Bourton | |
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Crossroads at Bourton |
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Bourton shown within Dorset | |
Population | 822 |
OS grid reference | ST7630 |
District |
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Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Dialling code | 01747 |
Police | Dorset |
Fire | Dorset and Wiltshire |
Ambulance | South Western |
EU Parliament | South West England |
Bourton is a village and civil parish in north Dorset, England, situated north of the A303 road on the border with Somerset and Wiltshire between Mere and Wincanton. The parish is the most northerly in Dorset and in the 2011 census had a population of 822.Bourton is the most populous village in the electoral ward called Bourton and District. The District extends to Silton then south to Buckhorn Weston and Kington Magna. The total ward population at the abovementioned census was 1,905. The village lies on the River Stour which passes through the historic Bourton Mill, once home to the second largest water wheel in Britain (60 feet (18 m) in diameter) .
The village has two stores, a petrol station and a public house. The White Lion Inn stands on the High Street, which leads off what was the old main London to Exeter road before the village was bypassed to the south in 1992 by the A303. St George’s Church, which stands on one of the highest points in the village, was built via public subscription in 1810 and borders the primary school of the same name.
The point at which the counties of Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire meet beside the lake at the rear of Bourton Mill is marked by Egbert's Stone which once fell into the River Stour, but was rescued and re-erected. In 878 it formed the rallying point for Alfred the Great's troops before the Battle of Ethandun. His grandfather, Egbert of Wessex, was said to have placed the stone there to settle the shire boundaries. Just over the county border is King Alfred's Tower.