Yetminster, Dorset

Historical Description

Yetminster, a village and a parish in Dorsetshire. The village has a station on the G.W.R., 137 miles from London, and 4½ SSE of Yeovil, was once a market-town, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Sherborne, and fairs on 27 April and 5 October. The parish includes Leigh and Chetnole chapelries, and comprises 1480 acres; population of the civil parish, 655; of the ecclesiastical, 934. The living is a vicarage, with Chetnole annexed, in the diocese of Salisbury; net value, £260 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Salisbury. The church is an ancient building of stone in the Early English style. A chapel of ease is in Chetnole, and the vicarage of Leigh is a separate benefice. There are a Wesleyan chapel and temperance hall.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Church Records

The parish register dates from the year 1683. 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. Andrew (parish church)

The parish church of St. Andrew is an ancient building of stone, in the Early English and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel, nave of three bays, aisles, north porch and an embattled western tower, with pinnacles, containing 5 bells and a clock with chimes, playing the air of "God Save the King," at 3, 6, 9 and 12; the nave, tower and chancel were restored in 1890, and the bells rehung: the restoration of the church was completed in 1907, when it was reseated in Austrian oak, a new oak door placed in the north porch and a new oak screen erected across the tower arch: a new organ was added in 1908: there are sittings for 170 persons.

St. Andrew, Yetminster

St. Andrew, Yetminster

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Yetminster was in Sherborne Registration District from 1837 to 1937 and Sturminster Registration District from 1937 to 1974

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Yetminster from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Yetminster (St. Andrew))

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Dorset is available to browse.

Maps

Online maps of Yetminster 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.