Turnworth, Dorset
Historical Description
Turnworth, a parish in Dorsetshire, 3½ miles from Shillingstone station on the Somerset and Dorset railway. It has a post office under Blandford; money order and telegraph office, Shillingstone. Acreage, 1176; population of the civil parish, 111; of the ecclesiastical, 127. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury; net value, £120 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Salisbury. The church is a small edifice of stone in the Early English style, and with the exception of the tower, which is old, was rebuilt in 1869.
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 | Turnworth St. Mary | |
| Hundred | Cranborne | |
| Poor Law union | Blandford | 1835 - |
| Registration district | Blandford | |
| Registration sub-district | Milton Abbas |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1573. 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. Mary the Virgin (parish church)
The parish church of St. Mary the Virgin is a small edifice of stone in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave of three bays, north aisle, and a western tower containing 3 bells: it was originally built in the 13th century, and with the exception of the tower was rebuilt in 1869, in memory of William Parry-Okeden esq.: there are two stained windows, and some memorial tablets to the Okeden ands Twinyhoe families: the church affords 140 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Turnworth was in Blandford Registration District from 1837 to 1956 and Poole Registration District from 1956 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Turnworth from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Turnworth (St. Mary))
- 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 Turnworth 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.