LIBRARY
UNIVBRSITY Of
CAUFORNIA
SAN oiceo
0?/
SO.
Zbc IDictotia 1bi8tov\> of tbe
Counties of Englanb
EDITED BY WILLIAM PAGE, F.S.A.
A HISTORY OF
DORSET
VOLUME II
THE
VICTORIA HISTORY
OF THE COUNTIES
OF ENGLAND
DORSET
LONDON
ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE
AND COMPANY LIMITED
This History is issued to Subscribers only
By Archibald Constable & Company Limited
and printed by Eyre & Spottisivoode
H.M. Printers of London
INSCRIBED
TO THE MEMORY OF
HER LATE MAJESTY
QUEEN VICTORIA
WHO GRACIOUSLY GAVE
THE TITLE TO AND
ACCEPTED THE
DEDICATION OF
THIS HISTORY
»
I
THE
VICTORIA HISTORY
OF THE COUNTY OF
DORSET
EDITED BY
WILLIAM PAGE, F.S.A.
VOLUME TWO
LONDON
ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE
AND COMPANY LIMITED
1908
CONTENTS OF VOLUME TWO
Dedication .....
Contents .....
List of Illustrations and Maps .
Editorial Note ....
Ecclesiastical History
Religious Houses : —
Introduction ....
Abbey of Abbotsbury
Abbey of Cerne
Abbey of Milton
Abbey of Sherborne .
Priory of Cranborne .
Priory of Horton
Abbey of Shaftesbury
Priory of Holne or East Holme .
Abbey of Blndon
Abbey of Tarrant Kaines .
Preceptor)- of Friar Mayne
Dominican Friars of Gillinghain .
Dominican Friars of Melcombe Regis
Franciscan Friars of Dorchester .
Carmelite Friars of Bridport
Carmelite Friars of Lyme .
Austin Friars of Sherborne .
' Priory Hermitage ' of Blackmoor
Wilcheswood ....
Hospital of St. Mary Magdalen
Allington ....
Hospital of Long Blandford
Hospital of St. Mary and the Holy
Spirit, Lyme
Hospital of St. John the Baptist,
Bridport
Hospital of St. John the Baptist,
Dorchester ....
Hospital or Lazar-House, Dorchester
Hospital of St, John the Baptist
Shaftesbury . . ,
Hospital of St. John the Baptist and
St. John the Evangelist, Sherborne
Hospital of St. Thomas, Sherborne
Hospital of St Leonard, Tarranl
Rushton ....
Hospital of St. Margaret and St
Anthony, VVimborne
Hospital of Wareham
Wimborne Minster .
Priory of Frampton .
By Miss M M. C. Calthrop
Bv A. G. Little, M.A
By Miss M M. C. Calthrop
PAGE
V
ix
xi
xiii
I
47
48
53
58
62
70
7'
73
80
82
87
90
92
92
93
95
96
96
96
98
98
100
100
100
lOI
103
103
104
105
105
106
107
107
113
CONTENTS OF VOLUME TWO
Religious Houses {continued) —
Priory of Loders
Priory of Povington .
Priory of Spettisburv
Priory of Wareham .
Political History
Maritime History
Social and Economic History
Table of Population, 1S01-1901
Agriculture
Forestry ....
Sport, Ancient and Modern
Introduction
Hunting .
Foxhounds .
Blackmore \'ale Hounds
The Cattistock .
The South Dorset
Lord Portman's Houn
Point-to-Point Races
Stag-Hunting
The Ranston Bloodhound
Roe-Deer Hunting
Harriers and Beagles
Otter-Hunting
Racing
Racing Celebrities
Training Establishments and
Farms
Polo
Shooting
Falconry
Angling
Golf
Industries : —
Introduction
Quarrying
The Hemp Industry
Fisheries .
Cloth .
Silk
Pottery and Tiles
Brewing .
Cider
Stud
By Miss M. M. C. Calthrop .
By Mrs. Edward Fripp, Oxford Honours Schoo
of Modern History ....
By M. Oppenheim .....
By Miss Madeleine C. Fripp and Miss Phylli
Wrahce, Oxford Honours School of Modern
History ......
By George S. Minchin ....
By A. J. Buckle
By the Rev. J. C. Cox, LL.D., F.S.A
Edited by the Rev. E. E. Dorlino, M.A.
By the Rev. Pierce A. Butler (' Purbeck Pilgrim ')
PAGI
116
118
119
121
123
'75
229
264
27s
287
299
300
joo
308
310
312
313
313
3'3
31 +
315
3'5
316
317
317
., . ,. . 318
•, „ .318
By Capt. Eustace R^uclvfff, J. P. , . . ^19
By the Rev. Pierce A. Butler ('Purbeck Pilgrim ') 320
By the Rev. E. E. Dorlino, M.A. . . . 322
By Miss M. M. Crick, B.A. (Dublin), Oxford
Honours School of Modern History
By C. H. \'ellacott, B.A. ....
By Miss M. M. Crick, B.A. (Dublin), Oxford
Honours School of Modern History
By Miss M. M. Crick, B.A (Dublin), Oxford
Honours Schoul of Modern History, andC. H.
V'ellacott, B.A. ......
325
331
34+
353
360
362
363
366
369
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS
PACE
Dorchester. By William Hyde .......... Frontispiece
Etclesiastic.ll Map of Dorset .......... ficing 45
Dorset Monastic Ssals : —
Plate I . . . . . . . . . . full-page plate facing 62
Plate II „ „ „ 102
Map of Dorset shewing excess of Hamlets over Villages . ..... Jacing 126
Plan of Portland Harbour shewing New Breakwater .... full-page plate facing 226
EDITORIAL NOTE
The Editor wishes to express his acknowledgements to
Mr. J. Merrick Head and Sir J. Charles Robinson, C.B
f.S.A., for notes and assistance on the section on Mining
in the article on the Industries of the county, and to
the Hon. Thomas A. Brassey for an illustration to the
article on Maritime History.
XIII
A HISTORY OF
DORSET
ECCLESIASTICAL
HISTORY
SAVE for the discovery of that early Christian emblem, the chirho, in
a Roman pavement excavated at Frampton ^ there is no evidence to
connect Dorset w^ith the early Roman-British church, or any proof
that Christianity existed here before the later Roman mission.''
Nor can the ecclesiastical history of this county be said to commence in
the seventh century with the conversion of the West Saxons at the preaching
of Birinus their apostle and first bishop, who, on his landing in 635, found
the inhabitants of the district ' most pagan ' {pagannissimos) according to
Bede.^ Dorset, it should be remembered, formed no integral part of the
West Saxon kingdom in which it afterwards became absorbed and no men-
tion of it occurs under the earlier Wessex bishops whose seat was established
at Dorchester (Oxford). While discarding an ancient record which names
Cenwalch of Wessex, who died in 672, as one of the ' kings, founders of
the church of Sherborne,' * an early foundation at Wareham may indicate
previous fugitive attempts to draw Dorset into the channel of church organiza-
tion in Wessex as it then existed by establishing a mission centre to its
south-east, but it was not until the military subjugation of the county had
been completed that it was swept into the main stream of national ecclesiasti-
cal life by the establishment of a bishop-stool at Sherborne in 705 on the
death of Bishop Haeddi and the division of the West Saxon diocese.'
What the precise limits of the new see were is not easy exactly to
define. The two sees formed out of the old Wessex diocese are described
roughly as ' east and west of Selwood,' the large forest of that name which
stretched between them constituting a convenient border line. The Anglo-
Saxon Chronicle^ recording the death of Bishop Aldhelm in 709, says, ' this
year died bishop Aldhelm : he was bishop of the west of Selwood.' * Henry
of Huntingdon again states : ' Ine in the twentieth year of his reign divided
the bishopric of Wessex which used to be one into two sees : that portion
east of the woods Daniel held, that which was west of the woods was held by
Aldhelm.' ^ According to William of Malmesbury the see ' west of Selwood,'
the bishop-stool of which was fixed at Sherborne, included the counties
' Anh. Jout-n. xxviii (1872), 217-21.
' Mr. Moule, in his description of Old Dorset (pp. 50-51), comments on the absence of reference to this
county in the Monumenta Historica Britannka, which focusses all classic authoritie? of the period. In refer-
ence to the ancient British church in Wessex, the fact that St. Chad, afterwards bishop of Lichfield, was
consecrated to the see of York by Wine, bishop of Wessex, assisted by two British bishops, seems to show that in
that district the bishops who owed their ordination directly to Rome after the Roman Kentish mission were
in communion with those of the earlier British school. Dioc. Hist, of Salisbury (S.P.C.K.), p. z8.
' Eal. Hist. lib. iii, cap. vii. * Cott. MS. Faust. A. ii, fol. 23.
' Wm. of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontif. (Rolls Ser.), 375. The division of the Wessex dioceses into two sees,
one e t.iblished at Sherborne and the other at Winchester, is usually attributed to King Ine, but has also been
ascribed to synodal authority. Wharton, Jtiglia Sacra, ii, 20.
^ Anglo-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), 38. ' Hist. Angl. (Rolls Ser.), i, no.
A HISTORY OF DORSET
of Wilts., Dorset, Berks., Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall ; ' and we may per-
haps conclude that the new diocese consisted at least of the whole of Dorset
and Somerset, with a large part of Wiltshire, and probably included Devon
and Cornwall.
If there had been delay and difficulty in bringing this county into line
with the rest of Wessex, Dorset certainly sprang, ecclesiastically as well as
politically, into the front rank from the date of the constitution of the see. The
saintly Aldhelm, kinsman and partner of King Ine in all schemes for the
welfare and advancement of the kingdom, was elected and by Archbishop
Berchtwald consecrated first bishop of Sherborne in 705.' As regards his
previous connexion with this county, William of Malmesbury recounts how,
prior to his departure for Rome to obtain from the pope various privileges
for the monasteries he had established, Aldhelm visited his Dorset estate near
Wareham and Corfe Castle and built a church two miles from the sea,
* wherein he commended to God his going and returning.' According to
the chronicler the church was still standing in his day — about the beginning
of the twelfth century — and was regarded by the inhabitants of the country
with singular veneration on account of the signs and miracles which had
taken place there. The shepherds of the district, it was said, when storms
broke over them, would fiy for shelter within its walls, where no rain ever
fell though the roof had fallen and all attempts to cover it had failed.^"
During the four short years of his rule the bishop worthily initiated the
work of the church in Dorset. At Sherborne he built, or at least com-
menced, his minster or cathedral church," to which was attached a house of
secular canons, the ' familia,' or household, at that time always forming part
of a bishop's seat. Another important religious foundation, dating not later
than the formation of the episcopal see, was the house of religious virgins
built by St. Cuthburga, sister of King Ine, at Wimborne, and specially
referred to by Aldhelm in a letter, dated 705, giving liberty of election to
the monasteries under his charge, as ' the monastery by the river which is
called Wimburnia presided over by the abbess Cuthburga.' ^^ During the
eighth century the fame of the nuns here and the report of the training and
discipline of the abbess-founder and her successors spread even to the Con-
tinent, and St. Boniface, the apostle of the Germans, sent over to make
request that the sisters Lioba and Agatha might be allowed to proceed abroad
to take charge of the monastery he had founded at BiscofFsheim in order that
the same rule and discipline might be planted there.^*
To enumerate briefly the succession of bishops of Sherborne in the
eighth and ninth centuries : Aldhelm, on his death in 709, was followed by
Forthere," who in 737 is said to have accompanied Queen Frythogith to
Rome,^° and was succeeded by Herewald, consecrated by Archbishop Nothelm
in 736,^* in whose time was held the council of Clovesho (747), at which
' Ges/a Pon/if. (Rolls Ser.), 175.
' Flor. Vi^orc. Ciron. (Engl. Hist. Soc), i, 46 ; Wm. of Malmesbury, Gafa Pontlf. (Rolls Ser.), 376.
" Ibid. 363-4. " Ibid 378. " Birch, Carl. Sax. i, 168.
" Cressy, Church Hist, of Brit. lib. xxi, cap. xviii.
" Flor. Wore. Chron. (En^l. Hist. Soc), i. 47 ; Bede, Eccl. Hist. lib. v, cap. yi'iii.
" Anglo-Sax. Ckron. (Rolls Ser.), 40.
" Sim. of Durham (Twysden), 100. Herewald appears to have acted as suffragan to Forthere before the
death of the latter, for in a charter dated 734-7, they both appear as bishop of the church of Sherborne ;
Kemble, Codex Dipl. i, 82.
2
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
he assisted." ^thelmod, 766-78 ; Denefrith, consecrated by Archbishop
yEthelheard in 793;" Wigberht or Wibert, who went with Archbishop
Wulfred to Rome in 8 i 2.^' Ealhstan, a vahant soldier no less than bishop,
and esteemed for his military prowess, took an important part in the conflicts
of his time, and not only assisted King Egbert in the subjugation of the
kingdoms of Kent and Essex, but afforded him and his successor material
help as well as active encouragement in their struggle against the Danes.^°
William of Malmesbury, who described the bishop as of singular power in
secular matters and pre-eminent in counsel, but resented his action in having
appropriated the abbey of Malmesbury to the episcopal see, declared that
avarice, spite of his liberality in the national cause, was the besetting sin of
Ealhstan, adding, however, that he left his church well endowed." Accord-
ing to i\\Q Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Ealhstan died in 867, after he had held the
bishopric of Sherborne ' fifty winters,' and ' his body lies there in the town.' "^
Bishop Heahmund, who subscribed 868—70, again recalls the fierce conflict
going on with the Danes, for he, ' with many good men,' was slain in battle
at Merton in 871 ; ''^ his successor, iEthelheah, subscribed 871—8 ; Wulfsige,
^Ifsige, or Alfsius, 883.'* Asser, chiefly remembered as the friend and
biographer of King Alfred, signed acts in 900 and 904. He was in all
probability made bishop of the western portion of the diocese, which at that
time reached to Land's End, in the lifetime of his predecessor and succeeded
to the whole on the death of Wulfsige ; this, at any rate, offers a solution of
the fact that Asser is described by Alfred as ' my bishop ' at a date previous
to 890, while Asser himself states that the king bestowed on him the charge
of Exeter with the whole diocese that pertained to it in Saxony (Wessex) and
Cornwall,^^ and disposes of the confusion resulting from the two bishops
appearing as contemporary occupants of the same see.^°
The beginning of the tenth century brings us to what has been described
as 'the great ecclesiastical event of the reign of Edward the Elder,' " the second
division of the West Saxon see, with the account of the consecration of the
seven bishops at Canterbury. 'In the year 904 of our Lord's nativity,' writes
William of Malmesbury —
Pope Formosus sent letters into England by which he pronounced excommunication
and malediction on king Edward and all his subjects, instead of the benediction which had
been sent by Pope Gregory from the seat of St. Peter to the English people, because for
7 whole years the whole district of the West Saxons had been destitute of bishops. On
hearing this king Edward assembled a council of the senators of the English people, over
which Plegmund, archbishop of Canterbury, presided interpreting carefully the words of the
apostolic message. Then the king and bishops chose a salutary council for themselves and
their people and, according to the word of our Lord ' the harvest truly is plenteous but the
" Wilkins, Condi, i, 94. " Wharton, Anglia Sacra, i, 79.
" Flor. of V7orc. Chron. (Engl. Hist. Sec), i, 64.
" Gesta Regum Angl. (Rolls Ser.), i, 109. King .(Ethelwulf is said to have had two excellent bishops :
St. Swithun of Winchester, who directed the king in celestial matters ; and Ealhstan of Sherborne, who advised
him in earthly affairs.
»' Gesta Pontif. (Rolls Ser.), 175-6. " Op. cit. 53.
" Ibid. 62. The following year King .iEthelred, who received mortal injuries in the same battle, died
and was buried at Wimborne (ibid.), his predecessors, .^thelbald and .(Ethelbert, having received burial at
Sherborne; ibid. 58-9.
" Wm. of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontif. (Rolls Ser.), 177. " Petrie, Monumenia Hist. Brit. 4, 9.
" Lingard, Anglo-Saxon Church, ii, 433 ; W. H. Jones, Early Annals of the Episcopate in Wilts and Dorset,
20-1.
" Stubbs, William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum (Rolls Ser.), Introd. ii, p. liv.
