Chedington

"CHEDINGTON (ST. JAMES), a parish, in the union and hundred of BEAMINSTER, Bridport division of DORSET, 4 miles (N. by E.) from Beaminster, containing 186 inhabitants. The parish comprises 773a. 2r. 25p., and is separated from that of Beaminster by the river Axe, which rises within its limits. The surface is extremely irregular, rising into numerous hills, with scarcely a level field; the hills are composed of a hard arable fossil rock, and afford rich and extensive views, the river Parret rises in the parish, and, with the Axe, ads greatly to the fertility and beauty of the district. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £8. 8. 4., and in the gift of William Trevelyan Cox, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for £128. 10., 8d the glebe comprises 46¾ acres, with a glebe-house. The church is a handsome edifice, erected on a new site, in 1840, chiefly at the expense of Mr. Cox. On one of the hills are the remains of a Roman encampment, and the fields below it, is the site of a Roman villa. The Rev. Thomas Hare, translator of Horace, was rector." Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, 7th edition, 1848. Transcribed by Nigel Batty-Smith ©2014