Church of St Michael - Askerswell - geograph

Askerswell () is a small village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

in the

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of ...

in southwest England. It is sited on the small

River Asker The River Asker is a small river in Dorset, England. It rises on the chalk slopes of Eggardon Hill, approximately east of Bridport. It flows west-northwest through the villages of Askerswell to which it gives its name, Uploders, where many ...

. It lies west of the county town Dorchester. The parish has an area of and in the northeast includes the western slopes of

Eggardon Hill Eggardon Hill is a prehistoric hillfort on a hill in Dorset, England. It is located on chalk uplands approximately four miles to the east of the town of Bridport. The Hill Eggardon Hill stands above sea level and is classified as a Hump (hi ...

, including part of the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

hill fort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post- ...

close to its summit. In the 2011 census the civil parish had a population of 154.

Toponymy

The name Askerswell is derived from ''Osgar's Well'' or its

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and s ...

equivalent ''Asger's Well'', though local tradition is that Askers' Well is Dorset dialect for newts' well and refers to the name of the stream flowing through the village ("Askers" or the

History

In 1086 in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

Askerswell was recorded as ''Oscherwille''; it had 30 households, was in Eggardon Hundred and the lord and

tenant-in-chief In medieval and early modern Europe, the term ''tenant-in-chief'' (or ''vassal-in-chief'') denoted a person who held his lands under various forms of feudal land tenure directly from the king or territorial prince to whom he did homage, as opp ...

was

Tavistock Abbey Tavistock Abbey, also known as the Abbey of Saint Mary and Saint Rumon, is a ruined Benedictine abbey in Tavistock, Devon. Nothing remains of the abbey except the refectory, two gateways and a porch. The abbey church, dedicated to Our Lady and S ...

. Askerswell parish church has an early 15th-century west tower, but the rest of the building was rebuilt by Talbot Bury in 1858. There are twenty structures in the parish that are listed by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

for their historic or architectural interest. There are no structures listed as Grade I (the highest rating), but the parish church and South Eggardon Farmhouse are Grade II*.

Governance

In the United Kingdom national parliament Askerswell is in the West Dorset parliamentary constituency, which is currently represented by

Oliver Letwin Sir Oliver Letwin (born 19 May 1956) is a British politician, Member of Parliament (MP) for West Dorset from 1997 to 2019. Letwin was elected as a member of the Conservative Party, but sat as an independent after having the whip removed in Se ...

of the Conservative Party. In local government, Askerswell is governed by Dorset Council at the highest tier. At the parish level—the lowest tier—Askerswell does not have a parish council; instead it has a

parish meeting A parish meeting, in England, is a meeting to which all the electors in a civil parish are entitled to attend. In some cases, where a parish or group of parishes has fewer than 200 electors, the parish meeting can take on the role of a parish cou ...

. In national parliament and district council elections, Dorset is divided into several

electoral wards The wards and electoral divisions in the United Kingdom are electoral districts at sub-national level, represented by one or more councillors. The ward is the primary unit of English electoral geography for civil parishes and borough and distr ...

, with Askerswell being within Netherbury electoral ward. In county council elections, Askerswell is in the Bride Valley electoral division, one of 42 divisions that elect councillors to Dorset County Council.

Geography

Askerswell civil parish extends from the A35 trunk road on Askerswell Down in the south to the

hillfort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post- Rom ...

in the northeast and Knowle Hill in the northwest. Its altitude is between about where the River Asker leaves the parish in the west up to about on Eggardon Hill. The surrounding parishes are Loders to the west, Shipton Gorge to the southwest, Chilcombe to the south, Litton Cheney to the southeast and east, West Compton to the northeast and Powerstock to the north. All of Askerswell parish is within the Dorset

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of th ...

The local travel links are located from the village to Maiden Newton railway station and to

Exeter International Airport Exeter Airport , formerly ''Exeter International Airport'', is an international airport located at Clyst Honiton in East Devon, close to the city of Exeter and within the county of Devon, South West England. Exeter has a CAA Public Use Aero ...

. The main road running through the village is Hembury Road.

Demography

In the 2011 census Askerswell civil parish had 86 dwellings, 71 households and a population of 154. The average age of residents was 51.7, compared to 39.3 for England as a whole. 27.9% of residents were age 65 or over, compared to 16.4% for England as a whole.

Amenities

Askerswell village has a

village hall A village hall is a public building in a village used for various things such as: United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a village hall is usually a building which contains at least one large room (plus kitchen and toilets), is owned by a local ...

, located by the road to Spyway. There is also a village pub, first licensed in 1845 - The Spyway Inn.

References

External links

* {{authority control Villages in Dorset