Tollard Royal
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Tollard Royal 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 ...
on
Cranborne Chase Cranborne Chase () is an area of central southern England, straddling the counties Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. It is part of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The area is dominated by, ...
,
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. The parish is on Wiltshire's southern boundary with
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 ...
and the village is southeast of the Dorset town of
Shaftesbury Shaftesbury () is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is on the A30 road, west of Salisbury, Wiltshire, Salisbury and north-northeast of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester, near the border with Wiltshire. It is the only significant hi ...
, on the B3081 road between Shaftesbury and
Sixpenny Handley Sixpenny Handley or Handley is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Sixpenny Handley and Pentridge, in north east Dorset, England, situated on Cranborne Chase north east of Blandford Forum. In the 2011 census the parish ...
.


History

Evidence of prehistoric occupation in the area includes a
bowl barrow A bowl barrow is a type of burial mound or tumulus. A barrow is a mound of earth used to cover a tomb. The bowl barrow gets its name from its resemblance to an upturned bowl. Related terms include ''cairn circle'', ''cairn ring'', ''howe'', ''ker ...
, reduced by ploughing, in the west of the parish on Woodley Down. Nearby is a linear earthwork straddling the county border, which is truncated by the
Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...
from Badbury to
Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...
; a separate 480m section of the road survives as earthworks, with the flint road surface visible in places. On Berwick Down in the north of the parish a late
Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
farmstead was replaced by a
Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...
settlement.
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 ...
in 1086 recorded 31 households at ''Tollard''. Much of the land was owned by Aiulf, whose other estates included Farnham in Dorset, immediately to the south. This was later reflected in the shape of the ancient parish, with land on both sides of the Wiltshire/Dorset border. The land in Dorset – including the hamlet of Tollard Farnham, and much of Farnham village but not its church – was merged in 1885 into
Farnham Farnham is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a tributary of the ...
civil parish. The 'Royal' suffix came into use in the 16th century, possibly because King John was overlord of part of the manor. The parish population peaked in the later 19th century, with 384 recorded at the 1871 census. Numbers fell to 280 by 1881, then declined for most of the 20th century, reaching a low of 92 at the 1981 census.


Landowners

Landowners included Sir Edward Bayntun (d. 1544), Sir James Stumpe (d. 1563) and Sir Matthew Arundell (d. 1598), whose son
Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...
was created
Baron Arundell of Wardour Baron Arundell of Wardour, in the County of Wiltshire, was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1605 for Thomas Arundell, known as "Thomas the Valiant", son of Sir Matthew Arundell (died 1598) and grandson of Sir Thomas Arun ...
in 1605. The Tollard estate continued in the Arundell family until circa 1819, when the 10th Baron sold most of the Wiltshire land to
George Pitt, 2nd Baron Rivers George Pitt, 2nd Baron Rivers (19 September 1751 – 20 July 1828) was a British politician and militia officer who sat in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1774 to 1790. Born in Angers, France, he was the only son of George Pitt, 1st ...
(d. 1828). It passed to his nephew, the notorious gambler Horace Beckford, who then took the surname Pitt-Rivers. On the death in 1880 of his son, also
Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...
, the estate was inherited by a cousin, Augustus Lane-Fox, who also adopted the Pitt Rivers name. Augustus Pitt Rivers had a long military career, retiring in 1882 with the rank of Lt General. By then he was already known as an
ethnologist Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). Scien ...
and antiquarian, and among the first scientific archaeologists; from the mid-1880s he investigated sites around the estate, including those at Rotherley Down, South Lodge and Woodcutts. His ethnological collections form the basis of Oxford's
Pitt Rivers Museum Pitt Rivers Museum is a museum displaying the archaeological and anthropological collections of the University of Oxford in England. The museum is located to the east of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and can only be accessed ...
, and
The Salisbury Museum The Salisbury Museum (previously The Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum) is a museum in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. It houses one of the best collections relating to Stonehenge and local archaeology. The museum is housed in The King's Ho ...
has a collection of his archaeological material. The estate descended in the Pitt-Rivers family until the death in 1999 of
Michael Pitt-Rivers Major Michael Augustus Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers (27 May 1917 – December 1999) was a British military officer and landowner who gained notoriety in Britain in the 1950s when he was put on trial charged with buggery. This trial was instrumental ...
, then passed to his partner William Gronow-Davis (d. 2015).


