The name Pimperne comes from the Celtic word Pimp Pren meaning the river of the tree. This is a parish on the Blandford to Salisbury road about 2½ miles northeast of Blandford. The church is dedicated to St Peter and has a fine Norman arch in its porch The Manor was granted to Catherine Howard and then to Katherine Parr by Henry VIII and it was ironically for life! A walk around the village that is long gone was called Queens Walk,  and Hutchins the Dorset historian recorded a Maze here that was ploughed over around 1739.  The rectory is reputed to be haunted and in 1844 the curate here for a short time was Charles Kingsley.

In the centre of the village are the remains of an old cross and there are many burial barrows in the downlands around the parish and this area was once used for training racehorses.