Blandford St Mary

This small Parish and suburb lies South of Blandford Forum. The village is on the south bank of the River Stour, immediately opposite the larger town of Blandford Forum. This village was also called Little Blandford. Mentioned in Domesday Book 1086 as Blaneforde. It is thought to have derived from the word Blay a freshwater fish and Ford a crossing place. Blandford St Mary is mentioned in 1291 when a free chapel dedicated to St Michael was here and attached to the Manor House, it contained a Chancel and a small Chapel on the south side. It was rebuilt and enlarged forming part of the Church we see to-day. Built in the Early English Style and dates from the 14th century.

The family of Tregonwell held the Manor in the 17th century and St Marys Church either takes its name from St Marys the Nunnery in Clerkenwell London, whose hands the manor was in, or to distinguish it from Blandford Town. It has been rebuilt with some alterations and is now of Georgian Gothic style, with a small square tower. Thomas Pitt was buried here 1726, the ancestor of two William Pitts the Prime Ministers. This small village lies off the Dorchester to Salisbury road, A354. Blandford St Mary lies in the Hundred of Coombs Ditch and Union of Pimperne, the area covers 1,583 acres. In the 19th century there were Nurseries, a Brewery and a Glove factory. The soil is chalk and loam. In 1861 the population was 409. In a rural community the area is used for agriculture and pasture, sheep being on the higher ground.

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