A pleasant journey may be taken through the Winterbourne villages that
are strung along the line of that rivulet, which, as its name
proclaims, flows only in the winter months. It is on the south side of
Maiden Castle. The first village with the name of the river as a
prefix is Came, two miles from Dorchester. Here Barnes was rector for
the last twenty-five years of his life. His grave is in the quiet
churchyard quite close to the diminutive tower. Within the church is a
fine carved screen and several effigies. Proceeding westwards we come
to Herringstone where there is an old house once the seat of the
Herrings and, since early Jacobean days, of the Williams family. Then
comes Monkton, close to Maiden Castle. The church is Norman, much
restored. St. Martin follows; a picturesque hamlet with a fine church,
the last in the west of England to dispense with clarionet, flute and
bass-viol in the village choir. On sign-posts as well as colloquially
this hamlet is known as "Martinstown." Steepleton boasts a stone
spire, rare for Dorset, and a curious and very ancient figure of an
angel on the outside wall declared by most authorities to be Saxon.
The last of the villages is Winterbourne Abbas, seven miles from
Winterbourne Came. The whole of the low hillsides around the hamlets
of the bourne are covered with barrows, some of which have been
explored with good results, though indiscriminate ravishing of these
old graves is to be deplored.

Another short excursion from Dorchester is up the valley of the Cerne.
About a mile and a half from St. Peter's Church, proceeding by North
Street, is Charminster, a pretty little place in itself and well
situated in the opening valley of the sparkling Cerne. Here is a
church with a noble Perpendicular tower, built by Sir Thomas Trenchard
about 1510. The knight's monogram is to be seen on the tower. Within