This is a list of hundreds in the county of Dorset, England. Between the Anglo-Saxon period and the Local Government Act 1888, the county of Dorset was divided into hundreds and boroughs (and from the mediaeval period, liberties as well). The Local Government Act 1888 replaced the hundreds and liberties with urban and rural districts, based on the sanitary districts of the Poor Law Unions which existed in parallel with the hundreds/liberties from 1834.
While numerous minor changes took place during that period, the general pattern remained stable. The subdivisions below within hundreds and liberties are the old civil parishes, into which the tithings (the original sub-divisions of the hundreds) came to be fitted. (Civil parish is used here in the sense of an "area for which a poor rate is or can be assessed", a unit which has thus been in existence de facto from the establishment of the Elizabethan Poor Law; the term itself dates from mid 19th century legislation such as the Poor Law Amendment Act 1866.)
The following are the units existing immediately prior to the act of 1834, with some additional changes noted up to the reforms of the Local Government Act 1894 and their immediate aftermath. Liberties and Boroughs are listed for completeness.
Prior to the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, the hundreds were grouped, mostly for taxation purposes, by divisions, which were rearranged by local act of Parliament in 1830. See List of divisions in Dorset.
Map
Hundreds
Badbury Hundred: Chalbury Gussage St Michael Hinton Martell Hinton Parva Horton More Crichel Shapwick Tarrant Crawford Wimborne Minster (a borough pre-Conquest) (Holt and Pamphill were created in 1894 from Wimborne Minster, and Colehill in 1896 from Holt)
Beaminster Forum and Redhone Hundred: Beaminster Bradpole Chedington Chardstock (transferred to Devon 1896) Corscombe Mapperton Mosterton Netherbury North Poorton South Perrott Stoke Abbott Toller Porcorum (part) Wambrook (transferred to Somerset 1895)
Bere Regis Hundred: Bere Regis Winterborne Kingston (Milborne Stileham was created from Bere Regis and Winterborne Kingston in 1866)
Brownshall Hundred: Holwell (transferred from Somerset 1844) Lydlinch Stalbridge Stock Gaylard (absorbed by Lydlinch 1884) Stourton Caundle
Buckland Newton Hundred: Buckland Newton Glanvilles Wootton Mappowder Pulham (part)
Cerne, Totcombe and Modbury Hundred: Cattistock Cerne Abbas Godmanstone Hilfield Hawkchurch (part) (transferred to Devon 1896) Nether Cerne West Compton
Cogdean Hundred: Canford Magna Charlton Marshall Corfe Mullen Hamworthy Lytchett Matravers Lytchett Minster Poole (part of Canford Magna; borough from 1248; County of Itself 1571) Sturminster Marshall (Kinson, Longfleet and Parkstone were created from Canford Magna 1866)
Coombs Ditch Hundred: Anderson Blandford Forum (borough from 1605) Blandford St Mary Bloxworth Winterborne Clenston Winterborne Tomson Winterborne Whitchurch
Corfe Castle Hundred: Corfe Castle (borough from 1268 or 1576)
Cranborne Hundred: Ashmore Belchalwell (divided between Okeford Fitzpaine and Fifehead Neville 1884) Cranborne (part) East Woodyates (created 1858) Edmondsham (part) Farnham Hampreston (part; entire from the 1860s, when the other part was transferred from Hampshire) Pentridge Shillingstone Tarrant Gunville Tarrant Rushton Tollard Royal (divided between Dorset and Wiltshire until the 1880s, when the Dorset part was transferred to Wiltshire) Turnworth West Parley Witchampton (Alderholt and Verwood were created from Cranborne in 1894)
Culliford Tree Hundred: Broadwey Buckland Ripers Chickerell (part) Melcombe Regis (part of Radipole; a borough from 1268) Osmington Radipole Upwey (part) West Knighton West Stafford Whitcombe Winterborne Came (part) Winterborne Herringston Winterborne Monkton
Eggerton or Eggardon Hundred: Askerswell Hooke Long Bredy Powerstock (part) Winterbourne Abbas Wraxall
