Frampton (liberty)

Frampton is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England, situated approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) northwest of the county town Dorchester. It is sited in the Frome valley among chalk hills of the Dorset Downs. The village's name is a derivation from "Frome Town".The A356 main road and the Heart of Wessex railway line run through the village; the nearest railway station is approximately 2.5 miles (4.0 km) away at Maiden Newton. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 524. Frampton was once the centre of a Liberty of the same name. Roman tessellated pavements have been found at Frampton, depicting one of the earliest known Christian symbols in England. In 1704 Robert Browne built Frampton Court in the vicinity of the village. The site was where there had at one time been a cell of the Abbey of Saint-Étienne in Caen, Normandy. In the nineteenth century the Game Laws, which govern English field sports, were drafted at the Court. Many of the cottages in the village are from the Frampton estate. Around 1840 the owner of the Court demolished many houses in the village (on the south side of the main road) and replaced them with trees, to improve the view from the Court. Today the legacy of the Court and its park is that the valley around Frampton is still well-wooded, and most of the houses in the village lie to the north of the main road. Frampton Court itself was demolished in 1935.Frampton includes the small hamlet of Southover on the south side of the river. This previously comprised two farms—Southover Farm and Longlands Farm—and accompanying labourers cottages, plus a large private house with tiered gardens and an orchard. Today the agricultural basis of Southover has declined and most of the cottages and houses are in private hands. Nunnery Mead, a nature reserve managed by the Dorset Wildlife Trust, is near the village. It includes the site of Frampton Roman Villa, a scheduled monument.

Frampton Priory was a Benedictine priory in England, near the village of Frampton in Dorset and mentioned in the Domesday Book. The priory was subordinate to the Abbey of Saint-Étienne, in Caen, Normandy. The land on which the priory stood was given to the Browne family after King Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries. Robert Browne built his residence Frampton Court at the priory's former location in 1705. Frampton Court was demolished in 1932.

Nunnery Mead is a nature reserve of the Dorset Wildlife Trust, near Frampton and about 2 miles south-east of Maiden Newton, in Dorset, England. It is a former water-meadow, next to the River Frome. The reserve also contains the site of a Roman villa.

The Grimstone Viaduct is a railway bridge on the Castle Cary-Weymouth "Heart of Wessex" line in Dorset, England. It is directly north of the site of Grimstone and Frampton railway station, in the hamlet of Grimstone at the western edge of the parish of Stratton. The viaduct was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and was built as part of the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway line, opened by the Great Western Railway in 1857. It consists of three arches; the central arch passes over the road from Grimstone to Sydling St. Nicholas, and is connected to the arches either side of it by a series of arches within the bridge. Sydling Water flows underneath the bridge. It is a Grade II listed building.

Grimstone and Frampton railway station was a station on the Wiltshire, Somerset & Weymouth Railway, part of the Great Western Railway between Maiden Newton and Dorchester. It was in the hamlet of Grimstone which was in the parish of Stratton but also relatively close to the parish of Frampton which it was also intended to serve. It was directly south of Grimstone Viaduct.When the line opened on 20 January 1857 it was called Frampton Station but in July 1857 it changed name to Grimstone Station and in July 1858 it was renamed again to its final name of Grimstone and Frampton Station. The station became unstaffed from 11 April 1966 and closed on 3 October 1966. Refer to Mike Oakley's booklet for more details. A fatal accident occurred on Saturday 16 May 1914 when a watercress seller named Carter was killed at the station. If had been customary for him to gather watercress which was grown on the Sydling Water and then return to Dorchester to sell it. He arrived at 4:40 and was apparently to return on the 5:12 train. He left his empty baskets on the down platform and crossed to the up platform via the footbridge. Then as the 4:38 express from Weymouth passed through at 4:57 he walked onto the line and was killed instantly, despite the express sounding warning whistles as it approached the station. An inquest was held on the Monday at which it emerged that he had not gathered any watercress and despite what he had said he had not forwarded any to Dorchester. The jury recorded a verdict that he was accidentally knocked down. He was always referred to as Carter and no one knew his Christian name. However a postcard was found which had the initial F on it. His age was unknown but estimated to be about 50 and he was thought to have a sister in Ealing. He had lodged at a public house in Dorchester for some years. He was buried at Stratton Church on Tuesday 19 May 1914. The station master was Thomas Charles Olding, the engine driver was Albert Clifton Webb. The express resumed its journey after an 11-minute delay.

