Dorchester & Fordington

Slaters Directory 1852/3

Dorchester with Fordington and Neighbourhoods

Transcribed by Michael Russell OPC Fordington January 2008

Dorchester, the county town, and a corporate and parliamentary borough, having separate jurisdiction, is locally in the division of its name, and hundred of Uggscomb; 120 miles s.w by w from London, and 38s.w. from Salisbury. This is an ancient and respectable well-built town, pleasantly seated on an ascent above the Frome, which river bounds it on the north side, at the distance of about six miles from the British channel, and on the south and west it opens on verdant downs, diversified by cornfields. Dorchester, standing on the via icenia, was of considerable Importance under the Roman dominion: the several vicinal roads issuing hence, the coins & other relics of that people found here, the Maiden Castle, the amphitheatre (the most perfect of its kind extant in Britain), and the camp at Poundbury, near it , furnish indisputable proofs of its having been a station of high consequence. The town was almost entirely destroyed by fire in 1613; the loss by this calamity was estimated at £200,000. In 1685, on the occasion of the Duke of Monmouth’s rebellion, the assizes were held here before Judge Jeffries, when twenty-nine out of thirty persons, tried in one day, were found guilty and condemned; on the following day, it is recorded, two hundred and ninety-two pleaded guilty, and received sentence- of whom eighty were executed. On the morning of the trial, this ruthless judge ordered the court to be hung with scarlet. The town forms an irregular square, and is composed principally of three spacious streets; these with the subordinate ones, are clean, well paved and lighted, and present handsome dwellings of brick and stone. The most conspicuous structures, exclusive of those for the purposes of devotion are - the town hall a handsome spacious edifice; the shire hall, a plain neat building, comprising the courts; and the new goal house of correction, erected on the plan recommended by the philanthropic Howard. The immediate vicinity of the town, on the south and west and part of the north and east, is surrounded by agreeable walks, planted with rows of lime and sycamore trees, as are most of the leading avenues.

Charters of incorporation were granted to Dorchester by Edward II, James I, and Charles I; - under the provisions of the latter the borough was governed until the recent municipal act dictated the corporate body to consist of a mayor, four aldermen and twelve councillors, with the usual assistant officers, under the style of the mayor, bailiffs, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Dorchester; the same act provides for it a commission of the peace. The assizes and quarter sessions for the county are held here, as also quarter sessions for the borough; a court of record, for the recovery of debts under £40 is held in  the guild hall once in three weeks; and a court leet is held annually at Michaelmas by the mayor, who is lord of the manor during the period of the mayorality. A county court for the recovery of debts under £50 is also held monthly at the Shire Hall. The spinning of worsted yarn and the manufacture of woollen goods , formerly ranked as the staple here; but these branches have greatly declined, if they are not entirely lost - blanketing and fiuscy being the only articles now manufactured. Dorchester ale has long been famed, and it still maintains a superior character; the mutton of this district is liekwise held in great and general estimation. The privilege of representation in parliament was confirmed in the 23rd of Edward I, and from that time the borough has continued to return two members; those at present sitting for the borough are, Henry Gerard STURT , Esq (re-elected) and Richard Binsley SHERIDAN Esq

There are three churches under the establishment and chapels for Baptists, Independents, Unitarians and Wesleyan Methodists. The church of St Peter situated in the centre of the town, is a venerable and beautiful gothic pile; with a tower ninety feet high, ornamented with turrets and battlements; the living is a curacy under Holy Trinity parish, but for all legal purposes is a district parish. The church of All Saints was rebuilt after the great fire in 1613; the benefice is a discharged rectory, in the gift of the corporation. Holy Trinity church is an elegant and commodious structure erected near the site of the ancient church, pulled down in 1821; this living is also a rectory, with St Peter’s united in the patronage of the corporation. Among the charitable establishments of Dorchester are two free schools, one of which has three exhibitions to the universities; and some well endowed almshouses; also the hospital, or workhouse, which is an endowed charity. The markets are held on Wednesday and Saturday; fair February 14th, Trinity Monday, July 6th and August 6th, chiefly for cattle and sheep. By the census for 1851, the borough of Dorchester contained 4,261 inhabitants.

FORDINGTON: a parish giving name to a hundred, anciently formed part of the town of Dorchester as it now does a portion of the borough. It derives its name from the ford over the river Frome, which is now crossed by several bridges. The Parish church of St George is an ancient cruciform structure, of different styles of architecture; the living is a discharged vicarage, in the gift of the prebendary of Fordington in Salisbury cathedral. There is also a neat chapel of ease in the parish, the incumbent of which is the Rev. Arthur HUNLEY.

POST OFFICE: South Street; Francis LOCK, Post Master - Letters from London and all parts (except those places named below) arrive every morning at three and afternoon at a quarter past five, and are despatched every morning at a quarter-past ten and night at a quarter past ten- Letters from Lyme Regis and Bridport, arrive every morning at ten, and are despatched thereto every evening at half past five -- Letters from Weymouth arrive every morning at half past ten and evening at nine, and are despatched thereto every morning at four and afternoon at half past four --Letters from Sherborne and Yeovil arrive every evening at nine and are despatched every morning at four --Letters from Exeter and Lyme Regis arrive every evening at twenty minutes past nine, and are despatched every morning at four.

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