Steeple, Dorset

Steeple is a hamlet and former civil parish, now in the civil parish of Steeple with Tyneham, in the Purbeck district of the English county of Dorset. It is situated 8 miles (13 km) west of the coastal resort town of Swanage at the foot of Ridgeway Hill. In 2013 the estimated population of the civil parish was 60.[1] The civil parish was abolished on 1 April 2014 and merged with Tyneham to form Steeple with Tyneham.[2]

Steeple

Steeple parish church
Steeple
Location within Dorset
Population60 (2013 estimate)
OS grid referenceSY910812
Civil parish
  • Steeple with Tyneham
District
  • Purbeck
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townWAREHAM
Postcode districtBH20
Dialling code01929
PoliceDorset
FireDorset and Wiltshire
AmbulanceSouth Western
UK Parliament

The ancient Norman church of Steeple, dedicated to St Michael and All Angels, lacks a steeple. It has a coat of arms engraved in stone in the porch and another painted in scarlet of the roof interior that is precisely the same as George Washington's coat of arms, showing stars and stripes.

The Washington arms is quartered with those of the squires of Steeple village, the Lawrence family, who are allied with the Washingtons by the marriage of one of its sons, Edmund Lawrence, to Agnes de Wessington in 1390.

The flag of the US capital hangs inside the church, presented on 25 July 1977 by Walter E Washington, Mayor of Washington DC from 2 January 1975 - 2 January 1979

On the highest local point of the nearby Purbeck Ridge is an 18th-century folly built by the former owner of Creech Grange and known as Grange Arch. Today it is a Grade II listed building owned by the National Trust.[3][4]

References
  1. "Parish Population Data". Dorset County Council. 20 January 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  2. "The Purbeck District Council (Reorganisation of Community Governance) Order 2014" (PDF). Lgbce. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  3. Grange Arch on the Purbeck ridgeway at www.geograph.org.uk. Accessed on 26 May 2013.
  4. Grange Arch, Steeple at www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Accessed on 26 May 2013.

Media related to Steeple at Wikimedia Commons


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