Stafford, West

STAFFORD, WEST, a parish, in the union of Dorchester, hundred of Culliford-Tree, Dorchester division of the county of Dorset, 2½ miles (S. E. by E.) from Dorchester; containing 212 inhabitants. It is situated on the southern branch of the river Frome. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £10. 8. 1½., and in the patronage of John Floyer, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for £265, and the glebe comprises 39 acres. The church, according to a date over the porch, seems to have been rebuilt in 1640. Frome-Billet, in the parish, was once a parish of itself, but the church having been destroyed, and the place becoming almost depopulated, the living was united, about the middle of the 15th century, to that of West Stafford. It contains an ancient mansion, which formerly belonged to the family of Gould, now the property of Mr. Floyer.