, cm6 



By the Rev. HERBERT PENTIN, M.A. ; F.S.A. Ed. 



(Read Dec. 14th, 1903.) 



T is a remarkable fact that the parish of Milton 

 contains no fewer than five ecclesiastical 

 buildings. The Abbey Church, S. James' 

 Church, and S. Catherine's Chapel are well 

 known ; but it is not generally known that the 

 neighbouring parish church of Winterborne 

 Whitchurch is within the borders of Milton 

 parish, and that the desecrated chapel in 

 the hamlet of Liscombe is also situated in a 

 part of the ecclesiastical parish of Milton. 

 The ancient hamlet of Liscombe (five miles from Milton 

 Abbey and two miles from Chesilborne, and situated in a beauti- 

 ful valley), consists, at the present time, of only one or two 

 houses, the little church (" Liscombe Chapel"), and a monastic 

 barn. In pre-Reformation days the hamlet was much larger, 

 comprising 13 to 20 houses; but since the Reformation the 

 houses have gradually become less in number. An early 

 mention of Liscombe occurs in the foundation charter of 

 Milton Abbey. King Athelstan gave three and a-half hides 

 (between 300 and 350 acres) in Liscombe to the Abbey of 

 Milton. The hamlet is also mentioned in Domesday and in the 



