Sturminster Marshall 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 east

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 , ...

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 on the River Stour between Blandford Forum and Poole. 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 1,895 at the 2001 census, increasing to 1,969 at the 2011 Census and includes the village of

Almer Almer is a village in Dorset, England. Almer is located on the A31 road near Winterborne Zelston, Huish Manor, Sturminster Marshall and opposite the Drax estate. The main features of the village are Almer Manor, Almer Parish church and the old ...

() west of Sturminster Marshall, near

Winterborne Zelston Winterborne Zelston is a village and civil parish in north Dorset, England. It is situated in a winterbourne valley on the A31 road south of Blandford Forum and northwest of Poole. The parish had a population of 141 in 2001. In 2013 the estim ...

and the hamlet of

Henbury Henbury is a suburb of Bristol, England, approximately north west of the city centre. It was formerly a village in Gloucestershire and is now bordered by Westbury-on-Trym to the south; Brentry to the east and the Blaise Castle Estate, Blaise Ha ...

to the south-east of the village. The village is twinned with the French commune of

Sainte-Mère-Église Sainte-Mère-Église () is a commune in the northwestern French department of Manche, in Normandy. On 1 January 2016, the former communes of Beuzeville-au-Plain, Chef-du-Pont, Écoquenéauville and Foucarville were merged into Sainte-Mère-Ég ...

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

. The appropriate electoral ward is called 'Stour'. From ''Sturminster Marshall'' the ward goes east to Pamphill, with a total population of 2,582.

King Alfred the Great Alfred the Great (alt. Ælfred 848/849 – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who ...

, in his will of 899, a copy of which can be seen at the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

, left the village to his youngest son Æthelweard (c.880-922). Sturminster Marshall has a 13th century church, St. Mary's. Its predecessor contributed to the village's name; 'Sturminster' meaning "church on the River Stour". The second part of the name came from William Marshall. Until 1857, St. Hubert's Church in Corfe Mullen acted as a chapel of ease to Sturminster Marshall.''St Huberts History''
at parishofcorfemullen.com. Retrieved 4 March 2021.

Village amenities

Sturminster Marshall has a playing field with a children's playground in one corner. Nearby is the Memorial Hall which offers a meeting-space for many village societies. There is also an old school hall which is also used as a meeting-space. There are many walks around the village including the Stour Valley Way, which follows the Stour right from the source to the sea. The village has two pubs: the ''Red Lion'' within the village and the ''Golden Fox'' on the outskirts. The village has a cricket club with a side in Dorset division 3. There is also a football club with a senior side and several junior teams.

References

External links

2001 Census dataSMYFC
Villages in Dorset {{Dorset-geo-stub