Bradford Abbas is built out of gold Liassic limstone which is now starting to deteriorate and show its age. The modern buildings are also have this same soft stone added but they do not have the skills that the craftsmen had when they built the older houses. The village is now a satellite of Sherborne and the name Bradford Abbas came from the land beside a broad ford on the Ivel which was given by Alfred the Great. to Sherborne Abby

The parish church, which is claimed to be one of the finest in the county was built in the 15th century is dedicated to St Mary and has some lovely carved bench ends. It has a mediaeval tower that stands 90ft and looks like a small cathedral and original figures can be seen in two of the eleven niches in the tower.

The pub is the Rose and Crown also built in the 15th century and may have been built as a resting place for monks then as a malt house, and many alterations have been done so much so that it looks more like a 17th century building today.

The two photos above are courtesy of St Mary's CE VC Primary School, Bradford Abbas  photoghrapher:Gary Siggins,

There is a picture that portrays what Dorset life was like in Bradford Abbas and it shows five old men sitting in a line drinking pints of ale. This picture was originally published in a calendar but Sam Ring (92), Thomas Coombs (91), James Higgins (89), George Chainey (89), and Sid Parsons (83)all appeared in a film of the village made by a Newsreel Company back in the 1930's. Their ages totalled 444 years!! Tom Coombs had taken his rope in the church bell ringing team and Sam Ring carried the big banner of the Friendly Society on the days of the village fete!"

Bradford Abbas has a population of around 1,000 and though many of the villages in this part of the country are ribbon villages which means they are spread along the main road, the streets of Bradford Abbas criss-cross each other which that the built up part of the village almost forms a square. The railway runs through the middle of the village and the nearest stations are Sherborne and Yeovil Junction, the latter being in the village of Stoford. Yeovil also has another station Pen Mill which is only a few miles from Bradford Abbas and this lines goes south to Weymouth or north to Bath and Bristol.

On the southern edge of the village is the River Yeo and it forms a boundary for playing fields on one side. There is also a village shop which incorporates a post office and a sports and social club are also here.