Moreton, Dorset
Historical Description
Moreton, a village and a parish in Dorsetshire. The village stands on the river Frome, 1½ mile N of a station of its own name on the L. & S.W.R., 129 miles from London and 7 E of Dorchester. It has a post and money order office under Dorchester; telegraph office, at the railway station. Acreage of parish, 2157; population, 356. The parish council consists of seven members. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury; gross value, £200 with residence. The church is good, and contains a brass and several monuments. Moreton House is a handsome mansion of Portland stone, belonging to the Frampton family.
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 | Moreton St. Magnus the Martyr | |
| Hundred | Winfrith | |
| Poor Law union | Wareham and Purbeck | 1836 - |
| Registration district | Wareham | |
| Registration sub-district | Bere Regis |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1741. 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. Nicholas (parish church)
The church or St. Nicholas, situated in the park, and rebuilt in 1777 by James Frampton esq. is a handsome edifice of stone, in the Gothic style, and consists of apsidal chancel, nave, aisles, west porch and a south tower with four pinnacles containing a clock and 2 bells : there are eight stained windows, several carved marble tablets and an ancient brass to the Frampton family, who have been buried here since the Reformation: in the churchyard is buried Prince Clarence, second son of the late king of the Mosquito territory, Central America, who came to this country for the purpose of being educated: there are 200 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Moreton was in Wareham Registration District from 1837 to 1937 and Poole Registration District from 1937 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Moreton from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Moreton (St. Magnus the Martyr))
- 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 Moreton 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.