Chaldon-Herring (St. Nicholas)

CHALDON-HERRING (St. Nicholas), a parish, in the union of Wareham and Purbeck, liberty of Bindon, Wareham division of Dorset, 8¼ miles (S. E.) from Dorchester; containing 285 inhabitants. It is bounded by the English Channel on the south, and consists of 3012a. 3r. 23p., the greater part pasture land. A coast-guard station has been established. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £8. 0. 10.; patron and impropriator, Joseph Weld, Esq.; net income, £62: the great tithes have been commuted for £5, and the vicarial for £9. The village called Chaldon-Boys, or West Chaldon, now comprising only one farm with four or five cottages, was formerly a manor and a distinct parish; the church having become a ruin, the living, a rectory, was consolidated with the vicarage of Chaldon-Herring, in 1446.