3
A HISTORY OF DORSET
labourers are few,' they elected and constituted a bishop to every province of the West
Saxons and divided the district which formerly had two bishoprics into five. The
council being dismissed, the archbishop went to Rome with many presents and conciliating
the Pope with great humility recited the king's ordinance which gave the pontiff great
pleasure. And returning home, in one day he consecrated in the city of Canterbury
7 bishops to 7 churches, namely, Frithstan to Winchester, .(Ethelstan to Ramsbury,
Waerstan to Sherborne, Athelm to Wells, Eadulf to Crediton, also to other provinces he
constituted 2 bishops, Beornege to the South Saxons (Selsey) and to the Mercians Ceolwulf
whose see was at Dorchester.^*
On critical examination many of the details in the above account are shown
to be inaccurate.^' The story of the negotiations of Edward the Elder with
Pope Formosus falls to the ground as his pontificate ended four years
before the king's reign began, while the immediate successor of Asser,
whose death is recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under the year
910,'" was not Waerstan but ^Ethelweard, who as bishop of Sherborne
attested a charter of King Edward in 909.*^ As to the tradition, dating
from the eleventh century, of the consecration of seven bishops at Canterbury
in one day, the story is said by its most eminent critic to contain ' no special
improbability although it would be unwise to risk a positive identification of
the persons consecrated.' ^^ The points to be retained are that the visit
of Archbishop Plegmund to Rome in 908 '^ was followed by the division of
the diocese of Winchester into two bishoprics,'* one remaining at Winchester
as before, the other fixed at Ramsbury, and comprising the two counties of
Wiltshire and Berkshire or such portion of them as belonged to the territory
of the West Saxons ; and that subsequently the diocese of Sherborne, as it
existed prior to 909, was divided into three bishoprics : Sherborne for the
county of Dorset, Wells for Somerset, and Crediton for Devonshire.'^
To return to the succession of bishops of Sherborne after the division of
the diocese : Waerstan, one of the seven prelates consecrated in one day by
Archbishop Plegmund, was killed, according to William of Malmesbury, in
937, on the eve of the battle of Brunanburh ; '° his signature is not found
attached to any genuine charter. An interpolation of Florence of Worcester
states that ' on the death of Waerstan, iEthelbald succeeded,' " and his name
follows in the list of bishops given by William of Malmesbury ; Sighelm, or
Sigelm, subscribed 925-932 ;'* Alfred, 933— 943 '^^ ; Wulfsige, said to have been
abbot of Westminster,*" signed 943, as Mlsius Dorsetensium Episcopus his death
is recorded in the year 958 ; *^ his successor ^Ifwold, designated in the same
manner,*^ died in 978 and was buried at Sherborne ; *' ^thelsige, 979—991,
was present at the consecration of Winchester Cathedral in 981 ; ** Wulfsige,
-'' Gesta Regum (Rolls Ser.), i, 1 40-1.
■' W. H. Jones, Early Annals of the Episcopate in Wilts and Dorset, 22-3. '" Op. cit. 77.
'' Kemble, Codex Dipl. v, 1093. According to one account of William of Malmesbury the alms sent
by King Alfred to St. Thomas of India and Christians beyond sea were conveyed by Sighelm, bishop of
Sherborne, whom elsewhere he makes successor to Asser [Gesta Regum (Rolls Ser.), i, 130 ; Gesta Pontif. (Rolls
Ser.), 177]. But a bishop of the name of Sighelm does not occur until three successors of Asser had passed
away, and it is hardly probable that the two should be identical.
'' Stubbs, Reg. Sacrum Anglic. 23. '^ Petrie, Monumenta Hist. Brit. 519.
" Wm. of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontif. (Rolls Ser.), 20 ; W. H. Jones, op. cit. 24-5.
" Wm. of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontif. (Rolls Ser.), 178.
'* Ibid. ■" Chron. (Engl. Hist. Soc.) i, 128, note I ; 133, note 2.
'' Stubbs. Reg. Sacrum Anglic. 25. " Ibid. p. 26.
" Wm. of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontif. (Rolls Ser.), 178.
" Flor. Wore. Chron. (Engl. Hist. Soc), 137. *- Ibid, i, 146.
" Angl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), 178. " Arch. Journ. (Winchester), 15.
4
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
Wulfsin or Wulfsy, 992—1001, was responsible for the reorganization of Sher-
borne, monks being substituted for the secular canons who had occupied the
house since its foundation in 705;*^ iEthelric, looi ; *" yEthelsige or ^Ethelsie,*^
1012— 14 ; Brihtwy or Brihtwin, included in the list of bishops given by
William of Malmesbury and Florence of Worcester, but whose name does
not appear in any charters of that period ; i^lfmaer, 1017, whose succession
is recorded under the year 1022 in the Decern Scriptores*^ ; Brihtwy, 1023,
subscribed in 1044 as bishop of Sherborne to a charter of Edward the Con-
fessor;*' iElfwold, 1045, to whom the Confessor addressed a charter testi-
fying a grant to Ore or Orcus his minister, the founder of Abbotsbury,
of the shore of all his lands/" In 1058 by the appointment of Herman 'the
king's priest,' who already held the bishopric of Ramsbury, the two sees of
Sherborne and Ramsbury which had been separated on the division of the
diocese in 909, became again united under one bishop holding jurisdiction
over the counties of Berkshire, Wiltshire and Dorset." The bishop's stool re-
mained at Sherborne till the year 1075, when, by decree of the council of
London ordering the removal of sees from small towns and villages to more
populous centres, it was transferred to the city of Old Sarum,^^ and the head
of the diocese, which had hitherto pertained to Dorset, passed finally away
from the county.
Glancing back over the three and a half centuries that elapsed
between the foundation of the see at Sherborne and its transference to Old
Sarum, the characteristic feature of this period as regards this county will be
found in the rise and growth of those religious houses on whose pivot the
whole ecclesiastical structure seemed to turn. To it belonged those great
Benedictine houses that were at once the glory and the distinctive feature of
Dorset. Sherborne, coeval with the bishopric itself ; Shaftesbury, linked in
memory with the greatest of Saxon kings, the long line of whose abbesses
commences in Alfred's daughter ; ^^ Milton, built by King iEthelstan about
the year 953 to commemorate for the soul of the young Prince Edwin, or,
as some monkish chroniclers insist, to expiate the crime of a brother's
murder ; " Cerne and Abbotsbury, whose traditionary history goes back
to the very dawn of Christianity in this island, and the early mission of
St. Augustine"; the later dependent cells of Cranborne and Horton,
which before the Conquest enjoyed the status of abbeys. The action of the
claimant vEthelwold in seizing Wimborne on the accession of his cousin
Edward the Elder to the throne in 901, and the declaration that here 'he
would either live or lie,'^' illustrates the early importance that the town
and church enjoyed as th^ residence and sepulchre of Wessex kings. Few
counties of the size of Dorset can show such a list of wealthy and influential
houses as are to be found here at the time of the Domesday Survey.
" Leknd, Collect, iii, 150 ; Ititi. ii, 51-2. " Kemble, Codex Dlpl. iii, 708.
*' Ibid, vi, 1302.
*' W. Thome, De rebus Abbat. Cant. (Twysden), 1782.
" Codex Dlpl. iv, 771, 774-5. His death is recorded in the Angl.-^ax. Chron. (Rolls Ser. 134) under
the year 1043.
" Codex Dlpl. iv, 871.
" Wm. of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontif. (Rolls Ser.), 183. " Ibid. 66-8.
■"' See Alfred's Charter of endowment. Birch, Cart. Sax. ii, 148.
" Dugdale, Mon. ii, 348, Cbart. under Milton, No. iii.
" Coker, Particular Surv. of Dorset, 30, 66. " Angl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), 75.
5
A HISTORY OF DORSET
These early foundations, as in other parts of the country, appear in the
first instance to have been occupied by secular canons, or monks following
no established rule. Following the monastic reforms of Edgar and
Archbishop Dunstan we find in 904 the seculars at Milton replaced by
monks under the rule of Abbot Cyneward." In 987 ^Elfric, the author of
the famous Homilies, was appointed first abbot of Cerne, the inmates of
which were ordered to follow the Benedictine rule." Bishop Wulfsige, or
Wulfsy, in 998, as we have seen, substituted monks for the secular canons
who had previously formed the community attached to the cathedral church
of the diocese at Sherborne.^' The society of secular canons, established at
Abbotsbury about 1026 by Ore or Orcus, steward of the household to King
Cnut, was afterwards changed into a house of Benedictine monks by the
founder, or by his widow after his death.*" On the other hand, Wimborne,
originally ' a house of Holy Virgins,' was, on its restoration, converted into a
house of secular canons, and continued as a royal free chapel under the govern-
ment of a dean down to the Reformation."
As regards the state of the church during the long and protracted
struggle against the Danes, little can be positively ascertained save as
it affected materially the religious foundations of the county. Wareham,
one of the oldest monasteries in Dorset, is said to have been destroyed
in an assault on the town in 876.** Horton, again, is supposed to have
shared the fate of Tavistock, which was destroyed in the raid of 997—8.**
A blank succeeds in the history of Wimborne after the reign of Edward
the Elder, and the next mention of it records its restoration by Edward
the Confessor.** Cnut, we are told, raided the counties of Dorset, Somer-
set and Wiltshire in 1015," and plundered the monastery of Cerne of
which he afterwards became a benefactor.** Ethelred ' the Unrede ' in the
midst of the troubles and turmoils of his reign granted by charter, dated
1 00 1, to the nuns of Shaftesbury the vill and monastery of Bradford (Wilt-
shire) that they might there retire as to a place which offered greater security
against the attacks of the enemy. *^ It would be impossible to leave the tenth
century, with its disconnected record of destruction and reconstruction, with-
out referring to the events of 978— 80, which took place within the borders
of Dorset and played so important a part in determining the future greatness
of the abbey of Shaftesbury : the cruel murder of the young King Edward, if
not by the actual hand, at least with the connivance of his stepmother ^Ethel-
thryth or Elfrida, the daughter of Ordgar, earl of Devon, the founder of
Horton; and the solemn translation of his body by Dunstan and the alderman
Alfhere from Wareham to the conventual church of the nunnery which,
originally dedicated to the honour of the Blessed Virgin, soon after appears
under the popular designation of St. Edward's.**
" Leland, Colkcl. ii, 1 86 ; iii, 72. " Cart. Antiq. D. 16. " Leiand, Itin. W, 51-2.
'" Tanner, Notitia (ed. 1744), 105 ; Coker, Particular Surv. of Donet, 30.
" Leland, Collect, i, 82 ; Itin. iii, 72. " Cressy, Church Hist, of Brit. lib. xxviii, cap. ix.
" Matt, of Westminster, Flores Hist. (Rolls Ser.), i, 324.
" Or 'King Edward,' supposed to be the Confessor ; Leland, Collect, i, 82 ; Itin. iii, 72.
" Jngl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), 121. ^ Leland, Collect, i, 66 ; iii, 67. " Had. MS. 61, fol. i.
^ Jngl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), i, 234 ; Wm. of Malmesbury, Gesta Reg. (Rolls Ser.), i, 258 ; Gesta
Pontif. (Rolls Ser.), 202-3. The relics of the murdered Icing, who as early as the year 1001 was referred
to as 'the Blessed Martyr' (Harl. MS. 61, fol. l), and whose festival was afterwards kept four times in
the year, early attracted crowds of worshippers to his shrine.
6
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
The Domesday Survey of 1086 not only serves to show the ecclesiastical
configuration of the county in the eleventh century, but confirms the im-
pression of the wealth and importance already attained by the Church and the
monasteries at that time. It has been pointed out that the great and dominant
feature in the disposition of Dorset lands as there recorded is that more than
a third of the whole county was in ecclesiastical hands at the time the Survey
was taken, and that the patrimony of the church was greater than that of all
the barons and greater feudatories combined/' Among the seventy-six tenants
including the thegns, holding in chief of the king, are entered the names of
five bishops, eleven abbots, four abbesses, the community of Sherborne, the
chapter of Coutances, and four Saxon priests, whose lands are designated
under the title terra elemosinariorum Regis ; the abbot of Marmontier, a sub-
feudatory, is entered under the holding of the earl of Mortain. As regards
the estates of the various ecclesiastics, the bishop of Salisbury, besides the nine
manors assigned to the use of the monks of Sherborne,™ held by right of the
bishopric, the manors of Charminster, Alton Pancras, Up Cerne, Yetminster,
Beaminster, Netherbury, Chardstock, a carucate of land at Lyme, half an acre
at Bridport, two houses in Wareham, one in Dorchester, and other lands
obtained in exchange." Odo, bishop of Bayeux, half-brother of the Conqueror,
had as his sole Dorset estate the manor of Rampisham ; ^^ Geoffrey, bishop of
Coutances, who for his services at the time of the Conquest had been granted
large tracts of land in different counties, held the manor of Winterborne
Houghton;'" the bishop of Lisieux, Gilbert Maminot, had the manors of
Tarrant Keynston and Coombe Keynes, with a hide of land in Tarrant Pres-
ton ; ^* the small estate of Maurice, bishop of London, consisted of half a hide
of land in Odeham.''^ The eleven abbots holding in chief include the superiors
of Cranborne, Cerne, Milton, Abbotsbury, and Horton, all belonging to this
county ; the superiors of Glastonbury, Winchester, Athelney, and Tavistock
outside its borders ; and the Norman abbots of St. Stephen, Caen, and
St. Wandragesil or Fontanel. The four abbesses were the superiors of
Shaftesbury (Dorset), Wilton (Wiltshire), Holy Trinity Caen, and St. Mary
of Montevillers. The holding of the Dorset religious houses was briefly as
follows: — Cranborne held 2 carucates of land in Gillingham, the manors of
Boveridge and Up Wimborne, Lestesford, half a hide in Langford, and the
manor of Tarrant Monkton ; under the holding of the widow of Ralph Fitz
Grip, the Norman sheriff, it is recorded that Hugh gave to the church of
St. Mary of Cranborne half a hide of land in Orchard, ' and it is worth
20J.' ; ^^ Cerne held manors or estates at Cerne, Little Puddle, Radipole,
Bloxworth, Affpuddle, Poxwell, East Woodsford, Heffleton, ' Vergroh,' Little
'^' R. D. Eyton, Key to Domesday Surz>. of Dorset, 156. Thus, supposing the whole territory of Dorset
to be divided into 265 parts, the iilng held nearly 36J such parts, the bishop of Salisbury followed with nearly
26, the abbess of Shaftesbury had more than i6i, the abbots of Cerne and Milton more than i 2 each, the abbot
of Abbotsbury more than i\ ; ibid.
" These included the manors of Sherborne, Oborne, Thornford, Bradford, Over and Nether Compton,
Stalbridge, Weston, Corscombe, and Stoke Abbott.
" Dom. Bk. (Rec. Com.), i, 75-7. From the enumeration of estates in the foundation charter of the
cathedral by Bishop Osmond in 1091 it is evident that many of the old endowments of the bishopric of
Salisbury had passed over into the possession of the church of Sarum ; Reg. of St. Osmund (Rolls Ser.), i, 198.
" Dom. Bk. (Rec. Com.), i, 77. " Ibid. " Ibid. yjb.
" Ibid. In the parish of Wimborne which it is conjectured he held in virtue of the deanery ;
R. D. Eyton, op. cit. 113, note 3.
" Dom. Bk. (Rec. Com.), i, 84.
A HISTORY OF DORSET
Bredy, Winterborne Abbas, Long Bredy, Nettlecombe, Milton, Kimmeridge,
Rentscombe, and Symondsbury ; " Milton at Sydling, Milton, Compton
Abbas, Cattistock, Puddle, Clyffe, Osmington, Whitcombe, Lyscombe, Wool-
land, Winterborne Hillfield, Ower, Stockland, Piddletrenthide, and Cerne ;
Abbotsbury, the manors of Abbotsbury, Tolpuddle, Hilton, Portisham, 5
virgates of land at Shilvinghampton, 2^ hides at Wootton Abbas, half a hide
in Bourton, and the manor of Stoke Atrum. To the abbey of Horton, besides
estates in Devonshire, belonged the manor of Horton, the two best hides of
which had been retained by the king in his forest of Wimborne, the little
church (ecclesiold) in Wimborne, with the site of two houses, a church in
Wareham with five houses paying a rent of 65^'., and a house in Dorchester.'*
The abbess of Shaftesbury, the largest monastic landowner in the county,
besides extensive estates outside Dorset, held here the manors of Handley,
Hinton St. Mary, Stour, Fontmell, Compton Abbas, Melbury, Iwerne
Minster, Tarrant Hinton, Fifehead, Stoke, and Cheselbourne, with a hide of
land at Farnham." The chapter of Coutances in Normandy held the manor
of Winterborne Stickland, which they retained in their possession down to
the fourteenth century.
