Witchampton, Dorset
Historical Description
Witchampton, a parish in Dorsetshire, 5 miles NNW of Wimborne station on the L. & S.W.R. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Wimborne. Acreage, 2111; population of the civil parish, 537; of the ecclesiastical, 490. There is a parish council of seven members and a chairman. An old abbey cell was here, of which some interesting ruins remain. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury; net value, £235 with residence. The church is Decorated English, with an embattled tower, and has been restored. There are a Wesleyan chapel and four almshouses.
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 | Witchampton All Saints | |
| Hundred | Cranborne | |
| Poor Law union | Wimborne | 1835 - 1836 |
| Poor Law union | Wimborne and Cranborne | 1836 - |
| Registration district | Wimborne | |
| Registration sub-district | Wimborne |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1656. 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
SS. Mary, Cuthberga, and All Saints (parish church)
The parish church of SS. Mary and Cuthberga and All Saints, repaired in 1832 at an expense of upwards of £5,000, by the late H. C. Sturt esq. is a large edifice of stone in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, transepts, porch, and an embattled western tower containing a clock dating from 1737 and 5 bells: in 1898 the church was re-seated and a new vestry added: there are 240 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Witchampton was in Wimborne Registration District from 1837 to 1937, Blandford Registration District from 1937 to 1956, and Poole Registration District from 1956 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Witchampton from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Witchampton (All Saints))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Dorset is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Witchampton 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.