Littlebredy

The area around Littlebredy is rich with evidence of early human occupation, including stone circles, strip lynchets, tumuli (long and round barrows) and a probable hill fort.{{cite book|title=Dorset Villages|author=Roland Gant|year=1980|publisher=Robert Hale Ltd|pages=161–163|isbn=0-7091-8135-3}}{{cite web|url=http://www.opcdorset.org/LittleBredyFiles/Little%20Bredy.htm|title=Little Bredy|publisher=Dorset OPC Project|access-date=21 February 2014}}{{cite book|title=West Dorset, Holiday and Tourist Guide|publisher=West Dorset District Council|year=c. 1983|page=10}}Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Pathfinder Series of Great Britain, Sheet SY 49/59 Bridport, published 1977 North and east of the village the density of barrows is as great as the area around Stonehenge.{{cite web|url=http://www.burtonbradstock.org.uk/History/C%20J%20Baileys%20The%20Bride%20Valley/The%20Natural%20Setting.htm|title=Extracts from C.J. Bailey's Book "The Bride Valley"|publisher=Burton Bradstock ONLINE Committee|access-date=24 February 2014|orig-year= first published 1982| date=1999–2013}} One mile north of the village and just outside the parish is a group of 44 Bronze Age round barrows of various sizes, known as Winterbourne Poor Lot Barrows or just Poor Lot.{{cite web|url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/winterbourne-poor-lot-barrows/|publisher=English Heritage|title=Winterbourne Poor Lot Barrows|access-date=23 February 2014}} On a hill immediately south of the village are the earthworks of Old Warren (or Danes' Camp), which most likely was a univallate (single rampart) Iron Age hill fort.{{cite web|url=http://pastscape.org/hob.aspx?hob_id=1410345&sort=2&type=hillfort&rational=a&class1=None&period=None&county=None&district=None&parish=None&place=&recordsperpage=10&source=text&rtype=&rnumber=&p=31&move=p&nor=890&recfc=0|publisher=English Heritage|title=Old Warren|work=Pastscape|year=2007|access-date=25 February 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301130717/http://pastscape.org/hob.aspx?hob_id=1410345&sort=2&type=hillfort&rational=a&class1=None&period=None&county=None&district=None&parish=None&place=&recordsperpage=10&source=text&rtype=&rnumber=&p=31&move=p&nor=890&recfc=0|archive-date=1 March 2014|df=dmy-all}} Old Warren may later have been used as a burh in the time of Alfred the Great, though it may have been not completed, or abandoned in favour of a site at what is now Bridport.{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=127197|title='Bredy, Little', An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 1: West (1952), pp. 37–39|publisher=University of London & History of Parliament Trust|access-date=25 February 2014|work=British History Online|year=2014}}

Records from the 10th century refer to the area as 'Bridian' or 'Brydian' and in 1086 Littlebredy specifically was recorded in the Domesday Book as 'Litelbride'.{{cite web|url=http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/dorset2.html#littlebredy|title=Dorset H—R|work=The Domesday Book Online|publisher=domesdaybook.co.uk|date=1999–2013|access-date=21 February 2014}} The words 'Bride' and 'Bredy' derive from the Celtic for a torrential, gushing stream; the addition of 'Little' distinguishes the parish from the larger neighbouring parish of Long Bredy.

Littlebredy was owned by Cerne Abbey until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century, when the Abbey sold its land to Philip Vanwilder. The estate subsequently passed to the Freke family of Iwerne Courtney and then Sir Robert Meller (or Mellor) of Winterborne Came, who built Bridehead House in the early 17th century. In 1730 the estate was bought by the Meech family who in 1797 sold it to wealthy banker Robert Williams from Hertfordshire.

During the 19th century the Williams family—headed by four successive Roberts who all became members of parliament{{cite web|url=http://dorset-ancestors.com/?p=1823|title=Little Bredy|publisher=Dorset Ancestors|date=11 November 2011|access-date=22 February 2014}}—made substantial changes to the estate. The architects Peter Frederick Robinson and then Benjamin Ferrey were employed. Bridehead House was extended and altered by Robinson in 1830–33, then extended further by Ferrey a few years later. The River Bride was dammed near its source to create a lake as part of landscaping around the house.{{cite web|url=http://www.weymouth-dorset.co.uk/little-bredy.html|title=Little Bredy (Littlebredy)|publisher=weymouth-dorset.co.uk|access-date=24 February 2014|author=}} Ferrey also designed new cottages to form an estate village and provided plans for restoring the parish church, including adding a spire to its 14th-century tower. Some Jacobean buildings in the village were also changed around this time, being reworked into a Gothic farmyard or stable block. Ferrey's plan for the church—which involved virtually rebuilding it—was implemented in 1847 under the supervision of the third Robert Williams' brother-in-law, Arthur Acland, who also had an architectural input. There was public access to the lake and waterfall on Bridehead Estate until it was sold in 2025.{{cite news| last=Morris | first=Steven | title=Anger as Dorset estate withdraws public entry to 'stunning' local landmark |newspaper=The Guardian | date=31 May 2025 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/may/31/anger-as-dorset-bridehead-estate-withdraws-public-entry-stunning-local-landmark}}

