Moor Crichel

Parkland near Moor Crichel © Dorinda Miles 2011

Moor Crichel is a village on Cranborne Chase near the River Wim formerly in the Hundred of Badbury, Union of Wimborne  and Cranborne.  About 6 miles South West of Cranborne, 6 miles North West of Wimborne and 5 miles East of Blandford. In 1291 Revenue to Dean of Wimborne Minster. It lies in a wooded vale, some parts of which are marshy due to the river that flows by. Recorded as Mor Kerchel in 212 and Moore Crechill in 1541. Moor is Old English for Marshy Ground, Crichel is of Celtic origin {crug}Mound and Old English {hyll} added at an early date.  Now known as Crichel Down. Little Crichel  nearby was joined with Moor Crichel when the parsonage was demolished.

The Manor was owned by the Uvedales, Sheriffs of Dorset in the16th C and it passed to the Sturt family through marriage. It has a mansion set in 400 acres of parkland, with a crescent-shaped lake covering 50 acres. The original Tudor house was largely destroyed in an accidental fire in 1742. John Bastard of Blandford and Francis Cartwright rebuilt Crichel for Sir William Napier after the fire, and when Humphrey Sturt inherited the estate in 1765 he extensively remodelled the house. The remodelling involved moving the village a mile to the south and many of the villagers were moved to Witchampton. This was so that the parkland could be landscaped and the original site of Moor Crichel is now submerged beneath the lake

The Church of St Mary, South East of Crichel House, replaced an older building. It was re-built in Elaborate Italian Style in the 19th C of Stone North of the Parish. It contains a chancel and small south aisle, an embattled tower and three bells, a portico and bell turret at the west end, vestry and transept north aisle. There is elegant tracery on the arches and a rose window of stained glass. Arches are in polished Purbeck Marble. An altar tomb dated 1581 for the Cifrewast family is also here. The church is in the grounds of Crichel House and not accessible to the public.

In 1861 the population was 342 and the parish covered 1,705 acres. Since the 19th C the Rectory has been joined with Long Crichel and the Earl of Shaftesbury elects the incumbents. Mangewood is a hamlet.

The traditional red post box in Moor Crichel

The OPC for Moor Crichel is Anne Preston

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