Pentridge

This article is about the village in Dorset. For other uses, see Pentridge (disambiguation).

Pentridge
Parish church of Saint Rumbold
Pentridge Location within Dorset
Population	215 (2001)
OS grid reference	SU033178
Civil parish	Sixpenny Handley and Pentridge
Unitary authority	Dorset
Ceremonial county	Dorset
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	SALISBURY
Postcode district	SP5
Dialling code	01725
Police	Dorset
Fire	Dorset and Wiltshire
Ambulance	South Western
UK Parliament	North Dorset

Pentridge is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Sixpenny Handley and Pentridge, in the Dorset district, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England, lying in the north-east of the county. It is situated on the edge of Cranborne Chase down a dead-end minor lane just south of the A354 road between the towns of Blandford Forum (ten miles to the south-west) and Salisbury (twelve miles to the northeast). In 2001 the parish had a population of 215. The civil parish was abolished on 1 April 2015 and merged with Sixpenny Handley to form "Sixpenny Handley and Pentridge".[1]

The village name derives from the Celtic pen ("hill") and twrch ("boar"), and thus means "hill of the wild boar"; its existence was first recorded (as "Pentric") in the eighth century, eighty years before the birth of Alfred the Great.[2]

The village is located amongst many Neolithic, Roman and Saxon earthworks, notably Bokerley Dyke, a long defensive ditch which was dug by the Romano-British to keep out the Saxon invaders.

Nearby is Pentridge Hill, formed by a band of more resistant chalk than the surrounding land.

Blagdon Hill

Approximately 2 km east of Pentridge is Blagdon Hill. On 17 January 1947, Mr.A.L.Parke of Salisbury reported that the round barrows on this hill had been recently "trenched" and a grave was opened. He supposed it to be the main interment, it "being situated in a hole scooped in the solid chalk". He further stated that "a few sherds of a well baked urn were found" and "fragments of burnt bone and charcoal accompanied" the urn.[3]

References

1. "The East Dorset (Reorganisation of Community Governance) Order 2015" (PDF). Lgbce. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
2. Roland Gant (1980). Dorset Villages. Robert Hale Ltd. p. 16. ISBN 0 7091 8135 3.
3. A Blagdon Hill Burial, P.60, Papers and Proceedings of The Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society, 1944,Pub H.M.Gilbert and son. Soton.

External links

Media related to Pentridge at Wikimedia Commons

• Census data