In the churchyard is a memorial to Frederic Wallis, Bishop of Wellington, New Zealand, who married into the Williams family. It is made from the wood of a tree sent specially from New Zealand.{{cite web|url=http://www.dorsethistoricchurchestrust.co.uk/little_bredy.htm|publisher=The Dorset Historic Churches Trust|title=Little Bredy, St. Michael & All Angels|access-date=23 February 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130428232557/http://www.dorsethistoricchurchestrust.co.uk/little_bredy.htm|archive-date=28 April 2013|df=dmy-all}}

File:Wallis memorial, Little Bredy.JPG(base not shown)]]

For elections to the British House of Commons, Littlebredy is in the West Dorset parliamentary constituency.

At the upper tier of local government, Littlebredy is the Dorset unitary authority area. For elections to Dorset Council, it is in the Chesil Bank electoral ward.

At the lower tier, Littlebredy is a civil parish. It does not have a parish council, but it does have parish meetings.{{cite web|url=https://www.dorsetforyou.com/littlebredy-pm|title=Littlebredy Parish Meeting|publisher=Dorset County Council|access-date=21 February 2014}}

Littlebredy village is sited between 85 and 110 metres above sea-level at the head of the small River Bride, surrounded by wooded chalk hills of the Dorset Downs. It is {{convert|6.5|mi|km}} west of the county town Dorchester, {{convert|8|mi|km}} east of Bridport, {{convert|8|mi|km}} northwest of Weymouth and {{convert|3.5|mi|km}} north of the English Channel. The nearest railway stations are Maiden Newton, Dorchester West, Dorchester South, Upwey and Weymouth, which are all within a direct radius of {{convert|8.5|mi|km}}. The nearest main road is the A35 trunk road approximately {{convert|1|mi|km}} to the north.John Bartholomew & Son Ltd 1:100,000 National Map Series, Sheet 4 Dorset, published 1980 All of Littlebredy parish lies within the Dorset National Landscape area.{{cite web|url=http://www.dorsetaonb.org.uk/dorset-aonb-map|title=Dorset AONB Map|publisher=Dorset AONB Partnership|access-date=25 February 2014}}

File:The Valley of Stones - geograph.org.uk - 558942.jpg

In the south of the parish is the Valley of Stones, which in 1906 was described by Sir Frederick Treves as "a mysterious glen among the downs, on whose grassy slopes many huge stones are scattered."{{cite book|title=Highways and Byways in Dorset|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924028032351|author=Sir Frederick Treves|author-link=Sir Frederick Treves, 1st Baronet|year=1906|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cu31924028032351/page/n272 247]–8|publisher=Macmillan & Co Ltd}} In prehistoric times it was used as a source of building material for nearby constructions such as tombs and stone circles, and within 4 miles are two-thirds of all such structures in the county.{{cite web|url=http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/conservation/designations/nnr/1007103.aspx|publisher=Natural England|title=Valley of Stones NNR|access-date=20 February 2014}} Folklore attributes the origin of the stones to have been two giants playing stone-throwing games,{{cite book|title=Dorset Folklore|page=33|author=Maureen Hymas|publisher=Books of Wessex Ltd|isbn=0-90157550-X|year=1981}} but they are the result of conditions at the end of the last ice age, when freezing and thawing caused sandstone on surrounding hilltops to break up and slump downhill. They form one of the best British examples of a sarsen stone boulder train. The stones and the surrounding dry chalk valley provide habitats for a variety of flora and fauna—including clustered bellflower, autumn gentian, lichens, bryophytes and the adonis blue butterfly—and the area is designated a National Nature Reserve.

In the 2011 census Littlebredy civil parish had 53 dwellings,{{cite web|url=http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=7&b=11125770&c=Littlebredy&d=16&e=62&g=6418382&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1393108644495&enc=1&dsFamilyId=2481|title=Area: Littlebredy (Parish), Dwellings, Household Spaces and Accommodation Type, 2011 (KS401EW)|access-date=22 February 2014|publisher=Office for National Statistics|work=Neighbourhood Statistics}} 45 households and a population of 121.

The population of the parish in the censuses between 1921 and 2001 is shown in the table below:

In the 1861 census the parish had 41 inhabited dwellings and a population of 199.{{cite web|url=http://www.opcdorset.org/LittleBredyFiles/1861LittleBredy.htm|publisher=Dorset OPC Project|title=Parish of Little Bredy, 1861 Census|access-date=24 February 2014}}

• Robert Meller (c.1564-1624), member of parliament
• Ben Pentreath (born 1971), architect and interior designer

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{{Commons category-inline|Littlebredy}}

{{Dorset}}

{{West Dorset}}

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Category:Villages in Dorset