Durweston

St Nicholas Church from an old postcard	Durweston is a parish 2 miles north of Blandford on the main road to Sturminster Newton, though much of the village lies to the west of the road. The River Stour is crossed by a bridge of three arches just to the east of the village. Much of the village was part of the Portman Estates whose family home lay nearby in Bryanston (now a public school). Durweston parish was originally two parishes: Durweston and Knighton. The present-day parish church is on the site of the church that belonged to Knighton parish; the original Durweston church occupied a site near Durweston Mill, though little trace remains today. The two parishes were combined in 1381. The parish church of St Nicholas has a tower which dates to around the 14th century, the rest of the church seems to be in keeping with this age but was in fact a skillful restoration by P. C. Hardwick in 1846.
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Census	1841 Census [Jacqui Bowen] 1871 Census [Christel Muncaster] 1881 Census [Ralph Woolfrey] 1891 Census [John Ridout] 1901 Census [Andrew Wright]
Parish Registers	Baptisms 1731-1751 [Jenfer Dando] 1752-1812 [Jan Hibberd] 1825-1833, 1834-1878 [Julia Graham] 1838-1884 [PR][Missing Years from above only][Jan Hibberd] Marriages 1731-1808 [Jenfer Dando] 1825-1832, 1833-1837 [Julia Graham] Burials 1731-1800 [Jenfer Dando], 1801-1812, 1813-1824[Jan Hibberd] 1825-1878 [BT][Julia Graham] 1830-1873 [Missing Years from above only][PR][Jan Hibberd] 1879-1915 [PR][Jan Hibberd]
Postal Directories	Extract from Kelly's 1880 Directory [Lynda Small]
Other Records
Photographs	See below
Useful Links
Other information
Maps	The 1891 Ordnance Survey maps of the parish can be seen at the old-maps site, just enter 'Durweston' under place search. For modern location maps visit:- www.multimap.com

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Records held at the Dorset History Centre [Ref PE-DUR]	Registers Christenings 1730-1884. Marriages 1731-2014. Burials 1731-1915.
Registration District (for the purpose of civil registration births, marriages, deaths & civil partnerships)	1 Jul 1837-30 Jun 1956: Blandford 1 Jul 1956-31 Mar 1974: Poole 1 Apr 1974-17 Oct 2005: North Dorset
Knighton House now a girls school	Durweston Mill ~ date unknown

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