West Lulworth

a Registered One-Place Study and part of the Dorset OPC network

Families of West Lulworth

This section is especially for stories and photographs of the families who have lived in West Lulworth over the years.


If you have any information about West Lulworth which you would like to share, be it stories or old photographs etc., please email us at info@westlulworth.org.uk


If you would like your family featured next, please email info@westlulworth.org.uk today.


THE GILDEA FAMILY













Rev. William Gildea, the second son of the Provost of Tuam Cathedral in Ireland, was Vicar of West Lulworth from 1862 to 1879. William and his wife Caroline had nine children, five boys and four girls.


By 1869 the old church had become dilapidated and William arranged for the building of the new Church and Vicarage, largely financing the works himself.


William served the parish of West Lulworth for 17 years, the parish of Netherbury for 22 years and the parish of Upwey for 20 years, and was appointed as Canon in 1893. He was a man of strong convictions, and had the capacity of expressing his views with a rugged sort of eloquence. No one could withstand his sterling honesty and absolute frankness. On their Golden Wedding, William and Caroline were presented with an illuminated address inscribed with the names of 520 adults, a fact which speaks volumes.


Click here to read more this remarkable man and his remarkable family.


Special thanks to William’s descendants, Felicity Trotman and Charles Walmsley.



Read about the vicar whose forethought and determination led to the building of the present church


‘A Rector … held in deserved admiration and esteem throughout the diocese’