Iwerne Courtney

Also known locally as Shroton
includes Farrington and Ranston

Iwerne Courtney known locally as Shroton is situated in a valley just off the Blandford to Shaftesbury road. It is first mentioned in the Domesday book as just 'Werne' by the mid 13th Century the Courtney affix had appeared though spelt Curtney as that time. The Courtenay family, Earls of Devon held the Manor from the early 13th Century. The other, locally used name of Shroton derives from the Old English scir-refa & tun meaning 'the sheriff's estate', at the time of Domesday the manor belonged to Baldwin of Exeter, sheriff of Devon. The name Shroton is preferred locally; in his 1980 book Dorset Villages, Roland Gant stated that "I have heard only visitors to Dorset call it Iwerne Courtney".

At the time of the Domesday Book, Iwerne Courtney had 17 households and was in the hundred of Gillingham. It had 2 mills, 30 acres (12 ha) of meadow, 8 ploughlands, and its value to the lord of the manor was £10. In 1261 the village received a grant from Henry the Third, enabling it to hold two annual fairs and a weekly market. The autumn "Shroton Fair" used to be "one of the main Dorset events of the year"

The parish originally consisted three settlements: Iwerne Courtney in the centre, Farrington to the northwest and Ranston immediately east of the river. Each settlement had its own open field system. Farrington now consists of a few farms, and at Ranston only the manor house remains.

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