After this long divergence a return must be made to Henstridge, where a walk of less than two miles takes one over the Dorset border to Stalbridge, a sleepy old town that is not troubled by the fact that it has a station on the Somerset and Dorset Railway and that fast expresses from the north roar down the Blackmore Vale to Bournemouth and the sea.  The church will not detain the visitor, for it was rebuilt in 1878.  The old cross on four steps in the centre of High Street, with its rough carvings, is of more interest.  It dates from about 1350.  Above the town on a hillside is the mansion at one time inhabited by Sir James Thornhill, and not far away an obelisk erected by the painter in honour of his patron George II, which used to be known as “Thornhill Spire.”

The Blandford high-road makes a wide loop to the south-west by Lydlynch.  A shorter route following the line of the railway takes us in less than five miles to Sturminster Newton, where the Blackmore Vale ends and the Stour flows in a narrow trough between low hills.

[Illustration:  MARNHULL.]

Sturminster is a small and ancient town on the eastern bank of the Stour.  “Newton” is on the west side of the river and looks as old as its neighbour.  The two are connected by a medieval bridge of six arches.  Sturminster Church was almost entirely rebuilt, except for the tower, nearly a hundred years ago.  Newton Castle was once a stronghold of the Kings of Wessex.  A few scanty remnants of the fortress can still be seen close to the road and river.  A road to the north passes by Hinton St. Mary, with a rebuilt church high up on a breezy hill, and reaches Marnhull, the “Marlott” of Thomas Hardy.  The Early English church has some remains of an early Norman building and some later insertions.  The tower is a landmark for many miles around.  A careful restoration some years ago brought to light several interesting details that had been hidden for some two hundred years or more; including a stairs to the rood-loft, a squint, and the piscina.  The alabaster effigies on a cenotaph are believed to represent Lord Bindon and his wives (about 1450).  The following remarkable epitaph on a former clerk is said to have been written by his rector: 

  HERE UNDER THIS STONE
  LIE RUTH AND OLD JOHN
  WHO SMOKED ALL HIS LIFE
  AND SO DID HIS WIFE: 
  AND NOW THERES NO DOUBT
  BUT THEIR PIPES ARE BOTH OUT
  BE IT SAID WITHOUT JOKE
  THAT LIFE IS BUT SMOKE;
  THOUGH YOU LIVE TO FORESCORE
  TIS A WHIFF AND NO MORE.

A short distance to the north, through the hamlet of Flanders, is the fine sixteenth-century mansion called Nash Court.