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The small village with a population of just over a hundred lies in the valley of the winding river Yeo (which rises nearby to the north)
in the quiete rural north-western corner of Dorset.
The main body of the village lies to the north of the busy A30 connecting Milborne Port and Sherborne en-route from London to the south-west,
with a cluster of cottages and Old St Cuthberts Chancel on the main road.
The present parish church was built in 1862 on land donated for the purpose by Caius College, Cambridge, who have owned Oborne since the dissolution of the monasteries in the sixteenth century, when the old parish church built by Sherborne Abbey in 1533 at the southern end of the village became ruinous.
The interior is very simple apart from the elaborate chancel arch, stone pulpit and font.
The name Oborne derives from the Old English 'woh ' and 'burna', meaning crooked (or winding) stream - a reference to the river Yeo which rises to the north of the village and gives yeovil its name. Oborne appears in early documents as 'Womburnham' in 975, 'Wocburne' in 1086 and 'Woburn' in 1212 before the modern form is recorded in a document of 1479.
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POPULATION
1921 1931 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991
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110 97 135 115 120 130 110
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Oborne was granted by the Saxon King Edgar (959-975) in 970 to Sherborne Abbey, only a mile away and then a cathedral, in memory of Alfred the Great's (c.871-c.901) elder brothers, both of whom ruled Wessex before him and were buried at the Abbey. After the dissolution of the Abbey in the sixteenth century, it passed to Caius College, Cambridge.
The civil war between king and parliament brought a number of skirmishes to this secluded rural part of Dorset and it was during such a skirmish at Oborne on April 29th, 1645 that 'Morice Lee, an Irish soldier' was killed.
Baldwin Malet was killed by the Roundheads in a skirmish just outside nearby Poyntington, aged only nineteen; Sir Thomas Malet, a judge, was imprisoned in the Tower of London by order of Parliament.
What is now part of the modern A30 linking London with the south-west was turnpiked in 1753 when the White Post Toll-House was built.
In 1778, Robert Goadby was buried in the small churchyard of St Cuthbert's Church. He was the publisher of the influential Sherborne Mercury newspaper, precursor of the modern Western Gazette.
The parish was formerly in the county of Somerset; it was moved to Dorset in 1896.
Since the Poor Law of 1601, care of the destitute, aged or sick fell on the parish and was administered by the Overseers of the Poor. The parish provided 'indoor relief' within the parish workhouse. The inefficiency of each parish providing for its own poor was remedied in 1834 by the Poor Law Amendment Act which allowed parishes to join together in 'Parish Unions' to provide relief.
The poor of six Somerset parishes (Goathill, Marston Magna, Poyntington, Rimpton, Sandford Orcas and Trent) were thus sent to the workhouse in Sherborne in neighbouring Dorset under an irregular and possibly illegal arrangement. Its was inevitable that the arrangement would cause arguments, is it did towards the end of the 19th century.
The arrangement, which had been in place for some fifty years, came to the notice of the Boundary Commission in 1888 as it was working towards the Local Government Act which would replace the old Hundreds with County Councils and Rural District Councils. The Commission recommended that the six parishes should be transferred to Dorset.
Area and Boundaries Committee of Somerset agreed that the parishes of Goathill, Poyntington and Sandford Orcas should be transferred to Dorset but argued that Marston Magna, Rimpton and Trent "were well within easy distance of Yeovil and had at all times and without any inconvenience or complaint been included in the Yeovil Highway District and Yeovil Petty Sessional Division, the town being their natural town and place of business." and so should be retained in Somerset. Marston Magna and Rimpton remain in Somerset but the parishioners of Trent appealed the decision and the parish was transferred to Dorset in 1896.
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Speeding along the A30 one might be forgiven for missing the village of Osbore whose stone cottages follow the course of the stream which is the river Yeo northwards excepting for the handfull of cottages on the south side of the road and the remains of Old St Cuthbert's Chancel standing above the road which beckons the eye with its obvious antiquity.
OLD St CUTHBERT's CHANCEL
The chancel to the south side of the main road is all that remains of the old
parish church dedicated to St Cuthbert since the nave was pulled down in the
19th century when the new church, to the north of the road, was erected within fourty days
of the foundations being laid. A service is still held here once a year on Trinity Sunday.
