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Tarrant Keyneston

Dorset geography stubsVillages in Dorset
All Saints Church, Tarrant Keyneston geograph.org.uk 452191
All Saints Church, Tarrant Keyneston geograph.org.uk 452191

Tarrant Keyneston is a village and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is situated in the Tarrant Valley, five miles (eight kilometres) southeast of Blandford Forum. In the 2011 census the parish had 152 dwellings, 145 households and a population of 310.On the hills northwest of the village are the earthworks of Buzbury Rings (or Busbury Rings), the remains of an Iron Age and Romano-British fortified encampment or settlement, described by Sir Frederick Treves in 1905 as "a circle of entrenchments, composed of a stout vallum and a ditch". The outer enclosure covers about 10 acres (4 hectares) and within this is an inner enclosure, covering about 3 acres (1.2 hectares), which is the location of most of the finds from the site, including Roman pottery, animal bones and daub imprinted by wattles. The site has been much damaged by ploughing and by the road between Wimborne Minster and Blandford Forum, which crosses the site.The village's parish church has a 15th-century tower, though the rest of the building was rebuilt in 1852 by Thomas Henry Wyatt. The chancel of the earlier building contained an anchorite's cell. The Bishop of Salisbury Richard Poore is most likely to have been buried at Tarrant Keyneston in accordance with his wishes.Almost all of Tarrant Keyneston parish is within the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Tarrant Keyneston (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 50.8403 ° E -2.0985 °
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Address


DT11 9JE , Tarrant Keyneston
England, United Kingdom
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All Saints Church, Tarrant Keyneston geograph.org.uk 452191
All Saints Church, Tarrant Keyneston geograph.org.uk 452191
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Nearby Places

St Mary the Virgin, Tarrant Crawford
St Mary the Virgin, Tarrant Crawford

The Church of St Mary the Virgin in Tarrant Crawford, Dorset, England, was built in the 12th century. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is now a redundant church in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. It was vested in the Trust on 1 July 1988.The church is all that remains of Tarrant Abbey, for which it may have been a lay church. The Abbey was founded in the 13th century by Ralph de Kahaines (of nearby Tarrant Keyneston) as a Cistercian nunnery. The flint chancel, dates from the 12th century, with the nave, tower and porch being built in the 14th century. The 15th-century tower houses three bells, two of them medieval and one 17th century. The nave roof added in the early 16th century. In 1911 a major restoration of the church was undertaken. The interior includes several coffin lids from the 13th century. These have been moved from the Abbey and may relate to two of the famous people associated with it. The first is Queen Joan, the wife of Alexander II of Scotland and daughter of King John of England (Richard I's brother and successor) who is buried in the grave yard (supposedly in a golden coffin). The second is Bishop Richard Poore, builder of Salisbury Cathedral, who was baptised in the abbey church and later (in 1237) buried in the abbey, which he founded. He was at one time Dean of the old cathedral at Old Sarum, and later became bishop of first Chichester, then Salisbury and finally Durham.There are also 15th century stained glass, a font from the 16th century and an octagonal pulpit pews with moulded panelling from the 17th century. Mediaeval wall paintings cover most of the walls of the nave and chancel, dating from the 13th and 14th centuries. One set of pictures depicts the acts of St Margaret of Antioch. The Annunciation dates from the 14th century and shows the winged figure of Gabriel and the virgin. The south wall has two rows of paintings one above the other. The lower set show three kings or princes, and three skeletons, which are believed to represent "the emptiness of earthly rank and riches".Attendance at the church fell after World War II and it was declared redundant becoming the responsibility of the Churches Conservation Trust in 1988. £100,000 was spent on masonry repairs and make it weather-proof. Another £68,000 was spent between 2003 and 2007 to improve the drainage, eradicate death watch beetle and stabilise and re-roof the tower.

River Tarrant
River Tarrant

The River Tarrant is a 12 km long tributary of the River Stour in Dorset. The valley lies to the east of Blandford Forum. The river rises near Cranborne Chase, an area of chalk downland, and flows broadly from north to south before joining the river Stour. The eight Tarrant Valley villages/hamlets all bear the name of the river. Listed in order from the river's source they are: Tarrant Gunville: the source of the river is in the grounds of Gunville House, now demolished. The parish church is dedicated to St Mary. Tarrant Hinton: a village at a crossroads. The parish church is dedicated to St Mary. Tarrant Launceston: a hamlet with a 17th-century three-arched bridge. The church, dedicated to St Mary, was demolished in the 1700s (the site is on Higher Dairy Farm). Now part of the parish of Tarrant Monkton. Tarrant Monkton: a village with a parish church dedicated to All Saints. Tarrant Rawston: a very small settlement. This once had a parish church dedicated to St Mary, which still exists and is in private ownership but remains as a church. Tarrant Rushton: a village with a parish church dedicated to St Mary. Near here was a World War II RAF airfield. Tarrant Keyneston: this is the largest village of the eight; it has a parish church dedicated to All Saints. Tarrant Crawford, the final settlement, lies at the confluence of the rivers Tarrant and Stour. Here there is the church of St Mary the Virgin held by the Churches Conservation Trust and Tarrant Abbey farm, where once stood a nunnery. Tarrant Crawford became part of the parish of Tarrant Keyneston.There were possibly one or two other Tarrant communities: Tarrant Stubhampton, north of Tarrant Gunville and part of that parish: This is now known as Stubhampton. In the Middle Ages, a church existed in that village. This is the source of the Tarrant. Tarrant Antioch which may have been an earlier name for Tarrant Rawston, or may have been a distinct community just north of Tarrant Rawston. Tarrant Antioch was served by St Mary Tarrant Crawford, where there was a devotion to St Margaret of Antioch. Tarrant Preston, now Preston FarmA Roman road followed the valley and there are many tumuli on the hills on both sides of the river, evidence of long occupation.