Stourpaine () 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 ...

in the ceremonial county of

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. Covering an area of , ...

in southern

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 ...

. It is situated in the valley of the River Stour in the

administrative district, northwest of Blandford Forum. The

A350 road The A350 is a north–south primary route in southern England, that runs from the M4 motorway in Wiltshire to Poole in Dorset. Route Starting at junction 17 of the M4 motorway north of Chippenham, Wiltshire, Chippenham, the first three miles ar ...

, which connects Blandford to

Shaftesbury Shaftesbury () is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is situated on the A30 road, west of Salisbury, near the border with Wiltshire. It is the only significant hilltop settlement in Dorset, being built about above sea level on a ...

to the north, passes through the village. The chalk hills of

Cranborne Chase Cranborne Chase () is an area of central southern England, straddling the counties Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. It is part of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The area is dominated by, ...

and 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, H ...

lie immediately northeast and southwest respectively. In the 2011 census the civil parish had 277 dwellings, 265 households and a population of 617. It was the original site of the

Great Dorset Steam Fair The Great Dorset Steam Fair (abbreviated GDSF, and since 2010 also known as The National Heritage Show) is an annual show featuring steam-powered vehicles and machinery. It now covers and runs for five days. This used to be from the Wednesday ...

, which has been held at nearby

Tarrant Hinton Tarrant Hinton is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England. It is situated in the Tarrant Valley, approximately northeast of Blandford Forum. In 2013 the estimated population of the civil parish was 160. The villag ...

in more recent years. The joint benefice of Pimperne, Stourpaine, Durweston and

Bryanston Bryanston is a village and civil parish in north Dorset, England, situated on the River Stour west of Blandford Forum. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 925. The village is adjacent to the grounds of Bryanston School, an ind ...

is in the Church of England Diocese of Salisbury.

History

A gift of land to the church is recorded in the Domesday Book (1086). The church of the Holy Trinity is medieval; in the 15th century the tower and nave were rebuilt in the Perpendicular style so that the nave was enlarged. Box pews were installed in the 18th century but by the 19th century the church was so dilapidated that rebuilding was undertaken (apart from the tower); the architect for the rebuilding was T. H. Wyatt. After a funeral service at the Holy Trinity Church in Stourpaine on 16 June, Major

Bruce Shand Bruce Middleton Hope Shand (22 January 1917 – 11 June 2006) was an officer in the British Army. He is best known as the father of Queen Camilla. Early life Shand was born in London into an upper class family whose ancestors had moved t ...

's body was

cremated Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre i ...

. The funeral of his son

Mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * F ...

was also at Stourpaine.

References

External links

Village community website
{{authority control Villages in Dorset