FORDINGTON, a parish in the liberty of FORDINGTON,
Dorchester division of the county of DORSET, |-
a mile (E. S.E.) from Dorchester, containing 1275 inhabitants.
The living is a discharged vicarage, in the
peculiar jurisdiction of the Dean of Salisbury, rated in
the king's books at £15, and in the patronage of the
Prebendary of Fordington in the Cathedral Church of
Salisbury. The church, dedicated to St. George, is an
ancient cruciform structure, partly of Norman and
partly of English architecture. This place anciently
formed part of the town of Dorchester, and derived its
name from the ford over the river Frome, across which
there are now several bridges in the neighbourhood.
In the 29th of Edward III., Queen Isabel procured a
grant of a market on Tuesdays, and a fair on the eve,
day, and morrow of St. George. In the parish are
many barrows, some of them very large; and Roman
coins are frequently ploughed up. In 1747, above two
hundred skeletons, the supposed remains of those who
fell in the Danish wars, were discovered at the depth of
four or five feet, the skulls being remarkably thick, and
many of the teeth very sound: they were re-interred
in the church-yard, or in pits dug on the place. Many
other skeletons have been found, from time to time, in
this neighbourhood.