Tarrant Monkton

Tarrant Monkton is a village and civil parish in north Dorset, England, situated in the Tarrant Valley about 4mi ENE of Blandford Forum. Within the parish boundary, sited 1.5 miles over hills to the west, lies the major part of Blandford Camp army base. In the 2011 census the parish—including the army base—had a population of 1,986. The village is centred on the All Saints Parish Church, opposite which is the Langton Arms, a public house and restaurant.HistoryEvidence of prehistoric human activity within the parish includes three round barrows, traces of a possible Iron Age or Romano-British settlement, a 180m long dyke on the SW edge of the army camp and a linear dyke on Luton Down. The barrows previously numbered thirteen; ten others were destroyed after the construction of the army camp in 1914. The Roman road between Badbury Rings and Bath also passed through the parish.In 1086 in the Domesday Book Tarrant Monkton was recorded as Tarente, and by 1280 it was Tarent Moneketon, the latter part of the name – derived from the Old English manne and tan – referring to ownership by the monks of Tewkesbury Abbey. The Domesday entry states that Tarente had 28 households, 8 ploughlands, 35acre of meadow and one mill. It was in Pimperne Hundred and the lord and tenant-in-chief was Cranborne Abbey.