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Spetisbury, Dorset

Historical Description

Spetisbury, a parish, with a village, in Dorsetshire, and a station on the Somerset and Dorset railway, 118 miles from London, and 3 miles SSE of Blandford. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Blandford. Acreage, 2250; population of the civil parish, 562; of the ecclesiastical, 1131. The parish council consists of seven members. There is a priory of Canons Regular with a handsome church attached. Spetisbury Ring is a small circular camp, probably Saxon. The living is a rectory, united with Charlton Marshall, in the diocese of Salisbury; gross value, £640 with residence. The church was rebuilt in 1861. There are Congregational and Primitive Methodist chapels and an endowed school.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Administration

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

Ancient CountyDorsetshire 
DioceseBristol1542 - 1836
DioceseSalisbury1836 -
Ecclesiastical parishSpetisbury St. John the Baptist 
HundredLoosebarrow 
Poor Law unionBlandford1835 -
Registration districtBlandford 
Registration sub-districtMilton Abbas 

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


Church Records

The parish register dates from the year 1705. 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. John the Baptist (parish church)

The parish church of St. John the Baptist is of flint and stone in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave of three bays, north aisle, south porch and an embattled western tower containing 5 bells, and was rebuilt (with the exception of the tower) in 1859: there is a monument in the north aisle to John Bowyer, d. 1599, and an hour-glass dated 1700: in 1895 the belfry was restored, and the bells rehung, at a cost of £134: there are 220 sittings.


Civil Registration

Spetisbury was in Blandford Registration District from 1837 to 1956 and Poole Registration District from 1956 to 1974


Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Spetisbury from the following:


Land and Property

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


Maps

Online maps of Spetisbury are available from a number of sites:


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.

DistrictNorth Dorset
CountyDorset
RegionSouth West
CountryEngland
Postal districtDT11
Post TownBlandford Forum

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