Woodsford 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 authorit ...

beside the

River Frome, Dorset The River Frome is a river in Dorset in the south of England. At 30 miles (48 km) long it is the major chalkstream in southwest England. It is navigable upstream from Poole Harbour as far as the town of Wareham. Geography The river ris ...

, England, about east of the county town Dorchester.

Dorset County Council Dorset County Council (DCC) was the county council for the county of Dorset in England. It provided the upper tier of local government, below which were district councils, and town and parish councils. The county council had 46 elected council ...

's 2013 mid-year estimate of the parish population is 80.

Manor

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 manus ...

of 1086 records the manor as ''Waredesford'', which the 18th-century historian John Hutchins interpreted as meaning a

ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

across the Varia, an alternative name for the River Frome. More recent opinion is that Waredesford referred to a ford belonging to a man named Weard. Two holdings were recorded, which have been interpreted as corresponding to East Woodsford (the current village) and West Woodsford (now Woodsford Castle). Woodsford Castle is the surviving range of a 14th-century fortified manor house.

King Edward III Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring ...

granted William de Whitefield a licence to crenellate in 1335. The house has the largest thatched roof in the county and has been restored by the

Landmark Trust The Landmark Trust is a British architectural conservation, building conservation charitable organization, charity, founded in 1965 by John Smith (Conservative politician), Sir John and Lady Smith, that rescues buildings of historic interest or ...

. The house is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Parish church

The Church of England parish church of St

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

was 13th-century, but was largely rebuilt in 1862–63 to designs by the Gothic Revival architect

Thomas Henry Wyatt Thomas Henry Wyatt (9 May 1807 – 5 August 1880) was an Anglo-Irish architect. He had a prolific and distinguished career, being elected President of the Royal Institute of British Architects 1870–73 and being awarded its Royal Gold Medal for ...

. Remnants of the 13th-century church include the lower part of the west tower and an

Early English Gothic English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed ...

lancet on the south side of the nave west of the south porch. The parish is part of the Benefice of

Moreton Moreton may refer to: People Given name * Moreton John Wheatley (1837–1916), British Army officer and Bailiff of the Royal Parks Surname * Alice Bertha Moreton (1901–1977), English sculptor, draughtsman and artist * Andrew Moreton, a p ...

, Woodsford and Crossways with

Tincleton Tincleton is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England. It is situated near the River Frome, approximately east of the county town Dorchester. The name of the village comes from the Old English "Tin la Ton", or "f ...

Economic history

In the Frome Valley at Woodsford there used to be a system of

watermeadow A water-meadow (also water meadow or watermeadow) is an area of grassland subject to controlled irrigation to increase agricultural productivity. Water-meadows were mainly used in Europe from the 16th to the early 20th centuries. Working water-m ...

Demography

's 2013 mid-year estimate of the parish population is 80. The 2001 Census recorded the parish's population as 67. In the 2011 census figures for Woodsford parish have been combined with those of neighbouring

parish; the population in this combined area was 236.

References

Sources

* * *

External links

Civil parishes in Dorset Villages in Dorset {{Dorset-geo-stub