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Fordington, Dorset

Historical Description

Fordington, or Fordington St George, a suburban village and a parish in Dorsetshire. The village is suburban to Dorchester, stands on Icknield Street and the river Frome, 1 mile from Dorchester station on the G.W. and L. & S.W. railways, partakes in the trade and interests of Dorchester. The parish is partly within Dorchester borough, and contains Dorchester workhouse. It has a post and money order office (T.S.O.) under Dochester; telegraph office, Dorchester. Acreage, 3018; population of the civil parish, 5088; of the ecclesiastical, 6076. The manor was held, in the time of Edward III., by the Queen-Dowager Isabella, passed to the Black Prince as Duke of Cornwall, and, with nearly all the land, belongs now to the Prince of Wales as an appanage of the Duchy of Cornwall. Fordington Field here comprises 1657 acres, and continues to be unenclosed. An ancient camp, probably Celtic, and a well-preserved amphitheatre are in the parish, and a road in it called Maumbury Kings has from time immemorial been called Icen Lane, and seems to have got that name from its connection with Icknield Street or the Via Iceniana. A raised causeway, 1980 feet long, in improvement of a bad road into the village, was formed in 1747 by Mrs Pitt, of Kingston House, at a cost of £1500, and at the same time a three-arched bridge was constructed over a branch of the Frome. A Roman bath, some coins, and a great number of skeletons have been found. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury; value, £246 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Salisbury. The church is noticed in our article on Dorchester, The vicarage of West Fordington is a separate benefice.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Ancient CountyDorsetshire 
DioceseBristol1542 - 1836
DioceseSalisbury1836 -
LibertyFordington 
Poor Law unionDorchester1836 -
Registration districtDorchester 
Registration sub-districtDorchester 

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.


Church Records

The parish register of baptisms, marriages and burials begins in 1705. 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 Fordington St. George, 1577-1812 is online.


Churches

Church of England

St. George (parish church)

The parish church of St George, Fordington, standing on an eminence, is an ancient edifice of stone, containing work of the Norman, Early English, and Perpendicular periods, and originally cruciform, but now consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, south transept, south porch and an embattled western tower with pinnacles containing a clock and 6 bells, on the tympanum over the inner door of the south porch is represented the vision of St. George at the battle of Antioch, rudely carved in stone: the church has been enlarged and restored at a cost of £4,000: the church affords 650 sittings.


Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Fordington was in Dorchester Registration District from 1837 to 1900


Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Fordington from the following:


Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Dorset is available to browse.


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

West Fordington

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitation of Dorset, 1623 is available on the Heraldry page.