Okeford Fitzpaine

Okeford Fitzpaine

Okeford Fitzpaine, looking towards the parish church
Okeford Fitzpaine
 Okeford Fitzpaine shown within Dorset
Population 913 
OS grid referenceST806110
DistrictNorth Dorset
Shire countyDorset
RegionSouth West
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Police Dorset
Fire Dorset
Ambulance South Western
EU Parliament South West England
List of places
UK
England
Dorset

Coordinates: 50°53′53″N 2°16′36″W / 50.8981°N 2.2768°W

Okeford Fitzpaine /ˈoʊkfərd fɪtsˈpeɪn/ is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset, situated in the Blackmore Vale 3 miles (4.8 km) south of the town of Sturminster Newton in the North Dorset administrative district. It is sited on a thin strip of greensand under the scarp face of the Dorset Downs.[1] In the 2011 census the civil parish—which includes the hamlet of Belchalwell to the west and most of Fiddleford to the north—had 404 dwellings,[2] 380 households and a population of 913.[3]

In 1086 in the Domesday Book Okeford Fitzpaine was recorded as Adford;[4] it had 40 households, 16 ploughlands, 21 acres (8.5 ha) of meadow and 1 mill. It was in Sturminster Newton Hundred and the tenant-in-chief was Glastonbury Abbey.[5] Since then it has been known as "Aukford Alured" and "Ockford Phippin", the latter echoing the modern colloquial "Fippenny Ockford" and its shorthand, "Ockford".[6]

Within the parish are about 55 listed houses,[7] a green listed telephone box, and a tiny museum exhibiting the village's own early 19th-century fire engine and the World War II air-raid siren issued to the village post office. There is a small school, a public house and a village shop.

TV presenter Jack Hargreaves, known for having devised and presented How!, Out of Town and Old Country, lived at Belchalwell.

References

  1. ↑ Ralph Wightman (1983). Portrait of Dorset (4 ed.). Robert Hale Ltd. p. 136. ISBN 0 7090 0844 9.
  2. ↑ "Area: Okeford Fitzpaine (Parish). Dwellings, Household Spaces and Accommodation Type, 2011 (KS401EW)". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  3. ↑ "Area: Okeford Fitzpaine (Parish), Key Figures for 2011 Census: Key Statistics". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  4. ↑ "Dorset H-R". The Domesday Book Online. domesdaybook.co.uk. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  5. ↑ "Place: Okeford [Fitzpaine]". Open Domesday. domesdaymap.co.uk. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  6. ↑ Roland Gant (1980). Dorset Villages. Robert Hale Ltd. p. 50. ISBN 0 7091 8135 3.
  7. ↑ Search on Okeford Fitzpaine

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Okeford Fitzpaine.