BEER-REGIS, a market-town and parish in the
hundred of BEER-REGIS, Blandford (South) division ot
the county of DORSET, 7 miles (N. W.) from Wareham,
and 113 (S.W.) from London, containing, with the tything
of Shitterton, 1080 inhabitants. This place, whicft
is supposed by Dr. Stukeley to have been the Ibernium ol
Ravennas, derives its name from the Saxon Byrig, ana
the adjunct from its having been held in royal demesne.
Elfrida, after the murder of her step-son, is said to
have retired hither to avoid suspicion; and King John,
who occasionally made this his residence, granted the inhabitants
the privilege of a market, in the seventeenth
year of his reign. Edward I. made it a free borough, but
it does not appear to have ever returned any members
to parliament. A great part of the town was destroyed
by fire in 1634: it experienced a similar calamity in
1788, and, in 1817, another destructive fire occurred,
in which the parish registers were burnt. The town is
pleasantly situated on the small river Beer; the houses,
in general, are modern and well built, and the inhabitants
are amply supplied with water. The market is on
Wednesday: a fair is held, September 18th and the four
following days, on Woodbury hill, for horses, horned
cattle, sheep, cloth, and cheese. The living, which, in
conjunction with Charmouth, formerly constituted the
golden prebend in the Cathedral Church of Salisbury,
and is now in the peculiar jurisdiction of the Dean of
Salisbury, is a vicarage, with the perpetual curacy of
Winterbourne-Kingston annexed, rated in the lung's
books at £25. 5., and in the patronage of the Master
and Fellows of Balliol College, Oxford. The church,
dedicated to St. John the Baptist, is a spacious ancient
structure, with a square embattled tower crowned with
pinnacles. There are places of worship for Independents
and Wesleyan Methodists; that for the Independents
has an endowment of £18 per annum. A charity
school was founded and endowed by Thomas Williams,
Esq., and further endowed by the Rev. Thomas
Williams, for two additional scholars. In 1773, the
Rev. Henry Fisher bequeathed £100 to this institution:
the master has a salary of £ 10 per annum, with a house
and garden. On Woodbury hill, about half a mile from
the town, there is a circular camp, comprehending an
area of ten acres; and to the west of it are the site
of the ancient chapel of Sancta Anchoretta, and a well
called Anchoret's well. Dr. John Moreton, Archbishop
of Canterbury, and a cardinal; and Dr. Tuberville,
Bishop of Exeter; were natives of this place; the former
also distinguished himself in the wars, and projected
the union, of the houses of York and Lancaster.