England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Maiden Newton St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Maiden Newton lies in southwestern Dorset roughly 8 miles northwest of the county town of Dorchester. Maiden Newton sits on and mostly east of the A356 which branches off the A37 (Dorchester to Yeovil) road and heads for Crewkerne in Somerset. Maiden Newton is a former marker town nowadays merely a large village as that status has lapsed. The village is elongated from northwest to southeast, constrained by the valley floor of the River Frome. Across the Frome sits its smaller twin settlement Tollerford again sitting largely on and north of the A356. Whilst Maiden Newton may have lost its regular market it remains verging upon remaining a small town with all the facilities one would expect in such a place. Maiden Newton sits within the chalk country of its county, the landscape around being dominated with big swelling chalk downland which would once have been solely the haunt of sheep, nowadays much has succumbed to the plough with the advent of modern fertilisers and machinery. A few within the village were employed in the manufacture of twine. Modern developments have come to the parish, the railway line which links Dorchester with Yeovil passes through to the east with Maiden Newton having a station on that line. The River Frome drains the parish southeastwards, after Dorchester its course turns to the east where it eventually reaches the English Channel though the intricacies of Poole Harbour. Because of its valley setting most of Maiden Newton is restricted to heights between 90 and 110 metres above the sea but the downs to both east and west rise steeply with a summit of 233 metres on Break Heart Hill, so named for its long climb along the ancient turnpike now followed by the A37, to the village's east. Reflecting its former status Maiden Newton parish is one of the larger in the area, covering just under 2,900 acres it would have supported a population of close to 750 parishioners. In Domesday times Maiden Newton was held by a hunter, Waleran, who held many manor's in a spread from Salisbury to this area, its assets of 7 ploughs backed by meadows, pastures and woodland were supplemented by a mill making for a modest rural farming manor. 

The Church

St Mary's church sits on the western side of Church Road and almost on the banks of the River Frome. The cruciform layout is immediately indicative of a church with Norman origins, that being the favoured layout. St Mary does not diasppoint having much of the 12th century Norman Romanesque within its fabric. The style is best illustrated by the northern wall of the nave with an off-centre doorway whilst to the left, facing south, of the tower are tall round-arched windows. The 12th century continues into the base of the tower and its tower arch. There is some evidence of rebuild in the 13th century as the western arch to the tower has Early English Gothic styling from that century. The rebuilding was more marked in the later Perpendicular period, the chancel was completed c 1400, whilst the aisle and transepts are all 15th century late Perpendicular. Also in the same period the central crossing tower was enhanced with its battlements from the middle of the 15th century. A thorough Victorian restoration of 1850 completes the structural work although the internal fittings collected into that restoration were sadly lost to fire om 2011. Church Road, south of the site, is amply wide enough for on-street parking, where the road narrows there sits a traditional lychgate for entry to a churchyard which is largely devoid of obstacles for the photographer.