Melbury Osmond

Melbury Osmond is a village and civil parish, 6 miles south of Yeovil and 12 miles north west of Dorchester close to the parishes of Melbury Bubb and Melbury Sampford. The church dedicated to St Osmund is in the Gothic style with five bells. The church was restored in 1888 by the 5th Earl of Ilchester during which time a Norman font of Ham Hill stone was found built into the masonary, the chancel was lengthened in 1910.

The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book as a possession of the Arundell family, and remained so until the 19th century. It is sited on Cornbrash limestone soil, with adjacent Oxford clay.Within the clay can be found deposits of stone which can take on a very high polish, earning them the name "Melbury marble". The attractive appearance of the village has been noted by commentators: it has been described as "a calendarsmith's dream of thatched cottages" and in 1906 Sir Frederick Treves wrote that it was "the most charming village in these Western backwoods".

In its history the village has been involved in the trade of plated buckles and horn buttons, and the manufacture of dowlas. During the 19th century, the village was home to the Dorset Ooser, a wooden mask brought out during "Rough Music" ceremonies.

Thomas Hardy's mother lived in Melbury Osmond as a child, and the village appears in his novel The Woodlanders as "Little Hintock" (the heroine's name is "Grace Melbury").

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