Dewlish, Dorset
Historical Description
Dewlish, a parish, which is also a liberty, in Dorset, on an affluent of the river Piddle, near a Roman way, and 8 miles from Dorchester station on the G.W.R. and L. & S.W.R. It has a post office under Dorchester, and is within 2 miles of Milborne St Andrew, which is the money order office; telegraph office, Piddletown. Acreage, 2134; population, 396. Dewlish House is the seat of the Michel family. A Roman pavement was found in the parish in 1740, and Roman coins and other relics have been found in a neighbouring double-ditched camp of 7 acres. The living is a vicarage, annexed to the vicarage of Milborne St Andrew, in the diocese of Salisbury; joint net value, £145. The church is good; it was restored and enlarged in 1879. There is a Wesleyan chapel.
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 | Dewlish All Saints | |
| Liberty | Dewlish | |
| 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 1616. 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
All Saints (parish church)
The parish church of All Saints is an ancient building of stone in mixed styles, but principally Early English, and comprises chancel, with north aisle (erected in 1879), nave, aisles, north porch, and an embaltled western tower containing 3 bells: the church was restored in 1872, when the south aisle was added: in the north aisle is a monument to Field Marshall Sir John Michel G.C.B. (d. 1886). erected by friends in the army and the country: there are 280 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Dewlish 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 Dewlish from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Dewlish (All Saints))
- 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 Dewlish 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.