As the object of the Survey was purely fiscal and it did not include
within its scope the return of parish churches no clue is afforded as
to the number of churches then in existence ; even in those instances
where a reference to a church occurs, it is almost invariably in connexion
with the endowment or lands belonging to it. The names of those actually
given are as follows : — the four churches belonging to the Norman abbey of
St. Wandragesil, viz. Burton Bradstock, Bridport, Whitchurch Canonicorum
and St. Mary Wareham ; *" the six entered under the heading terra elemosi-
narioritm Regis : Holy Trinity Dorchester, Bere Regis, Winfrith Newburgh,
Puddletown, East Chaldown, and Fleet. *^ Under the estates of the abbey of
Shaftesbury it is recorded that the king gave to the abbess the advowson of
the church of Gillingham in exchange for one of the i 6 hides of the manor
of Kingston, on which he built the castle of Wareham or Corfe.^" Besides
the brief reference to the collegiate church of Wimborne Minster,*' the little
church ieccksiola) belonging to the abbey of Horton in Wimborne" must not
be forgotten, which, with the church in Wareham," completes the list.
" Dcm. Bk. (Rec. Com.), -j-b, 78.
'* As regards superiors outside this county holding land in Dorset, the abbot of Glastonbury held then,
and in the time of Edward the Confessor, the manors of Sturminster Newton, Okeford Fitzpaine, Buckland
Newton, East Woodyates, Pentridge, and three hides of land in Lyme Regis (ibid. ~~b) ; the abbot of
St. Peter, Winchester, had only the manor of Piddletrenthide (ibid.) ; the abbot of Athelney (Somerset)
the manor of Caundle Purse (ibid. 78^), still in the possession of the abbey when the Taxatio of Pope
Nicholas was taken if ope Nick. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 185) ; the abbot of Tavistock the manors of Askenwell
and Poorton (ibid.) ; the Norman abbey of St. Stephen of Caen held the manors of Frampton and Bin-
combe (ibid.) : and the abbey of St. Wandragesil the churches of Burton Bradstock, Bridport, and Whit-
church Canonicorum, with four hides of land appurtenant thereto, the church of St. Man-, Wareham, with
one hide of land (ibid).
'* Ibid 78. The abbess of Wilton had the manor of Didlington and 3^ hides of land in the parish of
Wimborne St. Giles (ibid. 79) ; the abbess of Holy Trinity, Caen, the manor of Tarrant Launceston (ibid.);
the abbess of St. Mary of Montevillers the manor of Friar Waddon (ibid.).
*° Ibid. 78^. *• Ibid. 79. ^ Ibid. 78^. ^ Ibid. 75. " Ibid. 783.
" Said to be that of St. Martin ; R. D. Eyton, op. cit. 44. Various references to priests imply at least
the existence of churches elsewhere ; thus under the survey of the manor of Hinton, which had devolved to the
crown through the death of Hugh Fitz Grip, besides a mention of two priests who had parcels of land in the
time of Edward the Confessor, there is incidentallv a reference to the priest of the manor, who was probably
the incumbent of Hinton (ibid. 75) ; while the further entry 'of this land' (the fourteen hides and one virgate
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
The addition of Norman and foreign superiors to those monastic
bodies already holding property in Dorset marks the great dynastic and
political change that had recently taken place, but so far as the older
houses are concerned the Survey shows that it had had, with some excep-
tions,** comparatively little effect in the loss or depreciation of their lands ;
while in the case of Shaftesbury these had greatly risen in value. If the
monks of Abbotsbury had reason to complain of the losses they had suffered
under Hugh Fitz Grip, late Norman sheriff, and his widow," and the com-
munity at Sherborne reported that William, son of the Conqueror, had seized
three virgates of land in their manor of Stalbridge ' without the consent
of the bishop and the monks,' ** the abbess and nuns of Shaftesbury had
not forgotten their injuries at the hands of Earl Harold, while they placed
on record that the Conqueror had, at least, restored to them the manor of
Stour of which they had been deprived by the late earl though he still
retained that of Melcombe.*^
But if the Conquest brought little territorial change to the mon-
astic establishments of the county, the eleventh century witnessed various
other changes that had a distinct bearing on the social and ecclesias-
tical position of Dorset,'" An administrative scheme, rendered necessary
by the Conqueror's action in separating the secular from the ecclesias-
tical courts of justice, was the division of the diocese into districts and the
appointment of an official hitherto known as the bishop's ' eye,' his
deputy or archdeacon, who now became a territorial officer with definite
functions, holding courts and presiding over a district for which he was per-
sonally responsible to the bishop. The first mention of this newly constituted
officer occurs in a copy of that original Institutio Osmundi, contemporary
with the foundation charter of the cathedral of Salisbury in 1091, which,
in elaborating and explaining the rights and duties of the cathedral
dignitaries, orders that the attention of the archdeacon should be specially
directed to the 'care of parishes and the cure of souls.' *^ The 'Consue-
tudinary ' of the bishop states that in the church of Sarum are four
archdeacons, one for Dorset, one for Berkshire, and two for Wiltshire.'^
To the archdeaconry of Dorset, sometimes called the Jirst {primus) arch-
deaconry,*' was annexed the rectory of Gussage Regis, the valuation of
which was assessed in the Taxatio of 1291 at £j2 ^^- 8^^-^* The Register of
of" Hinton) 'holds another priest living in Tarrant one hide and a third part of a hide,' probably constitutes a
reference to the incumbent of a church at Tarrant. A resident priest is mentioned under the manor of Roger
de Belmont in Church Knowle (ibid. Son), and another priest is recorded in the manor of Long Blandford
or Langton held by Edwin Venator (ibid. 84J).
** The exceptions are notoriously house property in the boroughs. In Shaftesbury, for example, of the
153 houses belonging to the abbess in the time of Edward the Confessor, 1 1 1 were left at the date the Survey
was taken ; 42 had been altogether destroyed (ibid. 75 a). In Wareham of 45 houses standing in the demesne
of the abbey of St. Wandragesil 1 7 were laid waste. The estates of the abbot of Glastonbury are another
exception, but the lands of the abbey had recently been in the custody of the crown following the wasteful
management of Abbot Thurston. R. W. Eyton, op. cit. 21.
«' Dcm. Bk. (Rec. Com.), i, 78. *» Ibid. 77. ^' Ibid. 78^.
'" The transfer of the bishop's seat from Sherborne to Old Sarum and the removal of the capital from
Winchester to London naturally moved this county further away from the centre of activity and tended to
place it outside the circle of influence it had once occupied. As regards this diminution of importance
it has elsewhere been pointed out (H. J. Moule, Old Dmet, 51), that in the following centuries
the position of Dorset, as compared with the advance of other counties, would more fitly be described as
stationary.
" Reg. of St. Osmund {Ko\h Ser.), i, 214. '' Ibid, i, 3.
'" Valor EccL (Rec. Com.), ii, 72. '' Pope Nick. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 182^.
2
A HISTORY OF DORSET
Bishop Osmund records the names of two of the earliest archdeacons of the
county, Adam, about the year 1097, and John, about 1120.'^ Adelelm,
archdeacon of Dorset, occurs in a charter of Bishop Roger of SaHsbury,
1130-35,'^ and WiUiam witnessed a deed of Bishop Hubert about 1190."
Later on, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, when the abuse of papal
provision was at its height we find the archdeaconry constantly held in
succession by Roman cardinals and ecclesiastics.
In passing we may note that the strong wave of monastic feeling and
sympathy which swept over the country in the twelfth century left its trace
in Dorset in the number of foreign cells and dependent priories which then
sprang into existence. The two centuries that elapsed between the Survey of
1086 and the Taxatio of 1291 witnessed the introduction of an alien
community at Loders belonging to the abbey of St. Mary of Montebourg ;
the grant of Povington to the abbey of Bee, Spettisbury and Stour
Provost to the abbeys of St. Peter and St. Leger of Preaux, and of Winter-
borne Monkton to the Cluniac priory of Wast or de Vasto ; the Norman
abbeys of Tiron and Lyre were also among the ecclesiastical landowners
of the county. As regards the older and pre-Conquest foundations, many
of the changes brought about in the earlier part of the century were
doubtless necessary modifications and adjustments in face of altered cir-
cumstances.''
For information as to the spread of parish churches and the systematic
organization and adjustment of parochial endowments in Dorset in the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries one turns again to the Register of St. Osmund,
as well as to the collection of deeds and charters relating to the cathedral of
Salisbury with their many references to this county, as the most available
source.'' The foundation charter of Salisbury in 1091 enumerates, among
the endowments of the cathedral, the churches of Sherborne, Bere Regis, and
St. George of Dorchester, the last generally identified with the church of
Fordington which, united with the manor of Writhlington in Somerset, made
up a prebend in Sarum.^"" The parish churches of Yetminster, Alton Pancras,
Charminster, Beaminster, and Netherbury, the manors of which were also
included among the possessions of the cathedral in 1091,'"' are afterwards
found among the peculiars of the dean and chapter of Salisbury.^"' The
Norman abbot of St. Wandragesil or Fontanel in 1200 released to the
chapter the church of Whitchurch Canonicorum,^"^ already in his hands at
"Jones, Fasti Eccl. Sarisb. 137. Le Neve quoting from the same register gives Adam as the firot
archdeacon of Dorset ; Fasti Eccl. Angl. ii, 637.
'' Reg. of St. Osmund (Rolls Ser.), i, 349. " Ibid. 241.
'' Thus Bishop Roger of Salisbury endeavouring to restore the loss of status consequent on the removal
of the see constituted Sherborne into an abbey and annexed to it as a dependent cell the former abbey
of Horton, now evidently in a state of decay. The bishop's action in appropriating Abbotsburj' to the
episcopal see 'as far as he could' does not on the other hand appear to have had a lasting effect [William of
Malmesbury, Hist. Novella (Rolls Ser.), ii, 559]. Another modification took place in 1122 when the former
abbey of Cranhorne was reduced to a priory and made subordinate to Tewkesbury, of which formerly it had
been the head house.
" The general scheme of organizing and adjusting the estates of the cathedral church at this period had
the effect of adding many more churches to those already held by the cathedral chapter in Dorset.
"" Reg. of St. Osmund (Rolls Ser.), i, 195. "" Ibid.
'" Falor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, App. p. 458.
" Of the four churches belonging to this Norman abbey in the Domesday Survey two were granted,
Whitchurch Canonicorum, and Burton Bradstock by charter of the Conqueror to the abbey ' for the sake of
Guntard my chaplain,' monk of the monastery ; Reg- of St. Osmund (Rolls Ser.), i, 231.
10
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
the time of Domesday, and was granted the prebend of Upavon in the
cathedral which entitled him to a stall in the choir and a voice in the
cathedral chapter."* The abbot of St. Mary Montebourg, who had a cell at
Loders, likewise conveyed to the chapter about the year i 2 1 3 his churches of
Powerstock. and Fleet,"^ and in return was allowed to retain the church of
Loders and the chapel of Radipole as a prebend in Salisbury."* The church
of Sherborne appears from the foundation of the cathedral to have constituted
a prebend in Salisbury, held by the abbot in virtue of his office."' A dispute
arising early in the thirteenth century respecting the claim of the dean of
Salisbury to the church of Frome Whitfield, as attached to his prebend of
Charminster, was peaceably settled by an agreement whereby the church
itself was annexed to the prebend, but the patronage vested in William de
Whitfield, Matilda his wife, and their heirs who, on a vacancy, should
present a candidate for institution to the dean and his successors."* By an
arrangement in 1225 certain pensions out of the churches of Tarrant
Keynston, Combe, Somerford, and Lulworth were reserved to the priory of
Merton, the church of Tarrant Keynston at the special request of the prior and
canons being assigned to the perpetual use of the nuns of Tarrant, who in return
for this grant were charged to offer special prayers every Sunday for the
brethren of Merton as for their benefactors."^ In 1224 the church of
Bishop's Caundle was made over to the ordinary by the prior and canons of
Breamore,"" The churches of Stourpaine and Burstock were placed by the
prior and convent of Christchurch (Twyneham) in 1 244 at the disposition
of the bishop who the following year ordained that the church of Fleet,
previously resigned by the abbot of St. Mary Montebourg, should be appro-
priated to the convent of Christchurch, the church of Stourpaine to the
chapter of Salisbury, while the church of Burstock was assigned to the
maintenance of the bridge at Salisbury, all three churches being made exempt
from the jurisdiction of the ordinary and the archdeacon, the bishop in his
deed stipulating that they should be ' honestly ' and fitly served and the cure
of souls in no way neglected."^
With reference to the question of parochial endowments, instances are
not wanting to illustrate the liberty of large landowners to bestow tithes of their
lands at will on one place or another. A deed of Ralph de St. Leger about
the year 1217 recites that he has granted to Roger, chaplain of Petersham,
within the parish of Wimborne, his oratory or free chapel of Todber, together
with all tithes of his demesne &c., as an endowment. "'^ Sir Bartholomew
de Turbervill, by deed in 1242, attached all tithes of his demesne at
Winterborne Turberville, which he declared had been always bestowed by
his ancestors and himself on whomsoever they desired, to the prebend of
Charminster and Bere Regis, in consideration of which grant he obtained a
licence for a private chantry or chapel for the use of himself, his household
"* Reg. of St. Osmund (Rolls Ser.), i, 71. "" Ibid, i, 225.
'°° Ibid, i, 226. The abbot of Bee, to whose abbey belonged a small cell at Povington reckoned as
parcel of the priory of Ogbourne (Wilts.), held the prebend of Ogbourne constituted in the cathedral by
Bishop le Poor in 1208 ; ibid, i, 189.
""Ibid. 249. '"'Ibid. 255. "» Ibid, ii, 26.
"° Sarum Chart, and Doc. (Rolls Sen), 163-6.
'" The canons of Christchurch were ordered to pay the sum of a mark yearly to the archdeacon of
Dorset by way of compensation for the loss of jurisdiction involving dues ; ibid. 291-3.
'"Ibid. 81.
II
A HISTORY OF DORSET
and guests, and his heirs, to be served by a perpetual chaplain. ^^' Perhaps
the most interesting case of voluntary endowrment was the one confirmed by
Bishop Richard le Poor in 1218, w^herein seven parishioners of Mosterton
bestowed various gifts of land for the establishment and maintenance of a
chaplain who, with the consent of the rector of South Perrott, should make
personal residence and serve a chapel there."* With the growth of parish
churches there were springing up through the thirteenth century these
dependent chapels whose claims impinging on parochial rights required
constant readjustment, and were the cause of so many of the ecclesiastical
disputes in the succeeding century."*
During this period of parochial organization which marks the thirteenth
century, the ordination of vicarages was not neglected. The practice
which came into vogue after the Conquest of granting the presentation of
churches and alienating the tithes to cathedral and monastic bodies had as a
consequence lowered incumbents from the position of rectors, which they
enjoyed, in primitive times, to that of curates forced to content them-
selves with whatever remuneration they might be allowed. Various attempts
were made to counteract this evil, which in addition left the spiritual needs of
the parishioners at the mercy of rectors with whom their importance was not
always paramount. In i 200 the council of Westminster directed that every
vicar should be instituted by the bishop to whom he should be responsible
for the discharge of his duties, and that he should be provided with a suffi-
cient competence from the issues of the church."' The vicar's income in
addition to a competent manse was usually reckoned at about a third of the
total profits. The rector took the great tithe, viz., of corn, and the incidental
charges such as synodals, and the archdeacon's fees were usually arranged be-
tween the rector and the vicar in proportion to their respective portions. An
€arlv instance of care in defining precisely the portion that should be assigned
to the vicar occurs in a deed appropriating to the abbey of Sherborne the
churches of Stalbridge and Stoke Abbott in 1191, The vicar of Stalbridge,
according to this ordination, was to have all that estate [tenementuni) which
Sewale had of the estate of the said church and all things pertaining
to the church save the free land and those tithes, viz., of sheaves as
well as small tithes, which should be assigned to the use of the sacrist of
Sherborne ; in addition he should have free pasture and a horse and four
beasts in the pasture of the abbot's demesne and should sustain all episcopal
dues. The vicar of Stoke Abbott should have all things pertaining to the
church which Gerrud used to have and should sustain all episcopal dues like-
wise ; the remainder of the issues were to be assigned to the clothing of the
monks of Sherborne."^ The dean and cathedral chapter confirmed the
ordination of the vicarage of Fordington made by Lawrence of Saint
™ Sarum Chart, and Doc. (Rolls Ser.), 278-80. '" Ibid. 82-3.
