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In the Middle Ages, Poxwell, or Pokeswell, was a possession of Cerne Abbey. Following the abbey's dissolution, it was granted by Queen Elizabeth Tudor to Thomas Howard of Lulworth and Bindon. Poxwell Manor was the seat of the Henning family. It was built in 1613 by Poole merchant John Henning, whose son John had been High Sheriff of Dorsetshire in 1609. In 1699, the Manor passed to Elizabeth Trenchard née Henning, the wife of Colonel Thomas Trenchard of Wolfeton (in the parish of Charminster near Dorchester). In 1727, the Trenchards resettled the Henning estates. It is understood that King George III visited the house on a number of occasions. Thomas Hardy used the Manor as Oxwell Hall in his novel, The Trumpet Major. The Manor remained in the Trenchard family of Lytchett Matravers and Wolfeton until the 1970s. There was once a small church alongside the Manor, dedicated to St John the Evangelist, that dated to around the twelfth century. This was rebuilt by John Trenchard (who built the Trenchard cottages that line the road in 1843) in 1868, only to be demolished a hundred years later in 1969, as it was too costly to maintain. [edit] GovernancePoxwell was originally a parish in the Winfrith Hundred, one of the hundreds or early subdivisions of the county of Dorset. From 1894 until 1933 it was part of the Weymouth Rural District In 1933 Weymouth Rural District was abolished and the area split between Dorchester Rural Rural District and the municipal borough of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis. Poxwell was then in the Dorchester Rural Rural District until 1974. In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, all urban and rural districts across England were abolished and counties were reorganized into metropolitan and non-metropolitan districts. Poxwell joined the non-metropolitan West Dorset District. Under another set of local government reforms adopted on 1 April 2019, West Dorset District was abolished, and the County of Dorset (excluding Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole) became a single unitary authority. The area is now administered by Dorset Council. [edit] Dorset Research TipsOne 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.
[edit] CensusesUK censuses are taken every ten years in the years ending in "1". There was no census in 1941. Details are not made available for 100 years after a census. A number of online databases (both paid and free) provide transcriptions of censuses up to 1911. Most of these provide information for an individual or a family. Many also provide images of the originals and thus allow browsing of a page or perhaps a whole enumeration district. The 1921 census was published in January 2022. It is available at FindMyPast with a charge additional to the usual subscrition to view the manuscript entries (there is no extra charge to view the index). The Dorset Online Parish Clerks provides a good number of 19th century census transcriptions as well as lists of baptisms, marriages and burials as recorded in the parish. The formal Home Office Numbers (those starting with HO used in 1841 and 1851), the Registrar General Numbers (starting with RG in later decades, and the Enumeration District Numbers are included. There is an illustrated article to introduce each parish. The 1841 census differed from the later ones in two different ways.
From 1851 onwards people were asked for the county and civil parish in which they were born whether in or out of the county, and ages were expressed exactly (in months for infants). |