Adventure and adventurers > Black's guide to the counties of Dorset, Devon, & Cornwall

88 BRANCH ROUTE STALLBRIDGE TO BLANDFORD. Route 4.
the right lies Thornhill (Rev. H. Boucher), deriving its name
from its founder, Sir James Thornhill, the artist. Thornhill
Spire, on the hill beyond, commemorates his patron George 1,
and was erected in 1727. The artist was descended from Ralph
de Thornhill {temp. Henry III.); and when he became prosperous
bought back his ancestral acres, and “ erected a grand house.”
One mile further, and we cross the Divelish, a tributary oi
the Stour, and wind through a delightful landscape to (2J miles)
STURMINSTER NEWTON (population, 1916. Inns: The
Crown and the Swan), on the projected Dorset Central Railway,
a market-town of great antiquity, built on a gentle slope which
declines to the rushy Stour. In the market-place remain the
octagonal steps which formerly supported the market-cross. Be¬
yond the river (spanned by a good stone bridge) rises Piddle-
wood, a richly wooded upland abounding in game ; and at the
foot of the bridge a pleasant orchard, covering a mound, and
encircled by a dry fosse, marks the site of an ancient Castle,
whose history remains untold.
At Banbury, 1 mile south, there is a British camp, which
may be worth a visit, and keeping 7 miles further south, the
tourist may visit the beautiful Church erected at WOODLAND
(population, 107) in 1857, from the designs of Mr. G. G. Scott.
It consists of a nave, chancel, porch, south aisle, and octagonal
buttressed turret, supporting a tall and elegant spire. The inte¬
rior is richly fitted up.
The road now pierces the downs through a long and narrow gap,
—the heights on either side being crowned with ancient entrench¬
ments,—and passes through SHILLING OKEEORD (population,
773), or Child Okeford, 3£ miles, where stand the ruins of a
cross, a tall Maypole, which is garlanded yearly on the 9th of
June, and an ancient church. Through the shades of deep woods
we then descend to the Stour, and crossing at DURWESTON
(population, 406),—the church is of no particular interest,—^pro¬
ceed through a pleasant country to Blandford, one of the principal
stations on the new Dorset Central Railway, 5j miles from Shil¬
ling Okeford, and 13£ miles from Henstridge Ash.