'" In some instances these chapels became further endowed and were eventually erected into parish
churches, but after the Black Death they frequently became too impoverished to support a chaplain, and sank
into disuse.
"° The council of Oxford laid down the principle of providing a sufficient income, irrespective of the
actual value of a benefice, by decreeing that the vicar's stipend should not amount to less than 5 marks, except
in Wales. Wilkins, Concilia, i, 587.
"' Sarum Chart, and Doc. (Rolls Ser.), 49. In 1238 the abbot and convent of Sherborne resigned to
Bishop Robert Bingham of Salisbury and the chapter the appropriation of these two churches of Stalbridge
and Stoke Abbott, reserving to themselves the advowson and certain issues ; ibid. 248-9.
12
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
Nicholas, canon of Salisbury, in 1222, wherein was assigned to Robert de
Dorchester, chaplain, perpetual vicar, all obventions of the altar and ceme-
tery of the church, all small tithes, and the sum of 24^. id. to be annually
paid by the tenants of the said church ; to the canon and to his successors
were assigned all sheaves of whatever kind of grain and wherever sown. The
vicar was bound to serve the church personally and at his own expense,
and to bear all charges incumbent on the vicarage."' The endowment of the
vicarage of Alton Pancras was fixed in 1227,"' the ordination of the vicarage
of Whitchurch, the church of which was appropriated to the chapters of
Salisbury and Wells, in 1240 ; the vicar of the latter was charged to find a
chaplain and clerk to serve the dependent chapels of Stanton and Chideock
and another chaplain and clerk for the chapel of Marshwood, and the ordina-
tion included the appointment of a chaplain to celebrate daily in the church
for the benefactors and faithful departed of both cathedral chapters, and the
assignment of a certain portion of tithes for his maintenance.^-" The chapter
of Salisbury in 1242 confirmed the endowment of the vicarage of Bere
Regis by Robert de Lexinton, canon of Salisbury, who by deed notified that
he had granted to John de Dorchester, chaplain, the whole altarage of the
church of Bere Regis and the chapel of Winterborne Regis with tithes of
wool and lambs, and all small tithes and oblations, together with a messuage
and two acres of land in the town of Bere Regis, which William the vicar
had held in the name of a perpetual vicarage, reserving to himself and his
successors all tithes of corn, hay and mills, with all the oblations of ' Win-
debyre ' on the feast of the Nativity of the B.V.M. and the sum of 6 marks
to be annually received in equal portions at the four terms.^^^ In 1255
the vicarage of the church of Powerstock with the ordination of its endow-
ment was granted by the cathedral of Salisbury to Roger de Mere, chaplain,
who as vicar was charged with all expenses incumbent on the dean and
chapter for the said church and its chapels in keeping the roof of the
chancel in repair, and in providing books, vestments, and other neces-
saries for divine service, as well as with the annual payment of a mark
to the abbot and convent of Cerne for the chapel of Milton in virtue of
a former composition between the abbey and the chapter of Salisbury. ^"^
It will be noted that as a rule these early examples of ordination of
vicarages relate to churches in the possession of the cathedral church of
the diocese, but they may be accepted as fairly typical of the work then
going forward in regulating and systematizing parochial endowments
generally.
The work of two centuries seems fitly crowned by that compila-
tion of church property known as the taxation of Pope Nicholas IV
which marks the close of the thirteenth century, and from it may be
gathered a fairly comprehensive picture of the ecclesiastical organization
of the county as it was then complete. Within the archdeaconry of Dorset,
divided into the five deaneries of Shaftesbury, Pimperne, Whitchurch,
Dorchester, and Bridport,^^^ are recorded the names of 171 churches exclusive
"» Reg. of St. Osmund (Rolls Ser.), i, 322. '" Ibid, ii, 33.
"" Sarum Chart, and Doc. (Rolls Ser.), 261-6. "' Ibid. 277. "" Ibid. 324.
'^' Though rural deans are frequently mentioned in the ecclesiastical councils of the twelfth century
(Wilkins, Concil. \, 388, 502, 505), the date when the territorial limits of the deaneries were fixed is
uncertain.
13
A HISTORY OF DORSET
of Wimborne Minster, which constituted a deanery in itself.^*'* The
value of the spiritual property of the church in Dorset was assessed at
^1,418 16s. 5^.,^^^ the temporalities were valued at ^^1,929 os. 8;^^'.'^^ None
of the benefices were of any great value, only nine amounted to jTao or more,
thirty-seven were under ^5 a year with one not reckoned at all ; among the
prebends Sherborne was assessed at ^(^40.'" Twelve other vicarages are
recorded in addition to those vicarages established in connexion with
these churches prebendal to Salisbury : Sturminster Newton in the
deanery of Shaftesbury, the church of which was appropriated to the
abbey of Glastonbury ; Blandford Forum appropriated to the priory of
Christchurch, Cranborne to Tewkesbury, Horton to Sherborne in the deanery
of Pimperne ; Canford appropriated to the priory of Bradenstoke, Stur-
minster Marshall to the hospital of St. Giles of Pont Adomar, Puddle-
town to the priory of Christchurch, Dewlish belonging to Tewkesbury and
the vicarage of Buckland, all in the Whitchurch deanery ; in the deanery of
Dorchester there was the vicarage of Coombe Keynes ; and the vicarages of
Portisham and Abbotsbury, the churches of which belonged to the abbey of
Abbotsbury, in the Bridport deanery. Of the twelve, Sturminster Marshall,
valued at X^20, was the richest, Sturminster Newton came next valued at
jTio, Canford was assessed at ^^6 ly. ^d., Horton, Puddletown and Dew-
lish were worth ^^5 a year, Cranborne and Buckland, the poorest, ^4 6s. 8d.
As regards chapels, at that period to be found annexed to nearly all large
churches,^^^ the following are amongst those entered by name : Hinton
St. Mary, in the parish of Iwerne Minster, and Wimborne St. Giles, now
parochial churches ; Charlton Marshall annexed to the rectory of Spettisbury ;
Studland now a rectory and parish church ; Broadway now a rectory
annexed to Bincombe ; St. Aldhelm's chapel, Burton Bradstock, and Little
Bredy now erected into parish churches.
The blight even at that time affecting the spiritual side of monas-
ticism, and the practical restraint placed on religious endowments on a
large scale by the statute of Mortmain, are the causes no doubt that con-
tributed to the particular form adopted by the pious donor of the thirteenth
century for the expression of his devotional feelings. Instead of erecting
fresh monasteries he endowed chapels attached to existing churches with
priests to sing masses for his soul, the souls of his family and all the faithful
departed. As the practice of endowing such memorial chapels or chantries
spread the ranks of the beneficed clergy, in addition to the parochial
chaplains, became further reinforced by the chantry priests to be found in all
churches of any size officiating side by side with the parish priests. The
conventual churches of the monasteries generally, and in Dorset of the Bene-
dictine houses in particular, lent themselves readily to this develop-
ment, and the popular nature of it as a means of religious expression is
evidenced by its growth during the centuries that preceded and led up
to its abolition. The trend of religious feeling may be clearly traced from
the foundation of the earlier chantries, ordained simply for the performance
'" Under the deanery of Shaftesbury 32 churches are recorded, 31 under Pimperne, 38 under Whit-
church, 41 under Dorchester, 29 under Bridport ; Poj)e Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 177-80.
'" Ibid. 180. "^ Ibid. 185. '" Ibid. 182.
'" Gillingham with its numerous chapels is a striking example.
14
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
of prayers and masses for the benefit of the donor and his family, and friends,
combined in most instances with almsgiving, and the establishment of such
a chantry as that founded by the countess of Richmond and Derby in Wim-
borne Minster, in the early sixteenth century, when education was beginning
to be part of the popular religious creed, to which was appointed a priest
' ther to kepe continuall residence and teche frely gramer to all them that will
come thereunto.' Of the number of these memorial chapels the return
furnished by the commissioners of Henry VIII and Edward VI in the six-
teenth century furnishes but a slight idea. Most of those connected with
the monasteries appear to have vanished at the Dissolution, of the ten or a
dozen founded in Shaftesbury Abbey, for instance, only three are given in the
return ; and it is equally certain that many had ceased previously, owing to
the difficulty in maintaining them during the financial difficulties of the four-
teenth and fifteenth centuries.
In spite of the advance in ecclesiastical organization the episcopal
registers, the series of which commence on the eve of the twelfth century,
show a considerable amount of neglect and irregularity then prevalent in the
diocese : churches so defective that Bishop Simon of Ghent in a letter
addressed to all his archdeacons in October, 1 299, after a recent visitation,
remarks a year's income would hardly suffice to cover the cost of their repair;
want of books, ornaments, and other necessaries for the celebration of divine
service ; absentee rectors and vicars, incumbents who had neglected to take
higher orders, benefices held in plurality and in the possession of those
who could show no title. ^^' Measures were in the first instance taken
with regard to those fabrics that had not yet been dedicated, and in 1298,
soon after his promotion to the see. Bishop Simon wrote to the locum
tenens of the dean of Salisbury calling his attention to this matter, citing in
particular the church of Lyme Regis, and desiring that all the prebendal
churches should be consecrated without delay.'"" A further examination
brought the extensive nature of this neglect into such prominence that the
bishop in April, 1302, wrote to the archdeacon of Dorset, ordering him to
institute a special inquiry into the circumstances of those churches still uncon-
secrated, of which he had heard an inordinate number {effrenatam multitudineni)
still remained in the archdeaconry, and to warn all rectors and vicars ; ''*'
this order was followed by a commission to the archdeacon's official directing
him or the dean of Shaftesbury to summon the rectors of the following
churches to provide everything necessary for the consecration of the edifices
at the dates fixed in the inclosed schedule : Stour Provost on the Friday
after the Feast of St. James the Apostle, Manston the Sunday following,
Iwerne Courtney, Okeford, Stoke Wake, Bishop's Caundle, and Pulham on
the days immediately succeeding as should be most convenient.'^^ The
'" Sarum Epis. Reg. Simon of Ghent, fol. 23. In regard to the care of churchyards and cemeteries,
regulations for which were passed in the thirteenth century, the bishop in 1 3 1 1 wrote to the dean of
Shaftesbury denouncing the rough games and sports that were allowed in the inclosure {atrium') round the
canventual church of Shaftesbury, and the pasturing of animals turned in to graze ' where the bodies of the
faithful rest,' desiring that such practices should be put a stop to, and all neighbouring rectors and vicars
warned to proclaim their abolition ; ibid. fol. I 34.
'■* Ibid. fol. 5 d.
"' Ibid. fol. 22. This refers, probably in every case, to re-consecration necessitated by structural
alterations, and does not imply that the churches had not been duly dedicated at the time of their erection.
■'■ Ibid.
15
A HISTORY OF DORSET
early part of the fourteenth century was probably marked by much activity
in the building, or more probably the rebuilding on a larger scale, of
churches in this county ; of the fifty-three dedicated by Robert Petyt,
bishop of Enaghdun,^'^ in 1326, by authority of the diocesan, by far the
greater number were in Dorset.^"
As regards non-residence, the practice so frequently noted of granting
licences to incumbents to absent themselves for purposes of study did much
to nullify the earnest efforts of Simon of Ghent and his successors to enforce
personal residence on the clergy ; ^'^ nevertheless, it must be remembered
that the carelessness of patrons as to the age and qualifications of the
candidates they presented for institution rendered such a measure the best
guarantee for the spiritual welfare of parishioners that the ordinary could
perhaps at that time enforce.''^ Another element of disorder was to
be found in the increasing demands of Rome and the abuse then generally
rampant of papal provision. That the bishops were keenly alive to these
contributive causes is evident from various records in their registers. After
a meeting of the chapter at Salisbury, 18 March, 1326, at which the
bishop, dean, and others were present, a letter was addressed to Pope
John XXII by Bishop Mortival, in which he stated that though
there were in the church of Salisbury forty-one prebends, four digni-
ties, four archdeaconries, and the sub-deanery to which he had the
original right of collation, there were, nevertheless, at that time a
dean, an archdeacon, and six prebendaries who had been appointed
by the late pope, while the precentor, treasurer, one archdeacon, and
seventeen prebendaries held their offices by provision of the present
pope ; that hardly more than three out of that whole number ever
resided in Salisbury, and finally that there were no less than eight who
were waiting for vacancies, having been appointed as canons with the right
'" Both Simon of Ghent and Roger de Mortival made use of suffragans to assist them in their
diocesan duties, especially in such offices as the dedication of churches and altars, the reconciliation of
churches, &c., which required the personal services of a bishop. The institutions of Bishop Simon in
particular witness the bishop's readiness to grant a coadjutor to the parochial clergy in the case of sickness
and disablement.
"' The list includes the following : Wimborne St. Giles, Horton, Edmondsham, Winterborne
Vyshath, Winterborne Tomson, Cheselbourne, Turners Puddle, Milborne, Ringstead, Poxwell, Winterborne
Abbas, Winterborne Steepleton, Little Bredy, Tyneham, Chaldon Boys, Ham-by-Sturminster, Fifehead, Stafford,
Bincombe, Stour Provost, All Saints Dorchester, Frome Whitfield, St. John Shaftesbury, Moreton, Povington,
Minterne, Up Cerne, Batcombe, Yetminster, Ryme Intrinseca, Evershot, Stockwood, Pulham, Bishop's
Caundle, Caundle Haddon, Fifehead, ' Tarrant-Abbates, Stower Wake, Stower Weston,' Gillingham, Caundle
Purse, and Rarapisham [Ibid. Mortival, ii, fol. 185]. One of the first acts of Bishop Mortival on his promo-
tion to Salisbury in 1315 was to issue a commission for the dedication of altars [Ibid. fol. i]. In 1317 he
granted letters of indulgence for the altar in the conventual church of Shaftesbury, rebuilt and dedicated in
honour of St. Mary and St. Edward, king and martyr. [Ibid].
'" Bishop Simon in 1 301 addressed a letter to his archdeacons bidding them summon all absent rectors.
and vicars to make personal residence, understanding that many were at that time absent without licence
[Ibid. fol. 17]. His successor, Mortival, wrote in December, 1319, to the archdeacon of Dorset denouncing all
such incumbents as let their churches to farm, and did not make personal residence, desiring that their
names should be sent in to him by a fixed date [Ibid. Mortival, lib. ii, fol. 95 if]. Bishop Wyville, in March,.
1343, forwarded to the archdeacon a schedule with list of offenders who were to be summoned to appear
before the bishop or his commissary in the prebendal church of Chardstock the next law d.iy after the Feast
of St. Edward, king and martyr, a strict inquiry was to be made into the issues of their churches which
were to be sequestered, care being taken that the services of the church should not be neglected [Ibid.
Wyville, lib. i]. After the losses and disorder occasioned by the Black Death the abuse of non-residence
increased rather than diminished.
'^ Licence to let his church to farm for the purpose of study being only in acolyte's orders was
granted to the rector of Bentfeld ' in 1316 ; ibid. Mortival, ii, fol. 31 J.
16
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
of succeeding to prebends as they became void.^" For instances of this
particular abuse in Dorset we need go no further than the archdeaconry.
