Folke, Dorset
Historical Description
Folke, a parish in Dorsetshire, 3 miles SSE of Sherborne town and station on the L. & S.W.R. It includes the hamlet of Alweston. Post town, Alweston under Sherborne. Acreage, 2120; population of the civil parish, 370; of the ecclesiastical, 327. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury; value, £195 with residence. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury and the Allford family alternately. The church was well restored in 1875.
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 | Folke St. Lawrence | |
| Hundred | Sherborne | |
| Poor Law union | Sherborne | 1835 - |
| Registration district | Sherborne | |
| Registration sub-district | Yetminster |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register of baptisms, marriages and burials begins in 1538. 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. Laurence (parish church)
The parish church of St. Laurence is a building of stone in the Jacobean style, and consists of chancel, nave, aisles, built in 1628, south porch and an embattled western tower of earlier date, with pinnacles, and containing 5 bells: the church was restored in 1875 at a cost of upward of £1,000, and affords sittings for 200 persons.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Folke 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 Folke from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Folke (St. Lawrence))
- 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 Folke 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.
Villages, Hamlets, &c
AllwestonVisitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Dorset, 1623 is available on the Heraldry page.