Worth Matravers          

 

Worth Matravers is a small village 3½ miles S.S.E. from Corfe Castle bounded by the English Channel on the south and the nearby seaside Swanage 4 miles east. The parish in 1898 comprised of an area of 2,645 acres and the soil being stiff clay with overlying limestone.

The church, St Nicholas of Myra, stands close to the centre of the stone-built village and is one of the oldest in Dorset. With a Saxon door blocked up in the 12th century the church is memorable for its Norman nave, tower and windows and Early English chancel. It was extensively restored in 1869 after it had become so dilapidated that services had to be held in the village school.

In the churchyard is the grave of Benjamin Jesty, a Dorset yeoman reputed to be the first person to inoculate anyone with cowpox to ward off smallpox. View some photos of the church while listening to the bells of St Nicholas and also an interior 360o panorama of St Nicholas.


St Nicholas of Myra Church

 

 

The 12th Century chapel of St Aldhelm which stands on St Aldhelm's Head overlooking the English Channel is thought to have once been a chantry where a priest would celebrate mass for the safety of sailors. It is also now believed that the chapel may have been built on an earlier timber structure that was the centre of a pre-Conquest Christian enclosure.

For centuries Worth Matravers was one of the main centres for the quarrying of Purbeck marble, and surface workings of the old quarries can be seen in the hills around the village. The dark grey marble supports the tower and spire of Salisbury Cathedral.

 The population of Worth Matravers in 1891 was 229. 
 In 1991 it was 603.

 

 

The Online Parish Clerk for Worth Matravers is Sue Mills

Any enquiries please contact by email at the following:

I am an unpaid volunteer willing to assist others with their genealogical research
and should in no way be confused with the County Council appointed Parish Clerk.

I live in Western Australia.

 

 

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FOR RECORDS FROM

SWANAGE - LANGTON MATRAVERS - WORTH MATRAVERS - STUDLAND - CHURCH KNOWLE
 AND MY PERSONAL RESEARCH


 

 

Hutchins's History of Dorset

Third Edition

 

 

 

     16th and 17th Century Records :

 

 

 

     Parish Registers :

 

  • Marriages - 1585- 1841
    Transcription by Michael Norman

                                1585 - 1841

 

 

 

 

     Memorial Inscriptions :

 

 

     Militia List :

  • Some Purbeck Militia Lists - 1759
     

  • Purbeck Militia List - 1798
    by Kim Parker

 

 

 

     Census Returns :

  • Full transcription of 1803 list of names of inhabitants in preparation for a French Invasion - Page 1

  • Full transcription of 1841 census - Page 1
  • Full transcription of 1851 census - Page 1
  • Full transcription of 1861 census - Page 1

  • Full transcription of 1871 census - Page 1
     

  • Full transcription of 1891 census - Page 1
     

  • 1931 Register of Electors - Page 1
     

 

 

 

     Wills :

  • Index of PCC Wills from the period 1576-1808
     
    Abstracts of PCC Wills -     Page 1

  • George Fry's Dorset Administration List - PCC

  • Calendar of Wills and Administrations
    - Archdeaconry and Consistory Court - 1664 - 1852

  • Abstracts of Bristol Consistory Court and Archdeaconry Court of Dorset Wills
     

  • Purbeck Miscellaneous Wills -  Page 1
     by  Richard Wiltshire 
                                

 

 

     Directories :

  • Worth Matravers Trade Directories Index - 1849 - 1939
    By John Patrick   
  • Post Office Directory - 1867
  • Kelly's Directory - 1895
  • Kelly's Directory - 1915 

 

 

 

     Maps :

  • Tresswell's Map C 1586
  • Braye's Map - 1890
  • Worth Matravers Village Auction - 1919
  • Purbeck Quarries Map

 

 

   

    Land Records :

  • Particular of the Manor of Worth Matravers - 1770 
  • Worth Matravers - Tithe Apportion - 1835-1850
    Names and Map

 

 

 

     Photos :

  • Images of St Nicholas Church - 1 - 2  
  • Images of Worth Matravers - 1 - 2 
  • Worth Matravers of Olde 

  • Purbeck Folk  - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 

  • Worth Matravers Village Auction - 1 - 2 - 3 - Plan
            Special thanks to Martin Ayres and Jean Smith

 

 



     This and That :

  • Lumey - an extract from Roy Martin's book

  • Peak District Mines - 1896

  • Dorchester Prison Admission and Discharge Registers, 1782 - 1901

 

 

 

     Suggested Reading :

 

 

 

     Researchers :    

  • List of those researching in Purbeck
    To be added to the list contact

 

 

 

     Links :

  • List of Dorset Mines - 1908
     
  • Dorset Life Magazine - The Story of Wing Commander Louis Strange, D.S.O., O.B.E., M.C., D.F.C.
  • Obituaries from the Fortnightly Returns of the
    Operative Society of Masons, Quarrymen and
    Allied Trades of England and Wales

 

 

A place to share Purbeck research

 

 

Ancestors of Sue Mills

 

Other OPC Parishes - Swanage - Langton Matravers - Studland - Church Knowle

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