Upwey, Dorset Family History Guide
Upwey is an Ancient Parish in the county of Dorset.
Other places in the parish include: Elwell and Ridgeway.
Alternative names: Upway
Parish church: St. Lawrence
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1654
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1731
Nonconformists include: Independent/Congregational and Wesleyan Methodist.
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
UPWAY, a village, a parish, and a sub-district, in Weymouth district, Dorset. The village stands near the Weymouth railway, 4 miles SSW of Dorchester; and has a post-office‡ under Dorchester.
The parish includes Elwell hamlet, and comprises 1,785 acres. Rated property, £3,017. Pop., 646. Houses, 154. The property is divided among four. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury. Value, £269. Patron, the Bishop of S. The church is good; and there are an Independent chapel and a national school.
The sub-district contains 9 parishes and an extra-parochial tract. Acres, 15,510. Pop., 3,969. Houses, 842.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
UPWAY (St. Lawrence), a parish, in the union of Weymouth, comprising the liberty of Weybey-house, the tything of Stottingway in the hundred of Culliford-Tree, and that of Elwell in the liberty of Wyke Regis and Elwell, Dorchester division of Dorset, 4½ miles (S. W. by S.) from Dorchester; the whole containing 619 inhabitants.
The liberty of Weybey-house and the manor of Upway belong to the Rev. George Gould, whose ancestors were seated here as early as the reign of James I.: part of the ancient manor-house is still remaining, but the family have for some years chiefly resided at Fleet, in this county. On the estate are some excellent quarries, from which the stone was taken for the new church at Fleet. The manor of Stottingway belongs to the vicars-choral of Salisbury cathedral. Near the church, at the foot of a steep hill, rises the small river Way, which runs through the parish, and falls into the sea at Weymouth.
The living is a rectory, valued in the king’s books at £18. 3. 1½., and in the gift of the Bishop of Salisbury: the tithes have been commuted for £380, and the glebe comprises 46½ acres. The church is ornamented with an embattled tower crowned by pinnacles, and has been enlarged.
On Ridgway down are numerous barrows, extending from that part of the ridge opposite Sutton-Pointz to beyond Long Bredy, a distance of nearly six miles, in a direction parallel to the ancient Roman road called Via Iceniana.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Census
Census returns for Upway, 1841-1891
Church Records
Churchwardens’ accounts, 1798-1807 Author: Church of England. Parish Church of Upway (Dorsetshire)
History
Spotlight on a parish–Upwey in Dorset Author: Nineham, Alan
Land and property
Land tax assessments for the liberty of Wabyhouse, 1780-1832
Poorhouses & Poor Law
Overseers of the poor account book, 1828-1894 Author: Upway (Dorset)
Taxation
Land tax assessments for the liberty of Wabyhouse, 1780-1832
Administration
- County: Dorset
- Civil Registration District: Weymouth
- Probate Court: Court of the Archdeaconry of Dorset
- Diocese: Salisbury
- Rural Deanery: Dorchester
- Poor Law Union: Weymouth
- Hundred: Culliford Tree; Wabyhouse Liberty
- Province: Canterbury