Welcome to the Maiden Newton Parish Council Website
The parish of Maiden Newton is situated within the South Wessex chalk downland that lies to the northwest of Dorchester in Dorset. The parish is within the designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and covers the village of Maiden Newton and the outlying hamlets of Crockway, Cruxton and Notton, with a population of around 1200.
The community is fortunate in that a Doctors’ Surgery, Fire Station (Retained) and Veterinary Practice are all located in the centre of the village. The County mobile library visits on a regular basis. The Church, St. Mary’s, offers friendship and spiritual support.
Primary education is provided by the local authority at the Greenford Church of England Primary School. Our secondary school is Beaminster School with free school transport being provided for the 11 - 16 age group.
Toddler Group, Preschool and the Bouncing Beanz After School and Holiday Club are operated by Maiden Newton Childcare Provision which leases the Children’s Centre situated in the grounds of Greenford School.
The community supports two separate communal buildings, the Village Hall and the Youth and Community Centre. Maiden Newton Parish Council owns and administers the Multi-use games area (MUGA), the playing fields and the Play Area. The Parish Council, also, owns and administers over 50 allotments. The Allotment Association provides mini plots, some with raised beds for people with restricted mobility.
There are a variety of retail outlets including The Stores/Post Office, No 64 the Newsagents/Coffee Shop, Amber Hardware, Chalk and Cheese Pub, Petit Canard Restaurant, Riverside Fish and Chip shop and the Garage/Spar shop.
With so many local amenities the village is a service hub for the outlying villages and hamlets. Over the past fifty years the community has seen considerable residential development, most recently the affordable and social housing site of Neil’s View.
The community has developed over time on the lower slopes and valley floor at the confluence of the Hooke and Frome rivers. The A356 from Dorchester to Crewkerne passes through the community and the main Weymouth to Bristol railway line skirts the north-eastern side of the village. Both the road and the railway follow the lower slopes of the Frome Valley. The, now dismantled, former branch line to Bridport swings westward from the station as a cycle route.
Although the setting of the community is dominated by the surrounding valley slopes and uplands, it is the buildings on the lower slopes of the valley within the individual settlements that provides the essence of its character. Constraints on the layout of these buildings and the physical development of the community came from the flood plains of the rivers Hooke and Frome and from the need for farmland. Hence Maiden Newton grew along these roads and tracks and at their intersections. A sinuous form resulted with the Dorchester Road/Church road junction becoming, in medieval times, the market square.
