to be Dorset's highest point but now recognised as its second highest. History The original church at Thorncombe was dedicated to St Mary by William Brewer, Bishop of Exeter, in 1239. The building of the church, as well as nearby Forde Abbey (founded in 1136), was superintended by Cistercian monks from Waverley, Surrey. Thomas Chard, alias Tyblis, the last Abbot, was Suffragan Bishop to the Bishop of Exeter from 1508 and was appointed Vicar of Thorncombe in 1529, 10 years before he left Forde Abbey at the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. Local legend has it that Rev. John Bragge, Vicar of Thorncombe from 1644 to 1647, was deprived of his living, probably because he was involved in a royalist plot against Cromwell, and was transported to Barbados. Although this statement appears on several websites, it is incorrect. The truth is less dramatic: Thorncombe’s parish register records John Bragge's burial in the churchyard on 5 April 1647. The Journal of the House of Lords for 3 November 1647 records the presentation of a ‘Petition of the Inhabitants of Thornecombe’. Now in Lambeth Palace Library, it confirms the date of John Bragge's demise. Signed by 62 parishioners, it states that parishioners 'have suffered above these twelve months last past their want of a preaching minister of the Gospel, by reason that John Bragge the last Incumbent by his delinquency agt State was sequestrated unto the time of his death which happened about half a year since'. The old church stood about to the south of the present church, where the Wellingtonia tree now stands. In 1770, the church at Thorncombe was not large enough to contain 'the fourth part of the inhabitants'. Thorncombe's population grew from around 885 in 1676 to 1,308 in 1851 and 1,189 in 1871. The present church dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, was built in 1866 to seat 400. There was a significant community of non conformists living in the parish from the late 17th century onwards. In 1689 clothier Robert French registered his Synderford home as a "Protestant Dissenting Meeting Place" and by 1723 there was a Quaker Meeting House and burial ground at Laymore, just outside the parish boundary. Historically Thorncombe's main industries were spinning, weaving and sheep and cattle breeding. Other small industries included leather production, shoe making and flax processing. During the 18th century there was a weekly market selling 'grain