Child Okeford is a village on the River Stour and  is 4 miles south east form Sturminster Newton and 6 miles north west from Blandford Forum. To the north & west are the parishes of Manston & West Orchard, Iwerne Courtney lies to the east, Steepleton Iwerne to the south east, Shillingstone to the south west and Hammoon to the west. The church of St Nicholas has a fine Norman tower and the east wall of the chancel has some excellent wall paintings. The registers date from the year 1651. There is also a Wesleyan chapel in the parish. Hamilton Hill is in the parish on which there are the remains of an early British camp. 

There is a Post Office and the National School was built in 1846 and then rebuilt and enlarged in 1874 for 220 children.  The area of the parish extends to 1561 acres and most of this is laid to pasture, with some wheat, barley and roots being grown. The population in 1851 was 778, in 1861 it was 777 , in 1881 it had risen to 837 and in 1891 was 789 persons.

Photographs courtesy of Dorinda Miles. Text extracted from Kelly's Directory of 1895.

There is currently no Online Parish Clerk (OPC) for Child Okeford. This page is made possible due to donations of transcriptions from various people. If you would be interested in being OPC for Child Okeford please contact the OPC Co-ordinator [contact on the Home Page]

Other Records

Extracts from Hutchins History of Dorset 1870
Names from the Protestation Return of 1641
Will of Sarah Christopher 1757

For a 1920's map of the area, click on the thumbnail on the left [144Kb]