Wareham

Wareham is an historic market town eight miles south-west of Poole and 17 miles south-east of Dorchester. It has been occupied since before Roman times and the main part of the town is situated on rising ground between the Rivers Piddle and Frome, close to where they enter Poole Harbour.

Wareham comprises parts of the parishes of Lady St Mary, Holy Trinity  and St Martin-on-the-Walls. St Mary's [pictured left and below] and St Martin's are both ancient churches of Saxon origins, the former being the resting place for Anglo Saxon kings as well as the Revd John Hutchins who wrote the History of Dorset. In Hutchins' time the church of St Martin's appears to have been in a somewhat ruinous state, but is nowadays used for services and contains early medieval wall paintings, along with an effigy of Lawrence of Arabia. The 14th century building of Holy Trinity is no longer used for worship but still stands and is used as a community cafe.

Unfortunately the town suffered a catastrophic fire in 1762 and registers prior to this date were lost. There has been a Catholic church at Westport (St Edward the Martyr) since 1889 and at one time there were three Nonconformist Chapels; Congregational in Chapel Lane, Wesleyan in North Street and Unitarian in South Street. Brick and clay manufacturing was a principal trade for many centuries. The population of the municipal borough in 1891 was 2141 persons, and in 2009 the population had grown to 5640.

Church of St Mary, from an etching in Hutchins 'History of Dorset'

The OPC for Wareham is Jenny Way
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The parish of Holy Trinity includes Arne (up to 1894) & Stoborough.

The majority of these transcriptions have been kindly donated to the OPC Project by Mr Barry Chinchen. Note that the transcriptions include non-conformist registers as well as the Anglican Parish Registers.

Ruins of the church of St Martin, from Hutchins