Up Cerne, Dorset
Historical Description
Cerne, Upper, a parish in Dorsetshire, on the river Cerne, 1½ mile N by W of Cerne-Abbas, and 5 miles E by S of Evershot railway station. The post, money order, and telegraph office is at Cerne Abbas. Acreage, 1123; population, 84. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury; value, £152. The church is small, but in good condition. The river Ceme rises in the village. Upper Cerne House, which is in the neighbourhood, contains some very fine specimens of carved oak.
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 | Sherborne | |
| 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 1650. 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 Up Cerne, 1682-1811 is online.
Churches
Church of England
not dedicated (parish church)
The parish church (not dedicated) is a small building of stone and flint, in the Norman style, consisting of chancel, nave, transept, north porch and an embattled western tower containing a clock and 6 bells: there are 80 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Up Cerne was in Cerne Registration District from 1837 to 1838, Dorchester Registration District from 1838 to 1937, and Weymouth Registration District from 1949 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Up Cerne from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Cerne, Upper)
- 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 Up Cerne 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.