WINTERBOURNE-ABBAS, a parish in the hundred
of ESGERTON, Bridport division of the county
of DORSET, 4 miles (W.) from Dorchester, containing
170 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, with that of
Winterbourne-Steepleton united, in the archdeaconry of
Dorset, and diocese of Bristol, rated in the king's books
at £13. 17. 6., and in the patronage of the Rector and
Fellows of Lincoln College, Oxford. The church is dedicated
to St. Mary. The stream called the South Winterbourne
runs through the parish: it rises about a mile
west of this place, in the vicinity of an ancient
British temple, consisting of nine rude stones of unequal
height, placed in a circular form, the diameter of
which is twenty-eight feet. Half a mile to the westward
are the remains of a cromlech, and there are
several other erect stones in the vicinity. This neighbourhood
is supposed to have been the scene of some
remarkable action, from the great number of tumuli
scattered about in different directions.