Wareham History

	Wareham is eight miles south-west from Poole and 17 miles south-east from Dorchester. It has been occupied since before Roman times and the main part of the town is situated on rising ground between the Rivers Piddle and Frome, close to where they enter Poole Harbour. Wareham contains three parishes, Holy Trinity, Lady St Mary and St Martin's. Holy Trinity and St Martin's have long been no more than ruins and St Mary is therefore the main church of the town. St Mary's is an ancient church and has been the resting places for Anglo Saxon kings. Hutchins who wrote the History of Dorset was buried here.
Unfortunately the town suffered a catastrophic fire in 1762 and registers previous to this date were lost. There has been a Catholic church at Westport since 1889 and at one time there were three Methodist Chapels, Congregational in Chapel Lane, Wesleyan in North Street and Unitarian in South Street. Brick and clay manufacturing has been a principal trade for many centuries. The population of the municipal borough in 1891 was 2141 persons.	Church of St Mary, from an etching in Hutchins 'History of Dorset'
There is no OPC for Wareham at present On-line data
Census	Census will be transcribed.1841 Holy Trinity & Lady St Mary, 1841 St Martin Parish, 1861 Arne . 1881 on line for:- Lady St Mary Parish, St Martin Parish, & Holy Trinity Workhouse Residents 1861 & 1881 Note: The parish of Holy Trinity includes Arne & Stoborough.
Parish Registers The majority of these transcriptions have been kindly donated to the OPC Project by Mr Barry Chinchen.	Parish registers will be transcribed. Registers for St Mary's date from 1762 Baptisms 1731-1750, 1751-1770, 1771-1790, 1791-1815, 1816-1841 Marriages 1594-1791, 1792-1841 Burials 1731-1812 Holy Trinity & all churches 1583-1757, 1758-1781, 1782-1815, 1816-1841 Some Arne parish records are available.
Postal Directories	Description of Wareham from Pigot's 1830 Directory, Pigot's 1842/44 Directory, Kelly's 1842 Directory, Slaters Directory 1852/53, Harrod's 1865 Directory, Kelly's Directory 1923 Extract from: Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72)
Mayors & Clerks	A complete list of the Mayors of Wareham from 1336-2007, Clerks & Recorders 1703-2007
War Memorial	Photograph and list of those commemorated on the Wareham Cenotaph and details of War Graves
Wareham Court Leet	A short history of the Wareham Court Leet
Wills	Wills for Wareham Residents proven at Blandford
17th Century Records	A transcription of the Protestation Returns of 1641 and the Hearth Tax of 1882-1664
Photographs	Some photographs of the parish will be available shortly.
People and Places	Rev. John Hutchins – The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset, Extract from:-Cuckoo Pounds and Singing Barrows, Loss of the Wareham and Poole Passage Boat, Chafins Charity School, Noise Abatement Notice 1839 Dorset Chronicle excerpts
Maps	The 1891 ordinance survey maps of the parish can be seen at the old-maps site, just enter 'Wareham' under place search.
Street plan of Wareham at the end of the 18th century	John Calcraft's map of Wareham. This file is 209kb so will be slow to download. Taken from Hutchins 'History of Dorset'.
Links	Wareham Town Council Website
	For modern location maps visit:- www.multimap.com Ruins of the church of St Martin, from Hutchins.