Blandford St Mary, Dorset
Historical Description
Blandford-St-Mary, a parish in Dorsetshire, on the river Stour, ½ a mile S of Blandford-Forum. Post town, Blandford, which is the money order and telegraph office. Acreage, 1895; population of civil parish, 375; of the ecclesiastical, 359. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury; net value, £218 with residence. Patron, Worcester College, Oxford. The church contains a monument erected by Governor Pitt, grandfather of the great Earl of Chatham, to the memory of his father, some time rector of the parish. Dr Brown Willis the antiquary was a native.
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 - |
| Ecclesiastical parish | Blandford St. Mary | |
| Hundred | Coombs Ditch | |
| Poor Law union | Blandford | 1835 - |
| Registration district | Blandford | |
| Registration sub-district | Blandford |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Census Records
We have transcribed the complete 1901 census return for Blandford St Mary . Other years will be coming soon.
Church Records
The parish register of baptisms, marriages and burials begins in 1581. 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. Mary (parish church)
The parish church of St Mary, a building of flint and stone in the Mixed style, consists of chancel, nave of three bays, aisles, north transept, south porch and an embattled western tower containing 3 bells: there are several stained windows: the church was repaired, reseated, a north aisle and vestry erected and an east window inserted in 1862, and the chancel was restored in 1886: in 1909 a new organ chamber and organ were presented, and in 1911 new altar rails were given in memory of Mrs A.C. Woodhouse: the altar panelling was provided in memory of the Rev. W. Chambers M.A. rector 1881-1907: there are 200 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Blandford St. Mary 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 Blandford St Mary from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Blandford (St. Mary))
- 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 Blandford St Mary 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.