MILBORNE-PORT, a
borough and parish (formerly
a market-town) in
the hundred of HORETHORNE,
county of SOMERSET,
2 miles (N.E. by E.)
from Sherborne, and 115
(W.)Jfrom London, containing
1440 inhabitants. This
town, which is irregularly
built, and consists chiefly
of detached houses, is situated
at the bottom of a
hill, adjoining the river
Ivel, on the high road from Yeovil to Shaftesbury. The
manufacture of sail-cloth, dowlas, lindsey-woolsey, and
stockings, has been superseded by glove-making and
leather-dressing. Fairs are held on June 5th and October
28th, for cattle and pedlary. There are nine pieces
of borough land, or burgage tenements, and the persons
to whom they are conveyed by the proprietors are called
capital bailiffs; two of them in rotation preside annually,
being called reigning bailiffs, who, at a court leet held
Seal and Arms.
in October, appoint two deputies, or sub-bailiffs; and
there are two stewards of the commonalty lands, or
public property, belonging to the parish, which is divided
into three tythings, Milborne-Port, Milborne-Wick,
and Kingsbury-Regis, At the last a court baron is
held annually, when a constable, tythingman, and hayward,
are appointed. Milborne-Port is a borough by
prescription, and returned members to parliament from
the 26th to the 35th of Edward I., from which time,
until the reign of Charles I., it ceased to exercise the
privilege, but in 1628 the franchise was restored; the
right of election is in the nine capital bailiffs', their two
deputies, the two commonalty stewards, and the inhabitants
paying scot and lot; the number of voters is about
eighty: the two sub-bailiffs are the returning officers,
and the predominant influence is in the Marquis of Anglesey
and Sir William Coles Medlycott. The living is
a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Wells, and diocese of
Bath and Wells, rated in the king's books at £14. 1. 3.,
and in the patronage of the Marquis of Anglesey. The
church, dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, is an ancient
cruciform structure, with a large quadrangular
tower, and has recently received an addition of four
hundred sittings, of which three hundred and fifty are
free, the Incorporated Society for the enlargement of
churches and chapels having contributed £200.towards
defraying the expense. There is a place of worship for
Independents.