Winterborne Clenston
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox UK place
|official_name= Winterborne Clenston
|static_image_name= The Manor House - Winterborne Clenston - geograph.org.uk - 626944.jpg
|static_image_caption= The Manor House, Winterborne Clenston
|coordinates= {{coord|50.827|-2.230|display=inline,title}}
|population= 40
|population_ref= (2013 est.)
|os_grid_reference= ST838031
|civil_parish= Winterborne Clenston
|unitary_england= Dorset
|lieutenancy_england= Dorset
|region= South West England
|country= England
|post_town= BLANDFORD FORUM
|postcode_area= DT
|postcode_district= DT11
|dial_code= 01258
|constituency_westminster= North Dorset
}}
Winterborne Clenston is a small village and civil parish in Dorset, England, around {{convert|3+1/2|mi|km|round=0.5|abbr=off}} southwest of Blandford Forum. In 2013 the civil parish had an estimated population of 40.{{cite web |title=Parish Population Data |url=https://www.dorsetforyou.com/344882 |publisher=Dorset County Council |date=20 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121135528/https://www.dorsetforyou.com/344882 |archive-date=21 November 2015 |access-date=8 February 2015}}
The first part of the village name comes from the River Winterborne, which flows from north to south through the village.{{cite web |title=Dorset: Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - Walking the River Winterborne |url=http://www.dorsetaonb.org.uk/assets/downloads/Winterbournes_Wetlands/Winterborne_Leaflet_final_copy.pdf |publisher=Dorset AONB Partnership |date=2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131212154410/http://www.dorsetaonb.org.uk/assets/downloads/Winterbournes_Wetlands/Winterborne_Leaflet_final_copy.pdf |archive-date=12 December 2013 |access-date=18 April 2016}} The river only flows overground during the winter, hence the name. In 1312 the patron of the church was Roger de Clencheston, who most likely had a farm here, after which the second part of the village name derives.{{cite book |last=Gant |first=Roland |year=1980 |title=Dorset Villages |publisher=Robert Hale Ltd |page=180 |ISBN=0 7091 8135 3}}
To the north of the village is Winterborne Stickland and to the south is Winterborne Whitechurch. The river flows through both these villages as well.{{cite map |title=Dorchester, Weymouth and surrounding area |work=Landranger 194 |publisher=Ordnance Survey}}
The parish church of St Nicholas dates from 1840. It is built in bands of stone and flint and has a spire on top of a narrow tower. It stands alone above the Winterborne on the site of an earlier church.
The village manor is a late-15th- to early-16th-century building of Purbeck and Portland stone with courses of flint. It was built in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and is a Grade I listed building.{{cite web |url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-103371-manor-house-winterborne-clenston-dorset#.V8AR_63GD6g |title=Manor House, Winterborne Clenston |publisher=British Listed Buildings |access-date=26 August 2016}} It has mullioned windows and a gabled staircase turret on the west side.Accessed 31 Mar 2023 Youtube video by ethnography Jack Hargreaves visiting site in early 1980s, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Pk_x-mbNow&list=TLPQMDEwNDIwMjPv9zUWvDQDJg&index=6 Nearby is a sixteenth-century tithe-barn with a hammerbeam roof, also a listed building but falling into disrepair. In 2008, Historic England funded the erection of scaffolding and temporary repairs to the structure, but by 2016, a permanent repair had not been made.{{cite web |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/advice/heritage-at-risk/search-register/list-entry/1254454 |title=Manor Farm Barn, Winterborne Clenston - North Dorset |work=Heritage at risk |publisher=Historic England |access-date=26 August 2016}}
About {{convert|100|m|ft|-2|abbr=off}} east of the manor house is a field barn which is also a Grade II listed building. It is also built in bands of flint and stone and has a door made of planks and a thatched roof. It forms an important group with the Manor House and the Manor House Barn.{{cite web |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1118619 |title=Barn approximately 100 metres west of Winterborne Clenston Manor House |publisher=Historic England |access-date=26 August 2016}}