Religious sites


Parish church

The earliest known record of the
Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...
of St. Peter ad Vincula dates from 1291. Early English style features that survive from this time include the tower arch, a doorway and several windows, including two in the
nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
. The bell tower was built after a gift of £10 for the purpose in 1412. The earliest record of the church's dedication to St. Peter ad Vincula (''"St Peter in Chains"'') dates from 1469. It is one of only 15 churches in England with this dedication, which is after the
Basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...
of
San Pietro in Vincoli San Pietro in Vincoli (; Saint Peter in Chains) is a Roman Catholic titular church and minor basilica in Rome, Italy. The church is on the Oppian Hill near Cavour metro station, a short distance from the Colosseum. The name alludes to the Bibl ...
in
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
. Late in the 15th and early in the 16th centuries extensive
Perpendicular Gothic Perpendicular Gothic (also Perpendicular, Rectilinear, or Third Pointed) architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four-ce ...
alterations were made to the church. The tower was rebuilt and the south porch and three-
bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...
north
aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...
were added and the nave was increased in height. A west gallery was added in 1714 and later removed, probably during rebuilding work in the 1850s. The works included rebuilding the north aisle, removing the
chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...
arch and blocking up the east window, causing Pevsner to describe the church as "much renewed". In 1966 the church was designated as Grade II* listed. Today the parish is part of the Chase Benefice, a group of nine on both sides of the Dorset/Wiltshire border. In 1553 the church had three bells and a
sanctus The ''Sanctus'' (, "Holy") is a hymn in Christian liturgy. It may also be called the ''epinikios hymnos'' (, "Hymn of Victory") when referring to the Greek rendition and parts of it are sometimes called "Benedictus". ''Tersanctus'' (Latin: "Thr ...
bell. One was recast by William Tosier of Salisbury in 1728 and another by Mears and Stainbank in 1882, but the third mediaeval bell still hung in the tower in 1927. Two more bells were cast by Mears and Stainbank and added to the tower in 1889. In 1999 the three Mears and Stainbank bells and the mediaeval bell were replaced with a
ring (The) Ring(s) may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell Arts, entertainment, and media Film and TV * ''The Ring'' (franchise), a ...
of six bells cast by the
Whitechapel Bell Foundry The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bells ...
. The 1728 bell has not been recast but it is no longer rung. The sanctus bell has also been retained; it was cast in Salisbury in about 1400.


Methodists

The parish had a
Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
congregation by 1773, and for several decades the Methodists worshipped in private homes licensed for the purpose. In 1879 a
Primitive Methodist The Primitive Methodist Church is a Christian denomination within the holiness movement. Originating in early 19th-century England as a revivalist movement within Methodism, it was heavily influenced by American evangelist Lorenzo Dow (1777–18 ...
chapel was built of brick; it was closed in 1957.


King John's House

The large house known as King John's House, just south of the church, which is a former
manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...
and later a farmhouse, has at its core a 13th-century
hall house The hall house is a type of vernacular house traditional in many parts of England, Wales, Ireland and lowland Scotland, as well as northern Europe, during the Middle Ages, centring on a hall. Usually timber-framed, some high status examples wer ...
. Remodelling in the 16th and 17th centuries added wings, in part timber-framed. Augustus Pitt Rivers restored and extended the house, and opened it to the public around 1890 as a museum, but by 1907 it was again a residence. Pevsner describes the house as "memorable". The house was designated as Grade II* listed in 1966, and is operated by the Rushmore Estate as a holiday let and a base for events such as weddings.


Amenities

Tollard Royal has a
public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...
, the King John Inn.
Sandroyd School Sandroyd School is an independent co-educational preparatory school for day and boarding pupils aged 2 to 13 in the south of Wiltshire, England. The school's main building is Rushmore House, a 19th-century country house which is surrounded by th ...
, an independent junior school, is near the village at Rushmore House. The nearest state schools are at Ludwell and Shaftesbury, the village's 19th-century National School having closed in 1962. Rotherley Downs, a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, is partly within the parish.


Larmer Tree Gardens

Augustus Pitt Rivers Lieutenant General Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers (14 April 18274 May 1900) was an English officer in the British Army, ethnologist, and archaeologist. He was noted for innovations in archaeological methodology, and in the museum display ...
, army officer and founder of modern
archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...
, created a
pleasure garden A pleasure garden is a park or garden that is open to the public for recreation and entertainment. Pleasure gardens differ from other public gardens by serving as venues for entertainment, variously featuring such attractions as concert halls, b ...
in 1880 within part of his Rushmore Estate to the south of Tollard Royal; the first private garden to be opened for public enjoyment in the United Kingdom. Following restoration in the 1990s, the Grade II* listed gardens are open to the public and are used for weddings and other events. The annual
Larmer Tree Festival Larmer Tree Festival was a three-day music, comedy and arts festival held annually from 1990 until 2019 at the Larmer Tree Gardens, near Tollard Royal on the Wiltshire-Dorset border in England. The 2020 festival was cancelled as a result of ...
of music and arts has been held there since 1990, and the End of the Road music festival since 2006.


Ashcombe Estate

Ashcombe House and its estate lies between Tollard Royal and Berwick St John, in Berwick parish. Photographer and designer
Cecil Beaton Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton (14 January 1904 – 18 January 1980) was a British fashion, portrait and war photographer, diarist, painter, and interior designer, as well as costume designer and set designer for stage and screen. His accolades ...
lived there between 1930 and 1945; it was bought by entertainer
Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...
and her then husband
Guy Ritchie Guy Stuart Ritchie (born 10 September 1968) is an English film director, producer and screenwriter known primarily for British comedy gangster films and large-scale action-adventure films. Ritchie left school at the age of 15, and worked in e ...
in 2002, and transferred to Ritchie in 2009 as part of their divorce settlement.


Notable people

William Thorne (d. 1630), Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford, was rector from 1601. Vere Temple (1898–1980), wildlife artist and
entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...
, lived at Tollard Royal for some time around 1951.


References


External links


Village website
{{authority control Villages in Wiltshire Civil parishes in Wiltshire