RAF Warmwell

Warmwell is a small village and civil parish in south west Dorset, England, situated on the B3390 road about 5 miles (8.0 km) southeast of Dorchester. In 2013 the estimated population of the parish was 80.Warmwell contains several historic buildings, including a Jacobean manor house, and from May 1937 was the home of RAF Station Woodsford airfield (later renamed RAF Warmwell), which is now a popular holiday site and contains a caravan park and several other small businesses.

Crossways is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. It lies 6 miles (9.7 km) east of the county town Dorchester. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 2,267.In the early 1930s Crossways was a hamlet of scattered bungalows and cottages. At that time the Air Ministry acquired local heath and farmland to build an airfield. This airfield was completed in 1937 and was known briefly as RAF Woodsford, although it was renamed RAF Warmwell a year later. RAF Warmwell played an important part in World War II, being a major fighter station during the Battle of Britain, and offering fighter protection for Portland Naval Base and other important south coast areas. The village has been used for filming on many occasions. During the following years, the runways and operational areas disappeared as a result of the extraction of valuable sand and gravel by mineral companies, however the influence of the airfield can still be seen today. The village hall used to have a multi-functional role, being used by the airmen for recreational use - cinema, gymnasium and NAAFI - but also was used on occasions as a morgue. It is in use constantly to this day. Much of the present village of Crossways is built on the eastern part of the former airfield site. In the early 1970s the local government authority for the area decided to build blocks of flats, houses and bungalows at Crossways to provide much-needed accommodation for displaced families in the area, and to fulfill a growing need for housing at the time. This resulted in a very rapid expansion in the size of the community. There is a thriving business park nearby and a new school opened in September 2006.

Woodsford is a village and civil parish beside the River Frome, Dorset, England, about 4 miles (6.4 km) east of the county town Dorchester. Dorset County Council's 2013 mid-year estimate of the parish population is 80.

Moreton railway station serves the villages of Moreton and Crossways in Dorset, England. It is operated by South Western Railway and is served by their trains between London Waterloo and Weymouth. The station is 130 miles 24 chains (209.7 km) down the line from Waterloo.

Owermoigne ( OH-ər-MOYN) is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England, situated 6 miles (9.7 km) south-east of Dorchester. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 467. The parish is within an electoral ward with the same name, which stretches from the east side of the small coastal village of Ringstead north towards Owermoigne and then up to, but not including, Crossways. To the east it covers White Nothe, Holworth and Galton. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 3,804.The parish was formerly part of the hundred of Winfrith, and subsequently constituted a liberty by itself. Owermoigne village is described as Nether Moynton in the fictional Wessex of Thomas Hardy's novels and his short story The Distracted Preacher in Wessex Tales takes place in the village. At Holworth is a small wooden church dedicated to St Catherine-by-the-Sea above Burning Cliff.

Tincleton is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England. It is situated near the River Frome, approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) east of the county town Dorchester. The name of the village comes from the Old English "Tin la Ton", or "farm in a valley". In 2001 Tincleton had a population of 142. Dorset County Council's latest (2013) estimate of the parish population is 150.The parish manor house, Clyffe House, was rebuilt in the Tudor style in 1842 by Benjamin Ferrey. In 1849 the parish church, which is dedicated to St John the Evangelist, was also built by Ferrey, in a 13th-century style. It replaced an earlier church to the south which was demolished when Ferrey's building was finished. Ferrey also designed a school, which was also built in the 1840s. This is now called The Old School House and contains Tincleton Gallery, which has information about the historical setting and the schoolchildren, with photos dating back to 1913.The artist Simon Gudgeon operates a sculpture park, "Sculpture by the Lakes", nearby.

West Knighton is a village and civil parish in Dorset, England, situated 3 miles (4.8 km) southeast of the county town Dorchester. It has an 11th-century church and a village pub. In the 2011 census the civil parish had a population of 375.The village name derives from the Old English cniht and tūn, meaning the village or farmstead of the young men or retainers. At Little Mayne Farm 0.5 miles (0.80 km) southwest of the village is the site of a deserted medieval village, which was recorded in the Domesday Book as Maine and in 1201 was known as Parva Maene.West Knighton parish historically developed out of the amalgamation of four medieval settlements within the ancient hundred of Cullifordtree: the existing main village, the previously mentioned Parva Maene, another medieval settlement at Friarmayne to the south—also deserted and now within neighbouring Broadmayne civil parish—and the fourth at Lewell to the north (now just a farmhouse).

St John's Church is a Church of England church in Tincleton, Dorset, England. It was designed by Benjamin Ferrey and built in 1849–50. The church has been a Grade II listed building since 1956.

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.

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).

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.

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.