THE tiny village of Whitcombe lies alongside the main A352 between Broadmayne and Dorchester. It lies nestled between the parishes of West Knighton and Broadmayne on the east, West Stafford to the north and Winterborne Came to the west. It forms a rather narrow strip of land going southwards and to the Manor House and the famous stables. Not a parish in its own right, Whitcombe was extra-parochial and has its own church with registers beginning in 1762. The previous registers were destroyed in a fire at the farmhouse. Whitcombe lay in the hundred of Culliford Tree.

 

The nave is 12th century, partly rebuilt in the 18th, the chancel was built in the 15th, reusing the old east window, and the tower was completed at the end of the 16th. There are impressive wall paintings, including one of St Christopher, and a fine 13th century Purbeck marble font. The Dorset poet William Barnes had this living from 1847-85, and preached his first and last sermons here.

 

Recorded as Widecome and having a land measurement of two hides, King Athelstan gave it to the Abbey of Milton. At the dissolution of the monasteries it became property of the Crown. Later, about 1600, it was sold to a Mr Hull of Tolpuddle.

 

In 1645, then being in the hands of Mr Edmund Hull, it was sequestered, but continued in the Hull family until the death of Francis Hull, also of Tolpuddle whereupon it was sold to George Pitt of Stratfieldsaye. His grandson, William Morton Pitt subsequently sold it in 1790 to Thomas Weld of Lulworth Castle and by 1866 it had become the property of the Lionel Damer.

 

The little village is surrounded by ancient earthworks and is a place where time appears to have stood still. This is more apparent with the church where the memory of the famous Dorset dialect poet, William Barnes, lingers on. For it was here that he preached his very first sermon and also his last. In 1886 at the time of his death, he was rector of nearby Winterborne Came and preached his last in this little church. The church was restored in his memory.