The papal registers record a faculty granted by Alexander IV in 1258 to the
bishop of Salisbury to give the archdeaconry of Dorset, held by Martin
Jordan, vice-chancellor of the Roman Church and notary apostolic, to
Simon de Bridport, canon of Salisbury, or any other person by the consent of
the said Jordan so soon as he shall have obtained a prebend of Salisburv to
the value of 150 marks.^'^ Six years later this same Jordan, cardinal of
Sts. Cosmos and Damian, and archdeacon of Dorset, received from Pope
Urban IV a grant of one of the ' fattest ' prebends of Salisbury ' if one is
vacant, and if not the reser\^ation of one.' '"'^ In 1300 the then archdeacon,
Henry de Bluntesdon, received at the king's request a dispensation to retain
the archdeaconry of Dorset, to which was annexed the church of Gussage
All Saints, with the churches of Grittleton, Wootton Bassett, Hannington,
Runwell, and Middleton in the dioceses of Salisbury, London, and York,
which he had obtained without licence since the council of Lyons, together
with canonries and prebends of Salisbury, Wells, Chichester, and St. Paul's
London.^" Bertrand d'Eux, cardinal of St. Mark's, obtained in 1 347 an
indult to visit his archdeaconry of ' Dorchester ' (Dorset) by deputy for five
years, and to receive procuration not exceeding 30 silver tournois a day.^"
The intrusion of these Roman ecclesiastics into English benefices was
anything but welcome,^'' and a brawl arose towards the close of the same
year on the occasion of the appointment of another cardinal to the treasurer-
ship of the cathedral ; Thomas Hotoft, with other citizens of Salisbur)-^ and
armed accomplices, upholding the claim of the then holder of the prebend,
John de Breydon, attacked the sub-executor and proctor of the cardinal,
saying they should lose their heads, and according to the report would have
actually killed them had they not been restrained by one of the canons and
one of the vicars.^^ In 1373 Robert of Geneva, cardinal of the Twelve
Apostles, bishop of Tironane, and afterwards anti-Pope Clement VII,
received as sub-dean of York and archdeacon of Dorset an indult to visit
his archdeaconry by deputy for five years.^** The office was held by the
cardinal of Naples about the year 1 379, the king in June of the following year
granting a licence for any of the king's lieges to become the proctors of the
cardinal of Naples and receive the profits of his archdeaconry of ' Dorchester,'
the treasurership of Salisbury Cathedral, and prebend of Erpingham in
Lincoln. ^*^ In 1410 John Mackworth, then in possession of the Dorset
archdeaconry, obtained a dispensation to hold that office with the arch-
deaconry of Norfolk, in respect of which he was already litigating in the
apostolic palace, ' if he should win it.' ^*® The claims of the apostolic see,
'"Cited from the bishop's register in the Diocesan Hiit. of Salisbury, 119, 120. Simon of Ghent,
Mortival's predecessor, at fint refused to admit Reymund, a Roman cardinal to the office of the dean, to which
he had been provided, on the ground that election to the same belonged to the chapter, and issued monitions
to various of the cathedral digniuries to make residence ; ibid. 117.
■" Cal. Pup. Letters, i, 356-7. '^ Ibid, i, 41 1.
'" Ibid, i, 5S8. "' Ibid, iii, 255.
'" An entr)- in the patent rolls of 1347 (21 Ed.v. Ill, pt. I, m. 35) records that letters of protection
were obtained from the king for Master Robert de Redynges, proctor of Bertrand, cardinal of the holy Roman
Church and archdeacon of Dorset, an alien, and for his fellows.
"' Cat. Pap. Letters, iii, 255. '" Ibid, iv, 188. '" Pat. 3 Ric II, pt. 3, m. 4.
"* Cal. Pap. Letters, vi, 211. Mackworth aftenv.irds became dean of Lincoln, where he proved a
veritable firebrand, and involved his chapter in almost endless dissension. See V.C.H. Lines, ii, 85-6.
2 17 3
A HISTORY OF DORSET
which included a right to the reservation of benefices rendered vacant by
the death of holders at the Roman Court, frequently led to conflicting
appointments and protracted disputes. Thus in 1397 on the death of
Adam, cardinal priest of St. Cecilia's, who held the archdeaconry of
Dorset by grant of the papal court, the appointment was claimed by two
candidates, Nicholas Bubwith provided by the pope, Michael Cergeaux
nominated by letters patent of Richard 11.^" The latter prevailed, but two
years later Bubwith again put forward his claim to the archdeaconry, void
by the death of Cergeaux or Sergeaux, ' pretended ' archdeacon, and was
again opposed, this time by Henry Chicheley, who claimed to have obtained
the appointment by authority of the ordinary.^** A dispute ensued, and
the case being referred for trial to John, bishop of Liibeck and papal chaplain
and auditor, it was decided on a report that the late Michael had only held
the archdeaconry by despoiling Adam, cardinal priest of St. Cecilia's, that
neither litigants had any claim. The pope commissioned the judge if he
found this to be the case to collate and assign the dignity to Henry Chicheley;
he, however, adjudged it to Bubwith; Chicheley appealed without success,
but on the strength of his former collation continued to intrude himself still
in the archdeaconry, and the pope having imposed perpetual silence on
Nicholas extinguished the suit."' In 1403 Nicholas Bubwith was collated
to the archdeaconry of Dorset in the place of Henry Chicheley, who had
been appointed to the archdeaconry of Sarum the previous year,^'" and finally
became archbishop of Canterbury in 1408. Nicholas Bubwith was in 1406
elected to the see of London by the chapter of St. Paul's in ignorance
of the fact that the pope had already made reservation of it for him."^
The papal registers throughout this period afford ample evidence of the
extent to which papal provision was carried in this county as elsewhere.
The prebends in the conventual church of Shaftesbury continually fell a prey
to Roman usurpation, and Fuller instances the archdeaconry of Dorset as a
flagrant instance of what, in a characteristic passage, he designates 'the greatest
grievance of the land, namely, foreigners holding ecclesiastical benefices.' *"
As for the kindred evil, the holding of benefices in plurality, the royal
college and chapel of Wimborne Minster in this county again affords a
"' Cal. Pap. Letters, v, 82 ; Pat. 20 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 8. Both were largely beneficed, Bubwith held
canonries in Beverley, Lichfield, Ripon, and York, and the rectories of Brington and Naseby in the Lincoln
diocese ; Cergeaux besides holding the rectory of Harrow was canon of Chichester, Exeter, Howden, Lichfield,
and Wells.
"' Besides the two there appears to have been a third claimant, Walter Medeford, nominated by patent
letters of Richard II, 20 Aug. 1397; Pat. 21 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 21.
'" Cal. Pap. Letters, v, 206. "» Le Neve, Fasti Ecd. Angl. ii, 539.
'" Cal. Pap. Letters, vi, 82.
'*' For at this time [says Fuller], the church of England might say with Israel ' Our inheritance is
turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.' Many Italians who knew no more English than the difference
between a teston and a shilling, a golden noble and an angel in receiving their rents, had the fattest livings
in England by the pope collated upon them. Yea, many great cardinals resident at Rome (those hinges of
the church must be greased with English revenues) were possessed of the best prebends and parsonages in the
land whence many mischiefs did ensue. First they never preached in their parishes : of such shepherds it
could not properly be said that he leaveth the sheep and flee th, who (though taking the title of shepherd upon
them) never saw their flock nor set foot on English ground. Secondly, no hospitality was kept for relief of the
poor ; except they could fill their bellies upon the hard names of their pastors which they could not pronounce.
. . . Yea, the Italians generally farmed out their places to proctors, their own countr)men, who instead of
filling the bellies grinded the faces of poor people ; so that what betwixt the Italian hospitality which none
could ever see and the Latin service which none could understand the poor English were ill-fed and worse
taught. Church Hist, ii, 350-2.
18
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
striking instance. Presentation to the deanery was in the hands of the
crown, and as a court appointment was always held by men holding other
offices and frequently pursuing secular avocations/^*
Of the new religious orders in the thirteenth century, to whose example
so many bishops turned as a means of rousing the parochial clergy to a more
lively sense of their responsibilities, little is heard till the following century.
The Franciscans had a house at Dorchester founded according to Tanner by
the ancestors of Sir John Chideock, but no reference to it occurs earlier than
the reign of Edward 11.^^* Entries in the episcopal registers of Ghent and
Mortival show that the friars were already making their presence felt
throughout the diocese,"^ but their most effectual work in this county was
due to the Dominicans, whose establishment at Melcombe Regis deserves
special attention. The twin boroughs of Weymouth and Melcombe, com-
posing the modern town of Weymouth, were at that time served respectively
by the mother churches of Wyke Regis and Radipole in the parishes of which
each lay. The register of Bishop Simon of Ghent records various unsuccessful
attempts on the part of certain parishioners of Melcombe to obtain parochial
rights for a chapel, to the detriment, it was complained, of the mother church
of Radipole,^^' and Bishop Mortival in 1 321, granting an indulgence of thirty
days for the parishioners of Wyke who should attend their parish church on
Sundays and feast days, mentions a complaint that certain of the inhabitants
were in the habit of attending a chapel at Weymouth"^ to the obvious injury
of the said parish church.
As time went on, and the importance of those two outlying districts
increased there seems to have been — particularly on the part of the Melcombe
parishioners — a constant struggle to obtain a right to a place of worship of their
own, which was as often defeated by the authorities. The Dominicans in
the meantime settled at Melcombe and a return made on 1 8 November,
1425, by John Morton, commissary and sequestrator-general to the bishop,
respecting the erection of an altar at Melcombe Regis in a place ' profane
and inhonest ' without the consent or authority of the ordinary, stated that
the said altar had been erected for the celebration of mass by Edward Poliny
and John Lok of the order of friars preachers, and that many of the inhabi-
tants of Weymouth had assisted in its erection. For some reason not stated
the friars thought fit to disregard the bishop's citation to appear before him
or his commissary on the 21st of that month to explain their action, and
'"Thus Martin de Patishull, appointed to the deanery in 1223, besides holding various ecclesiastical
appointments, was a justice of the King's Bench, a justice itinerant and constantly employed as a judge. His
successor, Randolf Brito, was in the year of his presentation to Wimborne appointed constable of Colchester
Castle and warden of the ports of Essex (Pat. 1 3 Hen. Ill, m. 9). The deanery of Wimborne is not even
mentioned in the list given by Matthew Paris {Chron. Maj.) of the many offices held by John Mansel
appointed in 1247. In the case of John de Kirkeby, who had recommended himself to the court by his success-
ful methods of collecting subsidies and taxes. Archbishop Peckham annulled his election to Rochester in 1285
on the ground of his notorious pluralism ; Reg. Efist. Peckham (Rolls Ser.), ii, 575. He appears to have
held the deanery from I 265, while only in deacon's orders, being ordained priest the day before his consecration
to Ely in 1286 [ibid, iii, App. 2, p. 1041]. Down to the suppression of the college under Edward VI 'the
little deanery ' was frequently one of the main links connecting this county with current political events and
personages outside its borders.
'^* Tanner, Notitia, Dorset, x.
'" The bishop in a letter to the archdeacon of Dorset in 1319 directed the names of all friars of the
Franciscan and Dominican orders and of the order of the hermits of St. Augustine to be submitted to him
before being licensed to hear confessions, and to absolve. Sarum Epis. Reg. Mortival, ii, fol. 94.
'" Ibid. Simon of Ghent, fol. j d. 35 a'. 37. '" Ibid. Mortiv.il, ii, fol. 125.
19
A HISTORY OF DORSET
among the last entries of Bishop Chandler, who died the following July>
was a notification dated 7 May, 1426, wherein he interdicted Edward
Poliny, John Lok, and John Lowyer, of the order of mendicants of St.
Dominic, for their contumacy in disobeying his citation, and denounced
their conduct in putting up an altar within the limits of the parish church of
Radipole, extorting the oblations and devotions of the faithful in Christ
flocking to them whom they had callously seduced. It was forbidden
either to celebrate or to hear celebration in the place, and all those who had
assisted, contrary to the bishop's admonition, were ordered to appear before
him to give account of their conduct."^ The matter did not end here, for
John Roger and Hugh Deveril, knt., and others came forward and stated
that ' there was no place dedicated to God in the vill of Melcombe Regis,'
that the parish church, distant by a mile and a half away, was not easy
of access to the inhabitants of the town, their families, guests, and the
merchants who visited the town by land and sea, so that the said inhabitants
were notoriously rude and unlearned {•valde riides sint et indocti), that moved by
the spirit of piety, and pitying the desolation of the vill they had begun a
house for the perpetual habitation of the friars preachers, who had for no
small time given themselves to the service of God and the salvation of men in
the place where they laboured. The petitioners further begged the bishop's
consideration of the following articles : (i) of the intention of the builders in
beginning the work, (2) the fitness of the place to be dedicated as a church,
(3) its endowment, (4) the apostolic and regal licence obtained for com-
mencing the foundation, (5) the question whether the house of the friars'
preachers could be dedicated without diminution of the episcopal jurisdiction
and saving the rights of the parish church.'" The registers record no
definite reply to this petition, but among the orders celebrated during the
rule of Neville are entries stating that Richard, bishop of ' Caten,' held ordina-
tions for the diocesan in the church of the Dominican friars of Melcombe on
22 May, Vigil of Holy Trinity, 1434, and on 25 May, 1437.'^°
That terrible landmark of the fourteenth century, the visitation of the
plague known as the Black Death, acquires a special interest in this county,
inasmuch as nearly all contemporary writers are agreed that Dorset was
the first district to be attacked, and Melcombe Regis is usually supposed to
be the place where the disease first showed itself. ' In the year of Our Lord,
1348, about the feast of the translation of St. Thomas (7 July),' says the
author of the Eulogium Historiarum, ' the cruel pestilence, terrible to all future
ages, from parts over the sea came to the south coast of England to a port
which is called Melcombe in Dorset, and sweeping over the southern districts
destroyed innumerable people in Dorset, Devon, and Somerset.' '" Judging
from the institutions of that time the epidemic did not fully manifest itself
till the year had somewhat advanced, when it fell with fatal effect on the
county, its ravages being especially marked on the coast where it first
showed itself, and in the low-lying districts. One of the earliest victims
'*^ Sarum Epis. Reg. Chandler, fol. 54, 55. ''' Ibid. Neville, fol. 3+. "* Ibid. Orders celebrated.
"" Op. cit. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 213. The graphic account of Henry Knighton, canon of Leicester, says
that at that time a lamentable pest penetrated into those parts nearest the sea by Southampton, and coming to
Bristol there died of it as it were all the healthy folk of the town, taken away by sudden death, for few people
kept their beds more than two or three days, and some only half a day, before death came to them at the set-
ting of the sun, Leic. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), 61.
20
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
was the superior of the alien priory of Wareham to whom the king
appointed a successor on 4 November,'^^ and by the i8th the churches of
Bridport, Tyneham in Purbeck, Lulworth, and Cerne were all vacant by
death of their incumbents."* A table of the institutions for Dorset during this
period shows that the mortality, beginning in October, was highest during
the months of November, December, January, and February."* From
8 October, 1348, to January, 1349, the crown, it is said, presented to no less
than thirty livings in the diocese of Salisbury, the greater number of which
belonged to this county. "'^ In all probability, the regulars suffered no less
than the secular clergy, though it is impossible to calculate in the same
manner the number swept away. Following the prior of Wareham, the
abbot of Abbotsbury was dead before 3 December for on that date the
presentation to the vicarage, vacant also by death of the vicar, was in the
king's hands by reason of the voidance of the abbey."' The warden of the
hospital of St. John, Shaftesbury, fell a victim about the same time ; "^ on
7 February, 1349, John Firth received confirmation of his appointment as
abbot of Sherborne."' The second visitation of the plague in 1361 was
hardly less severe, the list of institutions for the last six months of that year
being especially heavy."'
The effect of these terrible scourges, accompanied by mortality among
the cattle and followed by a scarcity of labour owing to the number of
agricultural labourers who died, pressed very heavily on all landowning
classes, and especially on the monks, whose difficulties, in the case of those
living near the sea, and whose lands adjoined the coast, were much increased
by a position which exposed them to inroads from sea marauders and foreign
invaders, while their stores were eaten up by defenders sent to repel
invasion."" The temporal decline of the monasteries, dating from the great
pestilence, reached a climax towards the close of the century, when they sank
to a spiritual level from which in a measure they appear to have been rescued
before their final disappearance. As regards the local clergy the effect of the
loss in their ranks was to accentuate many existing abuses ; in the scarcity of
priests to fill the places of those swept away scruples as to fitness and capacity
had perforce to go by the board.*" Licences to study increased in the absence
"' Orig. R. 22 Edw. Ill, m. 4. '" Sarum Epis. Reg. Wyville, ii, fol. 90-191.
'" Dr. Gasquet, from whom these figures are taken, estimates the number of institutions as follows : —
Oct. 5, Nov. 15, Dec. 17, Jan. 16, Feb. 14, Mar. 10, Apr. 4 {The Great Pestilence, yg). He reckons the
whole number of collations by the bishop in the diocese consisting of the three counties of Dorset, Wilts, and
Berks, for the year beginning 25 Mar. 1348, and ending 25 Mar. 1349, at no less than 202, and at 243 for
a like period the succeeding year. Ibid. 162. In Dorset it is reckoned that about half the number of
benefices became vacant during the whole course of the visitation.
