Dorset

Situated on the south coast of England, Dorset is very rural and contains mainly small towns and villages. The county Town is Dorchester which was the home of Thomas Hardy. Other main towns include Poole, which has the second largest natural harbour in the world. It is the home of the Tolpuddle Martyrs and famous for Durdle Door. Lyme Regis, with the Cobb made famous by Jane Austen in her novel “Persuasion”, is the location for “the French Lieutenant’s Woman” by John Fowles.

The coastal areas of Lyme Regis and Charmouth are well known by fossil hunters; Mary Anning having discovered an icthyosaurus locally. Dorset is said to be the home of Scouting, with the first scout camp organised by Sir Robert Baden Powell on Brownsea Island in August 1907. Thomas Hardy, the writer, was born at Upper Brockhampton, near Dorchester. County town: Dorchester Other major towns: Poole, Weymouth Dorset Places of Worship Regional Projects Forum

Source: Wikipedia

Resources

Primary Reference

• County Record Office

• County Library Service

• Dorset Family History Society

• Somerset and Dorset Family History Society

• Dorset Look-up Exchange

• Parish Register Look-up Exchange

• Kingston Village OPC

• Dorset Online Parish Clerk

Countywide Interest

• Dorset Churches

• Dorset Historic Churches Trust

• Dorset Marriages

• Dorset Online Parish Clerk

• Dorset Pages

• Dorset Parish Registers Index

• Dorset Poll Book 1807 A-K Transcriptions

• Dorset Poll Book 1807 L-Z Transcriptions

• Portland Year Book 1905

• Some Parish Registers and other Materials

• Southern Life (UK)

• Southwest England Genealogical Indices

• Visitation of Dorset 1623

Specific Town and Village Interest

• Abbotsbury

• Bear Mead and Corfe Mead

• Belchalwell

• Bere Regis Village

• The Blackmore Vale inc Gillingham, Pulham, Sherbourne, Stalbridge & Sturminster Newton.

• Briantspuddle, Affpuddle and Turnerspuddle

• Cerne Abbas Historical Society

• Chardstock Web Museum by The Chardstock Historical Record Group

• Christchurch Historical information and Photos

• Langton Matravers Local History and Preservation Society

• Longfleet Genealogy and History

• Martinstown

• Osmington Family History

• Radipole and Southill Genealogy

• Sturminster Newton OPC Project

• Swanage Genealogy Pages

• Upwey History Group

• Verwood Historical Society

• Dorset Index- Weymouth and Portland

• Weymouth & Melcombe Regis OPC

• Weymouth-Dorset History and Genealogy, Includes many of the surrounding villages

• South Winterborne Local History - Winterborne Came, Winterborne Herringston and Winterborne Monkton

Maps and Photographs

• Dorset Coast Digital Archives

• Weymouth and Portland Photographs and Records

Register Office

The Dorset Registration Service has three main offices.

Bournemouth and Poole are now separate authorities and are not connected to the three main offices, they are therefore listed separately.

Certificate Ordering Information: Certificates - Dorset For You

North Dorset Registration Districts

Blandford Office
Salisbury Road
Blandford
DT11 7LN

East Dorset Registration District

Ferndown Office
King George V Pavilion
Peter Grant Way
Church Road
Ferndown
BH22 9EN

South and West Dorset Registration District

Weymouth Office
The Guildhall
St Edmund Street
Weymouth
DT4 8AS

Certificate Orders can be placed by telephone and payment made by credit card at 01305 or 01202/ 225153.

Bournemouth

Bournemouth Register Office
The Town Hall
Bourne Avenue
Bournemouth
BH2 6DY

Email: linda.lovett@bournemouth.gov.uk

Copy Certificate Information

Poole

The Register Office
The Guildhall,
Market Street,
Poole,
BH15 1NP
Tel: 01202 633744

Email: registrars@poole.gov.uk

Requests for Research and Photographs in this area

Please read the Terms and Conditions before requesting a lookup.

A list of members who have volunteered to do Research lookups or take photographs can be found in the Research Offers forum or on the following pages in the Wiki:

• Research Offers: Cemetery
• Research Offers: Photograph
• Research Offers: Probate
• Research Offers: Record Office/Archive

If any member wishes to offer to do lookups or take photographs in a particular location, please leave a message on our Volunteers Needed thread.

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