STOWER-PROVOST, a parish and liberty in the
Sturminster division of the county of DORSET, 4 miles
(W. by S.) from Shaftesbury, containing 800 inhabitants.
The living is a rectory, to which that of Todbere
was annexed in 1746, in the archdeaconry of Dorset,
and diocese of Bristol, rated in the king's books at
£16. 4. gi., and in the patronage of the Provost and
Fellows of King's College, Cambridge. The church is
dedicated to St. Michael. In the reign of William the
Conqueror, a cell to the nunnery of St. Leger de Pratellis,
or Preaux, in Normandy, was founded here, which
at the suppression was granted to Eton College, >
then to King's College, Cambridge. Rebecca Stonstreet,
in 1785, bequeathed a small annuity for teaching poor
children.