Hampreston, Dorset Genealogy

England Dorset  Dorset Parishes  Hampshire  Hampshire Parishes  Hampreston

Parish History
HAMPRESTON (All Saints), a parish, partly within the liberty of Westover, S. division of the county of Southampton, but chiefly in the hundred of Cranborne, union of Wimborne and Cranborne, Wimborne division of the county of Dorset, 3½ miles (E. S. E.) from Wimborne. There are a place of worship for Independents, and a Roman Catholic chapel; and a convent has been established for 30 nuns under the superintendence of an abbess.

The parish borders Hampshire, where a small part of the parish extended before the border change in 1974. The civil parish was renamed Ferndown in 1972. Hamlets within the parish include Stapehill and Longham.

The church was originally a Chapelry of Wimborne Minster, before becoming a parish of itself from 1440

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Census records
Transcriptions from Hampreston OPC • 3

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Dorset Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.

1848 Gazetteer entry HAMPRESTON (All Saints), a parish, partly within the liberty of Westover, S. division of the county of Southampton, but chiefly in the hundred of Cranborne, union of Wimborne and Cranborne, Wimborne division of the county of Dorset, 3½ miles(E. S. E.) from Wimborne. This parish anciently formed part of that of Wimborne, from which it was separated about the year 1440. It is situated on the navigable river Stour, which is its southern boundary,and between the roads leading respectively from Southampton to Exeter and Poole.

1870's Gazetteer entry HAMPRESTON, a parish in the district of Wimborne, and counties of Dorset and Hants; on the river Stour, near the Southampton and Dorchester railway, 3¼ miles ESE of Wimborne Minster. Pop., 1,115. There are two dissenting chapels.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites

 * Hampreston - Dorset OPC