Swyre, Dorset
Historical Description
Swyre, a parish in Dorsetshire, on the coast, 3½ miles from Abbotsbury station on the G.W.R. Post town, Abbotsbury. Acreage, 1129; population, 154. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury; gross value, £140 with residence. Patron, the Duke of Bedford. The church is good.
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 | Swyre Holy Trinity | |
| Hundred | Uggescombe | |
| Poor Law union | Bridport | 1836 - |
| Registration district | Bridport | |
| Registration sub-district | Burton Bradstock |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1587. 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 Swyre, 1588-1837 is online
Churches
Church of England
The Holy Trinity (parish church)
The parish church of the Holy Trinity, restored about 1830, is a building of stone in the Early English style, and consists of chancel, nave, north porch and tower containing 2 bells: a vestry was added in 1885, at the sole expense of the Rev. Orlando Spencer-Smith M.A. rector 1878-88: there are 100 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Swyre was in Bridport Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Swyre from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Swyre (Holy Trinity))
- 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 Swyre 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.