Litton Cheney, Dorset
Historical Description
Litton Cheney, a village and a parish in Dorsetshire. The village stands 4 miles from Bridport station on the G.W.R. It has a post office under Dorchester; money order and telegraph office, Abbotsbury. The parish comprises also the hamlets of Nether Coombe, Higher Egerton, Ashby, and Stancombe. Acreage, 3341; population of the civil parish, 427; of the ecclesiastical, 463. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury; value, £590 with residence. Patron, Exeter College, Oxford. The church is ancient and good, with a tower, and contains an ancient font, a monument of the Dawbeny family, and several brasses. There is a Methodist chapel.
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 | Litton-Cheney St. Mary | |
| Hundred | Uggescombe | |
| Poor Law union | Bridport | 1836 - |
| Registration district | Bridport | |
| Registration sub-district | Burton Bradstock |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1624. 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 Litton Cheney, 1614-1812 is online.
Churches
Church of England
St. Mary (parish church)
The parish church of St. Mary is an ancient building of stone, in the Perpendicular style, and consists of chancel, nave, transepts, south porch and a lofty embattled western tower containing a clock and 6 bells: the font is formed of the inverted base of a Norman circular pier; the pulpit has traceried Perpendicular panels: there is a monument to George Dawbeny, of Gorwell, who died in 1612. brasses to Anna Henvill and Margaret Henvill, d. 1561; and to Ralph Henvill, of Leoke, gent. d. 9 Dec. 1644: the church was restored in 1878, and affords 220 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Litton Cheney was in Bridport Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Litton Cheney from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Litton-Cheney (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 Litton Cheney 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
AshbyHigher Eggerton
Nether Coombe
Stancoombe
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Dorset, 1623 is available on the Heraldry page.