Hanford, Dorset
Historical Description
Hanford, a township and a chapelry in Dorsetshire, on the river Stour, near Shillingstone station on the Somerset and Dorset railway, and 4½ miles NW of Blandford. Post town, Blandford; money order and telegraph office, Childe Okeford. Acreage, 601; population, 43. The manor at one time belonged to Tarrent nunnery, and belongs now to the Seymer family. The one house here is Mr Seymer's seat, and there is a small chapel, the burial-place of the Seymer family. The living is a donative in the diocese of Salisbury.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Dorsetshire | |
Diocese | Bristol | 1542 - 1836 |
Diocese | Salisbury | 1836 - |
Registration district | Sturminster | |
Registration sub-district | Sturminster |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register of baptisms, marriages and burials begins in 1815. The original register books are now deposited with the Dorset Archives Service, but have been digitised by Ancestry.co.uk and made available on their site (subscription required).
Churches
Church of England
Hanford Chapel
The ancient chapel here, the burial place of the Seymer family, dates from the 17th century: it is of stone, and consists of chancel, nave, south porch, and a small western turret containing one bell; the east window and those on the south side are stained.
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Dorset is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Hanford are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the Dorset County Chronicle and the Sherborne Mercury online.
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Dorset, 1623 is available on the Heraldry page.