The Village

Toller Porcorum is a village of approximately 300 inhabitants, in the heart of West Dorset, just over 10 miles north-west of Dorchester, and 8 miles north-east of Bridport. It is roughly 120 metres above sea level, nestling in the beautiful valley of the River Hooke, a little way above its meeting with the Frome at Maiden Newton. The name Toller comes from the old name of the river (possibly named after a daughter of the Saxon king Ethelred the Unready who reigned 978-1016), and is also seen in Toller Down, Toller Whelme, Toller Fratrum, and Tollerford, meaning river in a steep valley. The river name seems to have been changed to the Hooke around the 15th century. `Porcorum' is Latin for `of the pigs', and either comes from the large number of pigs that were once farmed here in earlier days, or possibly from the presence in the area of wild boar, which were hunted by King John around Powerstock forest. The village has also been known as Swynestolre, Hog Toller, and Great Toller (compared with Little Toller - Toller Fratrum). The escape of some wild boar from one of the local farms a few years ago did result in the return of wild boar to Toller Porcorum, and they were even proved to have bred in the wild, but sightings have been less frequent recently.

The Church

The Parish church is in the centre of the village. The tower dates from around 1300, and there are four gargoyles just below the battlements, whose purpose was to empty water away from the roof - and also to frighten evil spirits. Inside the porch are rough stone walls, the old plaster having been stripped away. On the right of the porch is a Victorian iron stair to the ringing gallery while just beyond the foot of the stair is a wooden door which opens on to a spiral stone stair up to the bell chamber at the top of the tower.

There are six bells in the top of the tower. The tenor bell is the oldest dating from the 16th century, and decorated with ornamental alphabet letters round it. The next three bells are dated 1767, 1779 and 1669, with the first of these being inscribed Richard Keech - the family of Keech owned the tannery in Toller and made gloves and boots. By the 1930s the bells would not ring and in 1937 they were taken out and rehung. The new bell frame, however, was big enough for six bells rather than four. At the end of the Second World War the parish priest, Parson White as everyone knew him, suggested that two new bells should be added to the ring, as a thanksgiving for the fact that Toller had lost no men in the war, but he died shortly after and the idea seemed lost. Over 40 years later Peter Billen, who first rang the church bells as a boy, to celebrate the Allied victory at El Alamein in 1942, became Churchwarden, and determined finally to fulfil Parson White's wish. It took him two years to raise the £10,000 necessary, but he succeeded, and in 1990 two new bells, one inscribed `Peace' and the other `Thanksgiving for Mercy' were hung in the tower.

Entering the church proper the first thing the visitor sees is the ancient font. It is in fact two fonts. The top part is 15th century with leaves and flowers on the side, but it is the lower half, the pedestal, that is the more interesting. It is roughly carved with a ram's head in one corner and spirals on the other three, and is in fact a complete font in itself - for there is a shallow bowl in the top of it. The precise date of the pedestal is debatable, with some placing it in the 12th century, however others suggest that it is in fact far older, perhaps even part of an ancient Roman altar - which would make it a very rare example of Christianity meeting and overcoming its pagan forebears. Close by, on the north wall, is a list of the Rectors of Toller Porcorum since 1259.
On the left of the nave is a high window, which was to light the gallery, which stood across the back of the nave and up the south side of the church. The gallery was built because the church was not large enough to seat the whole congregation, and access to it was by an outside wooden stair. The remains of the gallery door can be seen on the outside of the north wall.

The inside of the church contains a variety of relics of old Toller. The school bell that called Toller children to school for over a century, from 1875 to 1980, is hung in the northwest corner of the nave. On the north wall is a board setting out the charities of George Browne of Frampton, dated 1774. Also on the left is an archway to the vestry - the archway used to be the north door to the church, and then the present vestry was the porch. Over the vestry arch are the arms of King William N (1830-37), and on the same wall is a memorial to the three men of Toller who died in the first World War.the churchyard, and have been appropriately named Peter (the Rock) and Andrew, his brother.

For the Millenium Celebrations the PCC decided to commission a Stained Glass Sundial which can be seen on the South wall. Keith Miller, of Toller Porcorum, worked with John Hayward of Corscombe (who designed and produced the West window in Sherborne Abbey). Keith Miller carried out the intricate calculations, while John Hayward produced the final design and oversaw the glass firing.

There have been three vicarages in Toller Porcorum. The earliest is now the outbuildings of Toller House, and a long tradition of an underground tunnel from this vicarage to the Old Swan Inn over the road was proved correct when repairs exposed the remains of a passage. The second vicarage is the present Toller House, and the third is St Peter's House in School Lane. There has been no resident vicar in Toller since 1980, when it became part of the Beaminster Team Ministry.