Thorncombe
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Thorncombe
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| Set in an area of outstanding natural beauty, the parish of Thorncombe is situated in north-west Dorset, bordering both Somerset and Devon, and forming part of the latter until 1842. The name derives from the Saxon words ‘torn’ and ‘cumb’, meaning ‘low ground where thorns grow’ and at the time of Domesday, Tornecome was held by Viscount Baldwin de Brionne. Since then it has been associated with several ancient families, including the Brook, Prideaux, Gwynn, Bragge and the Trenchard families. As well as the village of Thorncombe, there are a number of hamlets in the parish, such as Hewood, whose houses are “group listed”, and Holditch, with its picturesque ivy-clad ruins of the Brook family’s fortified manor house. |
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| Also within the confines of the parish is the beautiful Forde Abbey, formerly a Cistercian monastery, but converted to a sumptuous private residence by its successive owners since its dissolution in 1539, incorporating some of the original buildings of the monastery. In Georgian times, other great houses were built at Sadborow and Greenhill. In the seventeenth century, Thorncombe was a hotbed of revolt, although none of the 33 Thorncombe men wanted by Judge Jefferies for participating in the failed Monmouth rebellion were ever caught. By the 1770s, Thorncombe had become a centre for the wool trade and enjoyed a successful lace-making industry. The population peaked at around 1,500, but declined steadily throughout the nineteenth century as the cloth industry moved north. In 2001 the population stood at 714 and the principal activity of this 5,200-acre parish is now agriculture. |
 The Venn Chapel Courtesy of Chris Downer |
Dedicated by Bishop Brewster of Exeter in 1239, by 1770 the old church of St. Mary the Virgin was not large enough to accommodate 'the fourth part of the inhabitants', but it was not until 1886-7 that a new church was built, to a design of Mr. J. Mountford Allen of Crewkerne, 50 yards to the north of the old one. Some artefacts from the former church were preserved, including a fine fifteenth century brass representing Sir Thomas and Lady Joan Brook, arguably the best in the county. Formerly, there were also two dissenting chapels just outside the village of Thorncombe: the Venn Chapel at the top of Venn Hill and an Ebenezer Chapel at Stony Knaps, but both are now private residences. The rectors of Thorncombe have numbered both famous and infamous men amongst their number, including Robert Gomersall, an early seventeenth century poet and playwright, and John Bragge, exiled by Cromwell to Barbados in 1647 for his royalist sympathies. Although not particularly illustrious in his own right, the Reverend Samuel Hood, rector here from 1761 to 1777, was the father of two sons who rose through the ranks of the navy to become admirals. |
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| Census | 1841, 1851 |
| Parish Registers | Marriages 1552 - 1690, 1691-1812 |
| Postal Directories | |
| Photographs | By Kim Parker By Others |
| Other information | Monumental Inscriptions Thorncombe Wills Announcements in regional newspapers 1723 oaths of allegiance, supremacy and abjuration Thorncombe Vicars 18th C. Thorncombe Freeholders Roll of Honour |
| Links | Thorncombe Parish Website Forde Abbey Website |
| Maps | |
