Henry II granted a charter in 1268 to Martinstown which is also known as Winterborne St Martin, which permitted an annual fair to be held within five days of St Martins Day. This was a leading horse market and amusement fair, and has just been revived but the old favourite of a sheep roast has been replaced with a badger roast in the 1960s, the badger having been snared.

For over a century the bells in the church which is obviously dedicated to St Martin, rang out in 1947 and five new ones were hung as a memorial to those who laid down their lives in the war.

Once a short while back in the 1980s, the villagers protested because the vicarage was built in brick and despite a lot of opposition new housing estates have also been built as well

This is a tiny little place with a stream running between cottages and road and there are around 118 ancient barrow in the surrounding area. And it has been discovered that there were three settlements on the riverside in the parish, with Ashton i the east, Martinstown in the centre and Rew in the west , Rew meant  a row of cottages or a row of trees.