Batcombe, Dorset
| Batcombe | |
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 Batcombe parish church of St Mary |
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 Batcombe
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| Batcombe shown within Dorset | |
| Population | 120 (2013 estimate) |
| OS grid reference | ST617038 |
| Civil parish |
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| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | DORCHESTER |
| Postcode district | DT2 |
| Dialling code | 01305 |
| Police | Dorset |
| Fire | Dorset and Wiltshire |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| EU Parliament | South West England |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | http://www.batcombe.co.uk/ |
Batcombe is a small straggling village and civil parish in the West Dorset district of Dorset, England, situated 12 miles (19 km) north-west of Dorchester below the northern scarp slope of the Dorset Downs. The name Batcombe derives from the Old English Bata, a man's name, and cumb, meaning valley. In 1201 it was known as Batecumbe. The local travel links are located 3 miles (4.8 km) from the village to Chetnole railway station and 31 miles (50 km) to Bournemouth International Airport. The main road running through the village is Stile Way. Dorset County Council's 2013 mid-year estimate of the population of the civil parish was 120.
The church of St Mary Magdalene is on an ancient site. There has probably been a church there from the 11th century. The current building comprises a chancel, nave and 15th-century tower. The interior contains a font that has a Norman column (made from Ham Hill stone) with a cube-shaped limestone basin (probably made from Portesham stone); the basin is probably older than the column. The church interior also contains an elaborate stone screen, which is also made from Ham Hill stone.
Above the village rises Batcombe Down and, further east, Gore Hill, near the top of which is a small stone pillar known as the Cross-in-Hand (or Cross and Hand). The pillar, a Grade II listed structure and a Scheduled Ancient Monument, is a little over 1 metre (3.3 ft) in height and may date from before the Norman Conquest, as do other shafts such as the Pillar of Eliseg. At one time there may have been a hand carved on one face, but nothing is visible today, though the pillar has acquired stories about images of a ghostly hand being seen grasping a bowl at its top.Thomas Hardy used the pillar in his novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles, in a scene in which Alec d'Urberville instructs Tess to "put your hand upon that stone hand, and swear that you will never tempt me—by your charms or ways." The pillar also features in Hardy's poem "The Lost Pyx".
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Wikipedia