Maiden Newton 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 ...

in the

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

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 ...

in south-west England. It lies within the Dorset Council administrative area, about north-west of the county town, Dorchester.

Geography

The village is sited on

Upper Greensand Greensand or green sand is a sand or sandstone which has a greenish color. This term is specifically applied to shallow marine sediment that contains noticeable quantities of rounded greenish grains. These grains are called ''glauconies'' and co ...

at the confluence of the River Frome with its tributary of equivalent size, the

Hooke Hooke may refer to: * Hooke, Dorset, England ** River Hooke, nearby watercourse * Robert Hooke (1635–1703), English natural philosopher who discovered Hooke's law * Hooke (surname), a surname * Hooke (lunar crater) * Hooke (Martian crater) * ...

. Both these rivers have cut valleys into the surrounding

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Chalk ...

hills of the

Dorset Downs The Dorset Downs are an area of chalk downland in the centre of the county Dorset in south west England. The downs are the most western part of a larger chalk formation which also includes (from west to east) Cranborne Chase, Salisbury Plain, Ham ...

. The A356 main road passes through the village. In the 2011 census the parish—which does not include the adjacent settlements of

Frome Vauchurch Frome Vauchurch is a parish in the county of Dorset in southern England, situated approximately northwest of the county town Dorchester. It includes the hamlets of Frome Vauchurch, Higher Frome Vauchurch, Lower Frome Vauchurch and Tollerford. F ...

and Tollerford— had a population of 1,119.

History

In 1086 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 ...

, Maiden Newton was recorded as ''Newetone''; it had 26 households, 7

ploughland The carucate or carrucate ( lat-med, carrūcāta or ) was a medieval unit of land area approximating the land a plough team of eight oxen could till in a single annual season. It was known by different regional names and fell under different forms ...

s, of meadow and 2 mills. It was in

Tollerford Hundred Tollerford Hundred was a hundred in the county of Dorset, England, containing the following parishes: * Chilfrome * East Chelborough * Evershot * Frome St Quintin *Frome Vauchurch *Maiden Newton * Melbury Sampford * Rampisham * Toller Fratrum *To ...

and the lord and

tenant-in-chief In medieval and early modern Europe, the term ''tenant-in-chief'' (or ''vassal-in-chief'') denoted a person who held his lands under various forms of feudal land tenure directly from the king or territorial prince to whom he did homage, as op ...

was

Waleran the Hunter Waleran the Hunter (floruit 1086) (Latin: ''Waleran Venator'') was an Anglo-Norman magnate who held 51 manors as recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, including Whaddon in Wiltshire and several in Hampshire, including West Dean, within the New F ...

Maiden Newton was the basis for the village of Chalk-Newton, South Wessex, in many of the works of

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...

. In the vicinity of the village is evidence of Roman occupation and early British settlements.West Dorset District Council, ''Holiday and Tourist Guide'', c.1983, p13 The parish church of St Mary contains much

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

work, with additions from the 14th and 15th centuries. The shaft of the Village Cross is 15th century and is Grade II*

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

. There is also the shaft of a Medieval cross in the churchyard which is a scheduled monument. Maiden Newton is also home to one of the country's oldest

fire engines The Fire Engines were a post-punk band from Edinburgh, Scotland. The Fire Engines were an influence on many bands that followed, including Franz Ferdinand and The Rapture, with Meat Whiplash and The Candyskins both taking their names from Fire ...

, restored and in full working order, the fire engine house built for it in 1842-3 is a grade II listed building. Maiden Newton is in an

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...

with the same name, which also contains much of the surrounding countryside including the villages of West Compton,

Toller Fratrum Toller Fratrum () is a very small village and civil parish in Dorset, England, near Maiden Newton, anciently in Tollerford Hundred. The name is taken from the village's situation on the brook formerly known as the Toller, now called the Hooke. ...

Toller Porcorum Toller Porcorum () is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Dorset, England, situated in the River Toller, Toller valley northwest of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester. In the 2011 census the civil parish—which also includes t ...

and

. The population of this ward was 2,081 at the 2011 census.

Transport

The village is served by Maiden Newton railway station on the

Heart of Wessex Line The Heart of Wessex Line, also known as the Bristol to Weymouth Line, is a railway line that runs from to and Weymouth in England. It shares the Wessex Main Line as far as Westbury and then follows the course of the Reading to Taunton Line a ...

. There was also a railway line from Maiden Newton to

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 ...

which opened in 1857 and was extended to West Bay in 1884. The Bridport branch line was listed irecommended for closure in the

Beeching Report Beeching is an English surname. Either a derivative of the old English ''bece'', ''bæce'' "stream", hence "dweller by the stream" or of the old English ''bece'' "beech-tree" hence "dweller by the beech tree".''Oxford Dictionary of English Surnames' ...

of 1963. By the time the line closed in 1975 it was the last remaining branch line in Dorset. Work is underway to turn the line into a footpath and cycle track. The A356 passes through the village as does

National Cycle Network The National Cycle Network (NCN) is the national cycling route network of the United Kingdom, which was established to encourage cycling and walking throughout Britain, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the cha ...

Route 26. Three long distance footpaths the

Macmillan Way The Macmillan Way is a long-distance footpath in England that links Boston, Lincolnshire to Abbotsbury in Dorset. The route's distance is . It is promoted to raise money for the charity Macmillan Cancer Relief. The fully waymarked route foll ...

and the

Wessex Ridgeway The Wessex Ridgeway is a long-distance footpath in southwest England. It runs from Marlborough in Wiltshire to Lyme Regis in Dorset, via the northern edge of Salisbury Plain and across Cranborne Chase AONB. The footpath was opened in 1994. At ...

pass through the Village as does the shorter

Frome Valley Trail The Frome Valley Trail is a long-distance footpath in Dorset, England which follows the River Frome from Evershot to Dorchester and will, when completed, extend to Poole Harbour. Trail description The Trail runs from Evershot Village Hall t ...

References

External links

"Unofficial" village websiteParish Council website

Maiden Newton Junior Football Club
Villages in Dorset {{Dorset-geo-stub