Tarrant Rushton parish covers 2073 acres and is the largest of the South Tarrants. It is on the Eastern side of the Tarrant Valley and is all on chalk. The maximum altitude is 310 feet.

The alignment of the Roman Road from Badbury Rings to Bath crosses the parish. According to Hutchins "History of Dorset" the parish is not distinguished in the Domesday book from the other Tarrants and its name is taken from the river and from ancient owners called Russeaux. However, a local publication, "Ten thousand years of life in and around the Tarrant Valley" identifies it as the Tarrant owned before 1066 by two thanes and post 1066 by Hugh, son of Grip held from the Queen. Its description reads:"It paid tax for 3 hides and 1 virgate of land. Land for 3 ploughs, of which 2 hides and 3 virgates of land are in lordship; 1 plough there, 4 slaves; 2 villagers and 4 smallholders (have) ½ hide. A mill which pays 4s; meadow, 13 acres; pasture 4 furlongs long and as wide. 15 pigs; 60 sheep. The value was £4; now £3." The parish contains two mediaeval settlements: Preston Farm in the South, which was formerly a part of Tarrant Crawford and the present village of Tarrant Rushton. In the Domesday book, Preston, like Tarrant's Crawford and Keynston, was listed as being held by the Bishop of Lisieux after 1066, before, it was held by Edward the clerk. Its description reads: "It paid tax for 1 hide, Land for 1 plough. Meadow, ½ acre; pasture 4 furlongs long and as wide. The value was and is 20s." The manor of 'Tarrant Preston' appears to have been given to Shaftesbury Abbey in which it remained until the Dissolution of the Monasteries. It was subsequently owned by William Morton Pitt of Kingston Marwood, in 1799 it was sold to WSE Drax Esq. In the 1300's the lordship of Tarrant Rushton lay with the Clare family. The patronage always belonged to the lords of the manor until about 1600 when it seems to have been alienated to several private persons and belonged to the Laurences, rectors in the late part of the 18th Century. In 1869, Sir William Smith-Marriott was the Patron.

The village which is small, lies 2 miles north-east of Tarrant Keynston. It is a peaceful village which is reached by crossing the River Tarrant over a narrow bridge at the northern end and by a ford in the south. The bridge is constructed of brick and ashlar with a single segmental arch and dated as late 18th or early 19th Century.

The village houses tend to follow the line of the river with few cottages earlier than the eighteenth century. This scarcity is explained by a note in the 1664 Hearth Tax Return "this tithing the dwelling houses were burnt down and not yet rebuilt". The most modern buildings are the Old Rectory built in the late 1950's to house the rector of Keynston and Rushton, (in 1852, the contiguous parishes of Rushton and Rawston were united in to one benefice for ecclesiastical purposes only.) and two small blocks of flats. The latter are unusual in such a village. They were built to accommodate retired residents at a time when many villagers were involved in agriculture, so that rural people would not be obliged to move to the town in their retirement years. The Rectory was sold in the early 1980's when the whole valley came under one incumbent who lived in the modern Rectory at Tarrant Hinton. There is a former school with house near the Church.

Buildings worthy of note by the RCHMS 1972 include an Old Rectory now renamed, which is early 18th Century with several 19th century additions. Rushton Mill, a water driven corn mill which dated from the 1800's and remained in use until the 1920's. Several cottages are mentioned of the 17th 18th and 19th Century. Also, Preston farm which is late 18th Century with front rooms added in the early 19th century.

Whilst the number of dwellings in Tarrant Rushton has altered little since 1801 the population has decreased. Returns to Parliament in 1801 show that the Parish contained 36 inhabited houses occupied by 47 families, 90 males and 90 females, a total of 180 people of whom 163 were employed in agriculture and 14 in trade manufactures and handicraft. In 1851 there were 38 houses and a population of 196, in 1861, 41 houses and 173 people. The census for 1891 shows 177 persons. The electoral roll for December 2002 showed 44 properties and 85 electors.

TheParish Church of St Mary's is located in a truly peaceful setting to the North of the village. It is cruciform in shape with the arms of the cross of almost equal lengths. The Nave and Chancel Arch are early 12th century. It was extended Westwards later in the 12th Century and the Chancel rebuilt. During the first half of the 14th Century, the North and South Transepts were added and a small West tower erected over the Western extension of the nave. The South porch was added in the 15th Century and the North vestry is modern. This delightful Church, which, as an active Parish church is well maintained both inside and out, attracts many visitors. Popular local tradition has it that a leper hospital, St Leonard's hospital, was sited to the North West of the Church and the 13th Century lancet window in the West wall was said to be a "lepers window" through which a portion of the Altar could be seen through the "lepers squint", situated on the south side of the chancel. Those afflicted by the disease could watch the service without being in contact with other worshippers. The gouge marks in the Sandstone around the window are said to have been made by the hands of those watching the service outside. However, the existence of the hospital was questioned because the moat in the floodplain of the Tarrant to the NW of the church, previously thought to represent the mediaeval chapel of St. Leonard, was subsequently thought to have most probably surrounded Tarrant Rushton Manor House.

In the words of a life long resident, Tarrant Rushton "stole the limelight" from the other Tarrants because some of its farmland became the site of a wartime airfield. Construction of the airfield began in September 1942 with the demolition of the 18th Century Crook Farm. At 300 feet, the natural tabletop was perfect for a glider airfield which opened in May 1943 with 3 main runways and became home to about 3000 men and women.

It played a major part in the Normandy landings of 1944, the first troops landed having been flown out of Rushton Airfield. An important role too at Arnhem and the 1945 push across the Rhine into Germany. Tarrant Rushton's aircrews dropped secret agents into Europe, supplies and arms to the Resistance and SAS troops behind German Lines.

Post war, it became home to Sir Alan Cobham's Flight Refuelling which carried out important international Aviation Research - a method of inflight refuelling developed by FR, enabled RAF bombers to fly non-stop to the Falkland islands 30 years later. It was used by the RAF's strike command as an emergency dispersal point for its nuclear deterrent as well as being home to Dorset's Gliding Club. The last aircraft left Tarrant Rushton airfield on September 30th 1980 and the airfield closed after 37 years - the end of an era. 300 buildings were quickly demolished, the control tower being the last to go. Only some aircraft hangars remain as vestiges of a place which holds poignant memories for those associated with it.

The airfield was returned to agriculture by the Crichel estate - who won the legal right to do so - and the Harding family who have farmed for four generations. Farm animals and tractors have replaced the aircraft which shattered the serenity of the whole valley. The area provides a peaceful landscape now home to the skylark and, in summer, cows with their calves graze in the water meadows.

Parts of Preston farm have been admitted into the DEFRA countryside stewardship scheme to protect a local site of nature conservation interest and also to encourage lapwing and corn bunting to increase in number, the former being particularly rare in this area but in good number on the airfield. Outdoor pigs root contentedly on the higher parts of the farm.