'" Ibid. 78. Among other collations the patent rolls record the presentation to Blandford (Pat. 22
Edw. Ill, pt. 3, m. 23), and to Spettisbury on 7 and 10 Dec. 1348, and on 4 Jan. 1349 (Ibid. m. 1 1, 16, 17).
'^ Sarum Epis. Reg. Wyville, ii, Inst. fol. 192.
"'Ibid. fol. 193. ""Ibid. fol. 199.
""' The cause of vacancy is not always stated in the institutions of 1 36 1, and as exchanges were at that
time becoming very general it prevents such an accurate return being given of the number of deaths in that year.
"" In 1397 Pope Urban VI ordered the church of Tolpuddle to be appropriated to the abbey of Abbots-
bury on this account. Ca/. Pap. Letters, v, 77.
'" So great, [says Knighton] was the scarcity of priests that many churches were desolate, being without
divine offices. Hardly could a chaplain be got under j^io or 10 marks to minister in any church, and where
before a chaplain could be had for 4 or 5 marks, or 2 marks with board, so numerous were priests before the
pestilence, now scarce any would accept a vicarage of ^20 or 20 marks. But in a short time there came
crowding into orders a multitude of those whose wives had died in the plague, of whom many were illiterate,
only able to read after a fashion, and not able to understand what they read. Lek. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), 63.
21
A HISTORY OF DORSET
of a sufficiency of candidates who had attained the requisite orders. Bishop
Wyville in a letter to the archdeacon in 1366 refers to a report of the
number of absent rectors and vicars in the diocese and particularly in
Dorset who let their churches to laymen, religious men "- being specially
mentioned in this connexion."' Erghum, six years later, noting the neglect
of divine service and hospitality and the danger to the souls of parishioners
resulting from the practice of absentee incumbents making over their churches
to laymen and unfit persons, desired to be certified as to their number in the
archdeaconry, the period of absence and the names of those to whom bene-
fices had been let."* Waltham, early in his episcopate, issued an order to his
vicar-general in spirituals to enforce residence on the clergy, and punish those
who did not comply."" The deaneries of Shaftesbury and Pimperne were
visited by the bishop in 1393—4, the chief offences recorded in the list of
presentments for the Shaftesbury deanery, visited in the church of Holy
Trinity, Shaftesbury, appear to have consisted of moral lapses and the detention
of tithes."* Many rural districts never fully recovered from the effect of the
pestilence. There was a general fall in parochial endowments, and from
the registers we learn of a number of churches, or moieties of churches,
united on account of the insufficiency of the stipend to support an incumbent."'^
At the same time we find the bishops striving to restrain the ' insatiable
rapacity ' of the clergy much in the same way as Parliament was endeavour-
ing to put down the demands of the labourers."* Bishop Hallam in a
monition (undated) addressed to his sons in general respecting a report of
John Rygges, rector of Holy Trinity, Dorchester, that the church of
St. Peter in the same town remains unserved denounces the refusal of any
chaplain to accept a cure for a competent wage."^ Hallam's register
contains frequent entries of licences for private oratories, and confronted by
the difficulty of obtaining a sufficient supply of well-educated men to meet
the growing demand it is evident that the bishops of that period turned for
assistance to the use of licensed preachers.^
180
'" i.e. men of the religious orders. '" Sarum Epis. Reg. Wyville, ii, fol. 225.
'"' Ibid. Erghum, ii, fol. 8.
'" Ibid. Waltham, fol. 15. '"« Ibid. fol. 72-7.
''' These include the union of All Saints and St. James, Shaftesbury, in 1424, the church of All Saints
being very much reduced (ibid. Chandler, fol. 41 <2'.) ; the two moieties of Child Okeford on account of
poverty (ibid. Neville, ii, fol. 2 </.); the church of Winterborne Clenston to Winterbome Nicholas in 1436,
the issues being insufficient to maintain two priests (ibid, ii, fol. 42 d.) ; the rectory of Chaldon Boys to
Chaldon Herring in 1446, the issues of Chaldon Boys being insufficient to sustain a rector and the church
consequently remaining vacant (ibid. Ayscough, fol. 57) ; the union of the vicarage of Spettisbury to the
rector}' at the request of the rector, Robert Wade, the revenues being insufficient to maintain a vicar,
Oct. 1439 (ibid. fol. 69 </.); the church of Puncknowle to that of Bexington in 1431 (ibid. Beauchamp, ii,
fol. 1 1). The chaplain of the chantry in the church of Whitchurch was in 1454 licensed to accept a cure on
account of the decay in the issues of the chantry (ibid. fol. 43) the churches of Ringstead and Osmington
were united in 1488 (ibid. Langton, fol. 29 a'.); the church of Wraxall was on account of its poverty united
to the church of Chilfrome in 1503 (ibid. BIyth, fol. 11); the churches of Durweston and Knighton were by
the request of the patron, Robert de Fitzhaye, united in 1 38 1 (ibid. Erghum, fol. 44 </.).
'" Wilkins, Concil. iii, 30, 50, 135.
'" Sarum Epis. Reg. Hallam, fol. 52. The clerg)' were denounced by the people for their supposed
greed and rapacity, but it should be remembered that they shared the gener.il agricultural distress, and
were ground down by the increasing demands of the papal curia and the abuse of papal provision and
reservation.
"° In 1409, John Yo%%t\\, prefositus of Oriel College, Oxford, Richard Stabull, vicar of St. Peter in the
East, Oxford, John Luke, bachelor of theology, were licensed to preach throughout the city and diocese of
Salisbury ; the following year the bishop granted a similar licence to Walter Bexhampton of Bridport, chaplain;
Ibid. pt. ii (Inst.), fol. 4, 5, 46.
22
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
The general distress and discontent of the period did much to foster that
form of religious activity which marks the later fourteenth and earlier
fifteenth centuries. But with signs of a loosened hold on the part of the
Church on other rural districts, so far as this county is concerned there is little
evidence of any active sympathy with the movement identified with the name
of John Wycliff. Prevalent as was LoUardy in other parts of the diocese, at
Devizes, Reading, and along the valley of the Thames, it never seems to have
taken strong hold of Dorset, and the instances recorded are very few and
unimportant. The first that occurs is that of William Ramsbury, whose trial
in June, 1389, was presided over by Robert Regenhill, archdeacon of Dorset ;
having been found guilty of heretical views and opinions respecting the sacra-
ments, and confessed that he had openly affirmed and published the same in
different parts of the diocese, Blandford, Sturminster, &c., as well as in secret,
he was condemned to make public recantation of his errors in the cathedral of
Salisbury."^ The fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, so prolific else-
where in religious persecution, only produce two further examples in Dorset.
On 6 May, 1414, the official of the dean of Salisbury certified the bishop that
in obedience to his commission he had cited Thomas Turle, vicar of the pre-
bendal church of Bere, to appear before the bishop on the iith inst., in
the church of Potterne, to answer the charge of holding heretical opinions
requiring correction. ^*^ The register of Bishop Blyth in i 5 1 6, amidst various
trials for heretical opinion in Wiltshire and Berkshire, records the
abjuration of one Michael Gamare, of the parish of Wimborne St. Giles who,
' being easely and lightly suspecte of heresye to you myne ordinarye by the
depositions and sayings of certayn witnesses deposying agenst me,' first that
he had said
it is a lewde thyng and a madde condition or use occupyed in this contree or paryshe that
women will come and sette their candles afore a tree, the image of Saynt Gylys, and that it
were as good and as myche remedy . . . and they myght as well sette their candles in their
pewys setys or upon a chymney and as grete devocion the oon as the other ... for the very
saynte is in hevyn or where it pleasith God and the image of Saynt Gylys is but a stocke or
a stone and if the saide image fell doune it wold breke their hedes
confessed the above saying to be ' blassemose sclanderose and heresie and he
does forsake and abjure ye same.' "'
The suppression of alien houses in England by decree of the Parliament
of Leicester in 141 4 brings again to our notice those alien dependencies whose
erection here was the feature of the monastic revival in the twelfth century.
Their career and the presence of foreign beneficed clergy in Dorset deserves a
passing notice. With the loss of Normandy in the succeeding century the
prospects of these foreign settlements darkened considerably, and John's action
in seizing their possessions among the estates of Norman landowners in
England in retaliation for his loss of the duchy "* was but an earnest of their
fate during the greater part of the remainder of their existence. In truth the
position of these alien communities was but a thankless one ; placed on
the basis of the native clergy and expected to contribute towards royal
subsidies and national expenses in times of peace ; '*^ in war time they were
»> Sarum Epis. Reg. Waltham, ii, fol. 31. '»' Ibid. Hallam, ii, fol. 16.
'»' Ibid. Blyth, fol. 158. "' Rot. Norman, (ed. Hardy), i, 122-4.
•'^ Close 3 Edw. II, m. 5 d. ced. ; 5 Edw. Ill, pt. \,xa.6d.
23
A HISTORY OF DORSET
regarded as adherents of the enemy, their goods taken into custody and
heavily taxed ; they escaped none of the burdens and enjoyed none of the
immunities. From the commencement of the Hundred Years' War these
foreign cells were, with brief intervals, seized into the hands of the king,
who appointed custodians to farm their revenues. It was to the advan-
tage of the head house abroad to get rid of their English dependencies, on
as advantageous terms as possible but in any case to rid themselves of what
involved merely responsibility, and the chapter of Coutances were fortunate
in obtaining a purchaser for their manor of Winterborne Stickland in the
earlier part of the French wars."' After a continued course of farming
the spiritual duties that attached to these dependent cells became almost
lost sight of ; at the close of the war the general verdict pronounced that
charity and almsgiving had been withdrawn and divine service ceased in the
case of the greater number of them, and it cannot be said that the country
generally seems to have suffered much spiritual loss by their suppression.
In Dorset their number and proximity to the coast, bringing them within easy
reach of communication with the enemy, rendered their presence a very
lively source of suspicion. The fear of invasion which marked the close of
the reign of Edward II is reflected in the register of Bishop Mortival, which
at that time teems with entries dealing with precautions for preventing any
possible collusion between the foreigners domiciled in the country and the
threatening force of invasion. ^*^ The return furnished by the bishop of those
foreign beneficiaries who were ordered to appear before the council at West-
minster and to give security for their good behaviour includes the names of
Richard Gouch, rector of Toller Porcorum, Simon Avenel, rector of Winter-
bourne Stickland, Ralph Moreb, rector of Spettisbury and canon of Salis-
bury."^ In obedience to an order for the removal of certain religious men
from their houses near the sea to others further inland, the bishop certified
that he had transferred William Pyequier of Frampton and Ralph Pothyn of
Loders to the abbey of Sherborne."' The final seizure of the cells and granges
of alien houses in Dorset greatly enriched the English foundations to which
they were granted as their leases fell in. Thus on its reversion to the crown
in 1437 Henry VI bestowed the priory of Frampton in free alms on the dean
and canons of St. Stephen of Westminster."" The cell of Loders was made
over by Henry V to the nunnery of Syon (Middlesex) which he had founded,
the grant being afterwards confirmed by Henry VI. "^ Muckleford, as parcel
of the alien priory of Andwell (Hants), passed over to Winchester college,"^
Povington to Eton college,"' Spettisbury became the property of the Car-
thusian priory of Witham (Somerset),"* Stour Provost, bestowed in the first
instance by Henry VI on Eton College, was transferred by Edward IV to the
provost and scholars of King's College, Cambridge."^ The prior of Wast or
de Vasto succeeded in the reign of Edward II in letting his estate at Winter-
borne Monkton and Bockhampton, and from that time the property remained
in the hands of English tenants."' Wareham was granted by Richard II
'^' Pat. 10 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 8. '*" Sarum Epis. Reg. Mortival, i, pt. 236.
'^■^ Ibid. fol. 240a. '■' Ibid. fol. 27+.
'» Pat. 16 Hen. VI, pt. I, m. 14. "' Ibid. 2 Hen. VI, pt. 3, m. 20.
'" A. F. Leach, Hist. 0/ Wimhesler College, x, 144. '=« Falor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv, 206.
'" Pat. 7 Hen. VI, pt. 1, m. 13. "' Ibid. Edw. IV, pt. 3, m. 23.
"* Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 321.
24
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
in May, 1 399, together with the priories of Hinckley (Leicestershire) and
Carisbrooke (Isle of Wight) and all other possessions of the Norman abbey of
Lyre in England to the prior and convent of Mountgrace of the Carthusian
order."^ Though these dependencies of foreign houses are often alluded to as
' reputed ' priories, only four of them can be proved to have maintained a
religious community.
It is difficult to summarize the religious position of the fifteenth century
as it advanced, or rather it requires a summary from more than one point of
view^. With an inevitable amount of dissatisfaction, and, on the part of the
faithful, of discontent with the secular aims that animated most of the bishops
and the higher ranks of the clergy, we have still to consider the evidence
of the reality and movement of church life and the progress of religious
aspiration. The chantries founded at that time and up to the Reformation
are perhaps most significant of this advance, for, while the devout remained
faithful to the form chosen by an earlier generation for the expression of
their religious feelings, the introduction of other objects in their ordination
testifies to the spread and growth of the ideal of education and enlightenment
as a means to the amelioration of society. Again, indulgences are more
frequently granted for purely secular objects. The register of Bishop Ayscough,
1439—50, records an indulgence for those assisting the building of a new
haven at Bridport for the safety of merchants and mariners, to further the
construction of which all the ecclesiastical authorities of the town banded
themselves into a common association.^'^ Neither was diocesan visitation
neglected. In January, 1503, in the midst of a visitation of the diocese by
the bishop's vicar-general in spirituals, Bishop Audley wrote to the deans of
Bridport and Shaftesbury respecting the excessive number of those begging
alms and attempting to deceive the people by selling indulgences, denouncing
all such traffic, forbidding the vendors to be allowed to preach in any of the
churches of the above deaneries, and ordering the clergy to be warned against
them ; this prohibition was not to apply to the nuncios of the order of St. John
of Jerusalem in England."'
The religious houses of Dorset appear to have reached their lowest level
in the fourteenth century when their condition frequently called for interven-
tion on the part of the king and ordinary and the appointment of custodians.
Their poverty, the natural result of the economic pressure of that time, was in
many cases greatly enhanced by the bad and inefficient rule of superiors, the
effects of which lasted much longer than the actual period over which it
extended. The troubles, for instance, of the Cistercian abbey of Bindon, whose
history throughout the fourteenth century is one sordid record of debt, disorder,
and dissension calculated to lower the tone of any community, came to a
climax under the rule of John de Monte Acuto ; and his deposition in 133 i
by order of the chapter-general of Citeaux -'"' by no means put an end to the
embarrassments his government had done so much to foster. The difficulties
again of the abbey of Shaftesbury, the extent of whose property gave rise to
the proverb ' if the abbot of Glastonbury could marry the abbess of Shaftesbury
their heir would hold more land than the king of England,' ""' were mainly
'" Pat. 22 Ric. II, pt. 3, m. lo-il. '°* Sarum Epis. Reg. Ayscough, fol. 71.
'" Ibid. Audley, fol. 1 14. '"' Close, 6 Edw. Ill, m. 3 </.
"" Fuller, CAii/ri Hist, iii, 332.
25
A HISTORY OF DORSET
caused by the unwieldiness of a community whose numbers taxed even its
resources, and demanded powers of organization and government not always
at command.
The absence of visitation reports in the century preceding the Dissolution
makes one hesitate to pronounce with any certainty as to the condition of the
monasteries in the latter part of their career, but, in spite of the fact that the
number of their inmates had undoubtedly fallen, signs are not wanting of
renewed vitality and a restoration of discipline and order. The chantries that
continued to be founded in their conventual churches testify to the hold they
still maintained on the affections of many. As the social and religious ideals
of a succeeding age slowly emerged we find schools established in connexion
with them, whose value even those engineering the changes of the sixteenth
century were forced to recognize.""^ The Valor Eccksiasticus with its record
of organized almsgiving and round of fixed anniversaries exhibits the monks
still faithful to the memory and charitable bequests of their founders and
benefactors.
It is interesting to note the shadow of coming events in the appointment
of superiors on the eve of the Dissolution. Many appear to have been expressly
chosen with a view to their compliance with court schemes, and all were care-
fully imbued with the idea that liberal treatment would attend due submission.
The example of Bindon, the only house in Dorset coming under the earlier Act
for the suppression of monasteries under the yearly value of jTaoo,^"' doubtless
encouraged a delusion that certain houses might be spared for a consideration.
