toby webb
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Is anyone able to tell me when the name of the Compton Abbas near Dorchester was changed to West Compton? I imagine this was done to distinguish it from the Compton Abbas near Shaftesbury also in Dorset.
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AJBrown
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As far as I am aware West Compton has never been called Compton Abbas - what is your source for thinking it has? Certainly parish records going back several centuries seem to have used the name West Compton, unless anyone else knows otherwise.
Alan
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stockman fred
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I just had a look in the book of Dorset Place Names, and that gives "Compton West, or Compton Abbas West". It says it was known as Contone in 1086, Cumpton Abbatis in 1291 but West Compton in 1811.
It says the "abbas" refers to the Manor of Milton Abbey. "It is now usually called West Compton to distinguish it from the other Compton Abbas near Shaftesbury."
It doesn't narrow it down much I'm afraid. 
Fred 
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toby webb
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Thank you Alan & Fred, The following is relevant
On my Ordnance Survey map [ 178 Dorchester ], with full revision 1930, the village / hamlet near Dorchester is entitled Compton Abbas only. The same map shows another Compton Abbas near Shaftesbury with East Compton just to its north east. This must have caused confusion over the years and so at some point the Compton Abbas near Dorchester was renamed West Compton. For good measure there is Compton Valence less than 3 miles to the east of West Compton.
Best wishes, Toby.
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stockman fred
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Just to confuse things - in the county guide book that lives in the car (Dorset- the Complete Guide), the modern map shows both villages as Compton Abbas (Dorch. and Shaftes.)and it was only printed in 2003.
Fred
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AJBrown
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I do and do not stand corrected! I think the relevant point is that West Compton was 'known locally' as Compton Abbas, and that name has become 'official' through being used on maps and guide books etc. (Which are notorious for copying information from other sources without really checking it.) I still maintin that in parish records etc. West Compton is the proper name.
Another example of alternate place name is Melcombe Bingham a.k.a. Bingham's Melcombe a.k.a. Melcombe Horsey!
The only problems for us family historians are when e.g. someone gives the 'local' name in a Census return.
Alan
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toby webb
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It would seem in the Domesday Book that both Compton Valence & Compton Abbas ( Dorchester ) were collectively called Contone. In 1280 Valence was added by William de Valencia who was granted the manor. Abbatis was added to the other Compton in 1291, the manor belonging to Milton Abbey.[This information from Place Names of Dorset by A.D.Mills. 1986.]
In 1575 Christopher Saxton in his map called them East & West Compton and subsequent map-makers followed suite; John Speed in 1610, Emanuel Bowen in 1767. Isaac Taylor in his enormous map of 1765 had plenty of room to put anything he wanted but continued with East & West. The 6 inch O.S. map of 1891 calls them Compton Valence & West Compton but surprisingly the 1 inch version of 1930 uses Compton Valence & Compton Abbas. The 1: 2500 of 1993 reverts however to West Compton.
The first slim volume of Compton Abbas parish records are crudely bound in vellum about 13 x 7. It starts in 1538. In manuscript on the cover appears only Compton Abbas. In 1798, the second volume is labelled Compton Abbas but inside, after repeating that name, it adds or Wester Compton & Diocese of Bristol.
More recently, the 1891 census called them Compton Abbas & Compton Vallence.
However, I leave it to the reader to make up his own mind and hopefully to add to this discussion.
Toby.
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