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Spetisbury

Spetisbury

This parish is a union of three former manors: two, Spetisbury in the north-west and Crawford Magna in the south-east of the present parish, are mentioned in Domesday Book; the other manor was Middlestreet. The village extends along the south-west bank of the River Stour, about three miles south-east of Blandford Forum and comprises 2,249 acres. During the 18th century all three manors became the property of Francis Fane (1752-1813) He took over his father’s parliamentary seat and was MP for Lyme Regis until1780, subsequently winning the parliamentary election for Dorchester in 1790.

The Iron Age fort known as Spetisbury Rings (or Crawford Castle) extends to five acres and appears to be unfinished; it overlooks the village and the River Stour. During the construction of a railway cutting in 1857 eighty skeletons were uncovered and a further forty skeletons were recovered the following year. Objects from the grave included iron spear-heads; an iron sword; a twisted iron torque; two bronze chapes; currency bars; a bronze cauldron; bucket handles; spiral finger rings, and two brooches. A fragment of Roman shield binding and the fact that at least two of the bodies came to a violent end suggests that the occupants of the grave were victims of the advancing Roman army. Hence, the grave may be comparable with the ‘war-cemetery’ at Maiden Castle. The uncompleted strengthening of the defences is presumably associated with the Roman advance.

In the village there are many examples of cottages dating from the 18th century and some fine houses including Johns House, formerly the Rectory – a good example of early 18th century domestic architecture. Nearby is Crawford House, which dates from the same period but during the 19th century it was extended and most of the interior altered. Part of the village, including some old cottages, was destroyed in 1905 when a fire that started in the bakery spread out of control.

The Parish Church of St. John stands at the north-west end of the village. The church was extensively restored in 1858 and 1868 but the columns of the nave arcade are original and date to the 12th or early 13th century. The walls of the church are built of flint, interspersed with large, roughly squared blocks having ashlar dressings. The tower dates from the 15th or early 16th century; there are five bells. Notable features are a canopied mural table-tomb of 1599 to a Tudor Knight, Sir John Boyer, a richly carved 17th century oak pulpit and a medieval font.

Middlestreet Manor House was home to the Augustinian Sisters of St. Monica from 1800 and there followed other religious orders. In 1861 twelve nuns travelled from Portugal to England and settled at Spetisbury.

Crawford Bridge carries the road from Spetisbury to Tarrant Crawford over the River Stour. It has nine arches of coursed rubble and ashlar; at the north end are three narrow land arches of brick. The west side of the bridge is medieval but the east side was rebuilt when the road was widened in 1819. The first record of the bridge was in  1334.

The village name roughly translated from the Anglo-Saxon means: ‘The ancient earthwork visited by the green woodpecker.’