St Wolfrida, Horton
The church is dedicated to St. Wolfrida, who died at Horton as the Abbess of a nunnery. It is the only church in the county dedicated to this lady.
In AD. 961, a Benedictine abbey was founded at Horton which survived until the Dissolution of the Monasteries when it was surrendered to Sherborne Abbey, and the Priory church became the Parish church. The current church was built in 1722 on the site of the ruined parish church.
The brick and stone Georgian Nave and Chancel are complete with box pews and there is the huge stone-built porch, as wide as the nave and almost half the length.
Apparently, prior to 1924, the pulpit used to be sited on the south wall opposite the porch and there were box pews in the porch as well as in the main body of the church. After this date the pulpit was moved to its present, more conventional, position and the porch curtained off. In the porch are two 13th century effigies of Sir Giles Braose and his wife which used to be in the aisle of the old church.
Inside, the layout is slightly strange in that it is 'L' shaped, making it impossible for some of the congregation to see the altar. There is a splendid plaster and gilded 18th Century reredos, with a Dove in the centre symbolising the Holy Spirit. The four cherubs are said to have been the vicar's four children who died in infancy.
The Tower nestles in the corner between the Porch and the Nave and appears to be based on plans drawn up by Sir John Vanburgh, the famous 18th century architect
Just outside of the village is Horton Tower. The six story folly had a fireplace halfway up and was built by Humphrey Sturt in the mid 18th century. Taylor's 1765 map of Dorset describes it as an 'Observatory', but according to one local legend it was built by Sturt as a viewing platform from which to watch the local hunt when too old to ride to hounds.
To find the cache look for the bench dedicated to HBS - ABCD-EF.
The cache is a short walk away at N50 52.(B-F)C(D-A) W001 57.(E-D)(F-E)(D-1)
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If anybody would like to expand this series please do. We would just ask that you contact sadexploration first so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names and to avoid duplication.
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If anybody would like to replace any logs that need urgent servicing in my caches, please do so and mention it in your log. |