Wynford Eagle
{{Short description|Hamlet and civil parish in Dorset, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox UK place
|country = England
|official_name= Wynford Eagle
|map_type = Dorset
|static_image_name = Wynford Eagle Church - geograph.org.uk - 1268594.jpg
|static_image_caption = Church of St Lawrence, Wynford Eagle
|coordinates = {{coord|50.761|-2.595|display=inline,title}}
|civil_parish=
|population = 193
|unitary_england= Dorset
|lieutenancy_england = Dorset
|region= South West England
|constituency_westminster= West Dorset
|post_town= Dorchester
|postcode_district = DT2
|postcode_area= DT
|dial_code= 01305
|os_grid_reference= SY581959
}}
Wynford Eagle is a hamlet and small parish in Dorset, England, situated approximately {{convert|1.5|mi|km}} southwest of Maiden Newton and {{convert|7.5|mi|km}} northwest of Dorchester. In the 2021 Census the parish population was recorded as 193.{{Cite web|url=https://www.citypopulation.de/en/uk/southwestengland/admin/dorset/E04003628__wynford_eagle/|title=Wynford Eagle (Parish, United Kingdom) - Population Statistics, Charts, Map and Location|website=www.citypopulation.de}}
Toponymy
The village was recorded as Wenfrot in the Domesday Book of 1086, and as Wynfrod Egle in 1288.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tXucAQAAQBAJ&dq=wynford+eagle+dictionary+british+place+names&pg=PA514|title=A Dictionary of British Place Names|editor=David Mills|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=514|year=2011|isbn=978-0-19-960908-6|accessdate=30 May 2014}} The name Wynford derives from the Celtic wïnn and frud, meaning a white or bright stream. The affix Eagle derives from the 13th-century manorial L'Aigle family (de Aquila, del Egle).{{cite book|title=Dorset Villages|author=Roland Gant|page=136|year=1980|isbn=0-7091-8135-3|publisher=Robert Hale Ltd}}
History
Wynford Eagle parish contains barrows.{{cite web |url=https://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/9204/wynford_eagle.html |title=Wynford Eagle: Round Barrow(s) |date=26 January 2011 |publisher=themodernantiquarian.com |access-date=8 May 2023}} Roman remains have also been unearthed here, including mosaic pavements, which have led to its identification as a villa site.{{Cite web|url=https://www.archiuk.com/cgi-bin/build_nls_historic_map.pl?map_location=Roman+site+near++Corscombe+Dorset&ngr=SY+57+95&search_location=Roman+Site+of+Roman+Villa,+Wynford+Eagle,+SY+57+95,+DorsetSY+57+95&os_series=1&is_sub=1&pwd=freesearch@freesearch.com&latitude=50.752995&longitude=-2.610920&postcode=|title=Detailed Old Map of Roman Site of Roman Villa, Wynford Eagle, SY 57 95, DorsetSY 57 95, (Victorian Ordnance Survey 6 inch to 1 mile Old Map (1888-1913)) Roman Site of Roman Villa, Wynford Eagle, SY 57 95, DorsetSY 57 95, Co-ordinates 50.752995, -2.610920|website=www.archiuk.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/dorset/vol1/pp269-270#h3-0002|title=Wynford Eagle | British History Online|website=www.british-history.ac.uk}} The parish used to be in the hundred of Tollerford.
In 1788 the village is mentioned in Owen's New Book of Fairs as having a yearly fair on 21 August, selling toys.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/owensnewbookfai00owengoog#page/n39/mode/2up|title=Owen's New Book of Fairs published by the King's Authority (1788), page 20|accessdate=4 August 2014}}
=Manor house=
File:Manor Farmhouse Wynford Eagle - geograph.org.uk - 462487.jpg (1624–1689)]]
The manor house, now Manor Farm, rebuilt in 1630, was from 1551 for many years the seat of the Puritan Sydenham family, to which belonged the distinguished physician Thomas Sydenham (1624–1689). The family lost the property in scandalous circumstances, the last Sydenham owner dying in Dorchester prison in 1709. The property is Grade II* listed.{{Cite web|url=https://www.opcdorset.org/WynfordEagleFiles/WynfordEagle.htm|title=Wynford Eagle Parish Records, Dorset|website=www.opcdorset.org}}
The estate was later acquired by the Best family, originally of Somerset, for whom the title of Baron Wynford was created in 1829. The same family remain the principal landowners.
Church
The church of Saint Lawrence, formerly a chapelry of the church of Toller Fratrum, and later annexed to it as a perpetual curacy, was rebuilt in 1842 but preserves a striking Norman tympanum, carved with two wyverns, probably intended to represent eagles, as a pun on the name of Matilda de l'Aigle, who presumably commissioned it, according to one of the two inscriptions; the other names the sculptor, Alvy or Alvi.
Today, the church is little used. At Christmas there is a small service.
References
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