West Stafford

{{Short description|Village and civil parish in Dorset, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} {{Use British English|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox UK place |static_image_name = Stafford House, West Stafford - geograph.org.uk - 1271079.jpg |static_image_caption = Stafford House, West Stafford |country = England |official_name = West Stafford |coordinates = {{coord|50|42|18|N|2|23|21|W|display=inline,title}} |map_type = Dorset |population = 291 |population_ref = <ref name="ons">{{cite web|url=http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11130401&c=West+Stafford&d=16&e=62&g=6418339&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1401317431136&enc=1|title=Area: West Stafford (Parish), Key Figures for 2011 Census: Key Statistics|publisher=[[Office for National Statistics]]|work=Neighbourhood Statistics|accessdate=28 May 2014}}</ref> | unitary_england= [[Dorset (district)|Dorset]] | lieutenancy_england= [[Dorset]] |region = South West England |constituency_westminster = West Dorset |post_town = DORCHESTER |postcode_area = DT |postcode_district = DT2 |os_grid_reference = SY726895 }}

'''West Stafford''' is a village and [[Civil parishes in England|civil parish]] in southwest [[Dorset]], [[England]], situated in the [[River Frome, Dorset|Frome valley]] {{convert|2|mi|km}} east of [[Dorchester, Dorset|Dorchester]]. In the [[United Kingdom Census 2011|2011 census]] the parish had a population of 291.<ref name="ons"/> The village contains the [[public house]] 'The Wise Man Inn', and St Andrew's Church. The river Winterbourne runs beside the village and 2 miles south lies the village of [[West Knighton, Dorset|West Knighton]]. [[Thomas Hardy]], when training as an architect, assisted in the design of Talbothays Lodge and the cottages opposite. The village is also accepted as the setting for part of Hardy's novel ''Tess or the D'Urbevilles'', during the period when Tess works at the Talbothays Dairy.

[[Reginald Bosworth Smith]], schoolmaster, author and [[List of Presidents of the Oxford Union|President of the Oxford Union]], was born in West Stafford on 28 June 1839.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Reginald Bosworth Smith; a memoir|url = http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006565187|publisher = J. Nisbet & Co., limited|date = 1909-01-01|location = London|first = Ellinor Flora Bosworth Smith|last = Grogan}}</ref> His father, [[Reginald Southwell Smith]], was the fourth son of [[Smith-Marriott baronets|Sir John Wyldbore Smith]], Baronet, of [[Sydling St Nicholas]], Dorset.

==See also== *[[Baron Fellowes of West Stafford]]

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category-inline|West Stafford}} * [https://www.west-stafford.com West Stafford Web site]

[[Category:Villages in Dorset]]