Goathill

	St Peter's church, Goathill
	Goathill Location within Dorset
Population	10
OS grid reference	ST 6764 1718
Unitary authority	Dorset;
Shire county	Dorset;
Region	South West;
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Sherborne
Postcode district	DT9
Police	Dorset
Fire	Dorset and Wiltshire
Ambulance	South Western
UK Parliament	West Dorset;
	List of places UK England Dorset 50°57′11″N 2°27′43″W / 50.9531°N 2.4620°W

Goathill is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in England, situated in northern Dorset, a couple of miles east of the town of Sherborne. It lies very close to the county boundary however, and for much of its history (until 1896) lay instead within the neighbouring county of Somerset, and has been described as being "just in Dorset by a nanny-goat's whisker".^[2] It remains part of the diocese of Bath and Wells.^[3]

Goathill, together with the three village parishes of Poyntington, Castleton and Oborne, form a group of parishes that share a grouped parish council called Yeohead & Castleton Parish Council.^[4]

The parish was part of the hundred of Horethorne.^[5]

St Peter's church and a mill are the major buildings. Nearby is Goathill Quarry, a place of special scientific interest to geologists as it allows the Fuller's earth layers to be established in relation to the limestone.^[6] Dorset County Council estimate that in 2013 Goathill parish had a population of 10.^[1]

To the north, in Somerset, is the village of Milborne Port.

References

^ ^a ^b "Parish Population Data". Dorset County Council. 20 January 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
^ Gant, R., Dorset Villages, Hale, 1980, p65
^ A Church Near You St Peter, Goathill
^ "Yeohead & Castleton Parish Council". Retrieved 3 February 2015.
^ "Somerset Hundreds". GENUKI. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
^ English Nature citation sheet for the site (accessed July 2009)