The present population is 22 Adults and 10 children and must have one of the smallest Electoral Rolls in the country with 15….The main landowners of today were first mentioned as a family in 1850. Since 1645, much of the parish was owned by the Portman family.

Tarrant Crawford has a strong mediaeval history.The early settlement (untraceable today) is likely to have been near the parish church, dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, in the North of the parish. The present village, half a mile to the South, includes part of a late mediaeval wayside Cross as well as evidence of deserted house sites and closes.The square stone plinth and the lower part of the stone shaft of the Cross are 15thC. The upper part of the shaft and the 2 stepsat the base are modern with an inscription which relates: " Restored and set on new steps at the old site by many friends of Tarrant Crawford AD 1914". The distance between Church and village suggests intentional removal at some time, perhaps in connection with the development of the Mediaeval Abbey or with the disposal of its property at the Dissolution of the Monasteries after 1536.

Tarrant Crawford is best known as the site (in the area of the Church) of one of the wealthiest Cistercian nunneries in England. It originated as a small community of nuns founded in the reign of Richard I by the de Kahaines family who came over with William the Conqueror over 100 years before. This nunnery was re-founded in 1230 by Bishop Poore, who was baptised here. He was the guiding force behind the construction of Salisbury Cathedral. By 1233, the convent, having been placed under the protection of Queen Eleanor by Bishop Poore,had become a Cistercian Abbey with powerful and influential connections. It was even more intimately connected with another Royal lady, Joan, Queen of Alexander 11 King of Scotland. She was sister to Henry 111 and the first lay Abbess. Both Bishop Poore and Queen Joan were buried at the Abbey in 1237 and 1238 respectively. The two coffin slabs to be seen in the Church, within the Altar rails, have been assigned conjecturally to them.

It is thought that in 1343, during an invasion by the King's enemies, certain of the buildings were burnt. The Abbey was swiftly demolished when Henry V111 dissolved it in 1539. Today, a few green mounds SW of Crawford Church, together with the buttresses and fragmentary stonework of the ancient barn, are all that remains of the blessed resting place of a Queen.

The 13thC Crawford Church with Norman fragments which was probably part of Bishop Richard Poore's reconstruction, was restored in 1911. At that time, some of the wonderful wall paintings dating from the late 13thC, were partly exposed. The Church was vested in the Redundant Churches Fund in 1988 but still holds services in the Summer months.