Godderthorne Hundred: Allington Shipton Gorge Walditch
Hasilor or Hasler Hundred: Arne Church Knowle East Holme Kimmeridge Steeple Tyneham
Hundredsbarrow Hundred (formerly often Barrow Hundred) Affpuddle Turners Puddle
Knowlton Hundred: Gussage All Saints Long Crichel Woodlands
Loosebarrow Hundred: Almer Morden Spetisbury
Pimperne Hundred: Bryanston Durweston Fifehead Neville Hammoon Hazelbury Bryan Iwerne Stepleton Langton Long Blandford Pimperne Stourpaine Tarrant Hinton Tarrant Keyneston Tarrant Launceston Tarrant Rawston Winterborne Houghton Winterborne Stickland
Puddletown Hundred: Athelhampton Burleston Milborne St Andrew (part) Puddletown Tincleton Tolpuddle
Redlane or Redland Hundred: Buckhorn Weston Child Okeford East Stour Fifehead Magdalen Hanford (from 1858) Iwerne Courtney Kington Magna Manston Silton Sutton Waldron Todber West Stour
Rowbarrow or Rowberrow Hundred: Langton Matravers Studland Swanage Worth Matravers
Rushmore Hundred: Winterborne Zelston
St George's Hundred (later often George Hundred): Bradford Peverell Broadmayne Charminster Frome Whitfield (absorbed by Dorchester Holy Trinity in 1610) Stinsford Stratton Winterborne St Martin
Sherborne Hundred: Beer Hackett Bishops Caundle Bradford Abbas Castleton Caundle Marsh Folke Haydon Holnest Leweston (from 1858) Lillington Longburton Nether Compton North Wootton Oborne Over Compton Purse Caundle Sherborne (a borough from 1227) Thornford Up Cerne
Sixpenny Handley Hundred: Cann Compton Abbas East Orchard Fontmell Magna Iwerne Minster Melbury Abbas Sixpenny Handley West Orchard
Sturminster Newton Hundred: Hinton St Mary Margaret Marsh Marnhull Okeford Fitzpaine Sturminster Newton
Tollerford Hundred: Chilfrome East Chelborough Evershot Frome St Quintin Frome Vauchurch Maiden Newton Melbury Sampford Rampisham Toller Fratrum Toller Porcorum (part) West Chelborough Wynford Eagle
Uggescombe Hundred: Abbotsbury Chilcombe Fleet Hawkchurch (part) Kingston Russell Langton Herring Littlebredy Litton Cheney Portesham Puncknowle Swyre Weymouth (part of Wyke Regis; a borough from 1252) Winterbourne Steepleton
Up Wimborne or Monkton Up Wimborne Hundred Chettle Cranborne (part) Tarrant Monkton
Whitchurch Canonicorum Hundred: Burstock Catherston Leweston Charmouth Chideock Lyme Regis Marshwood Pilsdon Stanton St Gabriel Stockland (part) (transferred to Devon 1844) Symondsbury Thorncombe (transferred to Devon 1844 and back to Dorset 1896) Whitchurch Canonicorum Wootton Fitzpaine
Whiteway Hundred: Cheselbourne Hilton Ibberton Melcombe Horsey Milton Abbas Stoke Wake Woolland
Wimborne St Giles Hundred: Wimborne All Saints (absorbed by Wimborne St Giles 1732) Wimborne St Giles West Woodyates (created 1858)
Winfrith Hundred: Coombe Keynes East Lulworth East Stoke Moreton (part) Owermoigne (later a separate liberty) Poxwell Warmwell Watercombe (from 1858) Winfrith Newburgh Woodsford
Yetminster Hundred: Batcombe Clifton Maybank Melbury Bubb Melbury Osmond Yetminster (Chetnole and Leigh were created from Yetminster in 1866)
Liberties
Alton Pancras Bindon Liberty Broadwindsor Corfe Castle Dewlish Liberty Fordington Liberty Frampton Liberty Gillingham Liberty Halstock Loders and Bothenhampton Liberty Owermoigne Piddlehinton Piddletrenthide Liberty Portland Powerstock Liberty: Ryme Intrinseca Stoborough Stour Provost Sutton Poyntz Liberty Sydling St Nicholas Waybayouse or Wabyhouse Liberty Wyke Regis and Elwell Liberty
For full details see List of liberties in Dorset
Boroughs
Bridport Blandford Forum Dorchester Lyme Regis Shaftesbury Wareham Weymouth and Melcombe Regis
Sources Boswell, Edward, 1833: The Civil Division of the County of Dorset (published on CD by Archive CD Books Ltd, 1992) Hutchins, John, History of Dorset, vols 1-4 (3rd ed 1861-70; reprinted by EP Publishing, Wakefield, 1973) Mills, A. D., 1977, 1980, 1989: Place Names of Dorset, parts 1-3. English Place Name Society: Survey of English Place Names vols LII, LIII and 59/60