Ashmore Explained

Official Name:Ashmore
Country:England
Region:South West England
Static Image Name:Ashmore, Dorset, 2015 (a).JPG
Static Image Caption:Ashmore village pond
Population:188
Population Ref:[1]
Os Grid Reference:ST912178
Coordinates:50.9598°N -2.1254°W
Post Town:Salisbury
Postcode Area:SP
Postcode District:SP5
Dial Code:01725
Constituency Westminster:North Dorset
Civil Parish:Ashmore
Shire District:North Dorset
Shire County:Dorset

Ashmore is a village and civil parish in the North Dorset district of Dorset, England, 20miles southwest of Salisbury.

The village is centred on a circular pond and has a church and several stone cottages and farms, many with thatched roofs. It is the highest village in the county with the 220abbr=offNaNabbr=off contour passing close to the village church (although the north side of the town of Shaftesbury, Dorset, is slightly higher at 232abbr=onNaNabbr=on).[2]

The pond or "mere" gave the village its original name of "Ash-mere".[3]

In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 188.[1]

History

Three round barrows have been found in the parish: two barrows south of the village near Well Bottom, and one west of the village near the boundary with the village of Fontmell Magna; this latter barrow was excavated in the 19th century and bones were recovered. Ashmore may have been the site of a Neolithic market place or settlement.[4]

The Roman road from Bath to Badbury Rings passes through the east of the parish. The situation of the village is similar to Romano-British sites in the area, and there may have been a military camp and trading post in the area.[4] It is possible that Ashmore may have been a Romano-British village that has been occupied without a break up to the present day; the parish church is sited West of the pond towards the edge of the village, which could indicate that the village pre-dated the church and Christianity.[5]

In 1086, Ashmore was recorded in the Domesday Book as "Aisemare";[6] it had 24 households, 7 ploughlands and 100NaN0 of meadow. It was in Cranborne Hundred and had a value of £15 to the lord of the manor, who was King William.[7]

Until 1859, Ashmore had an open field system; the three fields—North Field to the north, and Sandpit Fields and Broadridge to the south—were roughly equal in size and covered an area of 380acres. At the same time there was also a considerable area of enclosed fields, covering 240acres in 1590.

Geography

Ashmore parish is situated on the hills of Cranborne Chase NaN0NaN0 southeast of Shaftesbury and 70NaN0 north of Blandford Forum. The underlying geology is chalk, overlain by clay-with-flints in the south and southeast.[8] The village, which at 700feet above sea level is the highest in Dorset, is sited on a spur of land between dry valleys which drain south and southwest.[8] All of Ashmore parish is within the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).[9]

The nearest rail link is 70NaN0 from the village at Tisbury railway station and the nearest air link (Bournemouth International Airport) is 18miles away.

Church and Chapel

The parish church of St. Nicholas is about 100 metres west of the village pond, west of High Street. Its chancel arch is said to date from the 13th century and it was rebuilt in 1874.[10] On the opposite side of the High Street is a Wesleyan chapel which dates from 1855.[11]

Demography

In the 2011 census the parish had 97 dwellings,[12] 87 households and a population of 188.[1]

In the first national census in 1891 the village had a population of 228.[4]

Culture

In midsummer a celebration known as 'Filly Loo' (or 'Filleigh Loo'[13]) takes place around Ashmore pond, with a Green Man, country dancing, morris dancers and live music.[3] [14] [15] The event's ancient origins are mysterious but may have pagan influences; theories include that it celebrated either the pond's constancy as a water supply,[14] the summer solstice,[15] or the end of the cultivated filbert (hazelnut) harvest.[4] The meaning of the name 'Filly Loo' has also attracted more than one explanation, including that it is West Country dialect for 'uproar',[16] a corruption of the French 'La Fille de l'Eau', ('maiden of the water'),[17] or a corruption of 'Filbert Louis', a nickname of Louis Rideout, one of the historical instigators of the event. The event was revived in 1956[13] as a folk dance festival, and takes place on the Friday night nearest to Midsummer Day or the Feast of St. John the Baptist.[17]

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Area: Ashmore (Parish), Key Figures for 2011 Census: Key Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Neighbourhood Statistics. 20 June 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20161011181900/http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11120147&c=Ashmore&d=16&e=62&g=6417983&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1403247734072&enc=1. 11 October 2016. dead.
  2. Web site: Street map. streetmap.co.uk. 26 March 2023.
  3. North Dorset District Council,North Dorset Official District Guide, Home Publishing Co. Ltd.,c.1983. p30
  4. Web site: Ashmore Parish Plan 2006. Parish Plans. Dorset County Council. 23 June 2014.
  5. Book: The Making of the English Landscape . Professor W G Hoskins . 1955 . 52 . Book Club Associates.
  6. Web site: Dorset A–G. The Domesday Book Online. domesdaybook.co.uk. 23 June 2014.
  7. Web site: Place: Ashmore. Open Domesday. domesdaymap.co.uk. 23 June 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20150402114245/http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/ST9117/ashmore/. 2 April 2015. dead.
  8. Web site: 'Ashmore', An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 4: North (1972), pp. 1–3. University of London & History of Parliament Trust. British History Online. November 2013. 20 June 2014.
  9. Web site: Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty . ccwwdaonb.org.uk . 19 March 2015 . dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20130808041911/http://ccwwdaonb.org.uk/docs/General_MapSW.pdf . 8 August 2013 .
  10. Web site: Ashmore village, Dorset - Walking Holidays in UK.
  11. Web site: Ashmore.
  12. Web site: Area: Ashmore (Parish), Dwellings, Household Spaces and Accommodation Type, 2011 (KS401EW). Office for National Statistics. Neighbourhood Statistics. 22 June 2014.
  13. Web site: Ashmore – a photo essay. Ken Ayres. July 2012. Dorset Life Magazine. 20 June 2014.
  14. Book: Dorset Villages. Roland Gant. 1980. 37–8. Robert Hale Ltd. 0-7091-8135-3.
  15. Web site: Filly Loo. Inside Out. Shappi Khorsandi. 18 September 2006. BBC. 20 June 2014.
  16. Book: Villages of Britain: The Five Hundred Villages that Made the Countryside. Bloomsbury Publishing. Clive Aslet. 23 June 2014. 2011. 9781408817995.
  17. Web site: Filly Loo. darkdorset.co.uk. 24 June 2014.