MANSTON, a parish in the hundred of REDLANE, Sturminster division of the county of DORSET, 6 miles (S.W. by S.) from Shaftesbury, containing 140 inhabitants.

The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of Dorset, and diocese of Bristol, rated in the king's books at £12. 5., and in the patronage of Lord Viscount Bolingbroke. The church, dedicated to St. Nicholas, is very ancient. Thomas Dibben, a divine, orator, and Latin poet, was born here; he died in the Poultry Compter, in 1741, having many years previously become insane.

Volume 3, page 249