Shapwick

Shapwick is a village and civil parish in east Dorset, situated on the River Stour five miles south-east of Blandford Forum and eight miles north of Poole. The parish was in the Hundred of Badbury, its name derives from the Saxon {Sceap+uuic} DB 1086, meaning sheep village.  In 1238 recorded as Shepwyk OE  It was the smallest of the four Manors in East Dorset and pre-dates the Norman period.   The Manor and the other three were seen as one unit, and before 1066 they were known as King Edwards Land, they paid no tax and were counted as one and therefore no separate accounts exist.

The Church of St Bartholomew of Norman 12c date with a square tower restored over the centuries. It has a peal of three bells one of 1570. The North chapel has a Norman Arch and two 16c ones.  The font is very worn as are the pews.  The church is a Benefice in the Archdeaconry of Dorset.

The village is located half way between Wimborne and Blandford on the {B3082}.  Sturminster Marshall, is on the opposite side of the Stour.  The village centre has an old Stone Cross now a Memorial to the men of WW1-2.  The area is agriculture and farming, in 1800 the inhabitants were 409 and now 197.  Two mills for corn and grain existed here.  In 1818 James Alexander founded a school for 80 children.  William Wake born here 1657, d1737 became Archbishop of Canterbury, his father a wealthy landowner here in the 1630s.

Shapwick is older than Saxon times and the archaeology of the area gives an idea of this.   At the top of the village are Badbury Rings, a prehistoric three tiered Iron Age Earthworks.  Artifacts found date from the Roman 6-7c AD and part of the Roman Road known as {Ackling Dyke} is still to be found.  In Roman times there was a Fort at Crab Farm, between Shapwick and Badbury Rings. Just to the west of the fort was a small Romano-British town, believed to be that listed in the Antonine Itinerary as Vindocladia. The Medieval Crawford Bridge is located near the River Stour and White Mill Bridge. Parish Registers start 1654.

Charles Bennett, born 1870 in Shapwick was an athlete, winner of the 1500 metres at the 1900 Summer Olympics and the first British track and field athlete to become Olympic champion. The village of Shapwick celebrated his Olympic achievements in September 2000 and for the London Olympics in July 2012, with organised one mile runs around a measured mile through the village [The Shapwick Mile]. Bennett died in 1949 and is commemorated at St Andrew's Churchyard, Kinson. [Note there is some dispute about his date and place of birth with some claims he was born in Burley, Hampshire in 1871]

Village Centre & Cross

The White Mill

All photographs on this page courtesy of Mr J P Allen ©

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The Old School House

The Crawford Bridge