Tarrant Crawford

Tarrant Crawford
Wayside Cross, Tarrant Crawford
Tarrant Crawford  Tarrant Crawford shown within Dorset
Population	20
OS grid reference	ST925035
District	North Dorset
Shire county	Dorset
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BLANDFORD FORUM
Postcode district	DT11
Police	Dorset
Fire	Dorset
Ambulance	South Western
EU Parliament	South West England
UK Parliament	North Dorset
List of places UK England Dorset

Coordinates: 50°49′50″N 2°06′42″W / 50.8305°N 2.1117°W / 50.8305; -2.1117

Tarrant Crawford is a small village and civil parish at the end of the Tarrant Valley in Dorset, England. The River Tarrant joins the larger River Stour here. The village consists of two small settlements: Crawford Farm and a few houses in the Stour Valley, and Tarrant Abbey Farm, a church, and a few houses in the Tarrant Valley about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) to the north. Locals regard the two settlements as separate villages. In 2013 the estimated population of the civil parish was 20.^[1]

At the Crawford settlement there is a wayside cross which has an inscription which reads:

"THIS WAYSIDE CROSS WAS RESTORED & SET ON NEW STEPS ON THE OLD SITE BY MANY FRIENDS OF TARRANT CRAWFORD ANNO DOM MDCCCCXIV"

Tarrant Abbey Farm was in medieval times the site of Tarrant Abbey, founded in the 12th century by Ralph de Kahaines (of nearby Tarrant Keyneston) as a Cistercian nunnery, later supposedly the richest in England.

Thirteenth-century murals in the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin

Two famous people are associated with the abbey: Queen Joan, the wife of Alexander II of Scotland and daughter of King John of England (Richard I's brother and successor), is buried in the graveyard (supposedly in a golden coffin), and Bishop Richard Poore, builder of Salisbury Cathedral, who was baptised in the abbey church and later (in 1237) buried in the abbey, which he founded. He was at one time Dean of the old cathedral at Old Sarum, and later became bishop of first Chichester, then Salisbury and finally Durham.

The 1881 census says - No. of households/schedules 11, Uninhabited houses 0, Males 31, Females 30, Total 61

St Mary's church

Saint Mary's Church, near Tarrant Abbey Farm, is known for its 13th- and 14th-century wall paintings, many of which are in a remarkable state of preservation.

Notes

References

• Miller, Alan. Monasteries of Dorset. Albemarle Books 1999. ISBN 0-9535263-0-5

External links

Media related to Tarrant Crawford at Wikimedia Commons

• Personal interest site with information about Tarrant Crawford
• Photographs and Information on St Mary's Church etc. from Strolling Guides

Towns, villages and hamlets in the North Dorset district of Dorset, England Anderson Ansty Ashmore Bagber Belchalwell Blandford Forum Bourton Bryanston Buckhorn Weston Cann Charlton Marshall Chettle Child Okeford Compton Abbas Durweston East Orchard East Stour Farnham Fifehead Magdalen Fifehead Neville Fontmell Magna Gillingham Glanvilles Wootton Hammoon Hazelbury Bryan Hilton Hinton St Mary Ibberton Iwerne Courtney Iwerne Minster Kington Magna Langton Long Blandford Lydlinch Manston Mappowder Margaret Marsh Marnhull Melbury Abbas Milborne St Andrew Milton Abbas Motcombe Okeford Fitzpaine Pimperne Pulham Shaftesbury Shillingstone Silton Spetisbury Stalbridge Stoke Wake Stourpaine Stour Provost Stour Row Stourton Caundle Sturminster Newton Sutton Waldron Tarrant Crawford Tarrant Gunville Tarrant Hinton Tarrant Keyneston Tarrant Launceston Tarrant Monkton Tarrant Rawston Tarrant Rushton Todber Turnworth West Orchard West Stour Winterborne Clenston Winterborne Houghton Winterborne Kingston Winterborne Stickland Winterborne Whitechurch Winterborne Zelston Woolland