Cranborne

See also Cranbourne (disambiguation)

Cranborne is a village in East Dorset, England. In 2001 the village had a population of 779 people. The town is situated on chalk downland called Cranborne Chase, part of a large expanse of chalk in southern England which includes the nearby Salisbury Plain and Dorset Downs.

Cranborne church

History

The village dates from Saxon times and was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Creneburne, meaning stream (bourne) of cranes. There is a Norman parish church. In the 10th century the religious foundation at Tewkesbury became a priory subordinate to the Benedictine Cranbourne Abbey.^[1] In 1087, William the Conqueror gave the manor of Tewkesbury to his cousin, Robert Fitzhamon, who, with Giraldus, Abbot of Cranbourne, founded the present abbey in 1092.

In the 13th century King John visited the downs for the hunt and the town hosted several subsequent kings, notably Henry VIII who founded the hunting lodge in the village. The medieval hunting lodge was modified by Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, between 1607 and 1611 to create the manor house, a mixture of medieval walls and Renaissance architecture, for King James I who also came to the downs for the hunt. Since 1605, "Viscount Cranborne" has been the courtesy title of the heir of the Earl of Salisbury.

The village was a market town in times when it was frequented by royalty, and housed a garrison of soldiers to protect the king. The town's population was at one time comparably large, but its importance and power has dwindled as other more accessible towns have overtaken it in size.

Cranborne was for many centuries the centre of the hundred of the same name.

In the 1980s there was a reproduction Iron-Age Round House built at the back of Cranborne Middle School. It is now the Cranborne Ancient Technology Centre.

Church

The church of St Mary and St Bartholomew is of 12th century origin but most of the building is now of the 13th and 15th centuries. There is a massive 15th cnetury tower and the chancel was rebuilt in the 19th century. There are 14th century wall paintings and a 15th century pulpit.^[2]

Notes

1. ^ "The priories of Cranbourne and Horton". British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=40142. Retrieved 20 February 2010. 
2. ^ Betjeman, John, ed. (1968) Collins Pocket Guide to English Parish Churches; the South. London: Collins; p. 173-74

References

• Pitt-Rivers, Michael (1968). Dorset. London: Faber & Faber. 

Further reading

• Newman, J. and Pevsner, N. (1972). The Buildings of England: Dorset. Harmondsworth: Penguin. pp. 170–1. 

External links

• Ancient Technology Centre, Cranborne
• "Cranborne (SS. Mary and Bartholomew)". Dorset Churches. 2000. http://people.bath.ac.uk/lismd/dorset/churches/cranborne.html. 

Coordinates: 50°55′N 1°55′W / 50.917°N 1.917°W / 50.917; -1.917