Parish of Maiden Newton
Postal and Commercial Directory's
The following Directory's are transcribed from photocopies of the Directory
kindly provided by the Dorchester Reference Library.
Ellis Miles March 2003.
LISTED ENTRIES FOR:-
DESCRIPTION FOR MAIDEN NEWTON
(Kelly's 1898) is a parish and market town, pleasantly situated on the river Frome, with a junction station on the Weymouth line of the Great Western Railway, where the Bridport line branches off, 8 miles north -west from Dorchester, 9 miles south-east from Beaminster, 10 miles north-east from Bridport and 13 miles south of Sherborne, 15 miles north-west from Weymouth and 140 ½ miles from London, in the western division of the county, Hundred of Tollerford,Dorchester petty sessional division, union and county court district and rural Deanery of Bridport (Abbotsbury portion), arch-deaconry of Dorset and diocese of Salisbury, The church of St Mary. situated at the extreme end of the parish is an ancient edifice of stone, chiefly in the Perpendicular style, consisting of a chancel, nave, south aisle, transept, south porch, and a central embattled Norman tower with pinnacles containing six bells: there are 400 sittings. The register dates from 1555.The living is a rectory, net yearly value £382, including 120 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of The Earl of Ilchester, who has two turns, and the representatives of the late Lord Egremont, who have one turn, and held since 1868 by the Rev. Montague Hankey M.A. of Trinity College, Cambridge, cannon and prebendary of Sarum and rural dean of Bridport (Abbotsbury portion). Here are Congregational and Weslyan chapels. Brown's charity of £3 15s. yearly is for distribution. There is an iron foundry here and an agency of the Wilts and Dorset Bank. The A squadron of the Dorset (Queen's Own) Yeomanry Cavalry, comprising of A, B and D field troops, has its headquarters here. A cattle sale, instituted in 1878, is held occasionally on Mondays ,conducted by public auction by Giles Symonds , of Sydling, and fairs are held on the 9th of March and the 4th of May. Algernon Thomas Sheridan esq. of Frampton Court, is Lord of The Manor and principal landowner. The soil is gravel; subsoil, chalk. The chief crops are wheat, barley and oats, and there is some land in pasture. The area is 2,854 acres; rateable value, £3,968; the population in 1891 was 694. Notton is a mile and a half south-east on the river Frome. Cruxton is a tithing , 1 mile south on the south bank of the river Frome, where a market and fair were formerly held in 1794, a tesselated pavement was discovered at Throop, near Maiden Newton.