Hamworthy, Dorset
Historical Description
Hamworthy, a village and parish in Dorsetshire. The village stands on Holes Bay with two stations on the L. & S.W.R. - High Junction, 1½ mile from Poole, and Hamworthy, close to Poole - 120 miles from London, and 1½ mile W by N of Poole, and was the place where Charles X. of France landed after his abdication in 1831. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Poole. Acreage of parish, 1077; population, 673. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury; value, £90 with residence. Patron, Lord Wimborne. The ancient church was destroyed in the Civil War of Charles I.; the present one was built in 1826, and has a tower. In the churchyard are two mounds supposed to contain soldiers killed in the war. Cannon balls have been dug up, and the masonry of the old manor house (formerly a stronghold of the Carews, now used for the rectory) shows marks of dilapidation from Cromwell's guns. The largest industry is clay-cutting, while many are employed as shipwrights and in the brickyards and ropewalks; recently oyster culture has been started.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Dorsetshire | |
| Civil parish | Sturminster Marshall | |
| Diocese | Bristol | 1542 - 1836 |
| Diocese | Salisbury | 1836 - |
| Hundred | Cogdean | |
| Poor Law union | Poole | 1835 - |
| Registration district | Poole | |
| Registration sub-district | Lytchett |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register of baptisms dates from the year 1826, and of burials from 1811: the entries previous to these dates were made in the register of Lytchett Minster. 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. Michael (parish church)
The parish church of St. Michael, rebuilt in 1826, is an edifice of stone, incorporating much of the old material, and consists of chancel, nave, and fine embattled western tower, with pinnacles, containing a clock and one bell: the church was reseated in 1860, and in 1897 was redecorated and new heating apparatus put in at a cost of £80 : in 1901 a new marble pulpit was presented at a cost of about £100 by Miss Slade, as a memorial to her father, who died in the church on Christmas day, 1888; in the same rear a new font was given by the late Rev. Edmond Sellon M.A. rector here 1887-96, in memory of his nephew, Melville Sellon: in 1902 the church was again redecorated, the chancel new-roofed, and choir stalls and a new lectern provided: there are about 300 sittings. A piece of land measuring 2 roods 33 perches was given by Lord Wimborne in 1897 for the enlargement of the churchyard, in which is a large mound, said to mark the burial place of some Cromwellian soldiers.
Civil Registration
Hamworthy was in Poole Registration District from 1837 to 1905
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Hamworthy from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Hamworthy)
- 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 Hamworthy 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.