Dorset
Contents
Dorset:
County town: Dorchester
Other major towns: Poole, Weymouth
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 also 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 also the location for “the French Lieutenant’s Woman” by John Fowles. The coastal areas of Lyme Regis and Chramouth are well known by fossil hunters; Mary Anning having discovered an icthyosaurus locally.
The Dorset is also said to be the home of Scouting, with the first scout camp organised by Sir Robert Baden Powell on Brownsea island in Aug 1907.
Thomas Hardy, the writer, was born at Upper Brockhampton, near Dorchester.
Register Offices
- 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
For Dorset North Registration Districts contact
Blandford Office
Salisbury Road
Blandford
DT11 7LN
For Dorset East Registration District contact
Ferndown Office
King George V Pavilion
Peter Grant Way
Church Road
Ferndown
BH22 9EN
For Dorset South and West Registration District contact
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
Poole
The Register Office
The Guildhall,
Market Street,
Poole,
BH15 1NP
E-mail registrars@poole.gov.uk
Tel: 01202 633744
Record Office lookup Requests
Please read the Terms and Conditions before requesting a lookup.
By requesting a lookup you are agreeing to the Terms and Conditions as linked above.
Record Office Lookup Contacts
County Records Office Address
Dorset History Centre
Bridport Road
Dorchester
Dorset
DT1 1RP
United Kingdom
Cemetery Lookup Requests
Please read the Terms and Conditions before requesting a lookup.
By requesting a lookup you are agreeing to the Terms and Conditions as linked above.
Cemetery Lookup Contacts
- Bournemouth:Queenbee
- Bournemouth:Merry Monty Montgomery-For cemeteries a grave reference number is required
- Burton:Merry Monty Montgomery-For cemeteries a grave reference number is required
- Christchurch:Queenbee (can do town centres easily, outside town, as and when)
- Christchurch:Merry Monty Montgomery-For cemeteries a grave reference number is required
- Holdenhurst:Merry Monty Montgomery-For cemeteries a grave reference number is required
Links
OPC
Local History Society
Archives
- Southwest England Genealogical Indices Includes some Newspaper Extracts, Parish records and Inquests
Family and social history
Maps & Photographs
Countywide interest
Specific Town Village interest
- The Blackmore Vale Covers Gillingham, Pulham, Sherbourne, Stalbridge and Sturminster Newton and includes some Parish Records
- Dorset Index - Genealogy Weymouth and Portland, including some parish records and photos
- Winterbourne Came Includes some Parish Records
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