Athelhampton, Dorset
Historical Description
Admiston or Athelhampton, a parish in Dorsetshire, on the river Piddle, 4 miles NW of Moreton station on the L. & S.W.R., and 6 NE of Dorchester. Post town, Piddletown. Acreage, 477; population of the civil parish, 71; of the ecclesiastical, with Burleston, 149. This place is said to have been at one time the principal residence of the kings of Wessex. The living is a rectory, united to the rectory of Burleston, in the diocese of Salisbury; value, £171. The church is Perpendicular English, and was built in 1860.
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 - |
Hundred | Puddletown | |
Poor Law union | Dorchester | 1836 - |
Registration district | Dorchester | |
Registration sub-district | Puddletown |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register of baptisms, marriages and burials begins in 1692. 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 (parish church)
The parish church of St John, built in 1862 on a site presented by J. Wadham Floyer esq. is of stone in the Gothic style, and consists of chancel, nave, north porch and a western turret containing 2 bells: the east window and those on each side of the chancel are stained: there are 120 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Athelhampton was in Dorchester Registration District from 1837 to 1949 and Weymouth Registration District from 1949 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Athelhampton from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Admiston, or Athelhampton)
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Dorset is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Athelhampton 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.