Welcome to the Sturminster Marshall Parish Council’s website. On this website you will find details of all the Parish Council’s meetings as well as our policies and financial information. You will also find links to other community facilities and groups in the parish.
Sturminster Marshall (population 1,969 at the 2011 Census) is 3 miles West of Wimborne Minster and 7 miles NW of Poole in Dorset. The village lies on the right bank of the River Stour where it is joined by the Winterbourne. The outlying settlements of Newton Peveril, Almer and Mapperton are in the Winterbourne valley, whilst Henbury and Stoney Down extend to higher ground on the southern side of the Stour valley.
Two main roads intersect in the parish: the A31 trunk road running East to West and the A350 running North to South.
Although people have lived in and around Sturminster Marshall since Mesolithic times, the core of the present village was established in the twelfth century, when the parish church (St Mary’s) was established. The church in Almer (also St Mary’s) was built at about the same time, as was White Mill Bridge, an important crossing over the Stour and said to be the oldest bridge in Dorset.
In 1101 permission was given to hold a fair in the village and a maypole was erected. A modern replacement is still a major feature on Maypole Green.
For several hundred years, the parish was essentially an agricultural community, but the coming of the railway in 1860 provided the impetus for the opening of a milk factory, which later became the largest cheese factory in Europe. The site of the railway station and the cheese factory is now an industrial estate.
In recent years, we have become much more of a dormitory village but changing work patterns and a wider range of employment opportunities may influence the development of the parish in the