Alton Pancras

{{Short description|Village in Dorset, England}} {{Use British English|date=June 2016}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}} {{Infobox UK place | official_name = Alton Pancras | local_name = | country = England | crown_dependency = | region = South West England | static_image_name = Parish Church of St Pancras - Alton Pancras - geograph.org.uk - 887132.jpg | static_image_caption= Alton Pancras parish church | area_footnotes = | area_total_sq_mi = | area_total_km2 = | population = 175 | population_ref =<ref name=ons>{{cite web|url=http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11119970&c=Alton+Pancras&d=16&e=62&g=6418532&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1389064649596&enc=1|title=Area: Alton Pancras (Parish), Key Figures for 2011 Census: Key Statistics|publisher=Office for National Statistics|work=Neighbourhood Statistics|access-date=7 January 2014|date=}}</ref> | population_density = | os_grid_reference = ST699022 | map_type = | coordinates = {{coord|50.8207|-2.4278|display=inline,title}} | post_town = DORCHESTER | postcode_area = DT | postcode_district = DT2 | dial_code = 01300 | constituency_westminster = [[West Dorset (UK Parliament constituency)|West Dorset]] | civil_parish = Alton Pancras

| london_distance = {{convert|130|mi|km|0}} | unitary_england = [[Dorset (unitary authority)|Dorset]] | lieutenancy_england = [[Dorset]] | website = }} [[File:Box Cottage Alton Pancras - geograph.org.uk - 560111.jpg|thumb|260px|Cottage in Alton Pancras]]

'''Alton Pancras''' is a small village and [[Civil parishes in England|civil parish]] in [[Dorset]], England. In the [[United Kingdom Census 2011|2011 census]] the civil parish had a population of 175.

The village church is dedicated to [[Pancras of Rome|Saint Pancras]], which provides part of the village name. The parish was formerly a [[liberty (division)|liberty]], containing only the parish itself.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_dYHAAAAQAAJ&q=alton+pancras+literature&pg=PA36 |title=The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales |year=1840 |access-date=28 March 2015 |page=36|author1=England }}</ref>

==History==

Evidence of prehistoric human activity within the parish includes two [[tumulus|round barrows]] on the hills to the east of the village (one on West Hill and one on Church Hill), the remains of [[Celtic field|'Celtic' fields]] and [[Lynchet|strip lynchet]]s on many of the surrounding hills, and a possible settlement just south of the summit of Church Hill. Dating is not definite but the 'Celtic' fields were probably in use between the [[Bronze Age]] and the end of the [[Roman Britain|Romano-British]] period. The possible settlement is probably Romano-British. Subsequent cultivation, particularly in modern times, has destroyed much of the evidence.<ref name=inventory>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/dorset/vol3/pp1-4 |title='Alton Pancras', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 3, Central (London, 1970), pp. 1–4 |publisher=University of London |work=British History Online |access-date=26 March 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/dorset/vol3/pp318-346 |title='Celtic' Field Groups', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 3, Central (London, 1970), pp. 318–346 |publisher=University of London |work=British History Online |access-date=27 March 2015}}</ref>

The village itself was likely first settled by [[West Saxons|Saxons]] during the expansion of the Kingdom of [[Wessex]]. The name of the village was then Awultune, meaning in [[West Saxon dialect (Old English)|West Saxon]] 'village at the source of the river' (the [[River Piddle]]).<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=br8xcW1f_a8C&dq=awultune&pg=PT89 Meaning of Alton]</ref> The village was previously two separate settlements: Barcombe and Alton, both of which had their own [[open field system]].<ref name=inventory/> In 1086 in the [[Domesday Book]] the village was recorded as ''Altone''. It had 26 households, was in [[Cerne, Totcombe and Modbury Hundred]], and the [[tenant-in-chief]] was the [[Bishop of Salisbury]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/dorset1.html |title=Dorset A-G |publisher=domesdaybook.co.uk |work=The Domesday Book Online |access-date=10 February 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://opendomesday.org/place/ST6902/alton-pancras/ |title=Place: Alton [Pancras] |publisher=opendomesday.org |work=Open Domesday |access-date=10 February 2015}}</ref> Local tradition believes that after conversion to Christianity{{when|date=October 2018}}, the village name incorporated the little-known [[Pancras of Rome|St Pancras]] and that by the time of the [[Battle of Agincourt]] (1415), was known as Aulton Pancras.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://placenames.org.uk/browse/mads/epns-deep-86-b-subparish-000031 |title=Various names of Alton Pancras through the ages |access-date=22 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508225600/http://placenames.org.uk/browse/mads/epns-deep-86-b-subparish-000031 |archive-date=8 May 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> However, in [[Christopher Saxton]]'s map of 1575 it is still known as 'Ælton' and in [[John Speed]]'s map of 1610, it is listed as 'Alton'. In a later 1760 map by [[Emanuel Bowen]], the village is listed as 'Alton Pancras'.

The current church was [[Victorian restoration|restored]] in the 19th century after an earlier [[Norman people|Norman]] church was near collapse. All that remains of the old church is the 15th-century tower and a Norman arch. The church organ used to be a fairground organ. The floor tiles were created by [[Poole Pottery]].

