Looking for your Ancestors?

A list of the gravestones in the Churchyard (now closed for all burials except the interment of ashes) and in the separate lower Burial Ground (near the school) has been compiled by the Online Parish Clerk (OPC) website at http://www.opcdorset.org/BucklandNewtonFiles/BucklandNewton.htm . There are also plans of both the Churchyard (originally prepared by West Dorset DC) and the lower Burial Ground, and tables cross-referencing the plot numbers on the Churchyard and lower Burial Ground to the names on the graves. These again can be accessed through the Graves links on this website and may contain more recent information. Please note that the cross-referencing of graves plan in the churchyard and the names on the gravestones is an ongoing process, as deciphering some of the gravestones is proving time-consuming. 

 A particularly poignant memorial is the small stone pillar with four panels, to the north of the church and close to the boundary hedge. This commemorates 13 local children (the youngest aged 10 months) and one adult who died in an epidemic of either cholera or typhoid in 1858. This year was known nationally as ‘the year of the Great Stink’. Presumably unusually hot weather produced a nationwide epidemic.

Registers

When it became law that Registers must be kept John Phillips, himself a public notary, was Vicar of Buckland Newton. The Register which he made, starting with entries for 1568, is a work of art and in fine condition. This, together with all Registers and Documents relating to the Parish may be seen in the Dorset County Archives, just below the Public Library car park at County Hall. There is an interesting volume kept by the clergy in the 19th century; churchwardens accounts; plans and builders' specifications; newspaper accounts; Constable's Warrants; tithe papers and the accounts of the Overseers of the Poor - and many other items.

War Memorial

The War Memorial in Buckland Newton Churchyard commemorates those villagers who lost their lives in the two World Wars. Recent research has filled in some of the details of those named and this information can be viewed here