Stoke Abbott
| Stoke Abbott | |
|---|---|
 Parish church of St Mary | |
| Population | 200 [1] |
| OS grid reference | ST453006 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Police | Dorset |
| Fire | Dorset and Wiltshire |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| UK Parliament |
|
Stoke Abbott is a village and civil parish in west Dorset, England, 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Beaminster. Dorset County Council's 2012 mid-year estimate of the parish population was 200.[1]
The author Ralph Wightman, agriculturist, broadcaster, and native of Dorset, described the village as "a beautiful place of deep lanes, orchards and old houses, with a church of quiet charm",[2] and, in a similar vein, Sir Frederick Treves in 1905 considered it "as pretty a village as any in Dorset".[3]
On Waddon Hill to the northwest of the village are the remains of earthworks of an early settlement, consisting of a low bank 9 metres (30 ft) wide and traces of a ditch, though historic quarrying around the hill may have destroyed more. Mid-1st-century Roman and Romano-British military artefacts were found on the hill's southern slopes in 1876–8.[4] In the Domesday Book in 1086 the village was recorded as Stoche[5] and had 32 households.[6]
The parish church of St Mary the Virgin has Norman origins but has been altered and added to over the centuries. The 12th-century font is notable.[4] The Very Rev Hedley Robert Burrows (1887 - 1983), who later became Archdeacon of Winchester and then Dean of Hereford, was incumbent at Stoke Abbott for a time.
References
- ^ a b "Parish Population Data". Dorset County Council. 10 March 2014. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
- ^ Ralph Wightman (1983). Portrait of Dorset (4 ed.). Robert Hale Ltd. p. 154. ISBN 0 7090 0844 9.
- ^ Treves, Sir F., Highways and Byways in Dorset, Macmillan, 1905, p284
- ^ a b "'Stoke Abbott', An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 1: West (1952), pp. 224-226". British History Online. University of London & History of Parliament Trust. November 2013. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
- ^ "Dorset S–Z". The Domesday Book Online. domesdaybook.co.uk. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
- ^ "Place: Stoke [Abbott]". Open Domesday. domesdaymap.co.uk. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
External links
 | This Dorset location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