==Governance==

For elections to the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]], Alton Pancras is in the [[West Dorset (UK Parliament constituency)|West Dorset parliamentary constituency]].

In local government, Alton Pancras is in the [[Dorset (district)|Dorset unitary authority]]. For elections to [[Dorset Council (UK)|Dorset Council]] it is in the [[Chalk Valleys (ward)|Chalk Valleys electoral ward]].

At the parish level – the lowest tier of local government – Alton Pancras is one of three parishes governed by Piddle Valley Group [[parish council (England)|Parish Council]]. The other parishes are [[Piddlehinton]] and Piddletrenthide.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dorsetforyou.com/article/407201/Piddle-Valley-Grouped-Parish-Council |title=Piddle Valley Grouped Parish Council |publisher=Dorset County Council |work=dorsetforyou.com |date=11 November 2014 |access-date=26 March 2015}}</ref> [[File:Barnes's Lane, near Narn Farm, Alton Pancras - geograph.org.uk - 960189.jpg|thumb|260px|left|Barnes's Lane on the northern boundary of the parish, looking east toward Church Hill]]

==Geography==

Alton Pancras civil parish covers {{convert|2280|acre|ha|disp=flip}} at the head of the valley of the [[River Piddle]].<ref name=inventory/> The valley is on the [[escarpment|dip slope]] of the [[Dorset Downs]] and drains from north to south. Several small side [[combe]]s extend east and west. In the east the parish includes part of a tributary valley at Watcombe Bottom, north of [[Plush, Dorset|Plush]], and in the northeast it extends north of the escarpment to Alton Common in the [[Blackmore Vale]].<ref name=ordsurv>Ordnance Survey (1986), 1:25,000 Pathfinder map series, sheet 1299 (ST 60/70) (Cerne Abbas & Hazelbury Bryan), {{ISBN|0-319-21299-8}}</ref> The underlying geology of the parish is mostly [[chalk]], except for the Alton Common extension, which is on [[greensand]], [[gault]] and [[Kimmeridge clay]].<ref name=inventory/> Alton Pancras village is sited in the valley near the source of the River Piddle at an altitude of about {{convert|125|m|ft}}. The altitude of the parish is between about {{convert|255|m|ft}} at its highest point on the hills to the west, to about {{convert|110|m|ft}} at its lowest point where the river leaves the parish in the south.<ref name=ordsurv/> The broadcaster and agriculturist [[Ralph Wightman]], who was born and lived in the nearby village of [[Piddletrenthide]], described the hills surrounding the village as "very much in the centre of Dorset".<ref>{{cite book|author=Ralph Wightman|author-link=Ralph Wightman|title=Portrait of Dorset|publisher=Robert Hale Ltd|year=1983|page=106|edition=4|isbn=0-7090-0844-9}}</ref> All of Alton Pancras parish is within the [[Dorset National Landscape]] area.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://explorer.geowessex.com/?layers=4805&basemap=27&x=376944.16&y=99635.35&epsg=27700&zoom=10 |title=Dorset Explorer |publisher=Natural England |access-date=28 March 2015 |archive-date=6 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151006075621/http://explorer.geowessex.com/?layers=4805&basemap=27&x=376944.16&y=99635.35&epsg=27700&zoom=10 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Horse Close Wood on Alton Common is a [[Woodland Trust]] wood, though it is not open to the public.<ref name=ordsurv/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiting-woods/wood/4072/horse-close-wood/ |title=Horse Close Wood |publisher=Woodland Trust |access-date=28 March 2015}}</ref>

Alton Pancras village is situated on the [[B3143 road]], which connects it to the county town of [[Dorchester, Dorset|Dorchester]] {{convert|9|mi|0}} to the south. Other local travel links include [[Maiden Newton railway station]] {{convert|7|mi|0}} to the south-west, and [[Bournemouth Airport]] {{convert|26|mi|0}} to the east.

==Demography==

In the 2011 census Alton Pancras civil parish had 72 dwellings,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=7&b=11119970&c=Alton+Pancras&d=16&e=62&g=6418532&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1423560251677&enc=1&dsFamilyId=2481|title=Area: Alton Pancras (Parish). Dwellings, Household Spaces and Accommodation Type, 2011 (KS401EW)|publisher=Office for National Statistics|work=Neighbourhood Statistics|access-date=10 February 2015|date=}}</ref> 71 households and a population of 175.<ref name=ons/> The average age of parish residents was 42, compared to 39.3 for England as a whole. 16.0% of residents were age 65 or over, compared to 16.4% for England as a whole.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=7&b=11119970&c=Alton+Pancras&d=16&e=62&g=6418532&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1427446153781&enc=1&dsFamilyId=2474 |title=Area: Alton Pancras (Parish). Age Structure, 2011 (KS102EW) |publisher=Office for National Statistics|work=Neighbourhood Statistics|access-date=27 March 2015 |date=30 January 2013}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category}} * [http://www.thedorsetpage.com/locations/place/A080.htm Village history] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090421053240/http://www.dorsethistoricchurchestrust.co.uk/alton_pancras.htm Church history]

[[Category:Villages in Dorset]] [[Category:Liberties of Dorset]]