounds) to design a new village, Milton [[Abbas (name)|Abbas]], in a wooded valley (Luccombe Bottom) to the southeast of the Abbey. Most of the existing villagers were relocated here, and the previous village was demolished and the site landscaped.

The 36 almost identical [[thatched]] cottages were intended to house two families each. They were built from [[Cob (material)|cob]] and previously were painted yellow, with each house fronted by a lawn; originally a [[Aesculus hippocastanum|horse chestnut]] tree was planted between each dwelling.<ref name=Gant>{{cite book|title=Dorset Villages|author=Roland Gant|publisher=Robert Hale Ltd|page=86|year=1980|ISBN=0 7091 8135 3}}</ref> [[Almshouse]]s and a church were also provided for the new village, sited opposite each other. The almshouses were moved from the old town, where they had originally been built in 1674. The church, consecrated in 1786, is in Georgian Gothic style, with late 19th-century additions.<ref name=Gant/>

The word 'Abbas' used here as part of a place name ( another example would be the English village of Compton Abbas). The name usually relates to land previously owned by an abbess (the head of an abbey of nuns).

Some house-names give clues to some of the original inhabitants of the village: [[baker]], [[blacksmith]], [[brewery]], etc. Today the houses are white-washed, and the main street also features a [[public house]] (the ''Hambro Arms''), a Post Office/shop, the Tea Clipper Tea Rooms, a now redundant [[school]] building, and a [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain)|Wesleyan]] chapel. In 1953 the original horse chestnut trees were judged unsafe and a danger to the houses and removed.<ref name=Gant/> Above the eastern end of the valley, the village has been extended with more modern housing and other facilities, including a [[doctor's office|doctor's surgery]].