Whitchurch Canonicorum

Whitchurch Canonicorum is a village in the Marshwood Vale, 5 miles west-north-west of Bridport. The vale is a low, bowl-shaped valley of Lower Lias clay between Bridport and Lyme Regis, drained by the River Char, which reaches the sea at Charmouth. All of it lies within the Dorset National Landscape. The parish had 684 residents at the 2011 census.

The church of St Candida and Holy Cross, on the northern edge of the village, is why people come. It holds the shrine of St Wite, the only shrine in Britain to survive the Reformation with its relics intact, apart from those of Edward the Confessor at Westminster Abbey and St Eanswythe at Folkestone. Pilgrims put heads, hands or feet through three openings in the stone. The church is open to visitors every day. Sir George Somers, Mayor of Lyme Regis and later Governor of Bermuda, is buried here, as are Georgi Markov and Sir Robin Day.

Walks start nearby. St Wite’s Well is a short walk from the village, and the pilgrim route follows the Char down to Charmouth. On the coast, Golden Cap is 627 feet high and the highest point within a mile of the south coast of Great Britain. A footpath from Seatown reaches the summit in around 40 minutes.

The Five Bells Inn on Higher Street is a traditional Dorset country pub with a campsite.