What is "silton"

Silton is a small village and civil parish in north Dorset, England, situated in the Blackmore Vale northwest of Gillingham. In the 2011 census the civil parish had 57 households and a population of 123.

In 1086 Silton was recorded in the Domesday Book as Seltone; it had 16 households, 11.5 ploughlands, of meadow and 4 mills. It was in the hundred of Gillingham and the tenant-in-chief was William of Falaise. This original settlement was near the church, on a low ridge between the River Stour and a minor tributary to the southwest.

Silton was for many years the country residence of Sir Hugh Wyndham (1602-1684), whose memorial by the sculptor Jan van Nost is in the parish church of St Nicholas.