Pulham, Dorset
Historical Description
Pulham, a parish in Dorsetshire, 5½ miles NE by N of Cerne Abbas, and 7 from Sherborne station on the L. & S.W.R. It consists of two sections, E and W, and has a post office under Dorchester; money order and telegraph office, Buckland Newton. Acreage, 2416; population, 266. The parish is a meet for the Blackmoor Vale Harriers. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury; gross value, £300 with residence. The church is ancient, and has been restored.
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 | Buckland Newton | |
| Poor Law union | Cerne | 1835 - |
| Registration district | Dorchester | |
| Registration sub-district | Cerne |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1734. 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. Thomas à Becket (parish church)
The parish church of St. Thomas à Becket is a building of stone in the Gothic style, consisting of chancel, nave of four bays, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower with 4 bells, the fourth bell having been added in 1884: all the windows are stained: the church was thoroughly restored in 1870, and affords 200 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Pulham was in Cerne Registration District from 1837 to 1838, Dorchester Registration District from 1838 to 1937, and Sturminster Registration District from 1937 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Pulham from the following:
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Dorset is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Pulham 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.