East Orchard, Dorset
Historical Description
Orchard, East, a parish in Dorsetshire, on an affluent of the river Stour, 4 miles from Sturminster station on the Somerset and Dorset Joint railway, and 4½ SSW of Shaftesbury. Post town, Shaftesbury. Acreage, 839; population of the civil parish, 166; of the ecclesiastical, 226. The living is a vicarage, united with Margaret Marsh, in the diocese of Salisbury; gross value, £230 with residence. Patron, the Vicar of Iwerne Minster. The church was rebuilt in 1860, and is in the Early English style. 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 - |
| Hundred | Sixpenny Handley | |
| Poor Law union | Shaftesbury | 1836 - |
| Registration district | Shaftesbury | |
| Registration sub-district | Fontmell |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register of baptisms, marriages and burials begins in 1783. 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. Thomas (parish church)
The parish church of St. Thomas is a modern building of stone, in the Early English style, and comprises chancel, nave, south porch, and a western turret, containing one bell: the church will seat 150 people.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
East Orchard was in Shaftesbury Registration District from 1837 to 1937 and Sturminster Registration District from 1937 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for East Orchard from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Orchard, East)
- 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 East Orchard 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.