Winterborne Farringdon
Winterborne Farringdon
Close to parish boundary with Winterborne Herringston lies the site of the village of Winterborne Farringdon, set on the hillside to the south of the South Winterborne River. Two blocks of extensive earthworks remain [Newman & Pevsner 1972], although one may be the remains of the original settlement of Winterborne Came [Good 1987]. Several house platforms and boundaries quite visible as mounds in the grass [Pinder et al 1998]. The largest block of 10 acres contains the remains of St German's Church. 18 acres of mediaeval field systems in the shape of strip lynchets remain to the south [Newman & Pevsner 1972].
The east gable end of St German's Church remains as the only upstanding part of the site [Viner 2002] and is set within a small churchyard enclosure [Pinder et al 1998]. Even this lone structure is apparently a rebuilding, using a 14th century window and 15th archway stones [Newman & Pevsner 1972, Viner 2002]. This is supposed to have been salvaged from an ancient church [Bingham 1987].
Depopulation is thought to have occurred slowly. The village was not taxed in 1428 because there were less than ten inhabitants and Came and Farringdon shared the same vicar after 1580 [Pinder et al 1998]. In 1620 Thomas Gerard wrote that there was,
'a lone church, for there is hardlie any house left in the Parish, such of late hath been the Covetousness of some private Men, that to increase their Demesnes have depopulated whole parishes' [Viner 2002]
There was no entry for Farringdon in the Hearth Tax returns of 1662 [Viner 2002]. The village remained a parish until the 17th century, known as Winterborne Farringdon of Winterborne Germayne [Viner 2002]. By the middle of the 18th century Hutchins said that the village was,
'entirely depopulated and has been so beyond the memory of man'[Pinder et al 1998, Viner 2002]
The site was used as the setting for the trysting place between John, the Trumpet Major, and Anne Garland, in Thomas Hardy's book The Trumpet-Major [Draper 1996, Viner 2002]. In it the Trumpet Major states,
"Yes, this field used to be a village. My grandfather could call to mind when there were houses here. But the squire pulled 'em down, because poor folk were an eyesore to him"
