Dorset place name.

My ancestor James Wyatt is recorded by Ancestry in the 1851 census
(Wanstead) as having been born in "Bermesterd" Dorset. This seems to
me to be Berminster -
I can find several web-search hits for Berminster, Dorset but no modern
reference. Is it an old/local name for Beaminster?

Peter Crosland...

Probably just a spelling mistake for Beaminster by the enumerator is my
guess.

Phil C....

That's surely right if no Berminster existed - especially as most of
the web-search hits for Berminster disappear when I restrict the search to
pages from the UK. Beaminster is evidently pronounced "Bemminster"
(unless anyone knows better). Perhaps his Dorset accent confused the
Wanstead enumerator.

Or perhaps the enumerator asked "Is that spelt with an 'a'?" and he
replied "Ahr". According to
that is genuine Dorset dialect for "yes".

boseley...

Beaminster is on my map, it is on the A3066 between Mosterton and Melplash,
north of Bridprt,

Peter Crosland