| Hammoon | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This is both a parish and a small village which lies on the River Stour east of Sturminster Newton and surrounded by the parishes of Okeford Fitzpaine, Shillingstone , Child Okeford and Manston. The church which is a tiny ancient building is dedicated to St Paul and has a bell turret, it was restored in 1896.It has had its antiquity disguised by some rather bizarre additions like the belfry which was added in 1885 and would look more at home on the roof of a stable, and also the reredos which was found in the yard of a dealer in London just after the war, it is made from Ham Hill Limestone and shows the Crucifixion and Three Apostles. The manor house was built in the 16th century and is a fairly handsome building built of grey stone with a thatched roof, and it was once the seat of the Moyon family. In fact it is now a farmhouse that has Tuscan columns and mullioned Tudor windows. A hundred years later a Purbeck limestone porch of classical proportions was added. The population has seemed to increase and decrease over the years with 73 people here in 1851, 74 in 1861, then a sharp rise to 89 in 1871 and again a fall to 76 in 1881 and again in 1931 there were 51 inhabitants, the 2001 census dropped the figure by one to 50!! Hammoon has been called the Garden Hamlet and the road which is prone to flooding is lined with willows and the Saxons called it Hamm which meant 'home' but when the Normans came it was placed in the hands of William of Moyon and it is ironic when you think of it, as this Norman came from Moyon which is in the Contemn Peninsula and then 900 years later the D-Day troops landed on the coast of Normandy with William of Moyon's birthplace on their right flanks!
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