England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Horton St Wolfreda

The Parish

The parish of Horton lies in eastern Dorset roughly 6 miles north of the town of Wimborne Minster. Horton sits just over a mile east of the B3078 road which links Wimborne Minster with the Hampshire town of Fordingbridge. Horton is a small junction village with most properties gathered around its "T" junction, whilst that village gives its name to the parish it is by far from being the largest settlement within it, to the north lies the hamlet of Haythorne and the village and chapelry of Woodlands (it was not licensed for marriages during the period of this project) whilst to the southeast lies Horton Heath. The name of the latter gives the clue to the nature of the landscape, a heathland similar in many respects to that within the New Forest which lies across the River Crane in Hampshire. Sparse grazing for pigs and sheep, poor soils for limited arable and much exploitation of the heath and woodland patches for their products such as for besoms, hurdles and poles. Horton has an early history as the location of an Abbey founded by the Earl of Devonshire in 970 which became a Benedictine priory sunsidiary to that of Sherborne. Horton is drained southwards by a tributary of the Moors River which is joined at Trickett's Cross in turn the Moors River meets the Stour on the outskirts of Bournemouth to flow into the English Channel through Christchurch Harbour. Horton is sited at around 40 metres above the sea with gentle terrain on the heaths rising occasionally towards 60 metres. Horton parish was a large one it covered almost 4,000 acres including Woodlands chapelry and supporting a population of around 450 parishioners. Two manors returned assets to Domesday Book, that for Horton, in the hands of its Abbey, offered just 3 ploughs, small meadows, pastures & woodland but also held a mill, by contrast the settlement of Knowlton, nowadays merely a hamlet on the B3078, held by King William was vastly larger offering 20 ploughs, meadows & pastures 30 leagues of woodland and 4 mills, a very wealthy holding now almost disappeared.

The Church

St Wolfreda's church, sometimes spelt Woldfrida, sits on the site of the dissolved priory enclosed in a fork of lanes at the main junction of the village. Whilst the is some fabric remaining from the 12th or 13th century it is minimal and lies in the northern wall of the chancel, otherwise all is faced in brick. The story of the church is one of ruin and rebuild, by 1720 it was reported that the church was a ruin, shortly afterwards rebuilding began. By 1723 the tower curiously place in the angle between the nave and the northern transept had been completed and it is as curious as its placement, instead of a spire there is a pyramid and it has pedimented dormers as lucarnes, a most unusual piece. The long northern transept reused much of the original stonework and was completed in 1755, equally unusually it has a doorway with Tuscan pilasters. The church is thus an idiosyncratic one and not all appreciated its merits, it was called by a gentleman named Hutchens "a very ugly edifice", beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder. The lane heading south from the junction, Welchnut Cottages, has a broad verge north of the gates for safe parking. the church is reached by sandy tracks which approach the west or from an alternative to the northeast, sadly for the photographer it is placed tight to the southern edges with all of the favoured aspects removed, views from the north are, of course, subject to sunlight conditions.