Chilcombe, Dorset
Historical Description
Chilcombe, a parish in Dorsetshire, near the coast, 4½ miles ESE of Bridport town and station on the G.W.R. Post town, Bridport. Acreage, 451; popuation, 24. Chilcombe Hill rises steeply, commands an extensive view, and is crowned by a Saxon camp 1333 feet long and 672 feet wide, with two or three small barrows in the middle, and a single low rampart and shallow ditch around. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury; value, about £100. There was anciently a preceptory of Knights Hospitallers. The valuable altar-piece in the church, which is in all probability unique is a massive slab of dark wood about 7 feet. long by 2 broad, on which are depicted the various scenes. of the life of Christ from the annunciation to the crucifixion. It contains many hundreds of distinct figures. Tradition says that it was thrown up on the beach 3 miles to the south,, where several of the Armada vessels were lost. Its work is either Spanish or Italian.
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 | Uggescombe | |
Poor Law union | Bridport | 1836 - |
Registration district | Bridport | |
Registration sub-district | Burton Bradstock |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register of baptisms, marriages and burials begins in 1748. 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
not dedicated (parish church)
The church (not dedicated) is a very small building of stone, in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and western bell cot containing one bell: there are two stained windows, including one erected in 1895 by Frederick Samways esq. to his father, George Samways, who died Dec. 9, 1870: the font is Early Norman, and is carved with double cable moulding and foliage and with tongue-shaped ornament round the bottom of the bowl: the panelled reredos is of cedar in an oak frame: there is a trefoil-headed piscina, various mural tablets to the Bishop family, dated 1616 and 1692, and a floor stone with an inscription to E. Wadham, 1692: the church affords 34 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Chilcombe was in Bridport Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Chilcombe from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Chilcombe)
- 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 Chilcombe 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.