# Sandford Orcas

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Village in Dorset, England

Human settlement in England

Sandford Orcas Sandford Orcas village centre Sandford Orcas Location within Dorset Population 180 [1] OS grid reference ST623208 Unitary authority Dorset Ceremonial county Dorset Region South West Country England Sovereign state United Kingdom Post town Sherborne Postcode district DT9 Police Dorset Fire Dorset and Wiltshire Ambulance South Western UK Parliament West Dorset List of places UK England Dorset 50°59′06″N 2°32′16″W / 50.9851°N 2.5378°W / 50.9851; -2.5378

**Sandford Orcas** is a village and [parish](/source/Civil_parishes_in_England) in northwest [Dorset](/source/Dorset), [England](/source/England), 3 miles (4.8 km) north of [Sherborne](/source/Sherborne). In the [2011 census](/source/United_Kingdom_Census_2011), the parish had a population of 180.[1] Just to the east of the village itself is the hamlet of Holway. The village lies in hilly country on the Dorset/Somerset county border and was part of [Somerset](/source/Somerset) until 1896,[2][3] with the land connected to the [Abbot of Glastonbury](/source/Abbot_of_Glastonbury).

The poetic-sounding village name has a more prosaic explanation. Three streams rise in the parish, and in [Saxon](/source/Anglo-Saxons) times, the water was forded over a sandy riverbed from which the name [Sand](/source/Sand)[ford](/source/Ford_(crossing)) derives. The 'Orcas' descends from the Norman *Orescuilz* family,[4] who came to own the village manor in the century after the [Battle of Hastings](/source/Battle_of_Hastings) in 1066. The village was known as *Sanford* in 1086 (in the [Domesday Book](/source/Domesday_Book)), *Sandford* in 1243, *Sandford Horscoys* in 1372, and *Samford Orescoys* in 1427. The [manor house](/source/Manor_house) built circa 1550 during the [Tudors](/source/Tudor_dynasty) is Grade I listed[5][4] and has changed little over the centuries.[4] The two renovations completed over the past 150 years have both been quite sympathetic.[6]

The parish was part of the [hundred](/source/Hundred_(county_subdivision)) of [Horethorne](/source/Horethorne_(hundred)).[7]

Adjacent to the manor house is the [Perpendicular](/source/Perpendicular_Gothic) church of [Saint Nicholas](/source/Saint_Nicholas), which has a 13th-century [font](/source/Baptismal_font), shaped like an upturned [Canterbury bell](/source/Campanula_medium) flower. In the south chapel is a wall monument of carved and painted [alabaster](/source/Alabaster), showing a knight in armor kneeling between his two wives and eleven children. Seven children kneel, in black gowns, and the others are in [swaddling clothes](/source/Swaddling) of red and lying in a heap behind their mother. The knight, who rests below the memorial, is William Knoyle. The reading on the stone gives information on this tomb dated 1607. It seems he married 'Fillip, daughter of Robert Morgane...by whom hee had yssve 4 children & bee dead'. The knight's second wife was Grace Clavel, by whom he had three sons and four daughters, who survived him.

		- Memorial to William Knoyle in St Nicholas's Church, Sandford Orcas

		- The Manor House - Sandford Orcas - geograph.org.uk - 890992

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-ons_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-ons_1-1) ["Area: Sandford Orcas (Parish), Key Figures for 2011 Census: Key Statistics"](http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11128176&c=Sandford+Orcas&d=16&e=62&g=6418553&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1397260306450&enc=1). *Neighbourhood Statistics*. [Office for National Statistics](/source/Office_for_National_Statistics). Retrieved 11 April 2014.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Hart, J.W. (2020). ["The Changing Boundaries of Somerset"](https://sanhs.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/10-J-W-Hart.pdf) (PDF). Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society. p. 167. Retrieved 12 February 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Bettey, J. H., *Dorset*, David & Charles, p121

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Gant1_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Gant1_4-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Gant1_4-2) Gant, R., *Dorset Villages*, Hale, 1980, p65

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["The Manor House, Sandford Orcas"](https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1154226?section=official-list-entry). *Historic England*. Retrieved 5 July 2023. List Entry Number: 1154226

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["An incredible Dorset manor house that's up for sale for the first time in 287 years"](https://www.countrylife.co.uk/property/an-incredible-dorset-manor-house-thats-up-for-sale-for-the-first-time-in-287-years-257287). *Country Life*. 1 July 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-genuki_7-0)** ["Somerset Hundreds"](http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/Miscellaneous/). GENUKI. Retrieved 9 October 2011.

## External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Sandford Orcas](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Sandford_Orcas).

- [Map sources](https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?pagename=Sandford_Orcas&params=50.981816_N_2.527023_W_region:GB_scale:100000) for Sandford Orcas

v t e Ceremonial county of Dorset Unitary authorities Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (areas and suburbs) Dorset Major settlements (cities in italics) Beaminster Blandford Forum Bournemouth Bridport Broadstone Chickerell Christchurch Corfe Mullen Dorchester Ferndown Gillingham Highcliffe Lyme Regis Merley Poole Shaftesbury Sherborne Stalbridge Sturminster Newton Swanage Upton Verwood Wareham Weymouth Wimborne Minster See also: List of civil parishes in Dorset Rivers Allen Asker Avon Axe Bourne Bride Brit Cerne Char Corfe Crane Frome Hooke Moors Piddle Simene Stour Sydling Water Tarrant Wey Topics Flag Settlements Beaches Churches County Council Economy Population of major settlements Geology Geography SSSIs Healthcare History (English Civil War) Schools Tourism Lord Lieutenants High Sheriffs Museums People Transport Grade I listed buildings Grade II listed buildings Grade II* listed buildings Scheduled monuments South West Coast Path Portal:Dorset

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