Burstock, Dorset
Historical Description
Burstock, a parish in Dorsetshire, on the verge of the county, 4½ miles WNW of Beaminster, and 4 SSW of Crewkerne station on the L. & S.W.R. Beaminster is the post town; money order and telegraph office, Broad-Windsor. Acreage, 931; population, 139. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury; value, £170. The church is good, with a curious old font; it was restored in 1877.
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 | Burstock St. Andrew | |
| Hundred | Whitchurch Canonicorum | |
| Poor Law union | Beaminster | 1836 - |
| Registration district | Beaminster | |
| Registration sub-district | Netherbury |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register of baptisms, marriages and burials begins in 1560. 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 Burstock, 1563-1812 is online.
Churches
Church of England
St. Andrew (parish church)
The parish church of St. Andrew is an ancient building of stone in the Gothic style, consisting of chancel, nave, a small chapel on then north side, south porch, and an embattled western tower with pinnacles, containing a clock and two bells: there is a very curious old font: the church was altered and rebuilt in 1877, when the west gallery was taken down and a west window inserted: there are 120 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Burstock 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 Burstock from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Burstock (St. Andrew))
- 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 Burstock 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.