Langton Herring

“LANGTON HERRING, a parish in the hundred of Uggscombe, Dorchester division of the county Dorset, 5 miles N.W. of Weymouth, its post town, and 3 S.E. of Abbotsbury. The village, which is small, is situated on the Channel, near a remarkable tongue of land called the Chesil Bank, and is a coastguard station. It suffered much from an inundation of the sea in November, 1824. The inhabitants are principally employed in fishing. There is a singular sheet of water called the Blackwater, which is covered with a number of aquatic birds of every kind, including about 100 swans, the property of the Earl of Ilchester. The surface of the parish is hilly, and the soil clayey, except in those parts covered by beds of shells. Limestone and granite are quarried. The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Sarum, value £126. The church, dedicated to St. Peter, is an ancient edifice, with a low square tower. It has recently been enlarged. The parochial charities produce about £1 per annum. William Sparks, Esq., is lord of the manor.'"

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from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868