Wyke Regis, Dorset
Historical Description
Wyke Regis, a village and a parish in Dorsetshire. The village stands on an eminence, adjacent to the coast, 2 miles WSW of Weymouth station on the G W.R., and commands a fine view of Portland Island and Bay. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Weymonth. The parish is a liberty called Wyke Regis and Elwell. A large portion of the parish is called Westham, and is a suburb of Weymouth, with which it was incorporated in 1895. Population, about 1600; of the ecclesiastical parish, 2773. There is a parish council consisting of fifteen members. Belfield House, Belfield Park, and Wyke House are the chief residences. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury; net value, £320 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Oxford. The church is the mother church of Weymouth, serves as a landmark to mariners, is of the 15th century, and has a peal of eight bells. An hospital was erected in 1880-81 in connection with the Weymouth Port sanitary authority, which will hold fifty patients. Large torpedo works, erected in 1891, are situated in the parish. A pier, said to be the second longest in England, is employed in the testing of the torpedoes.
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 | Wyke-Regis All Saints | |
Liberty | Wyke Regis and Elwell | |
Poor Law union | Weymouth | 1836 - |
Registration district | Weymouth | |
Registration sub-district | Weymouth |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1676. 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 Wyke Regis, 1676-1812 is online
Churches
Church of England
All Saints (parish church)
The parish church of All Saints is a building of stone in the Gothic style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, south porch, and an embattled western tower, with pinnacles, containing a clock and 8 bells, hung in 1891 at a cost of £700: the tower, which is 261 feet above sea level, serves as a landmark to vessels passing up and down the English Channel; in the chancel are two stained windows, presented by R. H. Swaffield esq. and Mrs. Munro; another window was added in 1885 by Capt. Pretor, in memory of his father; and in 1891 others were presented by Mrs. Edward Otway, in memory of her husband, and by Lady Otway, in memory of her son; the church contains some monuments and tablets, and in the graveyard are several stones bearing inscriptions to persons shipwrecked on this coast: the church affords 500 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Wyke Regis was in Weymouth Registration District from 1837 to 1933
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Wyke Regis from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Wyke-Regis (All Saints))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Dorset is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Wyke Regis 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.