Sir Thomas Arundel wrote to Cromwell on i8 December, 1538 that in spite
of representations the abbess of Shaftesbury refused to follow the ' moo '
(majority) and yield her abbey, and that she and the abbot of Cerne were pre-
pared to offer 'His Majesty' 500 marks and 'your lordship' ^100 to obtain
the continuation of their houses.^"* It was useless, the stroke that in less than
a month should deprive Dorset of her sole remaining links with an historic
past, the outward and visible signs of ancient glory departed, fell the March
following (1539) ; Milton, which surrendered on the iith of that month, was
followed by Abbotsbury on the 12th, Tarrant Kaines on the 13th, Bindon on
the 14th, Sherborne with its dependent cell, the priory of Horton, on the 18th,
Holme, a dependent cell of Montacute (Somerset), on the 20th, Shaftesbury,
greatest and last of all,^°' fell on the 23 rd.
The heavy hand of Henry VIII did not stop with the monasteries, and
to his successor he bequeathed measures for the suppression of colleges, chan-
tries, gilds, and hospitals which were carried out by Acts i and 2 Edward VI.
The commissioners appointed to report on the ' lands, tenements, jewels,
plate, goods and stocke ' belonging to the colleges &c. in this county esti-
mated their value at ^(^631 oj. id., with a deduction in 'rents resolute' of
'"- Besides the well-known school at Sherborne and the free school established in connexion with the
chantry of the countess of Richmond and Derby in Wimborne Minster, there was a free school founded by
William de Middleton, abbot of Milton, which was described as 'of good regard and in former times much
frequented.' Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iv, 396.
"" Bindon, on the payment of ;^30o to the king, was restored by royal letters patent 29 Sept. 1538,
only to fall a few months later with the larger houses. L. and P. Hen. VllI, xiii (2), 177 ; xiv (i),
506.
'»■' Ibid, xiii (2), 1090.
*"" The last with the exception of Cranborne which was surrendered with the abbey of Tewkesbury,
31 Jan. 1540. Ibid, xv, 49.
26
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
^94 Ss. 2J.^°^ Besides a number of small endowments for the maintenance of
lamps, obits, and various services, the foundations surveyed in both certificates
relating to Dorset comprise some 25 or 26 chantries, 14 free chapels,
4 gilds or fraternities,^"^ and 9 hospitals. ^°^ In many cases reference to the
benefits rendered by these foundations gives some idea of what the county was
to be deprived on the plea of abolishing the superstitions with which they
had unfortunately become associated ; the worst to be gathered from the
returns is that in a few cases funds had been diverted from the objects
originally intended, while on the other hand frequent entries testify to the
good work done in connexion with many of the chantries and of the lofs
occasioned by their destruction. Thus, under the chantry in Netherbury
church, the certificate notes a grammar school kept by Martyn Smyth, priest,
who received for his stipend £^ 6s. 8^.^°' Under Wareham the sum of _^8
constituting the endowment of a free school founded by Sir John Loders, priest,
and others in the parish of Milton Tregonwell, was yearly paid to the ' scole-
master for his stipend.'"" A memorandum states that the free chapel of
West Hemsworth was ordained for a schoolmaster to be maintained in Long
Blandford."^ As regards the hospitals the endowment of that of Allington
near Bridport served only to maintain a chaplain, the ' power men ' living by
alms of the town,"^ and in the same way the income of St. John Baptist of
Bridport, amounting to £6 Ss. gld. clear, was assigned to the priest serving
it."'' The inmates, five poor men, of the hospital of St. John Baptist of
Shaftesbury, had to rely for their maintenance on the charity of the inhabit-
ants of the town, the whole of the revenues, consisting of 73J. 6d. yearly,
being handed over to the chaplain."*
The district on which the confiscation of these endowments fell most
heavily was Wimborne ; there are several indications of the important
part played by the college in the social and ecclesiastical life of the
neighbourhood now deprived of the services of four priests and four clerks
which the dean and prebendaries were bound to provide to serve the four
chapels round : St. Peter's in the town, St. Catherine's of Leigh, St. James
at Holt, and St. Stephen's at Kingston. ' Mem"^.' runs the report of the
commissioners
to have 4 priests to serve the cure in the parish of Wimborne because there be t, chapels
wherein there is devyne service which said chapels be distant from the church of Wimborne
3 miles and are for the ease of the people.*''
There was also the ' schole masters chauntry ' of Margaret, countess of Rich-
mond and Derby, in the collegiate church."*
'»" Coll and Chant. Cert, xiv, Nos. 1-35.
™' The gilds are that of Corpus Christ! in Wareham, the fraternity of Our Lady in St. Peter's church,
Dorchester, that of St. George in Poole, and St. George in Weymouth.
"' These were at Allington, Bridport, Dorchester, Shaftesbury, Sherborne, Wimborne, and Wareham.
•"'Ibid. No. 59. ""Ibid. No. 81.
"' Ibid. No. 115. '" Ibid. No. 62. '" Ibid. No. 6i.
"* Ibid. No. 100. In the case of Wimborne the alms of the town supplemented the scanty endow-
ment of the hospital which produced only a yearly income of 29/. id., and the return states that the
eight poor men ' not only live by the profits of the said house but by the devotion of the people of
Wimborne' (ibid. No. 112). The hospital of Sherborne, the last religious house to be erected in
Dorset, had by far the richest endowment, out of a clear income of ^^3 1 5/. the chaplain received half-
yearly £\o 6s. id., the remainder being assigned to the finding of eleven poor and impotent men and four
poor women (ibid. No. 91).
"' Ibid. No. 1 10. »'« Ibid. No. 106.
27
A HISTORY OF DORSET
In addition to the suppression of colleges and chantries, which in effect
deprived the parochial clergy of the services of a body of assistant chaplains
whose services had cost them nothing, the reign of Edward VI was respon-
sible for further changes in the removal of pictures and images from parish
churches, the taking down of roods,'" the setting up of tables in the place of
altars, the whitewashing of the walls of the edifice, the confiscation of vest-
ments and parish plate. That section of the return of the commissioners
appointed to take possession of all superfluous church plate for the king's
use which relates to chalices has been already dealt with for the county
of Dorset.'^' Of the 265 entries therein contained, 254 relate to parish
churches, and eleven to attached chapels. Six of these parishes only had
three chalices : Long and Little Bredy, Corscombe, Cranborne, MarnhuU,
Bradford Abbas and Sturminster Newton ; the number having two in use was
thirty-five, 204 had one. Eight parishes were entered under ' defaults,' seven
of which had sold or otherwise disposed of a chalice, and there was one instance
of a chalice being stolen.-^' As the plague was raging in the county during the
proceedings of the commissioners no return was made for Canford, Wimborne
Minster and Poole, and an entry explaining this absence states ' ther be no
inventories taken by reason of the plague and they have lost ther olde enven-
tories as they have sent us word wher uppon ther ys no newe taken.' Accord-
ing to an earlier inventory specially taken in 1545 Poole made a return of
seven chalices ; in a second return of the commissioners of Edward VI in
1553 it is stated that there were reserved for the use of the church of Poole
one chalice weighing i2oz. and two bells in the town estimated at 6 cwt. ;
the remaining six bells had been sold 'for the makyng of bulworks and dyches
for the defence of the saide towne by direction of My Lord's Grace (the
Protector Somerset) at his being in Poole.' "" Another return of the church
goods of Poole in 1559 before the commissioners of Queen Elizabeth reported
' our images be all defaced and brente.' As for the chalices no parish was
allowed to retain more than one, and the one left for future parish use was
almost invariably the worst or the least.'^^
Under Mary there was an attempt to restore the confiscated church
goods and in the absence of any settlement with regard to the transactions of
Edward VI's commissioners the government issued an order to compel them
to render an exact account of their proceedings. Accordingly Sir Giles
Strangways"^ set off for London, the plate and money being sent after him.
The plate was delivered at the Tower, and ^j^ paid in as part payment of
'" An entry of a payment of zs. for ' takyne downe ye rode ' occurs under the year 1 547 in the church-
wardens' accounts of Wimborne Minster.
"* By Mr. Nightingale in his book. Church Plate of Dorset, from which the following figures are taken.
"' Mr. Nightingale quotes the following as typical of the church possessions of a Dorset village (it relates
to Woolland) in 1552: ' Fyrst, j chalis sylver parcell gylt ; j pyx sylver, j whyte cope of sylke ; j whyt vest""
of dornix, j redd vest"" of dornix, ij table clothes, iij candlesticks of bras, j holy water pot bras, j lyche bell,
ii cruets of leade, j surplis, ij crosses of tyn, j saucer of bras, j chasuble of grene, j vest"" of black velvet. To the
use of the Churche. — Appoynted by the said commissioners j chalis, j white cope of sylk w"" all the table clothes
and surplices. The residue of all the possessions commytted to the custody of these men whose names be
underwrytten, Sir John Whyt, curate, John Hayson, senr., John Hayson, junr., John Carter, Thomas Baker,
alias Galpyn. Ibid. Pref. 7. -"" Ibid. 126.
'"' Mr. Nightingale estimates the number of mediaeval church plate in use before the Reformation and
now remaining in Dorset at only three.
"' The Commissioners appointed in Dorset were Sir Giles Strangways, Sir John Horsey, Sir George
de la Lynde, and Thomas Trenchard. Later on we find them constantly employed as justices of the peace in
trying recusants.
28
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
^^132 5J. z,d. for which the ornaments and other church goods in Dorset had
been sold, the remaining sum being retained for the expense of conveying the
money and plate to London.^^^
Another very material change brought about in the reign of Henry VIII
was the removal of this county out of the see of Salisbury and its transference
to the new diocese of Bristol, erected by letters patent of 4 June, 1542,^"*
under which it remained until the year 1836, when by an order in council
the archdeaconry of Dorset was again united to the Salisbury diocese. During
the whole period of its existence under Bristol, however, those churches and
prebends belonging to the chapter of Salisbury continued to remain under the
peculiar jurisdiction of the dean by whom they were visited, and the records
of whose visitations are preserved among the archives of the cathedral. *^^ The
injunctions circulated by Bishop Shaxton throughout his diocese in 1538 give
some idea of the parochial ministrations of the clergy on the eve of impend-
ing change. They begin with provisions as to non-residents and their
curates, directing that no French or Irish priest that could not perfectly speak
the English tongue should be allowed to serve as curate. The clergy were
charged at high mass to read the Gospel and Epistle in English, and to set out
the Royal Supremacy with the usurpations of the bishop of Rome, they were
also bidden to preach purely, sincerely and according to the true scriptures of
God, and regulations were laid down for the frequent use of sermons in pro-
portion to the value of their livings ; as a general rule four sermons were to
be preached every year, one in each quarter. No friar was to be permitted
to perform any service in the church. The clergy were also required to read
a chapter of the New Testament every day, and every person having a cure
of souls should be able to repeat without book, the gospels of St. Matthew
and St. John, and the epistles to the Romans, Galatians, and Corinthians,
with the Acts of the Apostles and the canonical epistles."'"
Probably the first effect of the transference to another see in the midst
of other changes was to paralyse church effort and organization for a time ;
we find that the services of the chapels attached to Wimborne Minster
were not restored till the reign of Elizabeth, and as late as 1577 Sir John
Horsey and George Trenchard explained to the Council the difficulty of
obtaining information respecting recusants in Dorset, ' as it was uncertain
in whose diocese the shire was.'*'" It is also unfortunate that we have no
means of ascertaining definitely how far the personnel of the Dorset clergy
was affected by the measures introduced on the accession of Mary in 1553: "^^
the queen's great Statute of Repeals abolishing the Edwardian Act of
I 549, and the ' Injunctions ' for the removal of all priests who had availed
themselves of the permission to marry granted in the last reign."^' Nor when
the death of Mary and the accession of Elizabeth set the pendulum of
religious opinion swinging in another direction can we find any evidence of
the number of clergy deprived for refusing to subscribe to the queen's
'^' Nightingale, Church Plate of Dorset, Pref. p. 8. '" Pat. 34. Hen. VIII, pt. 10.
'" Liber Visitationum Decani.
■'^ Burnet, Hist, of the Reformation, iii, 245. "' Cal. S.P. Dam. 1547-80, p. 561.
'-^ Owing to the destruction of the records at Bristol in the fire of 1 831. W. H. Frere, The Marian
Reaction, 32.
"' It was, however, provided that such priests as consented to put away their wives should, after due
penance, be re-admitted to officiate 'so it be not in the s.ime place.' Ibid. 61.
29
A HISTORY OF DORSET
supremacy, and the Act for the Uniformity of Common Prayer and Adminis-
tration of the Sacraments which formed the basis of the Elizabethan church
settlement.^^"
As regards the state of feeling in the county generally there is no sign
that the violent changes brought about by Henry VIII and Edward VI met
with the strong disapproval they evoked in Lincolnshire and the north. -'^ At
Poole especially, which afterwards distinguished itself as one of the strong-
holds of Puritan feeling and the Parliamentary party, the accession of Mary
was attended by religious feuds between the favourers of the new religion
and the adherents of the old faith which were largely fomented by the
influence of Thomas Hancock, nominated to the living of Poole in 1546,
through whose preaching the inhabitants of the town became strong partisans
of the new party in the Church, and were said to be ' the first that in that
parte of England were called Protestantes.' -^-
But in spite of strong Protestant sympathy, specially marked in the
towns of Poole and Dorchester, there are tokens of deep though latent and
suppressed affection for the old religion, especially on the part of certain
families whose loyalty survived all the changes of the sixteenth century and
later persecutions. Tacit sympathy with recusancy is exhibited as late
as 1 59 1, when an order was sent to Thomas Husseye and Robert Ken-
nele, esqs., to make inquiry into a report that at the last quarter sessions
when the Grand Jury were charged to present recusants and such as refused
to come to church secret warning and intelligence was given them not to
do this, ' according to the revelation of Mr. Coker of Ashe, and Mr. Seymor
of Hanford.' "'' The prevalence of recusancy among the feminine half of the
community provoked a query the following year (1592) as to whether the
recusant wives of conforming husbands might be committed to prison and
whether their husbands should be ' punishable by any pecuniary paine for that
offence of their wives ; ' the commissioners for the apprehension of recusants in
Dorset being directed by the council to forbear committing these ladies
' until Her Majestie has taken the opinion of judges.' "'*
At the beginning of Elizabeth's reign, save for the clergy, the Act of
Uniformity does not appear to have been rigidly enforced, but the promul-
gation of the bull of Pope Pius V in 1570 absolving her subjects from their
allegiance materially altered conditions and placed Catholic Nonconformity in
the light of a dangerous element in the state. In Dorset with the uncertainty
' in whose diocese the shire was,' no convictions were pressed till the year
1582, when an order was sent to Sir John Horsey, knt., and George
Trenchard, esq., ' to apprehend and send up one Slade a verie dangerous
Papist lurking within the countie of Dorset, and all such superstitious
ornaments and tromperie as they can by diligent search find out,' with direc-
tions to make search and apprehend from time to time ' anie Jesuit and
seminarie priest.' ^^° The examination of John Meere of Dorset, student
"" Gee, The Elizabethan Clergy, 31.
*" It was the fear of being put again under the domination of Rome that was productive of disturbance
in I 5 54, and in 1557 the authorities were ordered to be fully prepared in the event of a rising, j^cts ofP.C.
(New Ser.), 1556-8, p. 87.
*'* Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, i, 52, gives an account of the feuds there.
^ Jets ofP.C. (New Ser.), I 590-1, p. 358. »" Ibid. 1592, p. 182.
"^ Ibid. 1582, p. 446. The Recusancy Roll 37 Eliz. (1594-5) records that John Slade, late of Manston,
gent, was fined £100 for non-attendance at church five months. L.T.R. (Pipe Off. Ser.).
