Hanford

Photo © Chris Downer Hanford: parish church, 2001. Available for reuse under this Creative Commons licence

Hanford is a small parish on the River Stour, 4½ miles NW of Blandford. The Parish covering only 600 acres, lies across the Chalk saddle between Hambledon and Hod Hills, which reach altitudes of 600 ft. and 450 ft. respectively in the N. and S.E. extremities of the area. The former village lay at the junction of the Chalk and the upper Greensand, overlooking the river. The manor at one time belonged to Tarrent nunnery, and later belonged to the Seymer family.

The Parish Church of St. Michael and All Angels (left), some 50 yds. N. of Hanford House, has walls of coursed ashlar and is roofed with stone-slates; the walls are probably of mediaeval origin but the church was largely rebuilt in the middle of the 17th century.

Hanford House (right) is set on ground which falls away to South and East to the Stour, about ½ m. away. The mansion has stone walls and is roofed with stone-slates; it has two principal storeys with attics and cellars and is planned around a square courtyard, on the model of an Italian palace. It was built for Sir Robert Seymer between 1604 and 1623. Nowadays it is the home of Hanford Preparatory School for Girls.

Settlement Remains of the former hamlet of Hanford lie immediately north of the Church. A population of eight is recorded in 1086 and the same number of taxpayers is listed in 1333. The tax paid in 1428 indicates by the terms of the Subsidy that there still were more than ten inhabitants. By 1650 Hanford House was the only inhabited building in the parish.

Photo © Chris Downer Hanford: Hanford House (now a School), 2001. Available for reuse under this Creative Commons licence

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