About our Village
Around Child Okeford
- Natural History report from Thelma & Gordon Ede
About Us
Child Okeford is a village situated in the heart of Dorset on the edge of the Blackmore Vale. Situated on the River Stour it is four miles from Sturminster Newton which is to the North West and six miles from Blandford Forum which lies to the south east of the village.
The population of Child Okeford in 2001 was 1,065.
For a full breakdown on the Census data for the Child Okeford Parish (2001) go to the www.dorsetforyou.com website, Child Okeford Parish Profile page.
On our Photo Gallery pages take a look at our village, Hambledon Hill and villages and towns in Dorset and also the Natural History of the village with images of insects and wild flowers and much more!
History
Before the village of Child Okeford was established at the base of Hambledon Hill, the hill itself was inhabited. This can be traced back to the Neolithic period where excavations have found that Hambledon was an important ceremonial burial site in the period. Excavations have found signs of a Neolithic Enclosure, Long Barrow and Iron Age Hillfort, and in the English Civil War (1645) Cromwell and 1000 men took on 2000 Dorsetshire Clubmen on Hambledon.
In the 1560's the then vicar of Child Okeford composed the hymn, The Old Hundredth, which was to become one of the most famous in the English language. Probably better known from its first line 'All people that on earth do dwell', than from its title.
The only part of the church surviving from that time is the tower, made from large blocks of the local greensand stone. The remainder of the church dating from the period between 1850 and 1879. In 1911 the chancel was lined with patterns of marble, producing an effect something like a 1930's bathroom.
Hambledon Hill is now a designated Heritage site and Nature reserve
Landscape
Child Okeford nestles on the edge of the Blackmore Vale in North Dorset. Dominating the village is impressive the Hambledon Hill and by its side the ancient hillfort of Hod Hill.
On the other side lays the chalk escarpment of Okeford Hill and Bulbarrow. Bulbarrow is the second highest point in Dorset (902ft) and gives a wide view of the Blackmore Vale and beyond to Somerset and Wiltshire.
Dorset is a county of contrasting landscapes with the fertile Blackmore Vale, the Chalk downlands to the Heathlands to the south of the county and not forgetting our beautiful coastline from Poole Harbour one of the world's largest natural harbours , Portland and the Chesil Beach to the Jurassic coast a designated world heritage site in the west.
