Stanton Prior is a small village, within the civil parish of Marksbury, set in Duchy of Cornwall countryside, 6 miles (9.7 km) south west from the UK city of Bath, Somerset.
Stanton Prior derives its name from the Old English 'Stantona' (meaning Stone Town) and is reputed to be one of the smallest villages in Somerset, consisting of two farms, 21 houses and the Church of St Lawrence, which has its origins in the 12th century but is mainly 15th century and underwent heavy restoration in 1860. The church has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building.
The village was the property of Saxon Kings who gave it to Bath Abbey before the Norman Conquest and it was help by the Prior until the dissolution of the monasteries. It was then granted to Thomas Horner, who sold it to General Erington in 1544. The parish of Stanton Prior was part of the Keynsham Hundred,
Close by, on Stantonbury Hill, are the remains of an Iron Age hill fort known as Stantonbury Camp, which lies on the line of Wansdyke.
The village is one of Somerset's eight Thankful Villages (from a total of 32 villages in England), in which all the men who served in World War I came home. The other seven were Aisholt, Chantry, Chelwood, Rodney Stoke, Stocklinch, Tellisford and Woolley.
Church Farm in Stanton Prior is farmed organically, using crop rotation, and was awarded the 2005 Silver certificate in the Habitat Award Scheme run by the Duchy of Cornwall. The lack of herbicides has allowed considerable plant diversity with a range of Countryside Stewardship options. A target is to establish a covey of grey partridge on the farm.
Famous quotes containing the words stanton and/or prior:
“We seem to be pariahs alike in the visible and the invisible world, with no foothold anywhere, though by every principle of government and religion we should have an equal place on this planet.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)
“They never taste who always drink;
They always talk who never think.”
—Matthew Prior (1664–1721)