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What is Town Twinning

[According to a definition on Wikipedia;

Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.

History of Sturminster Newton

[Source; Wikipedia]

Sturminster Newton is situated at a historic fording point on the Stour. The ford was replaced in the 16th century with a six-arch stone bridge, and a quarter kilometre embankment crossing the flood plain. The bridge was widened from 12 to 18ft in 1820[2]. Such is the importance of this bridge as with others in Dorset, a 19th century plaque affixed to the bridge states that anyone damaging the bridge would be transported to Australia as a felon. On the south bank of the river is the watermill which was restored in 1980 and is now a museum.

Hidden on the hill above the bridge are the ruins of Sturminster Newton Castle, a manor house rather than a defensive building. The 14th century building stands on a crescent shaped mound which could be the site of an Iron Age hill fort [3]. The town and castle were part of Sturminster Newton hundred.

The town was recorded in the Anglo Saxon charter in 968 as Nywetone at Stoure, and in the Domesday Book as Newentone. Newton refers to a new farm or estate, and Sturminster to a church (minster) on the Stour. Originally the two parts of the name referred to the settlements on the north and south of the river, but were combined to distinguish the town from Sturminster Marshall and other Newtons[4].

The town is set in the vale Thomas Hardy based his fictional Vale of the little dairies on, and Sturminster had the largest livestock market in Britain, which stood close to the town centre until it was closed and demolished in 1998.

The town centre is built in a mixture of styles, including 17th and 18th century thatched cottages, Georgian stone buildings, and 19th century brick buildings. Set back from the main road is the market square and parish church, which was rebuilt in 1486 by the abbots of Glastonbury. The church was heavily modified in the 19th century, but the carved wagon roof remains.

From 1863 the Somerset and Dorset Railway ran through the town until 1966 when it was dismantled as part of the Beeching ‘Axe’. The station and goods yard were demolished in the mid 1970s[5].

Why are we twinned?

The purpose of twinning is to allow people to know and understand each other better, and to promote cultural, social and economic exchanges. The county of Dorset is twinned with La Manche, and some seventeen individual towns and villages are twinned. Sturminster Newton is twinned with Montebourg which is situated near the eastern side of the Cotentin Peninsula in the department of La Manche, and is only 40 minutes drive from Cherbourg. Since Sturminster Newton, in the heart of the Blackmore Vale in the county of Dorset, is only 40 minutes from Poole, travel between the two towns is very easy.

The Cotentin Peninsula is a delightfully unspoilt part of Normandy, and the two towns have many similarities. Both lie in undulating and largely pastoral countryside, where dairy farming is traditional and still remains an important occupation.

Our own twinning is supported by the Mayor of Montebourg and the Chairman of Sturminster Newton Town Council, who both signed the original agreement in 1994; the actual organisation of activities rests with volunteers in the two twinning associations.

More information on twinning can be obtained here

A new block of flats in the Old Market Walk housing development in Sturminster Newton has been named Montebourg House, and a commemorative plaque was unveiled jointly by the Mayor of Montebourg and by the Chairman of the Sturminster Newton Town Council in May 2007, during a visit by a delegation from the French Association. To match this, a street in a new housing estate in Montebourg now proudly bears the name of “rue Sturminster Newton”.

photo: D J Cornes

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