West Knighton, Dorset

Mayne Preceptory was a medieval house of Knights Hospitaller in Dorset, England, which caused the name of the settlement to change from Domesday-era Maine (one of two manors named Maine in Cullifordtree Hundred) to Friar Mayne by the mid-14th century. It was located formerly in West Knighton parish, now in modern Broadmayne parish. The preceptory was established between 1290 and 1338. It declined in activity until 1533, where it began leasing its bailiwick to provide stipends for rectories, vicarages and the larger preceptories in other locations. Its lands were forfeited to the crown at the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the early 16th century and were eventually sold. The preceptory also owned a property at Kingston in Stinsford, given to the Hospitallers by Thomas del Boys, sometimes described as the 'camera' of Kingston (camera meaning in this context an estate with no community and farmed out to a tenant). In 1338 it comprised a house (messuagium) and garden, 68 acres of arable land, an acre and a half of meadow, pasture for 6 oxen, 8 cows and 100 sheep, and the church of Stinsford. The preceptory also owned further property at Waye (i.e., somewhere in Upwey or Broadwey).

Broadmayne is a village in the English county of Dorset. It lies two miles south-east of the county town Dorchester. The A352 main road between Dorchester (from Sherborne) and Wareham passes through the village. In the 2001 Census the population of the village was 1,864, reducing to 1,204 at the 2011 Census. There is an electoral ward of the same name whose population at the above census was 1,870. Village facilities and services include a post office, a clinic (closed since 2014) and a public house (The Black Dog). There are two churches in the village, both of which were redesigned by Thomas Hardy, who was an architect before he became a novelist. The parish church of St Martin dates from the 13th century and has a notable south tower.

West Stafford is a village and civil parish in southwest Dorset, England, situated in the Frome valley 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Dorchester. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 291. The village contains the public house '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.

Whitcombe is a small village and civil parish in the Dorset unitary authority area of Dorset, England, situated 2 miles (3.2 km) southeast of Dorchester. Dorset County Council's 2013 mid-year estimate of the population of the parish is 20.Whitcombe village is next to the A352 main road between Broadmayne and Dorchester, between the parishes of West Knighton and Broadmayne to the east, West Stafford to the north, and Winterborne Came to the west. Whitcombe does not form an ecclesiastical parish, although Whitcombe Church has registers dating from 1762. The earlier registers were destroyed in a fire. The church, now redundant, is in a "modest but perfect location" according to Pevsner.In the surrounding area there are a number of prehistoric earthworks. Whitcombe was originally recorded as Widecome, with a land measurement of two hides. King Athelstan gave it to the Milton Abbey. At the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, its ownership passed to the King. Around 1600, it was sold to a Mr Hull from Tolpuddle. Whitcombe Hill is located 0.25 miles (0.40 km) west of the church. A Portland stone relief of a bearded man on horseback, dating from 2nd–3rd century AD, was found here in 1963 and subsequently added to the collection of the Dorset County Museum in Dorchester. There are a Grade II listed manor house, riding stables and a tithe barn at Whitcombe.

Whitcombe Church in Whitcombe, Dorset, England was built in the 12th century. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is now a redundant church in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. It was declared redundant on 29 October 1971, and was vested in the Trust on 12 February 1973.The site of the church was used for worship in the Saxon era and there are fragments of two Saxon crosses. The nave of Whitcombe Church dates from the 12th century, with the chancel being added in the 15th. The tower was added in the late 16th century.The interior includes several wall paintings, including one of St Christopher, and a 13th-century Purbeck marble font.William Barnes the English writer, poet, minister, and philologist was the curate at Whitcombe from 1847 to 1852, and again from 1862 preaching his first and last sermons in the church. He wrote over 800 poems, some in Dorset dialect and much other work including a comprehensive English grammar quoting from more than 70 different languages.

Frome Billet is a former village in Dorset, just to the north of West Stafford.It is mentioned in the Domesday Book. There is slight archaeological evidence of a mediaeval settlement. It is now represented only by Stafford House.

Poxwell (; sometimes written Pokeswell) is a hamlet and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southwest England. It is located 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Weymouth. The current population of the parish is around 50.

St John's Church was a Church of England church in Poxwell, Dorset, England. It was built in 1867–68 as a replacement to an earlier church and was demolished in 1969.

Old Came Rectory is a former rectory on the A352 road in Winterborne Came, Dorset, England. It was built in the 19th century for the Reverend William England in a rustic cottage orné style from a plan by the architect John Nash. It is a two-storey building with a thatched roof and walls of cob and rendered rubble. It was subsequently the home of William Barnes, who became the rector in 1862 and lived there until he died in 1886. Thomas Hardy visited him there many times, and other literary tenants and guests have included Tennyson, Coventry Patmore, Edmund Gosse, Francis Palgrave, Siegfried Sassoon, Edmund Blunden and T. E. Lawrence.The building was listed for protection as Grade II in 1956. Features include three thatched verandas, french windows and a large garden which contains an orchard and well.

Royal Air Force Warmwell or more simply RAF Warmwell is a former Royal Air Force station near Warmwell in Dorset, England from 1937 to 1946, located about 5 miles east-southeast of Dorchester; 100 miles southwest of London. During the Second World War it was used by the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces Ninth Air Force.

Winterborne Came is a small dispersed settlement and civil parish in the county of Dorset in England, situated in the west of the county, approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) south-east of the county town Dorchester. Dorset County Council's 2013 mid-year estimate of the parish population was 40.Winterborne Came derives its name from the seasonal stream ('winterborne') by which it is sited, and from the town of Caen in France, as it was once owned by the Abbey of St. Stephen there. The parish consists of Came House, built in 1754 in the Palladian style, the nearby Perpendicular St. Peter's Church, a couple of farms, and an old rectory on the Dorchester to Wareham road, where for 25 years the Dorset dialect poet William Barnes lived when he was the incumbent rector. Barnes died in the rectory and is buried in the churchyard. About 100 metres west of the church is the site of the deserted village of Winterborne Farringdon, which has been depopulated since at least the 18th century.

Mount Pleasant henge is a Neolithic henge enclosure in the English county of Dorset. It lies southeast of Dorchester in the civil parish of West Stafford. It still partially survives as an earthwork.