Melbury Sampford, Dorset
Historical Description
Melbury Sampford, a parish in Dorsetshire, 1½ miles NW of Evershot station on the G.W.R., and 7¼ miles SW of Sherborne. Post town, Dorchester; money order and telegraph office, Evershot. Acreage, 1041; population, 108. The property belongs to the Earl of Ilchester. Melbury House is the Earl's seat, stands on high ground commanding a fine prospect to the Mendip and the Quantock Hills, is an ancient edifice mainly rebuilt about the beginning of the 18th century, and has an E front of weather-beaten stone, ornamented with Corinthian pillars. It has been greatly enlarged, and a new wing with lofty tower added. The living is a rectory, annexed to the rectory of Melbury Osmond, in the diocese of Salisbury. The church is ancient, has a pinnacled tower, and contains monuments of the Brownings and the Strangeways; it was restored in 1878.
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 | Tollerford | |
| Poor Law union | Beaminster | 1836 - |
| Registration district | Beaminster | |
| Registration sub-district | Evershot |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1550. 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's is an ancient cruciform edifice of stone, in the Decorated style, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch, transepts and an embattled western tower: the windows contain ancient stained glass, and there are many tombs of the Fox-Strangeways family: the church was restored in 1878, and affords 51 sittings.
Civil Registration
Melbury Sampford 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 Melbury Sampford from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Melbury-Sampford)
- 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 Melbury Sampford 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.