Yeohead & Castleton Parish Council
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Yeohead & Castleton Parish Council Keeping you informed ...
-> Parishes |
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Castleton - Goathill - Oborne - Poyntington
The civil parish of Castleton draws its name from the two Sherborne castles. If anything could be said to form the core of the parish it would be the old castle, currently managed by English Heritage. In fact, the parish extends as a ring almost completely encircling the town of Sherborne, but has even fewer amenities than any of the other villages in the group. It doesn't even have a parish church - the Church of St Mary Magdalene, Castleton, nestling in the shadow of the castle, lies in Sherborne, although it should be said that the old St Cuthbert's Chancel on the London Road, once Oborne's parish church, is within Castleton's boundary! It covers 1,976 hectares and has 53 dwellings with 111 electors. There are 19 distinct settlements within the parish, and the largest of these consists of 7 properties.
Goathill is a tiny parish that abuts on the eastern end of Sherborne Castle Estates, and consists of just 8 homes. The industry is farming and because of its location most of the residents would probably regard Milborne Port, in Somerset, rather than Sherborne, as the nearest local centre; in Milborne Port there are a Post Office, shops, pubs and a range of commercial enterprises.
Oborne, physically, is an unusual village. It could be describes as having three distinct elements. About ¼ mile north of the A30 is probably the village centre, as it has a Victorian parish church, and clustered around it several former farm houses, an Edwardian gentleman's residence that is now a hotel and restaurant, a splendid Victorian rectory and the oldest house in the village, the 16th century former village school. Most of these buildings lie within the village's conservation area. To the south, as the village road winds past the water meadow to the main road, there is a ribbon of 12 post-war houses that are now a mixture of owner-occupied and Housing Association properties. Along the southern side of the A30 is the 1533 St Cuthbert's Chancel. This is what remains of the old parish church and was restored by the then rector in the 1930's and is now managed by the Historic Churches Trust. To the east of the chancel up the hill towards the railway bridge there are a few cottages, some dating back to the 18th century, and a Grade II listed thatched farmhouse. The 2004 electoral roll shows there are 44 properties within the parish including 5 that are outside the main cluster of the village. This is not remarkably different from the figures in the 1801 census (Oborne is one of the few communities fortunate to have such a record still extant.
In 1928, the Rev. A. H. Bell described Poyntington as an "exceedingly picturesque and pleasing Parish." Now, nearly 80 years later, a period of steady evolution, it can still be described as such. In 1896 it was transferred from Somerset to Dorset, the boundary lying along the top of the beautiful Poyntington Hill which overlooks the headwaters of the River Yeo. The only buildings remaining from the medieval village are the Court House and the Manor which overlook the centre of the village together with the 14th C All Saints Church, the Old Rectory, the Tithe Barn and farm buildings. The parish consists of 58 properties, of which 20 lie within the conservation area in the centre of the village. There are also developments on the south-east side leading to Hillside Farm, on the north side and in Washingpool which is a mix of owner-occupied and Housing Association properties. |
Please contact us at:-Mike Fraser, The Parish Clerk, Church Farm Cottage, Oborne, Dorset, DT9 4JY Tel: 01935 816537 Email: yeohead@dorsetparishes.gov.uk
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