Place:Toller Porcorum, Dorset, England

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia Toller Porcorum (#21 on map) is a civil parish and a village in Dorset, England, situated in the Toller valley 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Dorchester. In the 2011 census the civil parish—which also includes the small settlements of Higher and Lower Kingcombe to the north—had a population of 307.[1] Like the other Toller villages of Toller Fratrum and Toller Whelme, the name was taken from the river, which is now known as the Hooke. The addition "Porcorum" means "of the pigs" in Latin; the village was in the past sometimes known as Swines Toller, but more often as Great Toller. Toller Porcorum is also an ancient Anglican ecclesiastical parish. The church is dedicated to Saints Peter and Andrew and is remarkable for the drooping chancel [1]. From 1862 to 1975 the village had a railway station on the Bridport Railway. Despite its small size the village has been home to a number of notable people. George of Clarence (1449-1478), the brother of English kings Edward IV and Richard III, (famous for having been mysteriously drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine) was at one point the owner of the majority of the village.

Governance

Toller Porcorum was originally a parish in both the Beaminster Forum and Redhone Hundred and the Tollerford Hundred, two of the hundreds or early subdivisions of the county of Dorset. From 1894 until 1974 it was part of the Dorchester 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. Dorchester Rural District 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.

• Repository:Dorset History Centre
• Repository:Dorset Online Parish Clerks (free online transcriptions for many parishes)
• Repository:UK Genealogy Archives
• Repository:Dorset Family History Society (England)
• Repository:Somerset and Dorset Family History Society
• Repository:Dorset Genealogy Resources
• Repository:FreeBMD.org.uk for the GRO civil registration index
• Repository:FreeCEN - UK Census Online Project
• Repository:FreeREG - UK parish register indexes

• 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.