Langton Herring 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
A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
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 ...
in
South West England
South West England, or the South West of England, is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England in the United Kingdom. Additionally, it is one of four regions that altogether make up Southern England. South West England con ...
. It lies about north-west of the
coastal resort town of
Weymouth. It is "prudently set on a ridge above the Fleet", the Fleet being a
brackish
Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...
lagoon behind
Chesil Beach
Chesil Beach (also known as Chesil Bank) in Dorset, England, is one of three major shingle beach structures in Britain.A. P. Carr and M. W. L. Blackley, "Investigations Bearing on the Age and Development of Chesil Beach, Dorset, and the Associ ...
.
Dorset County Council estimate that in 2013 the population of the civil parish was 120.
[ In the 2011 census the population of the parish combined with the small parish of Fleet to the south was 240.
The name of the village comes from the Old English 'Lang + tun' meaning 'long farmstead or estate' with the 13th Century 'Harang' family affix, from their time as Lords of the Manor. Literature in the church records that all the men of Langton Herring returned from both World Wars, making it one of only a handful of doubly Thankful Villages in the country, and the only village in Dorset to be spared fatalities in the Great War.
Just over half a mile to the east of the village, by the B3157 road, is Langton Cross, a ]medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
stone monolith, which is missing the top arm.
Langton Herring had a public house ' The Elm Tree Inn', a historic building dating back approximately 400 years, which has been closed since 2023.
Notable people
* April FitzLyon
* Stephen Harris (painter)
References
External links
Langton Herring local history
Villages in Dorset
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