Gussage All Saints Explained

Country:England
Coordinates:50.897°N -2.004°W
Official Name:Gussage All Saints
Static Image Name:Gussage All Saints Church - geograph.org.uk - 208478.jpg
Static Image Caption:Gussage All Saints Church
Label Position:left
Civil Parish:Gussage All Saints
Shire District:East Dorset
Shire County:Dorset
Region:South West England
Constituency Westminster:North Dorset
Post Town:WIMBORNE
Postcode Area:BH
Postcode District:BH21
Dial Code:01258
Os Grid Reference:ST998108

Gussage All Saints is a village and parish in the county of Dorset in southern England. It nestles within the East Dorset administrative district of the county, about 8 miles north-east of the town of Blandford Forum. It is sited by the side of a small stream in a shallow valley on the lower dip slope of Cranborne Chase. Ackling Dyke, a disused Roman road, crosses the valley to the northwest, and forms the parish boundary at that point.

The village church dates mostly from the early 14th century.[1] Since 2001 The Ecclesiastical Parish of Gussage All Saints has been one of ten Ecclesiastical Parishes which form ‘The Chase Benefice’ under its first incumbent the Reverend Dr Michael Foster. The other Parishes are Gussage St Michael, Farnham, Chettle, Tarrant Gunville, Tarrant Hinton, Tarrant Monkton, Tarrant Rushton, Tarrant Keyneston, and Tollard Royal in Wiltshire.

The ecclesiastical parish of Gussage All Saints has recently merged with neighbouring Gussage St Michael and joined the Knowlton Circle Benefice which also includes the parishes of Cranborne, Edmondsham, Wimborne St Giles and Woodlands.

To the south of the village lies an Iron Age settlement excavated in 1972 by Dr G. J. Wainwright, of the Department of the Environment. The settlement is formed by an enclosure that is roughly circular in plan and some 3 acres in extent, with a single entrance in the east defined by two pairs of flanking antennae ditches.[2]

Notes and References

  1. Gant, R., Dorset Villages, Hale, 1980, p35
  2. The Iron Age settlement of Gussage All Saints. Antiquity. 1973. 47. 186. 109. Wainwright, GJ. 0003-598X. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110706215039/http://www.antiquity.cc/Ant/047/0109/Ant0470109.pdf. 2011-07-06.