Bradford Abbas, Dorset
Historical Description
Bradford-Abbas, a village and a parish in Dorsetshire. The village stands on the river Yeo, 1¼ mile ESE of Yeovil Junction station on the L. & S.W.R., and 1½ SW by W of Sherborne, under which It has a post office; money order and telegraph office, Nether-Compton. The parish comprises 1216 acres; population of the civil parish, 523; of the ecclesiastical, including Clifton-Maybank, 603. The living is a rectory, united with the rectory of Clifton-Maybank, in the diocese of Salisbury; net value, £287 with residence. Patron, Winchester College. The church is good.
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 | Bradford-Abbas St. Mary | |
Hundred | Sherborne | |
Poor Law union | Sherborne | 1835 - |
Registration district | Sherborne | |
Registration sub-district | Sherborne |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register of baptisms, marriages and burials begins in 1579. 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 is an ancient edifice of stone, in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave of four bays, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower with pinnacles containing 6 bells: the roof was entirely restored in 1890 at a cost of £1,700, and in 1897 the organ was renovated and a clock presented by E.C. and A. Clayton esqrs. to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Victoria: in 1906 the tower and floor were restored: the north chantry was added in 1913 at a cost of £490: there are 300 sittings.
Bradford Abbas St. Mary the Virgin | Bradford Abbas St. Mary the Virgin |
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Bradford Abbas was in Sherborne Registration District from 1837 to 1937 and Sturminster Registration District from 1937 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Bradford Abbas from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Bradford-Abbas (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 Bradford Abbas 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.