Place:Hanford, Dorset, England

Watchers
NameHanford
TypeExtra parochial area, Ancient parish, Civil parish
Coordinates50.8982°N 2.2289°W
Located inDorset, England
See alsoRedland Hundred, Dorset, Englandhundred in which it was located
Sturminster Rural, Dorset, Englandrural district in which it was located 1894-1974
Redland Hundred, Dorset, Englandhundred of which it was a part
source: Family History Library Catalog

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Hanford from John Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles of 1887:

"Hanford.-- par., N. Dorset, on river Stour, 4 miles NW. of Blandford, 460 ac., pop. 56; contains the seat of Hanford House.

There is no article on Hanford in Wikipedia, nor any notes in A Vision of Britain through Time stating the Hanford was absorbed into another parish.

Dorset Research Tips

One of the many maps available on the website A Vision of Britain through Time is one from the Ordnance Survey Series of 1900 illustrating the parish boundaries of Dorset at the turn of the 20th century. This map blows up to show all parishes and many of the small villages and hamlets. The internal boundaries on this map are the rural districts which are indicated in WeRelate's "See Also" box for the place concerned (unless it is an urban parish).

The following websites have pages explaining their provisions in WeRelate's Repository Section. Some provide free online databases. Some are linked to Ancestry.

  • GENUKI makes a great many suggestions as to other websites with worthwhile information about Dorset, but it has left the 19th century descriptions of each of the ecclesiastical parishes to UK Genealogy Archives which presents facts differently. Neither GENUKI or UK Genealogy Archives deal with the more modern civil parishes.
  • FamilySearch Wiki provides a similar information service to GENUKI which may be more up-to-date, but UK Genealogy Archives may prove more helpful.
  • A Vision of Britain through Time has
  1. organization charts of the hierarchies of parishes within hundreds, registration districts and rural and urban districts up to 1974
  2. excerpts from gazetteers of the late 19th century outlining individual towns and parishes
  3. reviews of population through the time period 1800-1960
  • The contents of the Victoria County History is provided by British History Online for many English counties, but not for Dorset. Instead they have provided the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments of England (RCHME Inventory Volumes) published in 1972 in five volumes covering the county in geographical areas. Thes articles describe buildings rather than towns and villages, but may be of use in researching a manor-owning family.
  • More local sources can often be found by referring to "What Links Here" in the column on the left.