Church of England Heritage Record Launched

An online database of the Church of England's 16,000 church buildings has been launched by ChurchCare and Historic England on 27th March 2015.

According to the Church of England, The new Church Heritage Record contains over 16,000 entries on church buildings in England, covering a wide variety of topics from architectural history and archaeology, to worship and the surrounding natural environment.

Churchcare have added that the Record is continuously updated and developed. If you think you would like to help out, or you know of an interesting project happening in your area, contact Julie Patenaude at julie.patenaude@churchofengland.org  .

For more information and to search the database, see the website https://facultyonline.churchofengland.org/churches

Great Dorset Steam Fair

The Great Dorset Steam Fair at Tarrant Hinton near Blandford starts today.  Despite the recent wet weather, the event looks to build on the enormous sucesses of previous years, welcoming many visitors into the Cranborne Chase AONB.

The steam fair has attracted thousands over the years in what is reputedly the largest collection of steam and vintage equipment to be seen anywhere in the world.

The show regularly attracts around 200,000 visitors, becoming the fifth largest population centre in Dorset.  What these visitors will see as they travel to the show is one of the most stunning historic landscapes of the Cranborne Chase.

Neolithic Long Barrow on Bokerley Down
Copyright Jim Champion

History

The road from Salisbury features wide ranging views as well as numerous neolithic remains.  Long Barrows are some of the earliest monumental features forming communal burial places for often disarticulated bone from multiple individuals. There are 39 long barrows known within the AONB.

You will also pass The Dorset Cursus as you travel along the A354.  With a date of around 3,300 BC, it is a nationally important Neolithic monument consisting of a of a pair of parallel banks (1.5 m tall) running about 82 m apart, with external ditches.

To find out more about the historical significance of the AONB, see the dedicated website:
www.historiclandscape.co.uk
This website provides an introduction to the history and archaeology of the fascinating landscape of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It also provides an introduction to historic landscape characterisation and explores how the AONB is conserving and enhancing this special heritage through Historic Environment Action Plans.

Landscape

Tarrant Hinton itself is set in a Chalk River Valley, with the River Tarrant being a tributory of the Stour and Avon.  The Tarrant rises in the heart of Cranborne Chase before flowing for about ten kilometres across the chalk.

Linear villages are a feature of these tributary valleys.

Most of the valley sides are shallow and have been exploited for the cultivation of arable crops or improved pasture.  However, some of the steeper valley sides still support unimproved chalk grassland or woodland. Linear villages are a feature of these tributary valleys, containing cottages of locally distinctive materials, most notably red brick and flint with thatch.

The rest of the site of the Steam Fair is in a landscape type known as the 'Southern Downland Belt' - a large scale open landscape of broad rolling hills forming a gentle chalk dipslope.  It is a colourful landscape being rich with a range of arable crops and associated seasonal changes.  There are few settlements, with farm buildings being sacttered at low density throughout the area.

Villages of the Tarrant Valley

The eight Tarrant Valley villages all bear the name of the river:

• Tarrant Gunville: the source of the river is in the grounds of Gunville House, now demolished
• Tarrant Hinton: a village at a crossroads, with a parish church
• Tarrant Launceston: a hamlet with a 3-arched 17th-century bridge.
• Tarrant Monkton: a village with a parish church
• Tarrant Rawston: a very small settlement
• Tarrant Rushton: a village with a parish church. Near here was a World War II RAF airfield.
• Tarrant Keyneston: this is the largest village of the eight; has a parish church
• Tarrant Crawford, the final settlement, lies at the confluence of the rivers Tarrant and Stour. Here there is the church of St Mary the Virgin and Tarrant Abbey farm, where once stood a nunnery. There is also a vineyard here.

We hope that many of the visitors to the Steam Fair will enjoy travelling through the interesting and varied landscape of this part of the AONB, and perhaps visit some of the local villages and sites of interest while they are here.  The 'Discover the Area' section of our website has lots of details regarding what is on offer:
http://www.ccwwdaonb.org.uk/discover/discover.htm

Wylye Valley celebrates 100 years with local history society

The AONB was originally approached by this small local history society, a sub-group of the very active Codford Local History Society, as they wanted to work with the AONB to produce materials that helped document the military activity between Longbridge Deverill and Codford circa 1914-1919. 

The Study

Several very good books had already been published about the Codford area at the time of the First World War. The history group wanted to commemorate the centenary of the start of the Great War in 1914, 100 years on in the summer of 2014 and the sudden dramatic social and practical effects this had on the local Wiltshire population.

The arrival of the overwhelming numbers of troops signaled the end of the old peacetime era. Turmoil hit the villages which never resumed their original social posture. This study seeks to reveal the changes that occurred, to uncover the views of the local people, and of the soldiers towards them. All ages are involved and the group has been very active in the support of local school children which will all culminate with a great calendar of events over the period of the Centenary in 2014.

Think about it

The Wiltshire villages involved are: Longbridge Deverill, Sutton Veny, Heytesbury, Corton, Boyton, Upton Lovell and Codford. Many farm horses were requisitioned at harvest time (and young soldiers helped); local men flocked to the colours and left the area; tents were all very fine till the rains came (no floors and floods and mud were the norm). How to organise the feeding (no spoons!), accommodation (not enough tents), medical care (one village doctor), command (scarcely any officers or NCOs), training and a thousand other aspects: this is our topic. We need your help.

Your part in it

Please explore their web site which showcases a host of activities occurring in the area during July and August. The showcase will be the weekend of activities on July 26th and 27th where the interpretive display map of 8m x 3m will be on display along with other activities such as a short film, photographs and models. www.wylyevalley1914.org.uk  

How did we go about it?

We are proud to have supported this local group both through SDF funding and through our GIS wizard Harry Bell's expertise who compiled the digitised map along with the help of Emma at Wyvern Heritage, and Richard Broadway.

After relevant 1920's black and white OS digital map tiles were purchased, work began on digitising the location of the camps and associated huts, tents, military hospitals and railways.

In addition to the many hours spent digitising information from paper copies, it was decided that the OS backdrop was a bit bland, and the rivers, roads and woodlands/marsh features were painstakingly coloured in as well.

An extract of the final poster is below. The map info layers are available to anyone upon request (excluding the OS maps). It is interesting to switch from the map in Mapinfo into Google Earth as it really brings the information alive, and if overlaid onto aerial photography some of the features on the ground such as ditches and roads can still be seen.

The final display map is printed on cloth and includes photographs and commentary that demonstrates how the military used this area as a military base with hospitals and training grounds covering iro 20miles square.

 

War Memorials Grant Scheme (England)

English Heritage and the Wolfson Foundation, in association with Friends of War Memorials, are providing grants for the repair and conservation of free-standing war memorials in England. These grants are intended to help those who are responsible for the upkeep of war memorials. The grants are designed to support the care and preservation of war memorials to a high standard, and to prevent the decay of this important part of our built heritage. Grants will normally be for up to a maximum of 75% of eligible costs, with a maximum grant of £30,000. The next closing date for applications is the 30th June 2014. Read more at: http://www.warmemorials.org/grantsforwarmemorials/