Piddletrenthide () is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. It is sited by the small River Piddle in a valley on the dip slope of the Dorset Downs, north of Dorchester. In the 2011 census the parish—which includes the small village of Plush to the northeast—had 323 dwellings, 290 households and a population of 647. Toponymy The unusual name of the village is derived from its position on the River Piddle, combined with it having been assessed for thirty hides in the Domesday Book. The name sometimes prompts amusement and discussion, and references have been made to it in the TV Times (25 April-1 May 1970), The Times (a lengthy correspondence in 1974, then again on 27 March 1999), The Sunday Times ( 22 December 2002 and 25 September 2005), and The Guardian (8 May 2004). History In 1086 in the Domesday Book Piddletrenthide was recorded as Pidrie; it had 70 households, 17 ploughlands, of meadow, three mills and a taxable value of 30 geld units. It was in Cerne, Totcombe and Modbury Hundred and the tenant-in-chief was Winchester Abbey. The manor's estate was one of the largest in the county. A Benedictine cell (i.e., a very small monastic establishment) existed here in the Middle Ages. Its date of foundation is unknown. It was dissolved in 1354, and its chapel demolished shortly after 1382. There are no physical remains and its location within the parish is unknown. Piddletrenthide's common arable fields were enclosed by Act of Parliament in 1817. In 1933 Piddletrenthide parish was enlarged by to include the small village and tithing of Plush, which previously had been a detached part of the parish of Buckland Newton a few miles to the north. All Saints parish church All Saints parish church, situated on the northern edge of the village, has a claim to being one of the finest village churches in Dorset. The south doorway and piers of the chancel arch are Norman; the doorway inside the porch features typically Norman zigzag decoration. The tower dates from 1485 and has twin-light bell openings, numerous pinnacles and gargoyles. The nave and aisles are also 15th-century. Over the west door of the church-tower is the Latin inscription: "Est pydeltrenth villa in dorsedie comitatu Nascitur in illa quam rexit Vicariatu 1487". The inscription translates as: "It is in Piddletrenthide, a town in Dorset [where] he was born