Priest's Way

File:St Nicholas Church - Worth Matravers - geograph.org.uk - 1500885.jpg ]]

File:Swanage, parish church of St. Mary.jpg ]]

St Mary's Church, Swanage was a chapel of ease to St Nicholas's, Worth Matravers until 1487; at that point the position was then reversed. Names of Rectors of Worth, and then of Swanage, are known from 1297. The Priest's Way is the track that the priest followed from Worth Matravers to Swanage and back in order to serve both churches.{{Cite web|url=https://www.langtonmatravers-pc.org/priests-way/|title=Langton Matravers Parish Council: Priest's Way|access-date=11 September 2021}}

The modern Priest's Way is a public footpath and bridleway, and is maintained by Dorset Council.{{Cite web|url=https://www.langtonmatravers-pc.org/priests-way/|title=Langton Matravers Parish Council: Priest's Way|access-date=11 September 2021}} Its length is 3 miles, running from just north-east of Worth Matravers to the outskirts of Swanage. It forms part of the South West Coast Path.{{Cite web|url=https://www.southwestcoastpath.org.uk/print-walk/345/|title=South West Coast Path: Walk - Swanage Coastal Park - Priests Way|access-date=11 September 2021}} It underwent restoration work in 2014.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/10991222.renovated-and-upgraded-priests-way-path-from-swanage-officially-reopened/|title=Dorset Echo: "Renovated and upgraded Priest's Way Path from Swanage officially reopened", 6 February 2014|date=6 February 2014 |access-date=11 September 2021}}

Features on the route of the Priest's Way, from Worth Matravers to Swanage, include:

File:Chancel arch at St Nicholas' Church, Worth Matravers - geograph.org.uk - 540527.jpg ]]

File:Tombstones recording the deaths of Benjamin Jesty and his wi Wellcome V0018800.jpg's gravestone at St Nicholas’s, Worth Matravers ]]

• St Nicholas of Myra Church, Worth Matravers, a Grade I listed 12th-century church notable for its Romanesque chancel arch.{{Cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1120262|title=Historic England List Entry 1120262|access-date=11 September 2021}} The churchyard includes the grave of the early proponent of vaccination against smallpox, Benjamin Jesty, which is separately Grade II listed for his historic significance.{{Cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1305027|title=Historic England List Entry 1305027|access-date=11 September 2021}}

File:Worth Matravers, Square & Compass (geograph 2371934).jpg at Worth Matravers ]]

• Square & Compass public house, trading as an inn since at least 1793 and possibly as early as 1752, and has its own museum housing fossils, dinosaur bones and archaeological finds. {{Cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1151928|title=Historic England List Entry 1151928|access-date=11 September 2021}} It is Grade II listed, partly for the retained historic absence of a counter, beer being served instead through two serving hatches. A recent feature (erected in 2015) at the pub is Woodhenge, a henge monument constructed from wood and modelled on Stonehenge.{{Cite web|url=https://thedorsetrambler.com/2018/09/27/woodhenge/|title=The Dorset Rambler: Woodhenge|date=27 September 2018 |access-date=11 September 2021}}
• Keates Quarry dinosaur footprints. Discovered in 1997 and opened to the public in 2016, these 140 million year old footprints{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/spyway/features/the-spyway-dinosaur-footprints|title=National Trust: The Spyway Dinosaur Footprints|access-date=11 September 2021}} were left by sauropod dinosaurs.{{Cite web|url=https://ukfossils.co.uk/2017/03/03/keates-quarry/|title=UK Fossils: Keates Quarry|date=3 March 2017 |access-date=11 September 2021}}
• A small pond, home to a population of great-crested newts.
• Spyway Barn, a Grade II listed early 19th-century barn,{{Cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1323406|title=Historic England List Entry 1323406|access-date=11 September 2021}} which was acquired by the National Trust in the 1990s and is used as a display room.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/spyway/trails/scratch-arse-ware-and-dancing-ledge-walk|title=National Trust: Scratch Arse Ware and Dancing Ledge Walk|access-date=11 September 2021}} The name Spyway refers to the smuggling activities that used to take place at this location, and Spyway Barn was used to store smuggled goods. {{Cite web|url=https://www.langtonmatravers-pc.org/priests-way/|title=Langton Matravers Parish Council: Priest's Way|access-date=11 September 2021}} The National Trust also own an adjacent cottage, Spyway Cottage, which is available for holiday rentals.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/holidays/spyway-cottage-dorset|title=National Trust Holidays: Spyway|access-date=11 September 2021}}
• A restored lime kiln.{{Cite web|url=https://m.geograph.org.uk/photo/6061827|title=Geograph: Lime Kiln|access-date=11 September 2021}}
• The Priest's Way then follows the route of two streets, Priests Way and Priests Road (both named after the Priest’s Way).
• St Mary's Church, Swanage, a 19th and early-20th century reconstruction of the mediaeval chapel of ease (by then the parish church); the tower is the only remaining mediaeval part of the church.

Other features that are near the Priest's Way, but not immediately on it, include the Burngate Stone Carving Centre in Langton Matravers, Langton Matravers Museum, St George's Church in Langton Matravers, the Dancing Ledge, and Herston Halt on the Swanage Railway.

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Category:Ancient trackways in England

Category:History of Dorset

Category:Isle of Purbeck

Category:Archaeological sites in Dorset

Category:Pilgrimage routes