STAFFORD (WEST), a parish in the hundred of
CULLIFORD-TREE, Dorchester division of the county of
DORSET, 2 miles (S.E. by E.) from Dorchester, containing
184 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, with
that of Frome-Billet united, in the archdeaconry of Dorset/
and diocese of Bristol, rated in the king's books
at £10. 8. 1. Mrs. Elizabeth Floyer jwas patroness
in 1830. The church, by the date 1640 over the porch,
seems to have been rebuilt in that year. At Bingham
Court are the remains of a free chapel, which has been
long desecrated. Frome-Billet was formerly a parish
but the church having been destroyed, and the parish'
becoming almost depopulated, the living was united
about the middle of the fifteenth century, to that of
West Stafford.