Iwerne Courtney

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox UK place Iwerne Courtney (Template:IPAc-en), also known as Shroton, is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. It lies approximately Template:Convert north-west of Blandford Forum. It is sited by the small River Iwerne between Hambledon Hill to the south-west and the hills of Cranborne Chase to the east. In 2001 the parish had 187 households and a population of 400.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2013 the estimated population of the parish was 410.<ref name=dcc/>

Toponymy

The names Iwerne Courtney and Shroton both have long histories. Iwerne (Template:IPAc-en) is a Celtic rivername that perhaps refers to a goddess or may mean "yew-river".<ref name=Mills>Template:Cite book</ref> The village was recorded as Ywern in 877 AD,<ref name=Mills/> and in 1086 in the Domesday Book it was Werne.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The addition of Courtney is a result of land by the Iwerne stream being owned in the 13th century by the Courtenay family, the Earls of Devon.<ref name=Mills/><ref name=Gant/>

The name Shroton derives from the Old English scīr-rēfa and tūn, meaning "sheriff's estate"<ref name=Mills/> or "sheriff's town",<ref name=NDDC>North Dorset District Council, Official District Guide, Home Publishing Co. Ltd., c.1983, p36</ref> and its use is due to the lord and tenant-in-chief at the time of Domesday being Baldwin of Exeter, the sheriff of Devon.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=domesdaymap>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1403 the name was recorded as Shyrevton.<ref name=Mills/>

The name Shroton is preferred locally; in his 1980 book Dorset Villages, Roland Gant stated that "I have heard only visitors to Dorset call it Iwerne Courtney".<ref name=Gant/>

History

At the time of the Domesday Book, Iwerne Courtney had 17 households and was in the hundred of Gillingham. It had 2 mills, Template:Convert of meadow, 8 ploughlands, and its value to the lord of the manor was £10.<ref name=domesdaymap/>

In 1261 the village received a grant from Henry the Third, enabling it to hold two annual fairs and a weekly market.<ref name=NDDC/> The autumn "Shroton Fair" used to be "one of the main Dorset events of the year".<ref name=Gant>Template:Cite book</ref> It is mentioned in Owen's book of fairs (1788), under the name Shroton. In 1965 Dorset-born broadcaster Ralph Wightman wrote of the fair that "For many years time was dated in this part of Dorset by Shroton Fair. Old men recalled events by the number of months they had happened before or after this event."<ref name=Wightman>Template:Cite book</ref> However the fair has now "vanished without a trace".<ref name=Wightman/>

The civil parish of the village was formed by the joining of three settlements: Iwerne Courtney in the centre, Farrington to the northwest and Ranston immediately east of the river. Each settlement had its own open field system. Farrington now consists of a few farms, and at Ranston only the manor house remains.<ref name=inventory>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=map>Ordnance Survey (2013). 1:25,000 Explorer Map, Sheet 118 (Shaftesbury & Cranborne Chase). Template:ISBN</ref>

Governance

The parish of Iwerne Courtney or Shroton is within the Dorset Council ward of Beacon and the parliamentary constituency of North Dorset. The MP since 2015 is Simon Hoare of the Conservative Party.

Geography

Iwerne Courtney civil parish covers nearly Template:Convert in an L-shaped area on either side of the River Iwerne. To the east it extends over the chalk hills of Cranborne Chase, reaching an elevation of over Template:Convert. To the west it extends north-west over greensand, gault and Kimmeridge clay at an altitude of about Template:Convert, although in the south-west it rises to over Template:Convert on the slopes of Hambledon Hill, an outlier of the chalk.<ref name=inventory/><ref name=map/>