Orcheston ) is a

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 ...

and village in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

, England, lying on

Salisbury Plain Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies within the county of Wiltshire, but st ...

less than a mile north-west of neighbouring

Shrewton Shrewton is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, around west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. It lies on the A360 road between Stonehenge and Tilshead. It is close to the source of ...

. The present-day parish combines the two former parishes of Orcheston St Mary and Orcheston St George and includes the hamlet of Elston.

History and description

The manor is recorded in the 1086

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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

with the spelling ''Orcestone'' in three entries and ''Orchestone'' in a fourth. The two civil parishes of Orcheston, based on the two

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

es of St Mary and St George, were united into a single civil parish in 1934 and into a single ecclesiastical parish in 1971. The parish gives its name to the 'Orcheston long grass' (''Agrostis stolonifera''), also called 'Creeping Bent', the most commonly used species of

Agrostis ''Agrostis'' (bent or bentgrass) is a large and very nearly Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan genus of plants in the Poaceae, grass family, found in nearly all the countries in the world. It has been bred as a Genetically modified organis ...

. The Rough-Stalked Meadow Grass (''

Poa trivialis ''Poa trivialis'' (rough bluegrass; ''UK:'' rough-stalked meadow-grass or rough meadow-grass), is a perennial plant regarded in the US as an ornamental plant. It is part of the grass family. Description It is very common in meadows and pasture ...

''), is also called Orcheston Grass, and in the early 19th century there was something of a controversy among botanists as to which was the true Orcheston Grass. The source of the River Till is near the village; the entire river is a

biological Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

(SSSI). As of 2009, Orcheston contains about sixty-five houses, of which twenty-six are

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

s, and has a single parish council. Almost all local government services are provided by the

Wiltshire Council Wiltshire Council, known between 1889 and 2009 as Wiltshire County Council, is the Local government in England, local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Wiltshire (district), Wiltshire in South West England, and has its headquarters a ...

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

Churches

St Mary's Church dates from the 13th century and is

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

. In 1971 the benefice was united with those of

Chitterne Chitterne is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, in the south west of England. The village lies in the middle of Salisbury Plain, about east of the town of Warminster. The Chitterne Brook, a small ...

and

Tilshead Tilshead () is a village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire in Southern England, about northwest of the town of Amesbury. It is close to the geographical centre of Salisbury Plain, on the A360 road approximately midway between the vi ...

; today the church is part of the Salisbury Plain benefice, which also includes the churches at

. St George's Church is also from the 13th century and also Grade II* listed. Having been declared redundant in 1982, it is in the care of the

Churches Conservation Trust The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...

Notable people

Maurice Roy Ridley (1890–1969), writer and poet, Fellow and Chaplain of

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

, was born in Orcheston.

Dorothy L. Sayers Dorothy Leigh Sayers ( ; 13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957) was an English crime novelist, playwright, translator and critic. Born in Oxford, Sayers was brought up in rural East Anglia and educated at Godolphin School in Salisbury and Somerv ...

is reputed to have based the appearance of her fictional detective

Lord Peter Wimsey Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey (later 17th Duke of Denver) is the fictional protagonist in a series of detective novels and short stories by Dorothy L. Sayers (and their continuation by Jill Paton Walsh). A amateur, dilettante who solves myst ...

on him.

Mick Channon Michael Roger Channon (born 28 November 1948) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward and represented the England national team in the 1970s. Scoring over 250 goals in his career, mainly for Southampton, he becam ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

and

racehorse trainer A horse trainer is a person who tends to horses and teaches them different disciplines. Some responsibilities trainers have are caring for the animals' physical needs, as well as teaching them good behaviors and/or coaching them for events, which ...

, was born in the village.

Bibliography

*'Orcheston St George' in ''A History of the County of Wiltshire'', Volume XIX (work in progress) *Peter Daniels, ''Around Amesbury in old photographs'' (1990)

References

External links

Orcheston Parish Council
*
Orcheston St Mary
at genuki.org.uk
Orcheston St George
at genuki.org.uk
Salisbury Diocesan Guild of Ringers, Orcheston, St George
at sdgr.org.uk {{authority control Villages in Wiltshire Civil parishes in Wiltshire