Sixpenny Handley or Handley is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Sixpenny Handley and Pentridge, in north east Dorset, England, situated on Cranborne Chase ten miles (16 km) north east of Blandford Forum. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 1,233. The civil parish was abolished on 1 April 2015 and merged with Pentridge to form Sixpenny Handley and Pentridge. Toponymy The village was originally known as Handley, or Handley St Mary. The use of the name Sixpenny Handley to describe the village and parish is fairly modern, and was being used as an alternative name by the middle of the 19th century. Handley is derived from the Old English hēan "high" and lēage "clearing". Sixpenny was added to distinguish the place from other Handleys, and refers to Sixpenny Handley Hundred, first mentioned in the 14th century as the hundred of "Sexpenne et Henle". The hundred took its name from this Handley and a place called Sixpenny, now a farm, in the south west of the parish of Fontmell Magna. Sixpenny was first recorded in 932 as Seaxpenn, and means "hill of the Saxons" (from Old English Seaxe and Brythonic penn). The reference is to the hill now known as Pen Hill east of the modern farm, and probably marks an ancient boundary. History On Woodcutts Common in the north of the parish (west-northwest of the village) is the site of a 4-acre Iron Age and Romano-British settlement, probably a farm. It was excavated by General Pitt Rivers in 1884–5. The Great Fire of Handley 1892 On 20 May 1892, the village suffered a major fire which resulted in most of it having to be rebuilt, after nearly two hundred people were left homeless. Well-wishers subsequently sent gifts to aid the villagers; so much clothing was donated that it was said a man could be identified as being from Handley because he wore two or even three waistcoats. This generosity was celebrated in 2014 by the Heritage Lottery–supported Sixpenny Handley Waistcoat Festival. Geography Sixpenny Handley village is sited between above sea-level in a shallow valley on the dip slope of the chalk uplands of Cranborne Chase. It is approximately northeast of Blandford Forum and southwest of Salisbury in Wiltshire. The parish covers three valleys—the village being in the easternmost—which all drain south. The highest land in the parish, at over above sea-level,