| Affpuddle |
| Affpuddle which is listed in the Domesday Survey as
affapidela and had a manor house that belonged to the Abbot of Cerne,lies
about a mile southeast of Tolpuddle and gets its name from the Saxon Affa
and lies on the River Piddle on the heathland that was part of the great
heath of Thomas Hardy. The Piddle has a few settlements which have
incorporated the river's name but the prudish Victorians did not appreciate
the name Piddle and changed it to Puddle. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries the village became an estate owned by the Lawrence family, and one of their ancestors married the heiress of the Washington family, from another branch of which descended George Washington. The Washington arms were quartered by the Lawrence and can be seen on a Lawrence monument which is on the wall of the chancel of the church. The village later went to the Framptons of Moreton who were involved with the Tolpuddle Martyrs. The 13th church dedicated to St Lawrence, also stands on the banks of the river and has some outstanding pews and pulpit which the then vicar, Thomas Lyllington who was a monk from Cerne Abbas carved in 1548. He had come to Affpuddle at the time of the dissolution and he hated his old friends so much that he decided to carve their likeness into the pulpit as half monk and half fool. The village has some thatched cottages and another puddle lies to the east, this is the little village of Briantspuddle
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