Dorset

The famous Greyhound Pub submitted by Lady of leisure

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

• Bournemouth/Christchurch library frequently queenbee
• Poole library less frequently queenbee

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

• COUNTY RECORD OFFICE

• LIBRARY LINKS

• Local History Gateway Page

OPC

• Dorset Online Parish Clerk

Local History Society

• IGI Dorset

• DORSET FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY

• Somerset and Dorset FHS

Archives

• Dorset Parish Registers Index

• Dorset Poll Book 1807 A-K Transcriptions

• Dorset Poll Book 1807 L-Z Transcriptions

• Dorset Marriages

• Portland Year Book 1905

• Visitation of Dorset 1623

• Southwest England Genealogical Indices Includes some Newspaper Extracts, Parish records and Inquests

Family and social history

• Dorset Workhouses

Maps & Photographs

• Weymouth and Portland Photographs and Records

Countywide interest

• Southern Life (UK)

• The Dorset Historic Churches Trust

• West Country Newspapers

• Village Index-Church Photographs

• Dorset Churches

• Dorset Pages

Specific Town Village interest

• Dorset Index - Genealogy A miscellany of information, particularly about Weymouth and Portland, including some parish records and photos

• Sturminster Newton OPC project

• Weymouth and Melcombe Regis OPC

• Kingston Village OPC

• The Blackmore Vale Covers Gillingham, Pulham, Sherbourne, Stalbridge and Sturminster Newton and includes some Parish Records

• Parish Records of Wyke Regis, Melcombe Regis and Weymouth

• Longfleet (now part of Poole) Genealogy

• Winterbourne Came Includes some Parish Records

• Radipole and Southill Genealogy

• Swanage Genealogy Pages

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