Hammoon is a hamlet and parish in the county of Dorset

Dorset

Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

 in south-west England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It lies within the North Dorset

North Dorset

North Dorset is a local government district in Dorset, England. It is largely rural, but includes the towns of Blandford Forum, Gillingham, Shaftesbury, Stalbridge and Sturminster Newton. Much of North Dorset is in the River Stour valley and is called the Blackmore Vale...

 administrative district of the county. It is sited on alluvial silt by the River Stour

River Stour, Dorset

The River Stour is a 60.5 mile long river which flows through Wiltshire and Dorset in southern England, and drains into the English Channel. It is sometimes called the Dorset Stour to distinguish it from rivers of the same name...

, approximately 2 miles east of the town of Sturminster Newton

Sturminster Newton

Sturminster Newton, known to locals as Stur, is a town in the Blackmore Vale area of Dorset, England. It is situated on a low limestone ridge in a meander of the River Stour. The town is at the centre of a large dairy agriculture region, around which the town's economy is built...

. Its name derives from the Saxon word for dwelling ('ham') and the surname of the Norman Lord of the Manor ('de Moion' or 'Mohun').

The small church of St Paul dates from the 13th century, and was the first incumbency of the academic and clergyman Humphrey Gower

Humphrey Gower

Humphrey Gower was an English clergyman and academic, Master of Jesus College, Cambridge and then St. John's College, Cambridge, and Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity.-Life:...

 (1638–1711), who later went on to become Master of Jesus College, Cambridge

Jesus College, Cambridge

Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The College was founded in 1496 on the site of a Benedictine nunnery by John Alcock, then Bishop of Ely...

 and then St. John's College, Cambridge.

The church stands close to the thatched

Thatching

Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge , rushes, or heather, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. It is a very old roofing method and has been used in both tropical and temperate climates...

 and mullioned

Mullion

A mullion is a vertical structural element which divides adjacent window units. The primary purpose of the mullion is as a structural support to an arch or lintel above the window opening. Its secondary purpose may be as a rigid support to the glazing of the window...

 old manor house, which dates from the 16th century and was described by Sir Frederick Treves

Sir Frederick Treves, 1st Baronet

Sir Frederick Treves, 1st Baronet, GCVO, CH, CB was a prominent British surgeon of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, now most famous for his friendship with Joseph Merrick, "the Elephant Man".-Eminent surgeon:...

in 1905 as "the most picturesque of its kind".