Mapperton

(near Beaminster**)

The small parish of Mapperton, situated about two miles from Beaminster, is unusual in that it is just the Mapperton estate which, with the beautiful, historic Manor House at its centre, consists of the old Rectory, some farms and a few cottages and houses.  The Manor is one of the oldest in Dorset and was mentioned in the Domesday Book as belonging to William de Moion.  It was then two settlements, Mapertone, later known as North Mapperton which included Mapperton Marsh Farm and possibly Storridge, and Malperetone which became South Mapperton. The latter consisted of the Manor, the parish church, Mapperton, Coltleigh and Mapperton Dairy farms, a village situated near the Manor House which was almost completely depopulated by the plague (see below) and a group of cottages in the valley at Mythe, about ¾ of a mile away from the Manor.  In his History of Dorset, Hutchins writes of the village that after the plague “the tenements fell into the lord’s hand and have all been pulled down”. The parish that we know today as Mapperton is largely the old South Mapperton with the addition of cottages, houses and the small, redundant school all built along the road, none of which were in existence when the 1841 Tithe Map was produced.

From the days of William de Moion and until 1919, Mapperton Manor was owned by only four families, the Bretts, Morgans, Brodrepps and Comptons, passed down to each through the female line. The Tudor manor house, part of which remains today, was built of Ham stone by Robert Morgan in the mid 16th century. The main part of the house was built in the mid 17th century and there are mid 18th century additions. The gardens have their origins in the 17th century and have evolved through the years to their present splendour. After buying the Manor in 1919, Mrs Labouchere built the Italianate gardens. In 1955, after her death, Mr Victor Montagu (Viscount Hinchingbrooke), MP for South Dorset, bought the estate and further developed the gardens. On his death in 1995 the estate passed to his son, the Earl of Sandwich. The wonderful gardens at Mapperton are open to the public, as is, on occasion, the Manor House. Mapperton has been used as a location for the films of Tom Jones, Restoration and Emma and in Elizabethan times was a stronghold of Catholic recusancy

The On Line Parish Clerk is Sally Beadle please e-mail me for any enquiries

Please put in the subject line the surname of person sought. I am currently working on more transcriptions of censuses and parish records.  If anyone has any old photos of Mythe or Mapperton, or any historical documentation, please contact me

** Please note that this page and information is related to the Parish of Mapperton near Beaminster. There is another hamlet in East Dorset with the same name near Almer and Blandford (approximately 30 miles to the east). Information is available on the Almer page