It lies approximately midway between the towns of Lyme Regis and Bridport on the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, and includes within its boundary the highest cliff on the south coast of England, Golden Cap.

[3] The old settlement had become virtually deserted by the 18th century; the inhabitants had moved either a short distance inland, where the new Dorchester to Exeter turnpike road had been rerouted, or to Bridport, where work was available in its ropewalks.

[3] In 1856 the philanthropist and anti-catholic Charlotte Julia Weale of Whitchurch Canonicorum donated £200 to the parish church so that it could build be restored and have an extension.

She was buried in the churchyard here in 1918 leaving money to build an Anglican church for the poor in Whitchurch.

[4] Writing in 1906, Sir Frederick Treves described Stanton St Gabriel as "a village which was lost and forgotten centuries ago."