Puddletown
| Puddletown | |
|---|---|
.JPG) Puddletown |
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 Puddletown
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| Puddletown shown within Dorset | |
| Population | 1,450 |
| OS grid reference | SY758943 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Puddletown |
| Postcode district | DT2 |
| Dialling code | 01305 |
| Police | Dorset |
| Fire | Dorset and Wiltshire |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| EU Parliament | South West England |
| UK Parliament | |
Puddletown is a village and associated civil parish in the West Dorset district of Dorset, England. The village is situated about 4.5 miles (7 km) northeast of the county town Dorchester and is sited by the River Piddle, from which it derives its name. Its civil parish covers 7,185 acres (2,908 ha) and extends to the neighbouring River Frome to the south. In 2013 the estimated population of the civil parish was 1,450.
Puddletown's parish church has significant architectural interest, particularly its furnishings and monuments. It has a 12th-century font and well-preserved woodwork, including 17th-century box pews.
Puddletown used to be known as Piddletown, but it was changed for reasons of social decorum. The timing of this change is uncertain but it probably began during the 19th century, though it wasn't officially sanctioned until the late 1950s.
Puddletown provided the inspiration for the fictional settlement of Weatherbury in Thomas Hardy's novel Far from the Madding Crowd. Weatherbury Farm, the home of principal character Bathsheba Everdene, is based on a manor house within the parish.
The name Puddletown means 'farmstead on the River Piddle'. It derives from the Old English pidele, a river-name meaning fen or marsh, and tūn, meaning farmstead. In the Domesday Book of 1086 it was recorded as Pitretone, and in 1212 it was Pideleton.
Several settlements along the River Piddle derive their name from it, and previously they all were spelled like the river. However, whereas in the upper reaches of the river the settlement names—such as Piddletrenthide and Piddlehinton—retain the piddle spelling, downstream from Puddletown they now change to puddle. One explanation given for this change is that Major-General Charles William Thompson, who lived at what was Ilsington Lodge after returning from the Great War, pushed through the name change because 'piddle' had a particular meaning in army circles. However, the alternative name was clearly in use before this: writing in 1906 in Highways & Byways in Dorset, Sir Frederick Treves referred only to Puddletown, calling it "the Town on the River Puddle" and a "curiously named place". The broadcaster and writer Ralph Wightman (1901–71), a native of the Piddle Valley and one-time Puddletown resident, believed the change was due to Victorian "refinement", as he recalled that in his youth elderly aunts referred to Piddletrenthide as just "Trenthide". Although in 1946 the voters lists still referred to Piddletown, the 'refined' name of Puddletown was officially preserved in the late 1950s, when, according to Wightman, "a long County Council debate solemnly decided Piddletown should be Puddletown".
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