Domesday Book of 1086 recorded a settlement with 25 households at
Hame, in
Cranborne Hundred. The other ancient settlements were at Canford and Longham, all three built on gravel terraces on the north bank of the
River Stour. The 1892 Ordnance Survey map shows Hampreston parish. Besides
Hampreston hamlet – with
All Saints, the 14th-century parish church – there are small groups of dwellings at Canford Bottom, Stapehill, Longham and Fern Down. In 1898, Cricket's Cross appears as the label where the road from Wimborne Minster meets the Poole–Ringwood road. In 1913, 944 acres in the west of the parish, including Canford Bottom, were transferred to
Colehill parish. Residential development at Ferndown was distant from the parish church at Hampreston, so
St Mary's church was begun at Ferndown in 1933, as a replacement for smaller buildings in use since the turn of the century; the outbreak of war and lack of funds meant the church would not be completed until 1972. Horticulture contributed to the growth of Ferndown, beginning in 1864 when the Stewart family established a nursery to grow plants in warmer conditions than at their principal site in Scotland. At first their business was concerned with landscaping tennis courts and golf courses; in 1955 they opened at Ferndown one of the first
garden centres in Britain. Around that time Ferndown was "a village with gravel road and a scattering of shops", and much of the present town was built in the subsequent 20–30 years. In 1956, when Ferndown was expanding rapidly, land in the east was transferred from
West Parley to Hampreston. The name of the parish was changed from Hampreston to Ferndown Town on 1 February 1986. Today, Stapehill and Trickett's Cross are identified on maps although they are effectively part of the Ferndown built-up area. Hampreston, Little Canford and Ameysford remain as small settlements on the edges of the parish. ==Transport==