970 | | King Edgar grants Oborne to Sherborne Abbey | | | 975 | | Oborne in Dorset mentioned as Womburnham | | | 1086 | | Oborne in Dorset recorded as Wocburne | | | 1212 | | Oborne in Dorset mentioned as Woburn | | | 1479 | | Oborne in Dorset appears in a document with the name in its modern form | | | 1645.Apr.29 | | Morice Lee, an Irish soldier, killed during a skirmish at Oborne, Dorset | | | 1753 | | What is now the A30 turnpiked between Sherborne and Milborne Port in Dorset The White Post Toll-House built at Oborne | | | 1778 | | Death of Robert Goadby, publisher of the influential Sherborne Mercury newspaper, at Oborne, Dorset The Sherborne Mercury was the precursor of the modern Western Gazette | | | 1862 | | The present parish church built at Oborne, Dorset | | | 1896 | | The Somerset parishes of Goathill, Hummer, Oborne, Poyntington, Sandford Orcas and Trent transferred to Dorset | | |
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| | | OTHER PLACES | | Sherborne Old Castle Dorset, England The castle, built by a medieaval Bishop of Sherborne became the home of
Sir Walter Raleigh | 1.5 km SW | | Sherborne New Castle Dorset, England The
new castle built by Sir Walter Raleigh when he found the Old Castle not
to his liking | 2 km SW | | Sherborne Abbey Dorset, England The abbey church was a cathedral church for many centuries after King
Ine of Wessex established a see here and made his kinsman St Aldhelm the first
bishop | 2.6 km SW | | Sandford Orcas Manor House Sandford Orcas, Vale Of Blackmore, Dorset,
England The ancient manor house, open to the public
during the summer months, is reputed to be haunted | 4 km NW | | Cornford Bridge nr. Holwell, Dorset, England A scheduled National Monument, the bridge consists of three Gothic
arches | 7.3 km SE | | Boyles School High Street, Yestminster, Vale Of Blackmore, Dorset, England The 17th century scientist Robert Boyle who lived
nearby at Stalbridge endowed the school to teach twenty poor boys of Chetnowle,
Leigh and Yetminster | 9.9 km SW | | | | Hotels | The Grange Hotel Oborne, Dorset DT9 4LA | | 0.1 km E | | Antelope Hotel Greenhill, Dorset DT9 4EP | | 2.4 km SE | | Eastbury Hotel Long St, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3BY | | 2.4 km SE | | Cross Keys Hotel 88 Cheap St, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3BJ | | 2.6 km SE | | The Half Moon Inn Half Moon St, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3LN | | 2.7 km SE | | Britannia Inn Westbury, Dorset DT9 3EH | | 2.8 km SE | | Sherborne Hotel Horsecastles Lane, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 6BB | | 3.4 km SE | | | | Public Houses | | The Gainsborough Arms 74 Gainsborough, Milborne Port, Dorset DT9 5BB | | 1.5 km NW | | The Mermaid Sherborne, Dorset DT9 4JD | | 2.1 km SE | | The Queens Head High St, Milborne Port, Dorset DT9 5DQ | | 2.3 km NW | | The George Hotel Higher Cheap St, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3JD | | 2.4 km SE | | The White Hart 2 Cheap St, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3PX | | 2.5 km SE | | Swan Inn Cheap St, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3AX | | 2.5 km SE | | Plume of Feathers Half Moon St, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3LN | | 2.7 km SE | | Digby Tap Cooks Lane, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3NS | | 2.7 km SE | | Skippers 1 Terrace View, Horsecastles, Dorset DT9 3HE | | 3.2 km SE |
GOATHILL,
Dorset
The rural hamlet, a mile south of
the A30 possesses little church on a mound overlooking the valley and once possessed a
mill which has since been converted into a residence.
MILBORNE PORT,
Somerset
No less than six watermills recorded in Domesday powered the woollen and flax industry here. The
prosperity earned medieval Milborne its
covetted charter of incorporation as a borough. Two centuries ago, cloth-making gave way to leather.
Rightly a 'town', this large but compact village often possesses an almost film set like atmosphere
and rewards the visitor exploring on foot most abundantly. Its tiny outlying hamlet of
Milborne Wick is the picture of a rural
England now two centuries passed.
SHERBORNE,
Dorset
The ancient capital of Wessex, Sherborne was established as
the kingdom's cathedral city. When the see was moved to Old Sarum, the cathedral became an
Sherborne Abbey and, after the
dissolution the abbey church
became the town's famous parish church. Very much a thriving modern town, cars seem oddly out of place
in this ancient setting. Sir Walter Raleigh recieved the
fortified Biship's Palace on the
northern edge of the town from a grateful Queen Elizabeth but found the
'Old' Castle none to his liking -
he built the 'New' Castle in its
grounds instead.
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