Hamworthy

Hamworthy Church
 

Hamworthy is a parish¹ and village situated on a peninsula in Poole Harbour. The village is divided into Higher and Lower Ham and has also over time been referred to as Ham, Hamm, Ham Worthy, Ham Port, South Ham, and Southam. The name Hamworthy derives from the Saxon meaning ‘hamlet betwixt two waters’.

There was an ancient Hamworthy church in Higher Ham that was destroyed during the English Civil War in the 1640s. It was not until 1826 that the Church of St Michael was rebuilt on the site of the ruins of the old chapel. Material from the original chapel was used in the new stone structure which consisted of a chancel, nave, and tower with pinnacles, containing a clock and one bell. This church stood until 1959 when structural deterioration meant it was time to build a new church and the present St Michaels church was constructed adjacent to the site. The registers of St Michaels date from 1811 for burials and from 1826 for baptisms and marriages. Between 1646 and 1826 baptisms and marriages were mostly made in the register of Lytchett Minster.

¹Hamworthy was historically described as a parish as it was responsible for its own poor; however it was a chapelry, tithing, and hamlet in the vicarage of Sturminster Marshall up until the 1850s.

The rectory, an ancient red brick mansion built around 1604, was gifted by Lord Wimborne. It was a former seat of the Carews in Higher Ham that was visited by Cromwell and the Duke of Wellington, and said to be the first brick home built in Dorset. A large mound in the adjacent churchyard was said to mark the burial place of some Cromwellian soldiers. Lower Ham formed a separate manor (South Ham) which was held by the Worsleys and later the Carews and the Webbs of Canford.

The parish of Hamworthy did not extend over the whole of the peninsula – a portion at the extreme point, known as the Ham side, belonged to the parish of St James, Poole. The boundary between the two was denoted by a stone. A ferry connected Hamworthy to Poole and leases for the ferry and passage house are documented back to 1541. The first bridge connecting Hamworthy and Poole was erected in 1837 farther up the harbour to avoid obstructing shipping. It was an elegant wooden bridge and it opened up a thoroughfare from Poole to Blandford and Wareham. An iron swing bridge replaced the wooden one in the 1880s and it in turn was replaced with a lift bridge in the 1920s.

Both Hamworthy and Ham side were home to extensive ship-building yards and a quay. Other industries on the peninsular were a pottery, brick & tile works, and a ropewalk.

Hamworthy by Arthur G Bell
 

The OPC for Hamworthy is Jillian Lea

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