Goathill is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the county of

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, situated in northern Dorset, a couple of miles east of the town of

Sherborne Sherborne is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in north west Dorset, in South West England. It is sited on the River Yeo (South Somerset), River Yeo, on the edge of the Blackmore Vale, east of Yeovil. The parish include ...

. It lies very close to the county boundary however, and for much of its history (until 1896) lay instead within the neighbouring county of

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, and has been described as being "just in Dorset by a nanny-goat's whisker". It remains part of the diocese of Bath and Wells. Goathill, together with the three village parishes of Poyntington, Castleton and Oborne, form a group of parishes that share a grouped parish council called Yeohead & Castleton Parish Council. The parish was part of the

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

of Horethorne. St Peter's church and a mill are the major buildings. Nearby is Goathill Quarry, a place of special scientific interest to geologists as it allows the

Fuller's earth Fuller's earth is a term for various clays used as an absorbent, filter, or bleaching agent. Products labeled fuller's earth typically consist of palygorskite (also known as attapulgite) or bentonite. Primary modern uses include as absorbents ...

layers to be established in relation to the

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

.English Nature citation sheet for the site
(accessed July 2009) Dorset County Council estimate that in 2013 Goathill parish had a population of 10. To the north, in Somerset, is the village of Milborne Port.

References

External links

{{Dorset Hamlets in Dorset Places formerly in Somerset Civil parishes in Dorset