Shaftesbury St James, Dorset Genealogy

Guide to Shaftesbury St James, Dorset ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
SHAFTESBURY, or Shaston, a borough and market-town, and the head of a union, in the hundred of Moncton- up -Wimborne, county of Dorset, 28 miles (N. N. E.) from Dorchester, and 101 (W. S. W.) from London, on the great road from London to Exeter. The town comprises the parishes of St. Peter, Holy Trinity, and St. James, including the liberty of Alcester. The parliamentary limits extend into Wiltshire. There are places of worship for the Society of Friends, Independents, and Wesleyans.

Also see: Shaftesbury Holy Trinity, Shaftesbury St Peter, and Shaftesbury St Rumbold.

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.

Church records
To find the names of the neighbouring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes. This ancient parish (AP) was created before 1813. Church of England records began in 1560.

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.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain