Priest's Way

The Priest's Way
The Priest's Way
	The Priest's Way near Worth Matravers, Dorset
Length	4.8 km (3.0 mi)
Location	South West England, United Kingdom
Trailheads	Worth Matravers, Dorset ; St Mary's Church, Swanage, Dorset
Use	Hiking, cycling and byway; former priest's way
Season	All year

Last updated April 23, 2024

The Priest's Way is the historical route taken by clergy from St Nicholas's, Worth Matravers to St Mary's Church, Swanage in the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset. The track arose as a result of St Mary's being a chapel of ease to St Nicholas's, and followed the route priests took to say mass in Swanage. A modern footpath and bridleway follows much of the route.

Historic Priest's Way

St Mary's Church, Swanage was a chapel of ease to St Nicholas's, Worth Matravers until 1487; at that point the position was then reversed. Names of Rectors of Worth, and then of Swanage, are known from 1297. The Priest's Way is the track that the priest followed from Worth Matravers to Swanage and back in order to serve both churches.^[1]

Modern Priest's Way

The modern Priest's Way is a public footpath and bridleway, and is maintained by Dorset Council.^[2] Its length is 3 miles, running from just north-east of Worth Matravers to the outskirts of Swanage.^[2] It forms part of the South West Coast Path.^[3] It underwent restoration work in 2014.^[4]

Features

Features on the route of the Priest's Way, from Worth Matravers to Swanage, include:

St Nicholas of Myra Church, Worth Matravers, a Grade I listed 12th-century church notable for its Romanesque chancel arch.^[5] The churchyard includes the grave of the early proponent of vaccination against smallpox, Benjamin Jesty, which is separately Grade II listed for his historic significance.^[6]

Square & Compass public house, trading as an inn since at least 1793 and possibly as early as 1752, and has its own museum housing fossils, dinosaur bones and archaeological finds.^[2]^[7] It is Grade II listed, partly for the retained historic absence of a counter, beer being served instead through two serving hatches.^[7] A recent feature (erected in 2015) at the pub is Woodhenge, a henge monument constructed from wood and modelled on Stonehenge.^[8]
Keates Quarry dinosaur footprints. Discovered in 1997 and opened to the public in 2016, these 140 million year old footprints^[9] were left by sauropod dinosaurs.^[10]
A small pond, home to a population of great-crested newts.^[2]
Spyway Barn, a Grade II listed early 19th-century barn,^[11] which was acquired by the National Trust in the 1990s and is used as a display room.^[12] The name Spyway refers to the smuggling activities that used to take place at this location, and Spyway Barn was used to store smuggled goods.^[12]^[13] The National Trust also own an adjacent cottage, Spyway Cottage, which is available for holiday rentals.^[14]
A restored lime kiln.^[15]
The Priest's Way then follows the route of two streets, Priests Way and Priests Road (both named after the Priest’s Way).
St Mary's Church, Swanage, a 19th and early-20th century reconstruction of the mediaeval chapel of ease (by then the parish church); the tower is the only remaining mediaeval part of the church.

Other features that are near the Priest's Way, but not immediately on it, include the Burngate Stone Carving Centre in Langton Matravers, Langton Matravers Museum, St George's Church in Langton Matravers, the Dancing Ledge, and Herston Halt on the Swanage Railway.^[2]

Related Research Articles

Corfe Castle is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. It is the site of a ruined castle of the same name. The village and castle stand over a gap in the Purbeck Hills on the route between Wareham and Swanage. The village lies in the gap below the castle and is around four miles (6.4 km) south-east of Wareham, and four miles (6.4 km) north-northwest of Swanage. Both the main A351 road from Lytchett Minster to Swanage and the Swanage Railway thread their way through the gap and the village.

Swanage is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck and one of its two towns, approximately 6+1⁄4 miles (10 km) south of Poole and 25 miles (40 km) east of Dorchester. In the 2011 census the civil parish had a population of 9,601. Nearby are Ballard Down and Old Harry Rocks, with Studland Bay and Poole Harbour to the north. Within the parish are Durlston Bay and Durlston Country Park to the south of the town. The parish also includes the areas of Herston, just to the west of the town, and Durlston, just to the south.

The Isle of Purbeck is a peninsula in Dorset, England. It is bordered by water on three sides: the English Channel to the south and east, where steep cliffs fall to the sea; and by the marshy lands of the River Frome and Poole Harbour to the north. Its western boundary is less well defined, with some medieval sources placing it at Flower's Barrow above Worbarrow Bay. John Hutchins, author of The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset, defined Purbeck's western boundary as the Luckford Lake steam, which runs south from the Frome. According to writer and broadcaster Ralph Wightman, Purbeck "is only an island if you accept the barren heaths between Arish Mell and Wareham as cutting off this corner of Dorset as effectively as the sea." The most southerly point is St Alban's Head.

Purbeck was a local government district in Dorset, England. The district was named after the Isle of Purbeck, a peninsula that forms a large proportion of the district's area. However, it extended significantly further north and west than the traditional boundary of the Isle of Purbeck which is the River Frome. The district council was based in the town of Wareham, which is itself north of the Frome.

