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The village is built around the busy A357, Blandford Forum to Wincanton in Somerset, road on the north side of the valley of the river Stour.
An ancient cross with a richly carved modern shaft stands towards the western end of the High Street (there are also remains of a preaching cross in the churchyard).
The view to the northeast of the village, across the valley of the Stour, is dominated by Hod Hill and its larger neighbour Hambledon Hill. These bastions of the central Dorset downs signal the extremity of Cranbourne Chase beyond. Both possess ancient earthworks on their summits; Hambledon Hill was the site of a Neolithic (New Stone Age) camp and Iron Age hill fort; the Romans captured the hill fort and, finding the vast site indefensible, built thair fort atop the 143-metre height of Hod Hill.
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POPULATION
1921
1931
1951
1961
1971
1981
1991
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THE ENGLISH CIVIL WAR
During the Civil War, Hambledon Hill was the site of a rising by the Clubmen which was suppressed by Oliver Cromwell. A row of skeletons found in the north aisle of the parish church at Shillingstone are thought to be the remains of the Clubmen slain by the Parliamentarians.
THE DORSET & SOMERSET CANAL
In the late 18th century, it was proposed to join the Kennet and Avon Canal near Bradford in Somerset, to the river Stour in Dorset to join the river Stour just to the east of Shillingstone. From here the Stour was, or could be made, navigable to barges to Christchurch Harbour. A branch of the canal was to be built from Frome to the Somerset coalfield to bring the coal cheaply to Dorset. Apart from part of the Frome section which was never opened, the Dorset & Somerset Canal was never built.
WORLD WAR I
During the first six months of the Great War, 90 men from the village (which had a total population of only 563) had enlisted. Six weeks into the war, King George V sent a message to Shillingstone in recognition of its support. The twenty-five men of the village who fell in the war ware commemorated by a cross opposite the school.
The church dates from Norman times and still possesses a Norman doorway and windows. The stone tower which bears a mass-dial dates from the 15th century.
The font, its bowl decorated with arches, probably dates from the 13th century. The pulpit was the gift of a London merchant who sought refuge in the rural village from the Great Plague of 1665.
King George V sent a message to to village reading "His Majesty is gratified to learn how splendidly the people of Shillingstone have responded to the call to the colours" six weeks into World War I. The message was hung in the porch.
The remains of a ruined preaching cross stand in the churchyard (another ancient cross stands in the nearby High Street).
Modest-living Henry Reddaway (b.1909) of the Spinney died in 2003 leaving an estate of approx. £3.5-millions - one tenth of which the regular churchgoer bequested to the parish church.
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| | | | OTHER PLACES | | Barbury Castle
Swindon, Wiltshire, England
The Iron Age hill fort on the ridgeway dominates the
downland to the south or Swindon and Wroughton | 72.6 km NE | | Science Museum Wroughton
Wroughton Airfield, Swindon, Wiltshire SN4 9NS
The Science Museums large exhibits including aircraft are stored and displayed at Wroughton | 76.9 km NE | | Lydiard
Park & House
Swindon, Wiltshire, England | 78.5 km NE | | Liddington Castle
Swindon, Wiltshire, England
The Iron Age hill fort which overlooks the M4 motorway and modern
Swindon is within sight of nearby Barbury Castle | 78.5 km NE | | Coate Water
Country Park
Swindon, Wiltshire, England
Built
as a reservior to supply the Berks and Wilts Canal, Cote Water was inhabitted in
the Stone Age | 79.1 km NE | | Coate Stone Circle
Coate,
Swindon, Wiltshire, England | 79.8 km NE | | Old Town Museum and Art Gallery
Bath Road, Old Town, Swindon, Wiltshire SN1 4BA
Museum of local history; industry and art gallery. | 80.8 km NE | | Cricklade Museum
Calcutt Street, Cricklade, Swindon, Wilts. SN6 6BB
The collection represents the towns social history from Roman to modern times, and includes a large number of maps, photographs, and archives. | 86.9 km NE | | Cricklade Museum
Calcutt Street, Cricklade, Swindon, Wilts. SN6 6BB
The collection represents the towns social history from Roman to modern times, and includes a large number of maps, photographs, and archives. | 86.9 km NE | | | | | Public Houses | | Old Ox Inn
Blandford Rd, Shillingstone, Dorset DT11 0SF | | 0.2 km W | | The Baker Arms
The Cross, Child Okeford, Dorset DT11 8ED | | 1.9 km NW | | Royal Oak Inn
Lower St, Okeford Fitzpaine, Dorset DT11 0RN | | 2 km NE | | The Saxon Inn
Gold Hill, Child Okeford, Dorset DT11 8HD | | 2.3 km NW | | White Horse Inn
Shaston Rd, Stourpaine, Dorset DT11 8TA | | 4.2 km SW | | The Bull Tavern
Town Bridge, Sturminster Newton, Dorset DT10 2BS | | 4.6 km NE | | White Horse Inn
Hinton St Mary, Sturminster Newton, Dorset DT10 1NA | | 6.4 km NE |
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