Grimstone is a hamlet at the confluence of Sydling Water and the River Frome in the western part of the civil parish of Stratton, Dorset. The Great Western Railway opened Grimstone and Frampton railway station and Grimstone Viaduct in 1857 and British Railways closed the station in 1966. The hamlet is the home of Manor Foods, a catering company located at Manor Farm.Grimstone's common lands were not enclosed until 1907.

Hog Cliff is a national nature reserve (NNR) and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) located 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) south east of Maiden Newton, Dorset and north-west of Dorchester. It was notified as an SSSI in 1981. The site is also part of the much larger Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). It is adjacent to the Court Farm, Sydling SSSI.The area of the site is 86.7 hectares (214 acres). It is a chalk downland and thus part of the Dorset Downs. The site includes grassland, scrub and a small amount of woodland (mostly ash and oak, with a hazel and field maple understory); within the grassland there is a difference in character, and the species that it supports, which varies according to the gradient and aspect of the slopes. While the invertebrates on the site have not been extensively studied, it is known that species such as the rare Adonis blue and marsh fritillary butterflies can be found there; this is in addition to more common species such as the green hairstreak, common blue and gatekeeper. Fungi, particularly grassland varieties, are very well represented at Hog Cliff; the SSSI citation indicates over 60 genera as having been identified, whilst Natural England claim 100 species for the NNR. Cattle and sheep graze the site throughout the year to keep the grassland open.In 2008, a case was brought by the Environment Agency against a nearby pig farmer who was deliberately allowing pig slurry to be discharged onto land that included part of the Hog Cliff reserve.

Stratton is a village and civil parish in Dorset, England, situated in the Frome valley about 3 miles (4.8 km) north-west of Dorchester. The parish includes the hamlets of Grimstone, Ash Hill and Wrackleford which, like the village, lie on or near the A37 trunk road. Ash Hill is a small estate east of the village near the railway. Wrackleford is a group of houses further east and centred about Wrackleford House and including Higher Wrackleford and Lower Wrackleford. In addition there are a number of isolated farms and houses including a few in an area called Langford near the Sydling Water in the north-west part of the parish. The name Stratton means 'Farm on the Street'. The Street referred to the Roman road from Durnovaria (Dorchester) to Lindinis (Ilchester) which passes through the village. The parish has an area of about 1,710 acres (690 ha). Most of this is agricultural land lying north of the village where the land rises from about 250 feet (76 m) to about 620 feet (190 m). Stratton parish is bounded by the parishes of Bradford Peverell, Frampton, Sydling St. Nicholas, Godmanstone and Charminster. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 592.

The Shearplace Hill Enclosure is an archaeological site of the Bronze Age, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south-west of Cerne Abbas in Dorset, England. It is a scheduled monument.

Cruxton is a hamlet in the English county of Dorset. It lies eight miles north-west of the county town of Dorchester, and one mile south-east of the village of Maiden Newton. It is sited on the west bank of the River Frome, amongst the chalk hills of the Dorset Downs. According to the Dorset author and broadcaster Ralph Wightman, the old house in the hamlet "was certainly a manor. William Crox gave thirty marks to have seizin of the vill in 1205."The Froome Valley Trail long distance foopath runs throught Cruxton.

Sydling St Nicholas is a village and civil parish in Dorset within southwest England. The parish is 5 to 9 miles (8.0 to 14.5 km) northwest of the county town Dorchester and covers most of the valley of the small Sydling Water in the chalk hills of the Dorset Downs. The parish has an area of 2,075 hectares (5,130 acres) and includes the hamlet of Up Sydling in the north. Sydling St Nicholas village was recorded in the 11th-century Domesday Book, though evidence of much earlier human occupation has been found in the surrounding area. Over the last thousand years the village has been owned by Milton Abbey, Sir Francis Walsingham and Winchester College. The whole of Sydling St Nicholas parish lies within the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. In addition, parts of the parish lie within the Hog Cliff National Nature Reserve and the Cerne and Sydling Downs Special Area of Conservation. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 414.

Winterbourne Abbas is a village and civil parish in south west Dorset, England, situated in a valley on the A35 road 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Dorchester. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 355.