Loders, Dorset
Historical Description
Loders, a village and a parish in Dorsetshire. The village stands on a small affluent of the river Brit, 2 miles NE of Bridport station on the G.W.R., and has a post office under Bridport; money order and telegraph office, Bridport. Acreage of the civil parish, 2279; population, 672; of the ecclesiastical, 880. Loders Court is the seat of the Nepean family. A priory, subordinate to Montsburgh Abbey in Normandy, was founded, here in the time of Henry II., and was given by Henry V. to the Sion Abbey. Building stone is quarried. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury; value, £70 with residence. The church has a low massive W tower, and is good. There is a Wesleyan 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 | Loders St. Mary Magdalene | |
| Liberty | Lothers and Bothenhampton | |
| 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 1636. 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 Loders, 1636-1812 is online.
Churches
Church of England
St. Mary Magdalene (parish church)
The parish church of St. Mary Magdalene is an ancient edifice of stone, in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, south aisle, south porch and an embattled western tower containing 6 bells: on the base of the tower is an ancient stone, carved with a representation of "The Crucifixion": the font has a square Norman bowl of Purbeck marble: the east window and two others are stained: in 1897 Mrs. Beamish presented a handsome brass cross and ornaments for the communion table: the church was completely restored during 1901 at a cost of £1,000: during the course of the work a Norman window and doorway, in the chancel, were re-opened; an Easter sepulchre and a hagioscope uncovered, the western gallery removed, and the west window restored: above the porch is a priest's chamber, with a stairway leading to it: there are 450 sittings : in the churchyard is a quaint epitaph to one Cox, a blacksmith. who died in 1823.
Methodist
Wesleyan Chapel
There is a Wesleyan chapel at Uploders, built in 1827 and restored in 1888, seating 100 persons.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Loders was in Bridport Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Loders from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Loders (St. Mary Magdalene))
- 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 Loders 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.