| Sturminster Marshall | ||
There is an avenue of trees at Bradbury Rings which
lead the walker to the mediaeval bridge over the Stour to Sturminster
Marshall, the bridge consists of eight arches and if you turn into the
village there is a line of old cottages that were destroyed by a fire in
the 1970s but have now been rebuilt in the same style as they were
originally.
A more serious fire occurred in the 18th century when a surgeon called John Truelove decided to move from the hectic life in London to retire to this peace corner of Dorset. A wealthy man and he enjoyed a high lifestyle which eventually swallowed his entire fortune, He was waiting for a called from the Sheriff's Officer in 1724 and decided to set fire to the house and filled it with bracken and furze and set light to it when people stopped to look he then rushed upstairs opened a window and shot himself. Sturminster Marshall lies on the Stour and is four miles west of Wimborne and the name means a 'large church on the river Stour' and it used to be a 'Royal Peculiar' parish which had certain rights. The first church was built in the 12th century and had changes made to it i the 13th and 14th centuries and until 1802 when the tower collapsed there was little work don on it. The tower was rebuilt and more restoration work was carried on during 1859-60.
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