Orcheston St George
| Orcheston | |
|---|---|
 Flood Cottages, Orcheston |
|
 Orcheston
|
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| Orcheston shown within Wiltshire | |
| Population | 339 (in 2011) |
| OS grid reference | SU059453 |
| Civil parish |
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| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Salisbury |
| Postcode district | SP3 |
| Dialling code | 01980 |
| Police | Wiltshire |
| Fire | Dorset and Wiltshire |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| EU Parliament | South West England |
| UK Parliament | |
Orcheston is a civil parish and village in Wiltshire, England, lying on Salisbury Plain less than a mile north-west of neighbouring Shrewton. The present-day parish combines the two former parishes of Orcheston St Mary and Orcheston St George and includes the hamlet of Elston.
The village is recorded in the Domesday Book, with the spelling Orchestone.
The two civil parishes of Orcheston, based on the two Church of England parish churches of St Mary and St George, were united into a single civil parish in 1934 and into a single ecclesiastical parish in 1971.
The parish gives its name to the 'Orcheston long grass' (Agrostis stolonifera), also called 'Creeping Bent', the most commonly used species of Agrostis. The Rough-Stalked Meadow Grass (Poa trivialis), is also called Orcheston Grass, and in the early 19th century there was something of a controversy among botanists as to which was the true Orcheston Grass.
The source of the River Till is near the village.
As of 2009 Orcheston contains about sixty-five houses, of which twenty-six are listed buildings, and has a single parish council. Almost all local government services are provided by the Wiltshire Council unitary authority.
St Mary's Church dates from the 13th century and is Grade II* listed.
St George's Church is also from the 13th century and also Grade II* listed. It is in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.
Maurice Roy Ridley (1890-1969), writer and poet, Fellow and Chaplain of Balliol College, Oxford, was born in Orcheston. Dorothy L. Sayers is reputed to have based the appearance of her fictional detective Lord Peter Wimsey on Ridley.
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