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In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Motcombe like this:
MOTCOMBE, a village and a parish in Shaftesbury district, Dorset. The village stands 1 mile S by E of Semley r. station, 1¼ W of the boundary with Wilts, and 1¾ NNW of Shaftesbury; and is large and straggling. The parish comprises 4,841 acres. Post town, Shaftesbury, under Salisbury. ...
Real property, £8,943. Pop. in 1851, 1,535; in 1861,1,433. Houses, 311. The decrease of pop. was caused by the reduction of the number of families to a house. The property is divided among a few. The manor, with Motcombe House, belongs to the Marquis of Westminster. M. House contains a good collection of pictures. Market-gardening is carried on. The living is a p. curacy, annexed to the vicarage of Gillingham, in the diocese of Salisbury. The church was rebuilt in 1846, and has a tower. There are a Wesleyan chapel, a parochial school, and charities £49.
Motcombe is now part of DORSET Unitary Authority. Click here for graphs and data of how DORSET has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Motcombe itself, go to Statistics.
How to reference this page:
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Motcombe in Dorset | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/13749
Date accessed: 08th April 2026
Click here for more detailed advice on finding places within A Vision of Britain through Time, and maybe some references to other places called "Motcombe".
