| First recorded in 1329, Verwood
(meaning 'beautiful wood') lies on the western edge of the New Forest.
For centuries it was a tiny backwater, dependent on the pottery industry
which manufactured kitchen and dairy wares, but eventually it became the
centre of production of the distinctive yellowy-green glazed pots.
Today, it is one of the fastest-growing places in east Dorset.
The
development of Verwood is relatively recent and it was only in the last
century that the settlement acquired its own church. A small, cob-built
chapel-of-ease was consecrated in 1829; up until then the village,
together with Alderholt, had been part of the huge parish of Cranborne,
the villagers having to walk there for services. In 1887, the church at
Verwood was granted parochial status.
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