EXTRACT FROM KELLY'S DIRECTORY OF DORSETSHIRE 1880
Durweston is a parish, in the petty sessional division of North Blandford, hundred of Pimperne, Blandford union and count court district, diocese of Salisbury, arch-deaconry of Dorset and rural deanery of Whitchurch fourth portion, 3 miles north-west from Blandford. The river Stour is crossed by a bridge on the east of the village. The church of St. Nicholas consists of chancel, nave and transept, with a square embattled tower; a monument to St Eloi, the patron saint of blacksmiths, has been discovered; the figures had been mutilated, probably by Cromwell’s commissioners. The registers date from the year 1598. The living is a rectory, with that of Bryanston annexed, joint yearly value £538, with residence, in the gift of Viscount Portman and held by the Rev. the Hon. Percival George Willoughby M.A. of Trinity College, Cambridge. Here is a brewery. Viscount Portman is lord of the manor and the principal land owner. The soil varies; subsoil chalk. The chief crops are wheat, barley and oats. The area is 1763 acres; ratable value £1864; the population in 1871 was 355.
Knighton tithing was formerly a distinct parish. In this parish is the seat of the Hon. William Henry Berkeley Portman M.P.
Parish Clerk, John Kearly
Post Office. John Kearly, receiver. Letters arrive from Blandford at 5.30.a.m.; dispatched at 7.20.p.m. The nearest money order office is at Blandford.
Parish School. Orlando Sheppard, master
Portman Hon. William Henry Berkeley M.P., D.L., J.P.; & at 22 Portman Square w. Brooks & Traveller’s Clubs, London, sw,
Portman, Edwd. Wm., J.P.
Goodwin, Mrs.
Willoughby, Rev. The Hon. Percival George M.A., Rectory
Bartlett, Charles Cox, farmer
Gifford, Samuel, farmer
Godwin, Brothers, brewers
Hardy, Ann Mrs., carpenter & wheelwright
Kearly, John, basket maker
Rapson, Joseph, beer retailer & butcher
Rickman, Frederick, miller
Shute, Robert, dairyman