The best family-friendly hikes and walks around Horton

nice stopping off point, too the many bridleways and tracks in this area..

Brilliant dog walk alongside the stream perfect for a cool dip in the summer

There is evidence that a flour mill was present here since Doomsday times, the flour mill was replaced by a paper mill in 1720. This continued to work until around 2002 when it was converted into accommodation. The mill is well situated with a mill race taken from the River Allen.

This hand operated water pump was "The Gift of W.H.Carter AD 1909". The pump is located on the edge of the village and does not now pump water.

In the year 1401 the Parish Church of Horton was built upon the site of the Priory Church. It appears to have consisted of Chancel, North Transept and Nave. It was dedicated to Saint Wolfrida in honour of Wolfrida, once abbess of Horton Abbey. By 1720 the once fine church had, through misuse and neglect, been reduced to a ruinous state. What part of it remained appeared to be very ancient and a part of the original Priory Church. In 1722 it was almost totally rebuilt. THE TOWER with five bells which stood between the body and the chancel was pulled down, and all but one of the bells, together with other materials of the old building, were disposed of to pay for the restoration, and the present tower was built. The remaining one bell is inscribed; :Love God - 1684”. The architecture of the present tower is interesting. Professor H.V. Colvin has drawn attention to the fact that the general design, and especially the pointed roof and heavy cornice, bear a remarkable resemblance to the plans drawn by the famous 18th century architect Sir John Vanbrugh (1664-1726) for the unfinished Eastbury Manor House at Tarrant Gunville. The resemblance is so striking and so numerous that it leads to the conclusion that the tower of Horton Church was designed by the famous Vanbrugh, or else the tower was built by a master-mason who worked under Vanbrugh and had therefore imbibed much of his master’s style. Memorials which have survived are two grave slabs on the South side “without altar rails”. One, the inscription of which is almost unreadable, has, according to the historian John Hutchins, the words :-“Here liveth the body of Mr Daniel Debreau, minister of this Parish, who departs this life October 15th, aged 84 years, 1719”. The other grave slab is to a young woman aged 23, Ann Hopper; it bears the inscription;- “Here liveth interred the body of Ann Hopper, daughter and cohere of Mr Thomas Hopper, and Ann his wife, of the parish of St Botolph, Bishopsgate, London, who departed this life the 7th of April AD. 1680 acetate 23” THE CLOCK is the work of J Smith & Sons of Derby, it was a gift of Mr W.J Carter (who also gave the Village Pump) and was placed in the tower in 1900.

The gothic, five-storey, brick tower was built in 1750 by Lord of Horton Manor, Humphrey Sturt, who was an architect and a Dorset MP. The reason for its construction is not known but it’s possible Sturt planned to use it as an observatory for star gazing. At 43 metres high (140 feet) it was once claimed to be the tallest no-religious building in Britain. It’s now a Grade II* Listed Building. Visitors used to be able to enter the tower and look up to the top, as the floors had fallen away. Vodafone now use the tower for their masts and have undertaken restoration work. Their mobile phone signal masts are fixed to the sides, near the top of the tower. In the 1960s a cock fighting scene in the film The Mayor of Casterbridge was filmed at Horton Tower starring Terence Stamp and Julie Christie.

Hinton Martell is a lovely little village with a rather unusual Mediterranean-style fountain. The village was known as 'Hinetone', which means village of the monks, due to links with the monastery at Wimborne.

The pathway leading to Batchelor's lane from the Tower is easy to cycle past. Heading South East from the Tower (downhill), as soon as you see a hedge in the left-hand field, you'll notice the path entrance directly opposite on your right.