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Shillingstone is a village and civil parish in the Blackmore Vale area of north Dorset, England, situated on the River Stour between Sturminster Newton and Blandford Forum. In the UK census of 2011 the civil parish had 479 households and a population of 1,170. South of Shillingstone is a large area of woodland on Okeford Hill and Shillingstone Hill which forms part of Blandford Forest. Shillingstone features in the Domesday Book of 1086 as a settlement of 46 households, with meadow, woodlands and a mill, under the lordship of Ascelin. Its name is a derivation of Eschelling's (or Ascelin's) town. An agricultural community, it specialised in the production of moss. In the First World War, it earned the title, "the bravest village in Britain", because of the high proportion of residents who volunteered to join the armed forces. In 1924 the Shillingstone lime works was started to extract lime from the chalk beds at Shillingstone Hill. [edit] Research Tips
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