Parliamentary boundary map of Wareham, 1830s

Before 1832, both Wareham and Corfe Castle were parliamentary constituencies.  Moreover, each of the boroughs elected two Members of Parliament - this had been the case in Wareham since 1386 and in Corfe Castle since 1572.

This map shows the radical change effected under the Great Reform Act of 1832.  Wareham's borough (and parliamentary) boundary before 1832 is indicated by the green line, its new parliamentary boundary by the red line.  Corfe Castle became part of the new Wareham constituency, which was abolished under Prime Minister Gladstone's Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885.

In the 1760s Wareham is known to have had about 500 eligible voters; Corfe Castle had 44 (including 14 non-residents) in 1816.

The railway marked on the map is probably the Middlebere Plateway, a rail track constructed in 1806: here horse-drawn wagons transported ball clay from Norden, northwest of Corfe Castle, to a wharf on Poole Harbour.