Hook, Dorset
Historical Description
Hook, a parish in Dorsetshire, on the river Froom, 2½ miles NW of Toller station on the G.W.R., and 4 E by S of Beaminster. It has a post office under Beaminster; money order and telegraph office, Beaminster. Acreage, 1255; population, 179. The manor belongs to the Earl of Sandwich. Hook Court is a chief residence. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury; value, £70 with residence. Patron, the Earl of Sandwich. The church is ancient, but was almost entirely rebuilt 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 | Hooke St. Giles | |
Hundred | Eggerton | |
Poor Law union | Beaminster | 1836 - |
Registration district | Beaminster | |
Registration sub-district | Beaminster |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register of baptisms, marriages and burials begins in 1813, the previous one having been lost. 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 Hook, 1771-1812 is online.
Churches
Church of England
St. Giles (parish church)
The parish church of St. Giles is an ancient building of stone in the Gothic style, consisting of chancel, nave, south aisle, and an embattled south-western tower, containing one bell: in 1875 it was restored and almost entirely rebuilt, at the sole expense of Blanche late Countess of Sandwich, who died 20 March, 1894: there are 110 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Hooke 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 Hook from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Hooke (St. Giles))
- 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 Hook 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.