Toller Porcorum, Dorset
Historical Description
Toller Porcorum, a parish, with Kingcombe tithing, in Dorsetshire, at Toller station on the G.W.R., and 2½ miles W of Maiden Newton. It has a post office under Dorchester; money order and telegraph office, Maiden Newton. Acreage, 3173; population, 417. There is a parish council consisting of seven members. There are stone quarries and chalk pits. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury; net value, £105 with residence. The church was restored in 1895. Toller Porcorum, or Swine's Toller, derives its distinguishing name from the great number of swine that were formerly bred in and about the parish.
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 | Toller-Porcorum St. Peter | |
| Hundred | Beaminster Forum and Redborne | |
| Hundred | Tollerford | |
| Poor Law union | Dorchester | 1836 - |
| Registration district | Dorchester | 1837 - 1949 |
| Registration district | Weymouth | 1949 - 1974 |
| Registration sub-district | Maiden Newton |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1615. 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. Peter and St. Andrew (parish church)
The parish church of St. Peter and St. Andrew is a building of stone in the Norman style, consisting of chancel, nave, south aisle, and an embattled western tower containing 4 bells: an ancient Roman altar is used as a font: the east window and two others in the chancel are stained: in 1891 the chancel was restored, and in 1895 the two galleries were removed, and the church completely restored at a cost of about £700: there are 150 sittings.
Civil Registration
Toller Porcorum was in Dorchester Registration District from 1837 to 1949 and Weymouth Registration District from 1949 to 1974
For births, marriages, and deaths in Toller Porcorum from 1837 to 1949 you should search for the Dorchester Registration District.
For births, marriages, and deaths in Toller Porcorum from 1949 to 1974 you should search for the Weymouth Registration District.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Toller Porcorum from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Toller-Porcorum (St. Peter))
- 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 Toller Porcorum 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.