Langton Matravers is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Purbeck, in the county of Dorset in the south of England. It is situated about 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Swanage town centre and 5 miles (8 km) south-east of Corfe Castle. In the 2011 Census the civil parish had 381 households and a population of 853.

Worth Matravers is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. The village is situated on the cliffs west of Swanage. It comprises limestone cottages and farm houses and is built around a pond, which is a regular feature on postcards of the Isle of Purbeck.

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St Aldhelm's Chapel is a Norman chapel on St Aldhelm's Head in the parish of Worth Matravers, Swanage, Dorset. It stands close to the cliffs, 108 metres (354 ft) above sea level. It is a Grade I listed building.

Durnford School was an English preparatory school for boys which opened in 1894 on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset.

David James Lewer was an English author, architect, historian and choral musician.

The Square and Compass is a Grade II listed public house in Worth Matravers, Dorset. Built in the 18th century as a pair of cottages before becoming a public house, the Square and Compass got its name in 1830 from a landlord who had been a stonemason. The building includes a museum of fossils and other local artefacts and the pub is one of only five nationally that has been included in every edition of CAMRA's Good Beer Guide since 1974.

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The Prince Albert Memorial is a memorial in Swanage, Dorset in the form of a stone obelisk to Prince Albert, the consort of Queen Victoria, who died in 1861. The memorial was erected in 1862, and is notable for having been the earliest civic memorial to the Prince. It was dismantled in 1971, and only rebuilt 50 years later, in 2021.

St Mary's Church is a parish church in Swanage, Dorset. It is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The church is in the Archdeaconry of Dorset, in the Diocese of Salisbury. The tower is mediaeval; the church itself is a 19th and early 20th-century reconstruction. It is Grade II listed.

Spyway is an isolated property in the parish of Worth Matravers in Dorset and is owned by the National Trust. It is located on the route of the Priest's Way. It is notable for having 140 million-year old dinosaur footprints.

St Nicholas's Church is a parish church in Kimmeridge, Dorset. It is dedicated to St Nicholas of Myra. The church is in the Archdeaconry of Dorset, in the Diocese of Salisbury. The church is of 12th-century origin, much restored and rebuilt in the 19th century. It is Grade II listed.

References

↑ "Langton Matravers Parish Council: Priest's Way" . Retrieved 11 September 2021.
1 2 3 4 5 "Langton Matravers Parish Council: Priest's Way" . Retrieved 11 September 2021.
↑ "South West Coast Path: Walk - Swanage Coastal Park - Priests Way" . Retrieved 11 September 2021.
↑ "Dorset Echo: "Renovated and upgraded Priest's Way Path from Swanage officially reopened", 6 February 2014". 6 February 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
↑ "Historic England List Entry 1120262" . Retrieved 11 September 2021.
↑ "Historic England List Entry 1305027" . Retrieved 11 September 2021.
1 2 "Historic England List Entry 1151928" . Retrieved 11 September 2021.
↑ "The Dorset Rambler: Woodhenge". 27 September 2018. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
↑ "National Trust: The Spyway Dinosaur Footprints" . Retrieved 11 September 2021.
↑ "UK Fossils: Keates Quarry". 3 March 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
↑ "Historic England List Entry 1323406" . Retrieved 11 September 2021.
1 2 "National Trust: Scratch Arse Ware and Dancing Ledge Walk" . Retrieved 11 September 2021.
↑ "Langton Matravers Parish Council: Priest's Way" . Retrieved 11 September 2021.
↑ "National Trust Holidays: Spyway" . Retrieved 11 September 2021.
↑ "Geograph: Lime Kiln" . Retrieved 11 September 2021.

50°36′N2°1′W / 50.600°N 2.017°W / 50.600; -2.017

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[1] "Langton Matravers Parish Council: Priest's Way" . Retrieved 11 September 2021.

[auto2-2] 1 2 3 4 5 "Langton Matravers Parish Council: Priest's Way" . Retrieved 11 September 2021.

[3] "South West Coast Path: Walk - Swanage Coastal Park - Priests Way" . Retrieved 11 September 2021.

[4] "Dorset Echo: "Renovated and upgraded Priest's Way Path from Swanage officially reopened", 6 February 2014". 6 February 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2021.

[5] "Historic England List Entry 1120262" . Retrieved 11 September 2021.

[6] "Historic England List Entry 1305027" . Retrieved 11 September 2021.

[auto-7] 1 2 "Historic England List Entry 1151928" . Retrieved 11 September 2021.

[8] "The Dorset Rambler: Woodhenge". 27 September 2018. Retrieved 11 September 2021.

[9] "National Trust: The Spyway Dinosaur Footprints" . Retrieved 11 September 2021.

[10] "UK Fossils: Keates Quarry". 3 March 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2021.

[11] "Historic England List Entry 1323406" . Retrieved 11 September 2021.

[auto1-12] 1 2 "National Trust: Scratch Arse Ware and Dancing Ledge Walk" . Retrieved 11 September 2021.

[13] "Langton Matravers Parish Council: Priest's Way" . Retrieved 11 September 2021.

[14] "National Trust Holidays: Spyway" . Retrieved 11 September 2021.

[15] "Geograph: Lime Kiln" . Retrieved 11 September 2021.

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