Pentridge is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Sixpenny Handley and Pentridge, in the English county of Dorset, lying in the north-east of the county within the East Dorset administrative district. It is situated on the edge of Cranborne Chase down a dead-end minor lane just south of the A354 road between the towns of Blandford Forum (ten miles to the south-west) and Salisbury (twelve miles to the northeast). In 2001 it had a population of 215. The civil parish was abolished on 1 April 2015 and merged with Sixpenny Handley to form Sixpenny Handley and Pentridge.[1]
Pentridge | |
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![]() Parish church of Saint Rumbold | |
![]() ![]() Pentridge Location within Dorset | |
Population | 215 (2001) |
OS grid reference | SU033178 |
Civil parish |
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District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | SALISBURY |
Postcode district | SP5 |
Dialling code | 01725 |
Police | Dorset |
Fire | Dorset and Wiltshire |
Ambulance | South Western |
UK Parliament |
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The village name derives from the Celtic pen ("hill") and twrch ("boar"), and thus means "hill of the wild boar"; its existence was first recorded (as "Pentric") in the eighth century, eighty years before the birth of Alfred the Great.[2]
The village is located amongst many Neolithic, Roman and Saxon earthworks, notably Bokerley Dyke, a long defensive ditch which was dug by the Romano-British to keep out the Saxon invaders.
Nearby is Pentridge Hill, formed by a band of more resistant chalk than the surrounding land.
Media related to Pentridge at Wikimedia Commons
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