Symondsbury, Dorset
Historical Description
Symondsbury, a parish in Dorsetshire, 1½ mile W by N of Bridport station on the G.W.R. Post town, Bridport. Acreage, 3893; population, 1186. There is a parish council consisting of nine members and a chairman. The manor belongs to the Earl of Ilchester. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury; gross value, £823 with residence. The parochial church is Perpendicular and cruciform. Two churches have been erected at Broadoak and Eype.
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 | Symondsbury St. John the Baptist | |
| Hundred | Whitchurch Canonicorum | |
| Poor Law union | Bridport | 1836 - |
| Registration district | Bridport | |
| Registration sub-district | Whitchurch Canonicorum |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1558. 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 Symondsbury, 1558-1812 is online.
Churches
Church of England
St. John the Baptist (parish church)
The parish church of St. John the Baptist is an ancient cruciform edifice of stone, in the Perpendicular style, and consists of chancel, nave, transepts, south porch and a central embattled tower containing a clock and 5 bells: William Gulston, bishop of Bristol, d. 1684, is buried in the church: there are two stained windows: the church affords 450 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Symondsbury was in Bridport Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Symondsbury from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Symondsbury (St. John the Baptist))
- Kelly's Directory of Dorset, 1889
- 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 Symondsbury 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.
Villages, Hamlets, &c
BroadoakVisitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Dorset, 1623 is available on the Heraldry page.