Halstock, Dorset
Historical Description
Halstock, a village and a parish in Dorsetshire. The village stands near the boundary with Somerset, 5½ miles SSW of Yeovil, and 2 from Sutton Bingham station on the L. & S.W.R., and it has a post office under Yeovil; money order office, Corscombe; telegraph office. North Coker. The parish comprises 3216 acres; population, 400. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury; gross value, £350 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Salisbury. The church was rebuilt in 1846, and has a tower.
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 | Halstock St. Mary | |
| Hundred | Halstock Liberty | |
| Poor Law union | Beaminster | 1836 - |
| Registration district | Beaminster | |
| Registration sub-district | Evershot |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register of baptisms, marriages and burials begins in 1693. 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 Halstock, 1698-1812 is online.
Churches
Church of England
St. Mary (parish church)
The parish church of St. Mary, rebuilt and enlarged in 1846, is of stone in the Gothic style, and consists of chancel, nave of four bays, north aisle, south porch, and an embattled western tower containing 5 bells: the stained east window is a memorial to Mary Russell Meredith, wife of the Rev. R. F. Meredith M.A. (vicar 1843-70 and rector 1870-94), and was erected in 1874: there are 350 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Halstock was in Beaminster Registration District from 1837 to 1937 and Bridport Registration District from 1937 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Halstock from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Halstock (St. Mary))
- Kelly's Directory of Dorset, 1889
- 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 Halstock 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.