John Martin would be horrified to visit this parish today; then it was a large parish of some seventeen hundred acres in the hands of just two landowners [plus the rectorial glebe]. The Earl of Ilchester owned a minority share of some seven hundred and sixty acres. Now it scarred by large areas of quarrying and the neighbouring parish of Warmwell is little better.

There were three centres of habitation Woodsford Castle [spelt with an f as the s], Sturts Wear [now known as Woodsford] and an unnamed hamlet [now named Higher Woodsford]. The three centres are not connected by constructed roads, there is only one of these which enters from Dorchester and ends a short distance inside the parish at Woodsford Castle. The parish was fully inclosed and unusually there is a line running between Sturts Wear and Higher Woodsford. It is not clear what this represents. On the Ancestry map it is coloured beige but is literally a line and does not inclose an area as a road would. It divides several large fields into plots belonging to different owners and has an unusual appearance stepped appearance each step being associated with what appears to be a small top hat – probably a mark stone.

Sturts Wear and Higher Woodsford are connected by a green lane and unusually in an inclosed parish there are several of these running along the edges of various closes. On the modern overlay it can be seen that many of these form the basis of the modern road system.

There are no records in the diaries about the Woodsford commutation.

List of Commutations under the Tithe Commutation Act