Athelhampton House
| Athelhampton | |
|---|---|
 Athelhampton Hall |
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 Athelhampton
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| Athelhampton shown within Dorset | |
| Population | 30 (2013 estimate) |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Postcode district | DT |
| Police | Dorset |
| Fire | Dorset and Wiltshire |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| EU Parliament | South West England |
| UK Parliament | |
Athelhampton (also known as Admiston or Adminston) is a settlement and civil parish in Dorset, England, situated in the West Dorset administrative district approximately 5 miles (8 km) east of Dorchester. It consists of a manor house and a former Church of England parish church. Dorset County Council's 2013 mid-year estimate of the population of the civil parish is 30.
The Domesday Book records that in 1086 the Bishop of Salisbury, with Odbold as tenant, held the manor, then called Pidele. The name Aethelhelm appears in the 13th century, when Athelhampton belonged to the de Loundres family. In 1350 Richard Martyn married the de Pydele heiress, and their descendant Sir William Martyn (who was Lord Mayor of London in 1492) received licence to enclose 160 acres (65 ha) of land to form a deer park and a licence to fortify the manor.
The hall is a Grade I listed 15th-century privately owned country house on 160 acres (65 ha) of parkland. The gardens are Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. It is now open for public visits.
Sir William Martyn had the current Great Hall built in about 1493. A West Wing and Gatehouse were added in 1550, but in 1862 the Gatehouse was demolished. With the death of Sir William Martyn, his son Nicholas Martyn married Margaret, sister to and a co-heiress of Nicholas Wadham, co-founder with his wife Dorothy of Wadham College, Oxford. When their sons predeceased them the male line of the family became extinct and Athelhampton passed to their surviving daughters as co-heiresses.The couple's monumental brass, showing them kneeling between an escutcheon with the ancient arms of FitzMartin (Argent, two bars gules) impaling Wadham survives in St.Mary's Church, Puddletown. The three sons who predeceased them kneel behind their father. To the right is Nicholas Martyn's wife, Margaret Wadham, behind who kneel their seven daughters, of whom only four survived as co-heiresses. Among the fine stained glass at Athelhampton are the Arms of Wadham (Gules, a chevron between three roses argent). Sir Robert Long bought Athelhampton House in 1665 from Sir Ralph Bankes. In 1684 an attempt was made by the court to sequester the estate from the then owner, James Long Esquire (son of Sir James Long, 2nd Baronet), to recover a debt, but this seems to have been unsuccessful. The estate passed down through the Long family to William Pole-Tylney-Long-Wellesley (Viscount Wellesley, later 5th Earl of Mornington), who sold it in 1848 to George Wood. In 1891, the house was acquired by the antiquarian Alfred de Lafontaine, who carried out restoration to the interior and added the North Wing in 1920–21.
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