Stanton St Gabriel
Stanton St Gabriel was a village in western Dorset, whose name is preserved as that of the parish in which it stood. The site of the village is midway between the towns of Lyme Regis and Bridport, on the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. Within the parish is the highest cliff on the south coast of Britain, Golden Cap. In 2013 the estimated population of the parish was 110. The population in 1921 was 54.[1]
In the Domesday Book of 1086, Stanton St Gabriel appears as "Stantone", a derivation from Old English meaning "farm on stoney ground".[2]
- Location map: 50°43’42"N, 2°51’0"W
- Streetmap: SY401924
Decline and loss
The old settlement had become virtually deserted by the 18th century; the inhabitants had moved either a short distance inland, where the new Dorchester to Exeter turnpike road had been rerouted, or to Bridport, where work was available in its ropeworks.[2]
In 1856 the philanthropist Charlotte Julia Weale of Whitchurch Canonicorum donated £200 to the parish church so that it could build be restored and have an extension. She was buried in the churchyard here in 1918 leaving money to build an Anglican church for the poor in Whitchurch.[3]
Writing in 1906, Sir Frederick Treves described Stanton St Gabriel as "a village which was lost and forgotten centuries ago." He stated that all that remained of the settlement was "an ancient farmhouse, in a state of musty decay, and a cottage. Close to the farm and encumbered with its litter are the ruins of the village church."[4]
Outside links
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References
- ↑ Kelly's 1931 Directory of Dorset
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Stanton St Gabriel with Morecombelake". Dorset OPC Project. 2013. http://www.opcdorset.org/StantonStGabrielFiles/StantonStGabriel.htm. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- ↑ Weale, Charlotte Julia (1829–1918), religious philanthropist Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- ↑ Treves, Sir Frederick: 'Highways & Byways in Dorset' (Macmillan and Co., 1906) page 262