Verwood, Dorset
Historical Description
Verwood or Fairwood, an ecclesiastical parish in Dorsetshire, with a station on the L. & S.W.R., 101 miles from London, and 4 SE of Cranborne. It has a post and money order office under Salisbury; telegraph office at the railway station. The parish was formed in 1887. Population, 1191. There is a parish council consisting of nine members. A fair is held on 8 Dec. The living is a vicarage, with Westmoors annexed, in the diocese of Salisbury; net value, £115. Patron, the Bishop of Salisbury. The church is a small building of brick and bath stone in the Gothic style. There are Wesleyan and Congregational chapels.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Dorsetshire | |
| Civil parish | Cranborne | |
| Diocese | Bristol | 1542 - 1836 |
| Diocese | Salisbury | 1836 - |
| Hundred | Cranborne | |
| Poor Law union | Wimborne and Cranborne | 1894 - |
| Registration district | Wimborne | |
| Registration sub-district | Cranborne |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1840. 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
St. Michael and All Angels (parish church)
The parish church of St. Michael and All Angels is a structure of brick and Bath stone, in the Gothic style, consisting of chancel (enlarged and decorated in 1893), nave, western baptistry (dedicated 29 Sept. 1894), west porch and a turret containing one bell: the wrought iron chancel screen was presented by the vicar: there are 210 sittings.
Civil Registration
Verwood was in Wimborne Registration District from 1894 to 1937, Blandford Registration District from 1937 to 1956, and Poole Registration District from 1956 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Verwood from the following:
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Dorset is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Verwood 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.