valley of Sydling Water, a tributary of the River Frome. The valley is one of several roughly parallel valleys which cut into the dip slope of the Dorset Downs, a line of chalk hills that span the centre of the county. The village lies at an altitude of and the surrounding chalk hills rise to at Gore Hill to the north. The hills and all of the civil parish lie within the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). In the south of the parish and within the Cerne and Sydling Downs Special Area of Conservation are two parts of the three-part Hog Cliff National Nature Reserve (the third part lies within the neighbouring parish of Maiden Newton). Measured directly, Sydling St Nicholas village is NW of Dorchester, ENE of Bridport and SSE of Yeovil. The A37 Dorchester-Yeovil main road runs along the top of the hills about to the west of the village. Sydling Water Sydling Water is a chalk stream that rises just to the north of Sydling St Nicholas in the hamlet of Up Sydling. The stream divides upon entering the village, and many cottages are reached across small bridges. The stream used to flow along the High Street in an open course, resulting in occasional floods; after a thunderstorm in June 1889 one local man, Tom Churchill, drowned after having been swept away, and his body was found about a mile downstream. Today Sydling Water is known for its watercress farms. Notable buildings Within the parish are more than fifty structures listed by Historic England for their architectural or historic interest. In 1905 Sir Frederick Treves described the village as "the most charming in the district". The 15th-century parish church of St Nicholas, which is built on slightly higher ground than most of the houses in the village, replaces at least two other buildings previously built on the site. It possesses a Norman font and a fine tower. The tower clock has no face and dates from 1593, making it one of the oldest in England. The south aisle has settled since construction, so the south wall is buttressed and has only a small door. In 1905 Treves described the church as being "quite famous for its numerous and amazing gargoyles", although seventy-five years later Dorset-based writer Roland Gant noted it instead for being "Light, open, airy, free of restorers' excesses", and for possessing a "noble