Dorset OPC

Hanford

 

Dorset OPC

Hanford: parish church, by Chris Downer
Photo © Chris Downer Hanford: parish church, 2001. Available for reuse under this Creative Commons licence

Hanford is a small parish on the River Stour, 4½ miles NW of Blandford. The Parish covering only 600 acres, lies across the Chalk saddle between Hambledon and Hod Hills, which reach altitudes of 600 ft. and 450 ft. respectively in the N. and S.E. extremities of the area. The former village lay at the junction of the Chalk and the upper Greensand, overlooking the river. The manor at one time belonged to Tarrent nunnery, and later belonged to the Seymer family.

The Parish Church of St. Michael and All Angels (left), some 50 yds. N. of Hanford House, has walls of coursed ashlar and is roofed with stone-slates; the walls are probably of mediaeval origin but the church was largely rebuilt in the middle of the 17th century.

Hanford House (right) is set on ground which falls away to South and East to the Stour, about ½ m. away. The mansion has stone walls and is roofed with stone-slates; it has two principal storeys with attics and cellars and is planned around a square courtyard, on the model of an Italian palace. It was built for Sir Robert Seymer between 1604 and 1623. Nowadays it is the home of Hanford Preparatory School for Girls.

Settlement Remains of the former hamlet of Hanford lie immediately north of the Church. A population of eight is recorded in 1086 and the same number of taxpayers is listed in 1333. The tax paid in 1428 indicates by the terms of the Subsidy that there still were more than ten inhabitants. By 1650 Hanford House was the only inhabited building in the parish.

Hanford: Hanford House (now a School), by Chris Downer
Photo © Chris Downer Hanford: Hanford House (now a School), 2001. Available for reuse under this Creative Commons licence



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Census 1841 Census [with Child Okeford]
1851 Census
[with Stourpaine]
1861 Census
[with Stourpaine]
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Records held at the Dorset History Centre
[Ref PE-HAN]
 
Registers
Christenings 1832-1954. Marriages 1815-1835, 1847-1949. Burials 1815, 1828-1874, 1918. Banns 1862-1949
Registration District
(for the purpose of civil registration births, marriages, deaths & civil partnerships)
1 Jul 1837-20 May 1862: Blandford
21 May 1862-31 Mar 1974: Sturminster
1 Apr 1974-17 Oct 2005: North Dorset

 

 

 


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