Woodsford, Dorset
Historical Description
Woodsford, a parish in Dorsetshire, 1½ mile NW by W of Moreton station on the L. & S.W.R., and 4½ E of Dorchester. Post town, Dorchester; money order and telegraph office, Moreton. Acreage, 1761; population of the civil parish, 168; of the ecclesiastical, 328. The property belongs to the Earl of Ilchester. Guido de Brient's Castle is here, and has been converted into a farmhouse, and partially restored, The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury, with Tincleton annexed; net value, £260 with residence. Patron, Lord Allington. The church is a small building of stone in the Early English style.
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 | Winfrith | |
| Poor Law union | Dorchester | 1836 - |
| Registration district | Dorchester | |
| Registration sub-district | Puddletown |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1678. 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. John the Baptist (parish church)
The parish church of St. John the Baptist, a building of stone in the Early English style, was rebuilt in 1863, and consists of nave, north aisle, transept, south porch and western tower containing one bell: there are 134 sittings.
Civil Registration
Woodsford was in Dorchester Registration District from 1837 to 1949 and Weymouth Registration District from 1949 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Woodsford from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Woodsford)
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Dorset is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Woodsford 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.