Mosterton, Dorset

Historical Description

Mosterton, a village and a parish in Dorsetshire. The village stands on the river Axe, 1 mile S of the boundary with Somerset, 2½ miles SSE of Crewkerne station on the L. & S.W.R., and 3½ NW by N of Beaminster, and has a post office under Crewkerne; money order office, Misterton; telegraph office, Crewkerne. Acreage of the civil parish, 975; population, 263; of the ecclesiastical, 513. Mosterton House was the seat of the Hood family, stands directly opposite the church, and has been converted into an alehouse. The living is a perpetual curacy, annexed to the rectory of South Perrot, in the diocese of Salisbury; value, £320 with residence. The church was rebuilt in 1833, and has a tower. The old churchyard contains a tomb of the Hoods. There is a Plymouth Brethren chapel.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Church Records

The parish register dates from the year 1653. 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).

The Phillimore transcript of Marriages at South Perrott and Mosterton, 1539-1812 is online.

Churches

Church of England

St. Mary (parish church)

The original parish church was situated at Chapel Court, about a quarter of a mile from the village, and about 50 yards to the west of the high road leading to Crewkerne: it dated from the close of the 15th century, but was taken down about 1832. The old churchyard still exists at Chapel Court. The present church of St. Mary, erected c. 1832, is a modern building of stone, consisting of chancel, nave, north porch and a western tower containing one bell: the church will seat 359 persons.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Mosterton was in Beaminster Registration District from 1837 to 1937 and Bridport Registration District from 1937 to 1974

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Mosterton from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Mosterton)
• Kelly's Directory of Dorset, 1889
• Hunt & Co.'s Directory of Dorsetshire, Hampshire, & Wiltshire 1851

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Dorset is available to browse.

Maps

Online maps of Mosterton 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.