West Dean, Wiltshire
Historical Description
Dean, West, a parish in Wilts, on the Salisbury Canal, with a station on the L. & S.W.R., 88 miles from London, and 7½ NW from Romsey. It includes East Grimstead chapelry, and has a post and money order office under Salisbury; telegraph office at the railway station. Acreage, 2818; population of the civil parish, 197; of the ecclesiastical, 333i West Dean House, now pulled down, was a seat of the Evelyns, and of the first Duke of Kingston. A Roman pavement was found in the parish in 1741, and foundations of Roman villas were excavated in 1846 and in 1871-73. The living is a rectory, united with the perpetual curacy of East Grimstead, in the diocese of Salisbury; value, £456 with residence. A new church was built in 1866. A chantry of the old church is still standing, aud contains some monuments.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Wiltshire | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | West Dean St. Mary | |
| Hundred | Alderbury | |
| Poor Law union | Stockbridge |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1538.
Findmypast, in association with the Wiltshire Record Office, have the following parish records online for West Dean:
| Baptisms | Banns | Marriages | Burials |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1531-1886 | 1754-1812 | 1600-1838 | 1531-1947 |
Churches
Church of England
St. Mary (parish church)
The church of St. Mary, rebuilt in 1866, at a cost of over £2,000, on a new site nearer the village, is of brick and flint, in the Pointed style, and consists of chancel, nave, north transept, south porch and a western belfry containing a clock and 3 bells: a portion of the old chantry was restored by the late W. J. Evelyn esq. and has been converted into a mortuary chapel; it contains several interesting monuments to the Evelyn family: there are 250 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for West Dean from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Dean, West (St. Mary))
Maps
Online maps of West Dean 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 following Wiltshire papers online: