Sturminster Newton

File:The Market House Sturminster Newton - geograph.org.uk - 250339.jpgFile:Sturminster Newton, town centre - geograph.org.uk - 1436124.jpgSturminster Newton was recorded in an Anglo-Saxon charter in 968 as Nywetone at Stoure, and in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Newentone. Newton refers to a new farm or estate, and Sturminster to a church (minster) on the Stour. Originally the two parts of the name referred to the settlements on the north and south of the river, but were combined to distinguish the town from Sturminster Marshall and other Newtons.A.D. Mills, 1986. Dorset Place Names. Southampton, Ensign. {{ISBN|1-85455-065-9}} The history of the town and surrounding area has been researched by the Sturminster Newton Heritage Trust, which runs the Sturminster Newton Museum in the Old Market Cross House in the centre of town. The Museum is open to visitors on some days every week.{{Cite web|url=https://sturminsternewton-museum.co.uk/museum/|title=The Museum, SNHT|website=Sturminster Newton Heritage Trust|date=18 December 2017 |language=en-GB|access-date=5 August 2021}}

Hidden on the hill above the bridge over the river are the ruins of Sturminster Newton Castle, a manor house rather than a defensive building. The 14th-century building stands on a crescent shaped mound which could be the site of an Iron Age hillfort.{{cite book |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/dorset/vol3/pp269-286 |title='Sturminster Newton', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 3, Central (London, 1970), pp. 269–286 |publisher=University of London |access-date=20 October 2015}} The town and castle were part of Sturminster Newton hundred.

Sturminster Newton is situated at a historic fording point on the River Stour. The ford was replaced in the 16th century with a six-arch stone bridge, and a quarter-kilometre embankment crossing the flood plain. The bridge was widened from {{convert|12|to|18|ft|m|1|abbr=off}} in 1820.David McFetrich & Jo Parsons, 1998. Dorset Bridges. Wimborne: Dovecote Press {{ISBN|1-874336-51-2}} A 19th-century plaque affixed to the bridge states that anyone damaging the bridge would be transported to Australia as a felon.

File:Sturminster Newton Mill - geograph.org.uk - 1297822.jpgThe Sturminster Newton Heritage Trust runs the Sturminster Newton Mill on the south bank of the river and which has existed since at least 1016. The mill was restored in 1980 and is now a working museum watermill which is open to visitors on some days every week between the end of March and the end of September.{{Cite web|url=https://sturminsternewton-museum.co.uk/mill/|title=Working Mill in Sturminster Newton, SNHT|website=Sturminster Newton Heritage Trust|date=20 December 2017 |language=en-GB|access-date=5 August 2021}} The mill resumed commercial production of flour in 2020.{{Cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/1000-year-old-mill-grinds-again-supply-flour-uk-180974830/|title=One-Thousand-Year-Old Mill Resumes Production to Supply Flour Amid Pandemic, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 May 2020|website=Smithsonian Magazine|language=en-US|access-date=13 October 2021}}

The town centre is built in a mixture of styles, including 17th- and 18th-century thatched cottages, Georgian stone buildings, and 19th-century brick buildings. Set back from the main road is the market square and parish church of St Mary, which was rebuilt in 1486 by the abbots of Glastonbury. The church was heavily modified in the 19th century, but the carved wagon roof remains.

Sturminster Newton railway station was served by the Somerset and Dorset Railway, which ran through the town from 1863 until it was dismantled in 1966 as part of the Beeching Axe. The railway goods yard gave milk trains access to the private sidings of the local creamery. Started in 1913 by local farmers to produce cheddar cheese and pasteurised milk, it was taken over by the Milk Marketing Board in 1937. Milk trains ceased in 1966 on closure of the line, with the creamery remaining in operation until 2000 under successor Dairy Crest.{{cite web|url=http://www.cheesefestival.co.uk/creamery.html|title=The Creamery at Sturminster Newton|publisher=cheesefestival.co.uk|access-date=31 January 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111228091434/http://www.cheesefestival.co.uk/creamery.html|archive-date=28 December 2011}} The station and goods yard were demolished in the mid-1970s.Mike Oakley, 2001. Dorset Railway Stations. Wimborne: Dovecote Press {{ISBN|1-874336-96-2}}

The town is set in the vale on which Thomas Hardy based his fictional Vale of the little dairies (in his novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles) and Sturminster had the largest cattle market in Europe, which stood close to the town centre until it was closed and demolished in 1997.{{cite web |last=Baker |first=Stephen |title=Sturminster Newton: anything but a new town |url=http://www.dorsetlife.co.uk/2012/08/sturminster-newton-anything-but-a-new-town/ |access-date=20 October 2015 |publisher=Dorset Life Magazine |date=August 2012}}

Sturminster Newton electoral ward elects one member to Dorset Council. The town also has a town council of 11 members.{{cite web |url=http://www.sturminsternewton-tc.gov.uk/The_Council_28647.aspx |title=The Council|publisher=Sturminster Newton Town Council | access-date=9 April 2024}}

