Pillesdon, Dorset
Historical Description
Pilsdon or Pillesdon, a parish in Dorsetshire, under Pillesdon Hill, 1½ miles WSW of Beaminster, and 6 SSW of Crewkerne station on the L. & S.W.R. Post town, Beaminster, under Bridport. Acreage, 660; population, 83. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury; gross value, £80. The church was mainly rebuilt in 1830 and restored in 1875. Pilsdon Pen is an old Roman encampment.
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 | Whitchurch Canonicorum | |
| Poor Law union | Beaminster | 1836 - |
| Registration district | Beaminster | |
| Registration sub-district | Netherbury |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1760. 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 Pilsdon, 1754-1809 is online
Churches
Church of England
St. Mary (parish church)
The parish church of St. Mary, almost entirely rebuilt in 1830, is an edifice of stone in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch, and a western turret containing one bell: there is an ancient piscina, and a holy water stoup in the porch: the church was restored in 1875 by Mrs. Syndercombe Bower and her son, H. Syndercombe Bower esq. in memory of the Rev. Gregory Raymond, a former rector of Symondsbury, and affords 80 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Pillesdon 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 Pillesdon from the following:
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Dorset is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Pillesdon 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.