Stour Provost Explained

Country:England
Official Name:Stour Provost
Static Image Name:Terraced houses in Stour Provost - geograph.org.uk - 348605.jpg
Static Image Caption:Stour Provost
Coordinates:50.9923°N -2.2957°W
Population:579
Unitary England:Dorset
Shire County:Dorset
Post Town:Gillingham
Postcode Area:SP
Postcode District:SP8
Constituency Westminster:North Dorset
Region:South West England
Os Grid Reference:ST793215

Stour Provost is a village and civil parish in the Blackmore Vale area of north Dorset, England, situated on the River Stour between Sturminster Newton and Gillingham. In old writings it is usually spelled Stower Provost.

Stour Provost once constituted a liberty, containing only the parish itself. Today the civil parish includes the settlements of Woodville and Stour Row to the east.[1] In the 2011 census the civil parish had 235 households and a population of 579.[2]

After the establishment of Stour Provost village near the River Stour, at least four smaller settlements were established in a piecemeal fashion from the 13th century – or perhaps earlier – in the common land or "waste" further east, at Woodville and beyond. These small groups of farms, with their own irregular shaped fields, were separated by unenclosed "waste" probably until the 18th century, when it was enclosed and divided into rectilinear fields.[3]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Book: North Dorset District Official Guide. Home Publishing Co. Ltd. North Dorset District Council. c. 1983. 47–9.
  2. Web site: Area: Stour Provost (Parish). Key Figures for 2011 Census: Key Statistics . Office for National Statistics . Neighbourhood Statistics . 6 February 2015.
  3. Web site: 'Stour Provost', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 4, North (London, 1972), pp. 79-84 . University of London . British History Online . 16 March 2015.