West Stafford 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 southwest
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 in the
Frome valley east of
Dorchester. In the
2011 census the parish had a population of 291.
The village contains the
public house
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...
'The Wise Man Inn', and St Andrew's Church. The river Winterbourne runs beside the village and 2 miles south lies the village of
West Knighton.
Thomas Hardy, when training as an architect, assisted in the design of Talbothays Lodge and the cottages opposite. The village is also accepted as the setting for part of Hardy's novel ''Tess or the D'Urbevilles'', during the period when Tess works at the Talbothays Dairy.
Reginald Bosworth Smith, schoolmaster, author and
President of the Oxford Union, was born in West Stafford on 28 June 1839.
His father, Reginald Southwell Smith, was the fourth son of
Sir John Wyldbore Smith, Baronet, of
Sydling St Nicholas, Dorset.
References
External links
Villages in Dorset
West Stafford website
https://www.west-stafford.com
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