Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for WEYMOUTH

WEYMOUTH, a town, a parish, a sub-district, and a district, in Dorset. The town stands on the river Wey, at its influx into Weymouth bay, and on a branch of the Great Western railway, 7½ miles S by W of Dorchester: dates at least from the Saxon times, probably from the Roman times; was known anciently as Waimuth: was given by Henry I. to St. Swithin's of Winchester, and held by the Clares; sent 20 ships, in 1348, to the siege of Calais; had a great market for wool up to the time of Henry VI.; was the landing-place of Margaret of Anjou in 1471, and of Philip of Castille in 1506; contributed 6 ships, in 1588, to the fleet against the Armada; was garrisoned for Charles I. in 1643, taken by the parliamentarians in 1644, and vainly besieged by the royalists in 1645; suffered decline from the rivalry and success of newer ports; was visited for health by the Duke of Gloucester in 1780, and by George III. in 1789: came then into fashionable notice as a watering-place; acquired additional celebrity, in that capacity, from the exertions of Mr. Allen, who is supposed to have been the original of Fielding's Mr. Allworthy; comprises Weymouth-proper on the S side of the Wey, and Melcombe-Regis on the N-side: sent four members to parliament, or two for W.-proper and two for M.-R., from the time of Edward II. till 1832; was reduced to the right of sending only two members for both sections by the reform act of 1832; was chartered by Elizabeth, with consolidation of the two boroughs into one; includes within its borough limits, both parliamentarily and municipally, all W. and M.-R. parishes, and parts of Radipole and Wyke-Regis parishes; is governed, under the new act, by a mayor, 6 aldermen, and 18 councillors; is a seat of sessions and county courts, and a head port; publishes three weekly newspapers; gives the title of Baron to the Marquis of Bath; and has a head post-office,‡ a r. station with telegraph, two banking offices, four hotels, numerous good lodging-houses, a very fine bathing-beach, public baths, an old town hall, a fine market house in the Lombardic style, a custom-house, spacious assembly-rooms, a handsome theatre, reading rooms, two public libraries, a scientific institute, a masonic hall, cavalry barracks, three churches, five dissenting chapels, a new Bethel chapel, a Roman Catholic chapel, an ultra-mural cemetery, national schools, an eye infirmary, a dispensary, a workhouse, charities £181, markets on Tuesdays and Fridays, and races and a regatta in Aug.

The bay extends 4¾ miles from N to S, and nearly 2½ from E to W; terminates, in the S, at Portland Isle and the Chesil Bank; is bounded, on the SE and part of the E, by a breakwater, formed at a cost of about £1,000,000; is bounded, on the W, by a line of coast in the form of the letter E; and is indented, at the middle part of the W coast, by a green promontory, called the Nothe, rising from the mouth of W. harbour, commanding a delightful view, and serving as a fine retreat for the town's inhabitants and visitors. An esplanade fronts the bay, at the town; runs in front of the houses; has a raised terrace built upon it, and a monument to George III.; and is curved, and about a mile long. W. proper contains scarcely any good streets or buildings, and is chiefly a seat of trade, commerce, and fishing. Melcombe-Regis communicates with W. proper by a stone bridge; contains all the handsome shops and buildings; includes several fine terraces and crescents; and has two main streets forming a triangle with another street, and terminating at the esplanade. The harbour has a pier, with a fixed light 23 feet high; admits only vessels drawing less than 9 feet water; and includes an estuary of the Wey, called the Backwater, to the NW of the town. The vessels belonging to the port, at the beginning of 1864, were 24 small sailing-vessels, of aggregately 651 tons; 42 large sailing-vessels, of aggregately 4,819 tons; 5 small steam-vessels, of aggregately 108 tons; and 6 large steam-vessels, of aggregately 653 tons. The vessels which entered, in 1863, were 15 British sailing-vessels, of aggregately 691 tons, from British colonies; 1 foreign sailing-vessel, of 524 tons, from British colonies; 51 British sailing-vessels, of aggregately 3,725 tons, from foreign countries; 23 foreign sailing-vessels, of aggregately 2,520 tons, from foreign countries; and 255 sailing-vessels, of aggregately 20,151 tons, coastwise. The amount of customs, in 1862, was £9,284. Steamers sail thrice a-week to Guernsey and Jersey. The corporation revenue is about £425. Amount of property and income tax charged in 1863, £3,359. Electors in 1833, 475; in 1863, 875. Pop. in 1851, 9,458; in 1861, 11,383. Houses, 1,864.

The parish was formerly a chapelry of Wyke-Regis, and comprises only 52 acres. Real property, £6,143; of which £32 are in gasworks. Pop. in 1851, 2,957; in 1861, 3,515. Houses, 558. The living is a p curacy in the diocese of Salisbury. Value, not reported. Patron, the Bishop of S.—The sub-district contains 5 parishes. Acres, 6,859. Pop., 12,858. Houses, 2,180.—The district includes Upway, Abbotsbury, and Portland sub-districts; and comprises 37,282 acres. Poor rates in 1863, £10,671. Pop. in 1851, 22,037; in 1861, 27,328. Houses, 4,542. Marriages in 1863, 206; births, 896,- of which 29 were illegitimate; deaths, 486,-of which 155 were at ages under 5 years, and 18 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 1,815: births, 7,067; deaths, 4,401. The places of worship, in 1851, were 19 of the Church of England, with 7,019 sittings; 7 of Independents, with 1,915 s.; 3 of Baptists, with 650 s.; 9 of Wesleyans, with 2,233 s.; 1 of New Connexion Methodists, with 150 s.; 5 of Primitive Methodists, with 300 s.; 1 of Wesleyan Reformers, with 214 s.; 3 undefined, with 700 s.; and 1 of Roman Catholics, with 154 s. The schools were 20 public day-schools, with 1,477 scholars; 62 private day-schools, with 1,269 s.; 38 Sunday schools, with 3,548 s.; and 1 evening school for adults, with 25 s.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a parish, a sub-district, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Weymouth Ch/CP       Weymouth SubD       Weymouth RegD/PLU       Dorset AncC
Place: Weymouth

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