St Mary's Motcombe

 
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Motcombe. Motcumbe, Motcumb 1244. Mottecumbe 1288. Modecumbe 1371. 'Valley where meetings are held' from the Old English Môt and cumb. It may well have been the meeting place of the old Medieval Hundred of Gillingham.

Extract taken from Dorsetshire Illustrated - Chantry Press 1900:
"Motcombe is a scattered village and parish in the North of the County near Shaftesbury. Reached from the outside world by way of the aforementioned town or Semley. It has a population of 1,500. Industries are agricultural and dairy. Cyder is made on a considerable scale and the district is celebrated for it's cheese. Market gardening and brick making find employment for many and there are also milk, cream and butter factories and poultry egg, bacon and other farm produce merchants who do a thriving trade with London buyers. The principle factory belongs to Messrs. C. & G. Prideaux who employ large numbers of hands. The parish church of St. Marys is not in any way remarkable, rebuilt in 1846 of green sandstone in the Early English style and has a fine West tower containing six bells, two of which were given by Lady Theodore Guest. The registry dates from 1676, retained value of the living which is a vicarage and to which is attached the chappelry of Enmore Green, £236 with a residence. Motcombe also has chapels belonging to Welseyans and the Primitive Methodists and Enmore Green one of the latter as well as a Lifeboat mission. Motcombe is chiefly interesting as the residence of the Rt. Hon Lord Stanbridge who is Lord of the Manor and a major landowner. His residence is Motcombe House in red brick Tudor style with stone dressings built be Messrs George and Peto the renowned London architects. The first Motcombe House upon which the present house was built was belonged to Marchioness of Westminster."

 
Sources:

• John Hutchins, The history and antiquities of the County of Dorset, 3rd ed., edited by William Shipp and James Whitworth Hodson, Westminster: J.B. Nichols and Sons, 1861-1873.
• Arthur Mee, ed., Dorset: Thomas Hardy's country. The King's England. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1939, p. 168.
• John Newman and Nikolaus Pevsner, The buildings of England: Dorset. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972, p. 302.
• Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), An inventory of historical monuments in the County of Dorset, Vol. 4, North Dorset. London: HMSO, 1972, pp. 48-49.

 

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