Long Crichel, Dorset
Historical Description
Critchell, Long, a parish in Dorsetshire, on the Roman road from Old Sarum, 6 miles WSW of Cranborne, and 6 from Blandford station on the Somerset and Dorset railway. It has a post office under Salisbury; money order and telegraph office, Witchampton. Acreage, 2018; population of the civil parish, 156; of the ecclesiastical, 538. The living is a rectory, annexed to the rectory of Critchell-Moore, in the diocese of Salisbury; value, £174; with residence. Patron, Lord Alington.
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 - |
| Hundred | Knowlton | |
| Poor Law union | Cranborne | 1835 - 1836 |
| Poor Law union | Wimborne and Cranborne | 1836 - |
| Registration district | Wimborne | |
| Registration sub-district | Cranborne |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1663. 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. Mary (parish church)
The parish church of St. Mary, a building of stone in the Decorated style, restored in 1852, at an expense of upwards of £4,000, by the late H.C. Sturt esq. consists of apsidal chancel, nave, transepts, and an embattled western tower with pinnacles containing 6 bells: there is an ancient brass: the church affords 160 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Long Crichel was in Wimborne Registration District from 1837 to 1937, Blandford Registration District from 1937 to 1956, and Poole Registration District from 1956 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Long Crichel from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Critchill, or Crichel, Long (St. Mary))
- 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 Long Crichel 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.