Population
The population at Domesday was 120, in 1811 there were 218 people living in the village and by the time the granary was built in 1856, there were around 257. Currently there are 202 people living in the Parish.
Village History
Sutton Waldron lies on greenstone and on the spring line which runs in a band from Shaftesbury towards Blandford Forum and is one of a string of villages whose early inhabitants farmed this fertile area. Evidence for historical occupation can be seen in prehistoric and Roman pottery finds and ancient field boundaries and markings.
According to Hutchins (History of Dorset) in the Doomsday book the owner of Sudtone was given as Waleran. In Saxon times it was held by a man called Godmund. The manor passed though many hands but in 1645 it was known to belong to Sir Lewis Dyke from whom it passed to Sir Gerald Napier (hence Napiers Way) and then to Gerald Sturt. The Sturts of More Critchell held land in the village at the time the new church was built but by 1915 when an update of the Tithe map was made (can be seen at the Dorset History Centre) the largest landowners were the Trowbridges and Lord Ismay. Farm Records from 1943 show even more diverse ownership with the Trowbridges still owning land around the village (Agricultural Survey 1943).
On two occasions this quiet little village has glimpsed events of national importance. The first was in AD980, when the funeral cortege of Edward the Martyr (murdered two years previously at Corfe Castle) passed through on its way from Wareham to Shaftesbury. The second was in 1645, when Cromwell led his cavalry through Sutton on his march from Shaftesbury to Shroton to attack Hambledon Hill.
St Bartholomews
The church was designed in 1847 by George Alexander. The restored dramatic painted interior is the most important surviving scheme by Owen Jones the pioneer of High Victorian design. The church has minton floor tiles in the chancel and a brilliant east window.