England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Winterborne Came St Peter

The Parish

The parish of Winterborne Came lies in southern Dorset roughly 2 miles southeast of the county town of Dorchester. Winterborne Came sits just under a half mile west of the A352 road which connects Dorchester with Wareham. Winterborne Came is an estate parish, a closed parish where all land was held by a single landholder and discouraged inbound migration thus no formal village was created. Winterborne Came has scattered farms and cottages across its wider acreage but most land lies within the estate of Came House. Came House is described by Pevsner as "the mid-18th century masterpiece of a provincial master-mason, Francis Cartwright". Of historical interest the wider parish carries many examples of tumuli and barrows, as well as the deserted medieval village of Winterborne Farringdon showing a long history of human occupation. Like most estate parishes the local economy was dominated by the needs of the estate, early gazetteers estimate equal proportions of arable, pasture and managed woodland. Winterborne Came is drained eastwards by the South Winterborne which soon meets the River Frome east of Dorchester, the latter eventually meets the English Channel through Poole Harbour. Winterborne Came is sited at around 50 metres above the sea but southern views are dominated by the chalk ridge which separates the area from the coastline, White Horse Hill, the highest point, touches 158 metres as  a billowing chalk down with a cut figure. Winterborne Came parish was a typical small rural one covering just 1,500 acres and supporting a population of around 150 parishioners. Winterborne Came is not mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Peter's church sits within the estate of Came House, it has been deconsecrated and is now manged by the Churches Conservation Trust. The church is entirely a product of the later medieval style of the Perpendicular albeit the main components are each dated to differing periods within that sweeping designation. The nave is earliest and from the later 14th century, it is followed in the early 15th century by the chancel with the western tower rounding things off and from the later 15th century. The very top of the tower represents a much later period when it was rare for major church-building due to religious strife, it being either from late-Tudor or early Jacobean periods  Pevsner fails to mention any significant Victorian restoration so if one occurred it was light and sensitive. The church sits northwest of the house sitting within a copse amongst fields, parking should comply with the wishes of the estate. Trees dominate the western side of the churchyard impeding views of the tower but all other angles are available to the photographer.