Place:Bothenhampton, Dorset, England

Watchers
NameBothenhampton
Alt namesWalditchsource: village in parish
Old Walditchsource: another name for above
Lower Walditchsource: 20th century settlement
TypeAncient parish, Civil parish
Coordinates50.724°N 2.751°W
Located inDorset, England
See alsoLiberty of Loders and Bothenhampton, Dorset, Englandancient liberty comprised of the two parishes named
Godderthorne Hundred, Dorset, Englandhundred in which it was located
Bridport Rural, Dorset, Englandrural district 1894-1974
West Dorset District, Dorset, Englanddistrict municipality covering the area 1974-2019


the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Bothenhampton (#3 on map) is a civil parish and a village in southwest Dorset, England, just outside the town of Bridport. It is separated from the town only by the River Asker and the A35 Bridport by-pass. In the UK census of 2011 the civil parish, including the settlement of Walditch (see below) had a population of 2,131.

The parish church, Holy Trinity, was designed by the Arts and Crafts movement architect Edward Schroeder Prior in 1889. It was his first church. By the late 19th century the 15th century Old Holy Trinity Church had fallen into disrepair. The new church was funded by J. P. F. Gundry, one of the directors of the West Bay Building Company, by public subscription and anonymous donation. The roof is the most radical feature of the church. The arches spring at 2’6 above floor level and rise to a ridge 30’ high. The windows are filled with a forerunner of Prior’s Early English glass. The altar table and furnishings were designed by another leading Arts and Crafts Movement architect, William Lethaby, as was the altar front with its intertwined wild roses, leaves and stems.

Image:Bridport RD 1900 small.png

In 1801 the population was 334 and in 1901 this was still only 423. New houses were built between the 1st and 2nd World Wars and there was a lot of building in the 1960s. By 1980 the population had grown to approx 1200 and by 2001 it had become 2,186 which was 2% of the population of West Dorset.

Along with those of the parishes of Swyre (#15), Loders (#11) and Puncknowle (#12), the 18th and 19th century inhabitants of Bothenhampton are well represented in the contributions to WeRelate.

Walditch

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Walditch is a small village situated in the civil parish of Bothenhampton, about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) to the east of the town of Bridport. The name Walditch is derived from an older term Waldyke, which alludes to the village's location: Walditch is located in the valley of a curved hill that encompasses the village; the hill has a dry stone wall still partially in place, which continues over towards Bothenhampton.

Walditch has a real tennis court, on the site of which King Henry VII of England played during his visits to the area.

Walditch is composed of Old Walditch (the original Walditch) and Lower Walditch, a housing estate built around 1998. The Old Walditch may have been a separate ancient parish, but it was part of Bothenhampton before 1900.

Governance

Bothenhampton was originally a parish in the Liberty of Loders and Bothenhampton which later joined the Godderthorne Hundred, one of the hundreds or early subdivisions of the county of Dorset. From 1894 until 1974 it was part of the Bridport Rural District.

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. Bothenhampton 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.

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.

Censuses

UK 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.

  • The question "where born" was to be answered either with the words "in county" (or "y") or "out of county" (or "n") with perhaps a more specific place in the case of those born abroad.
  • Ages for adults (usually those over 15, though some enumerators gave specific ages up to 20) were rounded down to the nearest 5 years. (i.e., for persons aged 15 years and under 20 write 15; 20 years and under 25 write 20; 25 years and under 30 write 25; and so on up to the eldest interval.

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).

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Bothenhampton. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Walditch. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.