In the UK parliament, Sturminster is in the North Dorset parliamentary constituency which is currently represented by Simon Hoare of the Conservative party.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14000839 |title=Dorset North Parliamentary constituency |work=Election 2015 |publisher=BBC |access-date=19 October 2015}}

File:Sturminster Newton, cattle-market memorial - geograph.org.uk - 1436081.jpg

Sturminster Newton civil parish covers about {{convert|4550|acre|ha|abbr=off|sigfig=3}}{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/dorset/vol3/pp269-286 |title='Sturminster Newton', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 3, Central (London, 1970), pp. 269–286 |publisher=University of London |work=British History Online |access-date=7 February 2015}} at an elevation of {{convert|45|to|119|m|ft|abbr=off}},Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Pathfinder Series, sheet ST 61/71 (Sherborne and Sturminster Newton), published 1985Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Pathfinder Series, sheet 1281 (ST81/91), Shillingstone & Tollard Royal, published 1987, {{ISBN|0-319-21281-5}} with the highest ground being in the southeast.

The town is situated on a meander of the River Stour. The larger part of the town (Sturminster) lies on a low limestone ridge to the north side of the river, and includes most shops and services, whilst to the south is the smaller Newton, separated by a wide flood plain.

The geology of the parish comprises Oxford clay in the northwest, Corallian limestone and sands in the northeast, centre and southwest, and Kimmeridge clay in the southeast.

To the southeast of the town are Girdlers Coppice and Piddles Wood, areas of mature woodland that are designated as sites of special scientific interest.

Census data is for Sturminster Newton civil parish, which also includes the small settlements of Bagber, Broad Oak and Puxey.

File:Sturminster Newton, parish church of St. Mary - geograph.org.uk - 525907.jpg

St Mary's Church is a Church of England parish church, dating from a rebuild in 1486 by the abbots of Glastonbury. The church was heavily modified in the 19th century, but the carved wagon roof remains. It is designated as a Grade I listed building by Historic England.{{Cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1324486|title=Church of St Mary, Sturminster Newton - 1324486 | Historic England}}

Sturminster Newton is the home of the annual UK Boogie Woogie Festival,{{cite web|url=http://www.ukboogiewoogiefestival.co.uk/|title=UK Boogie Woogie Festival|website=UK Boogie Woogie Festival|access-date=9 November 2017}} which in 2009 saw an appearance from veteran boogie woogie star Little Willie Littlefield.

The Exchange, a community arts and conference centre, on Old Market Hill, was built on the site of the old cattle market. It was officially opened by Julian Fellowes in December 2007 and provides a venue for music concerts, drama and other events.{{cite web|url=https://stur-exchange.co.uk/about/|title=Our story|publisher=The Exchange|access-date=22 October 2023}}

The Dorset Bach Cantata Club is based in Sturminster Newton.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}} Sturminster Newton United F.C., founded in 1871, play in the Dorset Premier Football League.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}

Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC West and ITV West Country. Television signals are received from the Mendip TV transmitter,{{cite web|url=https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/tv/Mendip|title= Full Freeview on the Mendip (Somerset, England) transmitter|date=1 May 2004|website=UK Free TV|accessdate=17 October 2023}} BBC South and ITV Meridian can also be received from the Rowridge TV transmitter.{{cite web|url=https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/tv/Rowridge|title=Full Freeview on the Rowridge (Isle Of Wight, England) transmitter|date=1 May 2004|website=UK Free TV|accessdate=17 October 2023}}

Local radio stations are BBC Radio Solent, Greatest Hits Radio South (formerly Vale FM), and Abbey104, a community based radio station that broadcast from its studio in Sherborne.{{Cite web |url=https://www.abbey104.com/|title= Abbey 104|access-date=17 October 2023}}

The Dorset Echo is the local newspaper that serves the town.

Sturminster Newton is twinned with:

• Montebourg, Normandy, France

• William Barnes (1801–1886){{citation needed|date=November 2017}}
• Bryan "Badger" Goss (born 1940), Motocross rider
• Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) and his wife Emma lived in the town from 1876 to 1878, and he wrote his 1878 The Return of the Native during this time.{{cite web|url=http://www.dorsetlife.co.uk/2013/06/curiosities-of-sturminster-newton/|title=Curiosities of Sturminster Newton – Dorset Life – The Dorset Magazine|website=www.dorsetlife.co.uk|access-date=9 November 2017}}
• Keith Kyle (1925–2007), writer, broadcaster and historian, was born in the town
• Eden Paul (1865–1944), physician, translator, communist activist, was born in the town{{cite book |title=Labour Who's Who |date=1924 |publisher=Labour Publishing Company |location=London |page=130}}
• Mark Price, Baron Price (born 1961), UK Minister of Trade and Investment and former managing director of Waitrose, lives in the town.{{cite web|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/price-wars-mark-price-on-christmas-convenience-and-caf-s-9939627.html|title=Price wars: Mark Price on Christmas, convenience and cafés|date=22 December 2014 |access-date=9 November 2017}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Sturminster Newton}}

• [https://sturminster-newton.org.uk/ Sturminster Newton community website]

{{Dorset}}

{{North Dorset}}

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Category:Towns in Dorset

Category:Civil parishes in Dorset

Category:North Dorset District