Stoke Abbott

{{Short description|Village in Dorset, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} {{Use British English|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox UK place |static_image_name = Stoke Abbott, parish church of St. Mary - geograph.org.uk - 447454.jpg |static_image_caption = Parish church of St Mary |country = England |official_name = Stoke Abbott |coordinates = {{coord|50.8027|-2.7776|display=inline,title}} |map_type = Dorset |population = 190 |population_ref = <ref name=dfy>{{cite web|url=https://www.dorsetforyou.com/344882|title=Parish Population Data|date=20 January 2015|accessdate=7 March 2015|publisher=Dorset County Council}}</ref> |unitary_england= [[Dorset (unitary authority)|Dorset]] |lieutenancy_england= [[Dorset]] |region = South West England |post_town = Beaminster |postcode_area = DT |postcode_district = DT8 |constituency_westminster = [[West Dorset (UK Parliament constituency)|West Dorset]] |os_grid_reference = ST453006 }} '''Stoke Abbott''' is a village and [[Civil parishes in England|civil parish]] in west [[Dorset]], [[England]], {{convert|2|mi|km}} west of [[Beaminster]]. In 2013 the estimated population of the parish was 190.<ref name=dfy/>

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",<ref>{{cite book|author=Ralph Wightman|title=Portrait of Dorset|publisher=Robert Hale Ltd|year=1983|page=154|edition=4|isbn=0 7090 0844 9}}</ref> and, in a similar vein, [[Sir Frederick Treves, 1st Baronet|Sir Frederick Treves]] in 1906 considered it "as pretty a village as any in Dorset".<ref>{{cite book |last=Treves |first=Frederick, Sir |title=Highways and Byways in Dorset |url=https://archive.org/details/highwaysandbywa00penngoog |publisher=Macmillan & Co. Ltd |year=1906 |page=[https://archive.org/details/highwaysandbywa00penngoog/page/n312 284]}}</ref>

On [[Waddon Hill]] to the northwest of the village are the remains of earthworks of an Iron Age settlement, consisting of a low bank {{convert|9|m|ft}} wide and traces of a ditch, replaced in AD 50 to AD60 by a short lived Roman Fort, though historic quarrying around the hill has destroyed much of the fort. Mid-1st-century [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] and [[Roman Britain|Romano-British]] military artefacts were found on the hill's southern slopes in 1876–1878, and in Graham Webster's 1960's excavations. Roman artefacts from Chartknolle, a flat area further east, are on display in the village hall, along with a replica of a gold durotrigian stater. <ref name=inventory>{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=127270|title='Stoke Abbott', An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 1: West (1952), pp. 224-226|work=British History Online|publisher=University of London & History of Parliament Trust|date=November 2013|accessdate=23 April 2014}}</ref> In the [[Domesday Book]] in 1086 the village was recorded as Stoche<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/dorset3.html#stokeabbot|title=Dorset S–Z|work=The Domesday Book Online|publisher=domesdaybook.co.uk|accessdate=22 April 2014}}</ref> and had 32 households.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/ST4500/stoke-abbott/|title=Place: Stoke [Abbott]|work=Open Domesday|publisher=domesdaymap.co.uk|accessdate=22 April 2014}}</ref>

The parish church of St Mary the Virgin has [[Norman England|Norman]] origins but has been altered and added to over the centuries. The 12th-century [[Baptismal font|font]] is notable.<ref name=inventory/> The poet [[William Crowe (poet)|William Crowe]] was rector here between 1782 and 1786; at the end of his incumbency he published his most well known piece, ''Lewesdon Hill'', about [[Lewesdon Hill|the hill]] to the west of the village.<ref>{{cite book |title= Dorset |first=John |last=Hyams |publisher=B. T. Batsford Ltd |pages=137–8 |year=1970 |isbn=0-7134-0066-8 }}</ref> 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.

== Politics == In the UK national parliament, Stoke Abbott is within the [[West Dorset (UK Parliament constituency)|West Dorset parliamentary constituency]].

After [[2019 structural changes to local government in England]], Stoke Abbott is part of the [[Marshwood Vale (ward)|Marshwood Vale ward]] which elects 1 member to [[Dorset Council (UK)|Dorset Council]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Area profile for Marshwood Vale - Dorset Council |url=https://gi.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/insights/AreaProfiles/Ward/marshwood-vale |access-date=2024-02-24 |website=gi.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk}}</ref>

==References== {{Commons category|Stoke Abbott}} {{Reflist}}

[[Category:Villages in Dorset]]