Mosterton is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, situated approximately north of

Beaminster Beaminster ( ) is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England, situated in the Dorset Council administrative area approximately northwest of the county town Dorchester. It is sited in a bowl-shaped valley near the source of the small River ...

. In the 2011 census the parish had a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 604. The village's name derives from

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

and means the thorn tree belonging to a man named Mort. In 1086 it was recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

as ''Mortestorne''. Mosterton is a linear settlement, grown along the A3066 road. It lies from

Crewkerne Crewkerne ( ) is a town and electoral ward in Somerset, England, southwest of Yeovil and east of Chard all in the South Somerset district. The civil parish of West Crewkerne includes the hamlets of Coombe, Woolminstone and Henley – and b ...

railway station across the nearby county boundary in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, and is served by a regular bus service from

Yeovil Yeovil ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the district of South Somerset, England. The population of Yeovil at the last census (2011) was 45,784. More recent estimates show a population of 48,564. It is close to Somer ...

Bridport Bridport is a market town in Dorset, England, inland from the English Channel near the confluence of the River Brit and its tributary the Asker. Its origins are Saxon and it has a long history as a rope-making centre. On the coast and withi ...

. It is home of the Admiral Hood pub, Eeles Pottery, the Parrett and Axe Church of England Primary School and St. Mary's Church (Church of England). The village is divided by the River Axe, from which the primary school takes its name (along with the

River Parrett The River Parrett flows through the counties of Dorset and Somerset in South West England, from its source in the Thorney Mills springs in the hills around Chedington in Dorset. Flowing northwest through Somerset and the Somerset Levels to it ...

that flows through the nearby village of

South Perrott South Perrott is a village and civil parish in northwest Dorset, England, southeast of Crewkerne. In 2012 the estimated population of the parish was 220. Figures from the 2011 census have been published for South Perrott parish combined with th ...

). St Mary's Church was rebuilt on a new site in 1833. The interior of the church is quite understated, but does however retain its original fittings. The focus of the church is the

stained glass window Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

behind the altar. It was installed in 1975 and includes a

combine harvester The modern combine harvester, or simply combine, is a versatile machine designed to efficiently harvest a variety of grain crops. The name derives from its combining four separate harvesting operations—reaping, threshing, gathering, and winnow ...

and a

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most common ...

, depicting the farming background of many of the local community. The Admiral Hood pub is named after Admiral Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood (1724-1816). The pub was rebuilt in its original style after a gutting fire in 1955. Before the reconstruction it was called the New Inn, but on completion it was decided to honour the Hood family who had occupied a Georgian house that was originally on the site of the New Inn, who had a long naval history and whose name has been used on many battleships.

Notes

External links

Mosterton Village Website (www.mostertonvillage.co.uk)Parrett & Axe C of E Primary School
{{authority control Villages in Dorset