Place:Cranborne, Dorset, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Cranborne is a village in East Dorset, England. As of the 2011 census, the parish has a population of 779, remaining unchanged from 2001.

The appropriate electoral ward is called 'Crane'. This ward includes Wimborne St. Giles in the west and south to Woodlands. The total population of this ward at the 2011 census was 2,189.

Once a very small, intensely agricultural market town, the village is on chalk downland called Cranborne Chase, part of a large expanse of chalk in southern England which includes the nearby Salisbury Plain and Dorset Downs.

The parish includes the hamlet of Boveridge.

The following description from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72 is provided by the website A Vision of Britain Through Time (University of Portsmouth Department of Geography).

"CRANBORNE, a small town, a parish, a [registration] sub-district, and a hundred, in Dorset. The town stands in Cranborne Chase, near the boundary with Wilts[hire]; 7 miles NW of Ringwood [railway] station, and 9 NNE of Wimborne-Minster. It dates from ancient times; is well-built; has a post office† under Salisbury, two inns, a church, a Wesleyan chapel, and an alms-house; and gives the title of Viscount to the Marquis of Salisbury.

"The church belonged to a Benedictine priory; is partly Norman; and has a carved pulpit, and monuments of the Hoopers. The priory was founded in 980; and had originally an abbey-status, but became subject, in 1102, to Tewkesbury. The priory-house continued to stand till 1703. Markets are held on Thursdays; and fairs, on 24 Aug. and 6 Dec. The parish includes also the tythings of Alderholt, Holwell, Blagdon, Boveridge, Verwood, and Monckton-up-Wimborne. Acres: 13,730. Real property: £8,603. Population: 2,656. Houses: 554. The manor belonged, about 950, to Aylward de Meau; went, sometime afterwards, to the Crown; was given by William Rufus to Robert-Fitz-Hamon; passed to the Earl of Gloucester and the Earls of March; and belongs now to the Marquis of Salisbury. St. Giles' Park, 1 mile S of the town, is the seat of the Earl of Shaftesbury. Remains of a circular double-ditched ancient camp of 6 acres, are on Castle-Hill. Much of the parish is hilly and of small value. The living is a vicarage, united with the [perpetual] curacies of Boveridge and Verwood, in the diocese of Salisbury. Value: £151. Patron: the Marquis of Salisbury. Charities: £92. The vicarage of Aldersholt is a separate benefice. Bishop Stillingfleet was a native."

Research Tips