Bibliography and Citations on Stoborough
📚 Bibliography — The Liberty and Manor of Stoborough and Related Dorset Studies
Primary and Antiquarian Sources
Hutchins, John. The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset. 1st ed. London: W. Bowyer and J.
Nichols, 1774–1779.
— Reprint, 3rd ed., 4 vols. London: J. B. Nichols and Sons, 1861–1870. Contains early manorial and liberty records
for Wareham, Stowbergh (Stoborough), and adjacent parishes.
“The Domesday Book: Stoborough (Stanberge, Stowbergh).” In Open Domesday Online. Accessed October 2025. https://opendomesday.org/place/SY9286/stoborough/
Provides the earliest survey data (1086 AD) for the manor later known as Stoborough, then part of the demesne of
Robert, Count of Mortain.
Hutchins, John. “Wareham and Stoborough Liberty.” In The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset, Vol. II. London: Nichols, 1774,
260–268.
An in-depth entry describing the liberty’s bounds, officers, and court-leet functions under the Pitt and Rivers
families.
“Charter of Richard III granting the manors of Godmanston, Wareham, and Stoweborough to William
Claxton, Esq., 25 March 1484.” In Patent Rolls of Richard III (1483–1485). London: Public Record Office, 1898.
Regional and Topographical Works
Legg, Rodney. Literary Dorset. Wimborne Minster: Dovecote Press, 1990.
Discusses the cultural landscape of Purbeck, Wareham, and the heaths including Stoborough.
———. Purbeck Revealed: The Story of England’s First National Landscape. Wimborne: Dovecote
Press, 2005.
Covers Purbeck’s landscape heritage, including Stoborough Heath and the River Frome corridor.
Platt, Richard. Smuggling in the British Isles: A History of Contraband, Commerce and Coastal Communities.
London: HarperCollins, 2006.
Includes reference to Purbeck’s foreshore and the Wareham–Stoborough inlet as a smuggling route.
Pevsner, Nikolaus, and John Newman. The Buildings of England: Dorset. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1972.
Contains architectural notes on Wareham and Stoborough parish structures.
Archaeology and Prehistoric Landscape
Lyne, M. A. B. “A Late Iron Age and Romano-British Pottery Production Site at Redcliff, Arne and
Stoborough.” Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 125 (2003):
45–78.
Excavation report linking the Stoborough foreshore to Roman pottery industries of Purbeck.
Lake, Sarah. “The Role of Livestock Grazing in the Conservation of Lowland Heath: Stoborough
Heath, Dorset.” Master’s thesis, University of Southampton, 2002. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/464747/.
Discusses modern environmental management of the ancient heathland, with historical parallels to medieval forest
law.
Oxford Archaeology. An Archaeological and Environmental Assessment of Wareham, Stoborough, and the Frome
Valley. Oxford Archaeology Report L9198_VL. Oxford, 2019. https://eprints.oxfordarchaeology.com/6814/1/L9198_VL_Report_Full.pdf.
A modern survey correlating historic boundaries with ecological mapping and heritage conservation areas.
Palmer, D. A. Bibliography of Roman Purbeck Quarry Industries. Dorchester: Dorset Natural History and
Archaeological Society, 1981.
Includes references to Stoborough and Arne as quarrying and trade sites under Roman and early Saxon
exploitation.
Legal, Manorial, and Liberty Studies
“The Manor and Liberty of Stoborough.” Stoborough.com: Historical Overview of the Liberty and Court Leet. Accessed October 2025.
https://stoborough.com/history.htm.
Summarizes court-leet powers, manorial succession, and geographical extent of the liberty.
“Records of the Manor of Stoborough, 1768–1850.” Dorset History Centre, D-RWR/T/240.
Dorchester, UK.
Collection of title deeds, rent rolls, and correspondence related to Stoborough Farm and liberty
administration.
“Stoborough and Wareham Court Rolls.” Dorset Record Office Catalogue, D-SEN/30/1/1/54.
Dorchester, UK.
Original court and stewardship records under the Scott and Eldon families.
Historical and Cultural Context
Heywood Sumner, George. The Ancient Earthworks of the New Forest, Bournemouth and Purbeck. London: Allen &
Unwin, 1924.
Includes descriptions of barrows and Saxon tumuli around Stoborough Heath and Arne.
Cox, Jo. “Saxon and Viking Settlement in South Dorset: Place-Name Evidence and Archaeological
Correlation.” Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 112 (1990):
53–72.
Harris, Roland. Wareham: Gateway to the Isle of Purbeck. Dorchester: Dorset Books, 1997.
Includes the manorial and civic relationship between Wareham Borough and the opposite Liberty of Stoborough.
Bettey, J. H. Dorset Manors in the Later Middle Ages. Reading: University of Reading Press,
1984.
Discusses Dorset’s manorial economy, including Stoborough’s liberty rights.
Modern Conservation and Heritage
English Nature (Natural England). The Purbeck Heaths National Nature Reserve Management Plan. London: DEFRA,
2020.
Contains environmental history and present stewardship of Stoborough Heath within the NNR framework.
Mentz, George S. The Liberty and Bailiwick of Stoborough: A Historical and Legal Commentary on England’s
Surviving Liberties.
A modern legal and historical synthesis tracing ownership, jurisdictional rights, and heraldic legacy of the
Stoborough liberty.
Digital and Online Repositories
Summary Note
This bibliography collectively spans from Domesday (1086) through modern heritage studies (2020s), integrating archaeological, ecological, manorial, and legal-historical research on the Stoborough area of Dorset — including its
heaths, foreshore, Saxon burial mounds, and liberty governance. It provides a
foundational reference framework for any historical, legal, or conservation analysis of the
Liberty and Manor of Stoborough.
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