Hampreston (All Saints)
HAMPRESTON (All Saints), a parish, partly within the liberty of Westover, S. division of the county of Southampton, but chiefly in the hundred of Cranborne, union of Wimborne and Cranborne, Wimborne division of the county of Dorset, 3½ miles (E. S. E.) from Wimborne; containing, with the hamlet of Long Ham, 1193 inhabitants. This parish anciently formed part of that of Wimborne, from which it was separated about the year 1440. It is situated on the navigable river Stour, which is its southern boundary, and between the roads leading respectively from Southampton to Exeter and Poole. The area is 4940 acres. The soil is mostly gravelly, and in the valleys a good loam; the cultivated parts, which are chiefly arable, include about two-fifths of the land. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £13. 10., and in the gift of E. S. Stanley, Esq.: the incumbent's tithes have been commuted for £300, and the glebe comprises 60 acres; there is also a rent-charge of £53. 10. paid to certain impropriators. The church is partly in the early and partly in the decorated English style, and has been enlarged with 110 free sittings. There are a place of worship for Independents, and a Roman Catholic chapel; and a convent has been established for 30 nuns under the superintendence of an abbess. A national school has a small endowment.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.