Fordington Dorset Family History Guide

Fordington is an Ancient Parish in the county of Dorset.

Alternative names: Dorchester St George

Parish church:

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1705
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1577

Nonconformists include:

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Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

FORDINGTON, a suburban village, a parish, and a liberty, in Dorset. The village is suburban to Dorchester; stands on Icknield street and the river Frome, adjacent to branches of the Southwestern railway; partakes in the trade and interests of Dorchester; and was itself, at one time, a market-town.

The parish is in Dorchester district, and partly within Dorchester borough; and contains Dorchester workhouse. Post town, Dorchester. Acres, 2, 749. Real property, £9, 200. Pop., 3, 258. Houses, 538. Pop. of the part within Dorchester borough, 3, 172. Houses, 533.

The manor was held, in the time of Edward III., by the queen dowager, Isabella; passed to the Black Prince, as Duke of Cornwall; and, with nearly all the land, belongs now to the Prince of Wales. Fordington Field here comprises 1, 657 acres; continues to be unenclosed; and affords pasturage, on its stubbles, to large flocks of sheep.

A Roman camp, and a well preserved amphitheatre, are in the parish; and a road in it has, from time immemorial, been called Icen-lane; and seems to have got that name from its connexion with Icknield street or the Via Iceniana.

A raised causeway, 1, 980 feet long., in improvement of a bad road into the village, was formed, in 1747, by Mrs. Pitt, of Kingston House, at a cost of £1, 500; and, at the same time a three-arched bridge was constructed over a branch of the Frome. A Roman bath, some coins, and a great number of skeletons were found at the forming of the causeway.

The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury. Value, £325. Patron, the Prebendary of Fordington. The church is noticed in our article on Dorchester.

The vicarage of West Fordington is a separate benefice.

The liberty is partly in Dorchester division, and partly in Cerne division. Acres, 3, 041. Pop., 405. Houses, 53.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

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An Address from the County of Dorset on the Elementary Education Bill, May 9 1870

To the Right Honourable The EARL de GREY and RIPON President of Her Majesty’s Privy Council and To the Right Honourable W. E. FORSTER MP Vice President

We the undersigned Clergy and Laity of the Archdeaconry and County of Dorset, accepting the principle of the Elementary Education Bill now before Parliament, by which in existing Schools perfect liberty of Religious Teaching is guaranteed to the Managers, together with perfect liberty of withdrawal from such Teaching to the Parents of the Children, do earnestly deprecate any Alteration in the Bill which may affect such principle.

At the same time we are prepared to concede, if necessary, the substitution for the so-called Conscience Clause, of an Enactment which shall confine the Teaching of the Formularies of any Denomination to the first part of the School Hours.

FORDINGTON

Henry Moule, M.A., clerk, vicar
Handley G. Moule, M.A., clerk, curate
Charles J. Bird, vicar of West Fordington
Robert Hayne church warden
Edward Maber churchwarden
Charles W. Moule, Fellow of C.C. Coll., Cambridge
Matthew F. Evans, gentleman
Thomas Wellman builder
Leonard Tilley builder
James Goringe foreman
William Hunt bricklayer
Henry Roe, smith
William Roe, smith
Thomas Gray, coach painter
H.F. Harvey
Henry Wills, gardener
William Charlton, foreman
Job Case, porter
William Galpin, brewer
Robert Hunt, yeoman
Robert C. Damon, yeoman
Michael Miller, gentleman
James W. White, yeoman
John Topp, yeoman
John Lewis, sexton
Philip P. Taylor, smith
Samuel Harris, nurseryman

Source: An Address from the County of Dorset on the Elementary Education Bill, May 9 1870 by Dorset. Published by H. Spicer, Dorset County Chronicle Office, 1870.

Administration

County: Dorset
Civil Registration District: Dorchester
Probate Court: Court of the Peculiar of the Prebend of Fordington with Writhlington
Diocese: Salisbury
Rural Deanery: Pre-1847 – None, Post-1846 – Dorchester
Poor Law Union: Dorchester
Hundred: Dorchester Borough; Fordington Liberty
Province: Canterbury