Stour Row is a village in north Dorset, England, situated beside Duncliffe Hill southwest of Shaftesbury. It lies within the parish of the neighbouring village of Stour Provost. Stour Row has approximately 150 houses and 300 residents. It has a village hall, which is used for social events. Today it has few other amenities, but it had a petrol station, pub and shop prior to the early 1980s. It has a church, All Saints, which was built in 1867 but which has now closed due to falling congregation numbers.

Ownership of the Duncliffe Wood rested with the Forestry Commission by 1980, who in turn put it up for sale for £120,000 in 1984.  The Woodland Trust launched a campaign to raise funds through a public appeal and the purchase was completed that year.

Many of the houses in Stour Row were built alongside the main routes through the village in a typical "Dorset strip" fashion with long thin gardens running alongside the road.  Most date from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Some of the farms appear to date back far further and many take their names from former owners.

Formerly the village had a pub, The College Arms. It is not certain when the dwelling which housed it became an inn but it may have been around 1829 when Edward Painter, a 'Common Brewer', bought the house.  The property was bought by the brewers Hall and Woodhouse in 1963, but they sold it on to the licensee Robert Martin on condition that it ceased to sell alcohol, and the pub closed.

References

  • Stour Row village community website