WEYMOUTH and MELCOMBE REGIS, a seaport, of Dorsetshire, England. Pop. (1931) 21,982. It is formed of Weymouth, on the Wey, and Melcombe Regis on the north-east of the river, the two towns being contiguous. The situation is enclosed to the south by the Isle of Portland. A mile S.W. of Weymouth is Sandsfoot Castle, a fort erected by Henry VIII. for the protection of the shipping. The exports include Portland stone. The G.W.R. provides passenger steamers to Guernsey and Jersey.
Bronze weapons and Roman interments have been found, but first mention Of "that place called Weymouth" occurs in charters of King Aethelred, dated 866-871 and 895-940. The first charter was granted in 1252 by the prior and convent of St. Swithin, to whom the manor had been granted by Edward the Confessor. By this Weymouth was made a free borough and port for all mer chants, the burgesses holding their burgages by the same customs as those of Portsmouth and Southampton. The demand of six ships from the town by the king in 1324 shows its importance in the 14th century, but there is no mention of a mayor until 1467. Probably the town suffered at the hands of the French early in the 15th century, though in 1404 the men of Weymouth were victorious over a party which landed in the Isle of Portland. Commercial disputes with Melcombe led to amalgamation in 1571, and the town received its charter from James I. in 1616.
Melcombe Regis first returned two members to parliament in 1307, and Weymouth in 1319, four members being returned by the united boroughs until 1832, when the representation was re duced to two and ceased in r885. The mediaeval fairs are no longer held. As early as 1293 trade was carried on with Bayonne, and six years later a receiver of customs on wool and wool-fells is mentioned at Weymouth, while wine was imported from Aqui taine. In 1586 sugar is mentioned as an import, and in 1646 deal boards were brought from Hamburg. The town suffered severely during the Civil War, being garrisoned by the parliamentary troops in 1642, taken by the earl of Carnarvon in 1643, and sur rendered in the following year. The town is described as "but little" in 1733, but a few years afterwards it gained a reputation as a watering-place, and George III. in 1789 paid Weymouth the first of a series of visits which further ensured its popularity.
See H. J. Moule, Descriptive Catalogue of the Charters, Minute Books, and other Documents of the Borough of Weymouth and Melcome Regis, A.D. /250 to 186o (Weymouth, 1883) ; John Hutchins, History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset (3rd ed., Westminster, 186o).