Description
Fordington, or Fordington St George, a suburban village and a parish in Dorsetshire. The village is suburban to Dorchester, stands on Icknield Street and the river Frome, 1 mile from Dorchester station on the G.W. and L. & S.W. railways, partakes in the trade and interests of Dorchester. The parish is partly within Dorchester borough, and contains Dorchester workhouse. It has a post and money order office (T.S.O.) under Dorchester; telegraph office, Dorchester. Acreage, 3018; population of the civil parish, 5088 ; of the ecclesiastical, 6076. The manor was held, in the time of Edward III., by the Queen-Dowager Isabella, passed to the Black Prince as Duke of Cornwall, and, with nearly all the land, belongs now to the Prince of Wales as an appanage of the Duchy of Cornwall. Fordington Field here comprises 1657 acres, and continues to be unenclosed. An ancient camp, probably Celtic, and a well-preserved amphitheatre are in the parish, and a road in it called Maumbury Kings has from time immemorial been called Icen Lane, and seems to have got that name from its connection with Icknield Street or the Via Iceniana. A raised causeway, 1980 feet long, in improvement of a bad road into the village, was formed in 1747 by Mrs Pitt, of Kingston House, at a cost of £1500, and at the same time a three-arched bridge was constructed over a branch of the Frome. A Roman bath, some coins, and a great number of skeletons have been found. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury; value, £246 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Salisbury. The church is noticed in our article on Dorchester, The vicarage of West Fordington is a separate benefice.
Villages, Hamlets, &c.
Mageston, a hamlet in Frampton parish, Dorsetshire, 5 1/2 miles NW of Dorchester.
Fordington, West, a chapelry in Fordington parish, Dorsetshire, in the western vicinity of Dorchester town and railway station. Post town, Dorchester. The chapelry was constituted in 1847. The statistics are included with Fordington. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury ; value, ££191 with residence. Patron, the Vicar of Fordington.
