I have a copy of an entry from the 1871 Dorset census for Emmanuel Marshall and family. It is in Morden but I cannot work out where. The Marshalls lived at 'Carey'; next door to them was "Turnpike Gatehouse", then Station House and then the Railway Gatehouse. Going by this I thought it would be fairly easy to locate where they lived - but so far I have not been terribly successful. . Morden was a huge parish, much of which was and is very rural. it is one of our favourite areas for walking and birdwatching. I can find Carey Heath (and anyone who went to school in Dorset may well have memories of Carey Camp - my Mother went there in the 1930s and my daughter in the 1990s!). I can also find a road which may have had a turnpike. I cannot, however, find any sign of a railway. I have tried a modern OS maps and have also been playing around on the Old Maps website. The modern mainline railway goes much further south unless the Marshalls lived much nearer Wareham than I realised. Are there any railways enthusiasts out there who know if there was a railway of any sort in, perhaps a branch line, which went through the Morden/Wareham forest area? In the meantime I will continue to play on multi maps and look at the 1861 census for clues as well! Thanks Helen Helen Jones, Weymouth, Dorset http://www.melcombe.freeserve.co.uk List Admin Rootsweb Eng Dorset & Scammell Lists, and British Genealogy Eng-Dorset, Surnames & Forenames list

Helen wrote: > I have a copy of an entry from the 1871 Dorset census for Emmanuel Marshall > and family. It is in Morden but I cannot work out where. > > The Marshalls lived at 'Carey'; next door to them was "Turnpike Gatehouse", > then Station House and then the Railway Gatehouse. Going by this I thought > it would be fairly easy to locate where they lived - but so far I have not > been terribly successful. > . > Morden was a huge parish, much of which was and is very rural. it is one of > our favourite areas for walking and birdwatching. I can find Carey Heath > (and anyone who went to school in Dorset may well have memories of Carey > Camp - my Mother went there in the 1930s and my daughter in the 1990s!). I > can also find a road which may have had a turnpike. I cannot, however, find > any sign of a railway. I have tried a modern OS maps and have also been > playing around on the Old Maps website. The modern mainline railway goes > much further south unless the Marshalls lived much nearer Wareham than I > realised. > > Are there any railways enthusiasts out there who know if there was a > railway of any sort in, perhaps a branch line, which went through the > Morden/Wareham forest area? In the meantime I will continue to play on > multi maps and look at the 1861 census for clues as well! > Hello Helen I think perhaps you may need to be looking north rather than south here. The original line to Dorchester came through Wimborne, Broadstone and Hamworthy (Junction) then onwards to Wareham. When the Dorset Central (later part of the Somerset & Dorset) was built it came from Blandford through Spetisbury to Wimborne. Later the S&D built a cut off from near Sturminster Marshall through Corfe Mullen to join the main line at Broadstone. The junction where the new line left the old was called Corfe Mullen Junction and there was a station called Baillie Gate (which I think had a very large milk depot) in the vicinity of the junction. This cut off was built in the 1880's but the line through Stur Marshall and Baillie Gate to Wimborne was operative form 1860. I don't know the area at all well so I can't be more specific. One other thing to perhaps bear in mind is that Purbeck was dotted with narrow gauge independent clay railways but I don't know how far north these extended. Hope this helps. Ray Collins Weymouth, Dorset

Hi, Helen, I think you are probably looking in the wrong place! I've looked at the 1861 Census, and reading the 'Enumerators Walk' for Morden, it mentions "cottages near Wareham on Poole Road, Sandford Farm, Station House, Railway Hotel and three cottages opposite". Going to RG1347/88 there is 'Tollgate House' occupied by Robert Thompson, Toll Collector, then a croft, a cottage and then 'Railway Gatehouse', 'Railway Station' and 'Railway Hotel'. No mention of 'Carey' or Emmanuel Marshall, but they may have arrived between 1861 and 1871. I would suggest from the description and the buildings that you should be on the modern road from Baker's Arms roundabout to Wareham i.e. 'Poole Road' past Sandford Middle School and nearly into Wareham, somewhere around the area of the 'new' roundabouts and bridge over the railway. It doesn't surprise me that it was a toll road, being the main road from Poole into the Purbecks. This would put you to the east of Wareham, whereas Carey Camp is to the west. I may be completely wrong of course, but the evidence points to that area as far as I can see. Incidentally, Ray mentioned the narrow gauge quarry lines in Purbeck. I can remember seeing some of the remains of them, and also recall a book on the subject, but I don't remember the title and it's probably long out of print. Alan A J Brown Living in Bournemouth, England http://www.ajbrown.eu.com