30
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
in the Temple and prisoner in the Fleet, is recorded 23 June, 1585.^'® In
February, 1586, letters were forwarded to special commissioners in various
counties, including Dorset, to enforce a regular assessment of fines for
recusancy.^" In December, 1591, a commission of inquiry was issued for
Jesuits and seminary priests in Dorset, and the following year it was
renewed for the purpose of adding to the commission.''*^ In spite of the
increasing severity of the penalties inflicted on recusants, it seems evident that
their numbers were largely increasing. The first Recusancy roll under Eliza-
beth, 1 59 1— 2, gives eighty-six names, and indicates pretty clearly the chief
centres of Catholic sentiment : Hampreston, the neighbourhood of Wimborne,
Corfe, Canford, Swanage, and above all Chideock. where the forfeitures of
Charles Sturton of Chideock, gent., Dorothea Arundel, Cecilia Arundel,
Gertrude Arundel, Elizabeth Chernock, and John Chernock are followed by
those of twenty-five retainers, members of the household and tenants.^'*' A
list on I October, 1598, of certain recusants finedjri5 each towards the Irish
Light Horse gives the names of Lady Sturton, Charles Sturton, esq., Mr. Martin
of Athelhampton, Henry Cary of Hamworthy, and Mr. Slade of Mawston
(Mansion), gent."*" The names of most frequent, and in some cases continual,
recurrence in the recusancy rolls of the whole of Elizabeth and early part of
James I are those of William Gerard of Clerkenwell, who forfeited two parts
of the manor of Broadway, William Morecock of Nether Kincombe, Gregory
Durdo of Iwerne Minster, Henry Yunge of Wimborne, Henry Cary of Ham-
worthy, the Stourtons, the Arundels, the Wells, the Lockyers, the Loapes
or Loopes of Hampreston, the Martins of Athelhampton, the Goulds of
Cranborne and Edmondsham.''" The State Papers of James I, under date of
23 December, 1607, record the grant to Lawrence Marbury of the benefit of
the recusancy of Elizabeth Wells of Dorset,"^ on 10 January, 1608, the
grant of the benefit of the recusancy of Mary Gerard, widow ; ^" on
20 July, 1609, came an order to inquire into the goods of Anne Turber-
ville of Dorset the benefit of whose recusancy was granted to Sir John
Cowper.***
The chief source of anxiety to the authorities was the position that
Catholicism was able to take up in Dorset owing to the support it con-
tinued to receive from some of the oldest and most influential families in the
county. The chief centre of Catholic leaning in the sixteenth century was
at Chideock, the residence of the Arundel family,-*^ who like the Webbs of
Canford, and the Welds of Lulworth, remained faithful to the Royalist cause
during the later rebellion."" Most of the Popish priests executed during that
836
239
Cal S.P. Dom. 1581-90, p. 247. '" Jets ofP.C. (New Ser.), 1586-7, pp. 15, 16.
Cal. S.P. Dom. 1 591-4, pp. 137, 212.
Recus. R. 34 Eliz. Exch. L.T.R. (Pipe OfF. Ser.). In 1586 a note of the names of the wives and
widows ' who are most obstinate recusants in the county of Bedford ' records the name of Elizabeth Char-
nock, daughter of Sir John Arundel and wife of John Charnock. Ca/. S.P. Dom. 1581-90, p. 376.
™ Jcti ofP.C. (New Ser.), 1598-9, p. 203. "' Recus. R. Exch. L.T.R. (Pipe Off. Ser), 1-14.
'" Cal. S.P. Dom. 1603-10, p. 395. »" Ibid. "" Ibid. 530.
"' Chideock came into the hands of the Arundel family in the reign of Henry VII by the marriage of
Katherine Chideock, youngest daughter of Sir John Chideock and last of the family, to Sir John Arundel, of
Lanherne (Foley, Rec. of Engl. Province of S.J. iii, 426).
"* Chideock Castle fell alternately into the hands of the Royalist and Parliamentary party during the Civil
War. According to Hutchins {Hist.of Dorset.u, 259) it was at last taken in 1645 by the Parliamentary forces
quartered at Lyme, and in the same year thirteen owners of small tenements, whereof seven were recusants, had
their estates sequestered, doubtless as a punishment for their loyal defence of the house.
31
A HISTORY OF DORSET
period are said to have officiated as chaplains at Chideock , Castle,"*^ and a
sketch of the fortunes of this family under Elizabeth gives probably the
best picture of the trials and risks of a Catholic household at that time.
In 1 58 1 Sir John Arundel was summoned to London and for a time
committed to close custody by the queen ; following her husband's arrest
Lady Arundel, daughter of Edward earl of Derby and relict of Charles, Lord
Stourton, also suffered a term of imprisonment. On 9 April, 1584, she was
examined as to her speeches against the present government, reception of
Jesuits and seminary priests, hearing mass and receiving letters from Charles
Paget, &c.-" On 9 June she begged Walsingham to use his interest with
the queen to procure her release, protesting that ' her own heart could not
accuse her of any undutiful thought towards Her Majesty ' ; '" fortunately the
lady's plea received favourable consideration, and she was soon after released."**
On the death of Sir John at Isleworth his widow returned to Chideock where
she took up her residence and, save for the fines imposed on the household for
recusancy, appears for a short time to have been left in peace. But the castle
remained a centre of Catholic influence in Dorset, and the resort of semin-
arists, among whom was Father Cornelius, a native of Cornwall, who having
been educated by Sir John Arundel at Oxford and the English college at Rheims,
returned later to England in the capacity of chaplain to his patron and by him
was recommended to the care of his wife on his deathbed. The priest was
a marked man to the government who only required opportunity to lay hands
on him. It came in the usual fashion by treachery ; a member of the house-
hold, William Holmes, enraged at some reproof for his conduct went to the
high sheriff, Sir George Morton, with information whereby a plan was con-
certed for the apprehension of the priest. For this purpose Easter Sunday,
31 March, 1594, was chosen, when there was every prospect of a mass being
celebrated, and for five miles watch and ward was set round the castle.
The trap failed owing to the precautions taken, but a second attempt
a fortnight later resulted in success, and after a prolonged search Father
Cornelius was dragged from his hiding place in one of the priest's holes."'
On 2 1 April the prisoner was examined before the justices. Sir George
Trenchard, Sir Ralph Horsey, and John Williams, and the evidence taken
of the informer, William Holmes, who testified to the presence of Catholic
priests attached to the household of the late Sir John Arundel during the
period he had been in his service ; that the said Cornelius dwelt with Sir John
and his widow for a year ; that another priest, John Sherwood, now deceased,
'" One of these, Thomas Pilchard, was executed at Dorchester on 21 March, 1587, with all the barbarous
rites that attended such executions ; another Catholic recusant, a Mr. Jessop, dying soon after in Dorchester
gaol, was by his own desire buried next to Mr. Pilchard. (Foley, op. cit. iii, 428-9.) Other names given
are Cornelius 1594, Green 1642. Arthur Browne, another seminary priest, purchased his life at the price of
recantation (Oliver, Hist, of CathoFic Re/igiort in Conitc. and Dors. etc. 1857, pp. 35-9). John Mundyn, priest
at Mapperton, was executed at Tyburn 12 Feb. 1589 (Ibid. 39).
"* Cal S.P. Dom. 1581-90, p. 171. "' Ibid. 180. "^ Ibid. 201-260.
"' The account of this famous semin.iry priest (Foley, Rec. of the Engl. Province of S.J. iii, 43 5 , 474) is largely
based on the j^cts of Father Cornelius written by Miss Doroth}- Arundel, the daughter of Sir John, who after
the priest's execution went abroad and entered the convent of the English Benedictine nuns at Brussels, where
she was professed 1600 and died in 1613. She gives a graphic account of Cornelius' apprehension and pre-
liminary examination before the justices. On being summoned together with the rest of the household and
questioned as to her share in harbouring and concealing a public traitor and enemy to Her Majesty the Queen,
this spirited lady broke out '/ gather together traitors and enemies of the Queen, I sustain them, / conceal
them I If you would have men of that kind I know them not. I well know that I know none such.' Ibid.
'". 455-
32
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
* dwelled likewise with the said Sir John Arundel and his lady for the space
of viii years and upwards before his death, and others ' ; that after Sir John
removed his house from Clerkenwell to Moushill, where he lived for about
three years, the said Cornelius and Sherwood continued with him ; after that
the knight removed to Isleworth where he remained for about six or seven
weeks and then died, and there he was visited by another priest whose name
was William Patinson. The witness further deposed that Cornelius and
Sherwood did daily say mass at Clerkenwell and Moushill and at Isleworth,
but that he was not admitted to hear mass until he came to Isleworth where
he heard the three priests say several masses ; he was also present at many
masses said by the three priests at Chideock, whither his lady had removed
since the death of Sir John, and for a time was appointed to wait on them in
their chamber. On the departure of William Patinson to London, where he
was soon after executed,"" his place was taken by another priest, John Currie,
who remained until after the death of Sherwood twelve months since, the latter,
as the witness understood, being buried in the chapel of Chideock House, and
on Currie's departure to London at Michaelmas, he was succeeded by Green,
alias Lusty Green, who remained in company with Cornelius until Easter day
last ; at which time, about one o'clock in the morning before day, having said
mass and received intelligence of an intended search they each went their ways.
Green going to Cornwall, but Cornelius having his mother in Chideock
House returned there the next day and remained till he was apprehended. The
informer gave the names of the household who daily attended mass; ~" the boys
and hinds in the house were not admitted, nor had he, the witness, been admitted
since a year last Michaelmas, and he stated that Cary and Patrick, now
prisoners in Dorchester gaol, had been in attendance upon the said priests in
their chamber both before and after his discharge from that duty. The
priest, John Cornelius, alias Moone late of Bodmin, Cornwall, on interroga-
tion, stated that he was forty years of age, had been ordained priest in the
seminary at Rome thirteen or fourteen years since, had returned to England
eleven years ago, and had since continued travelling to and fro ' to do good
and to instruct in the Romish religion according to his function ;' he refused
to say where he had lodged for fear of bringing others into danger.^'* That
Chideock was regarded as a hot-bed of Catholicism is evident from the letter
addressed by the justices of the peace who conducted this examination to
Lord Keeper Pickering and Lord Buckhurst, together with their report, lo
June, 1594. Referring to the priest Cornelius they say
his repair with tiiat of others not yet taken to the lady's house has nursed up many ill
imps and given comfort to not a few ill subjects, whereby we are daily encumbered and the
country is drawn back from the faith. In regard thereof we desire that the said lady may
m
He was hanged at Tyburn Z2 Jan. I 592.
"' The Lord Stourton ; Mr. Charles Stourton ; Mr. John Easton and Margaret his wife ; Mrs. Dorothy
Arundel ; Mrs. Gertrude Arundel ; Mr. Thomas Bosgrave, Thomas Stone, committed to gaol ; Henry Barbye,.
John Cooke ; Jeffrey Cardew; — Holcombe ; Ann Tremayne ; Margaret Tremayne ; Jane Tremayne; Dorothy
PriJeaux ; Jane Woodcocks ; Julyan Morgan, widow ; Christian Storche; Mother Mawde, mother to Cornelius;:
Faith Victor, attendant upon her ; Ellz. Diggenson, an old woman.
"* Ca/. S.P. Dom. 1591-4, pp. 488-9. The prisoner, after confinement for a fortnight at the house of
the justice Trenchard, was ordered by the Council to be removed to London unless he could be persuaded to
renounce his religion. He spent two months in the Marshalsea and was then transferred to Dorchester, where-
having been put upon trial he was convicted of the crime of high treason and rebellion against the queen andl
executed 4 July, 1594, together with three companions from Chideock, Mr. Bosgrave, and the men-servants,
John Cary and Patrick. Foley, op. cit. iii, 465-72.
2 33 5
A HISTORY OF DORSET
be removed to some other house and friends or placed with the sheriff of the county for the
time being, for that if she should continue in the place where she is now resident we doubt
would breed further mischief. For under cover of great hospitality and her bounty to the
poor many are drawn to her faction and repair thither as to their only supporter.'"
Subsequently the lady was imprisoned together with nearly all her household
and heavily fined. "^
During the seventeenth century. Catholic sentiment was kept alive in
Dorset by the Webbs at Canford, and the Welds who came into possession
of Lulworth Castle in 1641. Their sons swelled the ranks of the seminary
priests, their daughters joined those communities established abroad for English
nuns on their dispersal in whose establishment and maintenance they were
largely instrumental."" Together with the owners of Chideock they remained
faithful to the Royalist cause on the outbreak of civil war. Sir John Webb
was ordered to be arrested by the Parliamentarians in 1641, but managed
to escape, and rendered such services to Charles I, that in reward of them he
was created a baronet."* Later on, about the time of Oates' plot, suspicion
fell upon Mr. Humphrey Weld, and in 1679, by the advice of the Lords'
Committee for investigating matters relating to the late ' horrid conspiracy,'
he was deprived of the governorship of Portland Castle and his commission of
the peace, the Privy Council directing that the castle of Lulworth, his
dwelling in Portland Castle and 'Weld House,' London, should be searched
for arms."' Since that time the Catholic owners of Lulworth have been
visited by various sovereigns and members of the royal family, including
George III and George IV when prince of Wales ;-^° The first Roman
Catholic church erected in England since the Reformation was built here in
1794 by express permission of George III.-"
As regards the state generally of church activity in the archdeaconry
during the earlier half of the seventeenth century, we may note that an Act
was passed at the beginning of the reign of James I, for the transference of
the rectory from Radipole to Melcombe, and the erection of a new parish
church at the latter place, which was consecrated in 1606 by Dr. Zouch,
suffragan to the bishop of Bristol."" Reports of the primary visitations
carried out every three years by the dean of Salisbury in the prebends of the
cathedral give a few entries of interest. A note in the year 1628 states that
after the visitation of Sherborne, 14 July, it was ordained
upon entreaty of the minister and parishioners of Sherborne that for the convenience of the
minister in going to the pulpitt and the people in hearing that the pulpitt shall be removed
unto the next pillar of the church westward on that side where now he standith and
so to be made that the minister may goe out of his seate where he readith prayers into
the pulpitt, and the seates in the gallery which are so arranged that the faces of the
people turn from the minister are to be altered so that they may face the minister for the
better hearing.^^'
'" Cal. S.P. Dom. 1591-4, p. 521. '^ Foley, op. cit. iii, 472.
"' Ibid. 540. A member of the Webb family, Agatha, was one of several ladies of birth and 'singular
virtue ' who accompanied Mary Caryll, of a well-known Catholic family of West Grinstead, as assistant in the
establishment of a Benedictine monastery at Dunkirk, in 1662.
^» Ibid. 540, n. 9 ; v, 812. "' Lds. Jourv.
'™ The celebrated Mrs. Fitzherbert was by her first marriage a Mrs. Weld of Lulworth.
'*' It is said that George III gave permission for a mausoleum, which would include a church or chapel, but
the idea of which was less calculated to upset lingering prejudice.
*«' Handbook for Church Congress at Weymouth, 1905 ; Rev. S. Lambert, T>!otes on Ch. 0/ Weymouth.
*" Liber Fisit. Decani, 1628.
34
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
In 1635 occurs a name destined to be one of the greatest in the century
succeeding : John Deane of Lyme Regis was presented ' for refusing to receive
the communion of Mr. Westley.'^^* Elizabeth Bugler was in 1639 presented
for breaking the sabbath,
when summoned the widow confessed that upon the Sunday before Whitsunday
upon urgent occasion she did for some of her customers grind in her mill at Sherborne
certayne gristes for which she is heartily sorry .^*'
For the most part presentments at this time were made for moral offences,
drunkenness and violence in church, occasionally for non-attendance at church
or communion ; in 1635, Marian Davies, wife of Jenkin Davies of Sherborne,
'for striking Ryw Palmers wife in ye church'; ^^^ in 1638, Joanna Kelleway,
' for not receiving the Communion at Easter last ' ''^ ; Thomas Thomas of
Alton Pancras was presented ' in that he absented himself from his parish
church at tyme of divine prayers and hath not received the Sacrament in all his
life tyme he being of the age of 27 yeares ' ; this last acknowledged his fault,
humbly submitted himself, and was ordered to frequent the church and receive
the sacrament the next week.^*^
Meantime, in spite of the existence of hotbeds of Catholicism such as we
have indicated, the tide of public opinion in this county flowed steadily in the
direction of Puritanism. So strong was the hold it had already obtained
here, that in 1634 Laud complained that there were Puritans in nearly every
parish in Dorset.'"' Bishop Skinner of Bristol in an address to the clergy
at a visitation held by him at Dorchester, 18 September, 1637, proceeds, after
emphasizing the importance of sound doctrine, to plead the value of ancient
custom with regard to the practice of kneeling at prayers, the use of the cross
in baptism, and the observance of set feasts and holidays."" That the general
desire of a reform in church matters was very strong is shown by the message
presented by this county to Parliament by word of mouth of Lord Digby in
the general petition of grievances in 1 640."' The influence of John White,
appointed to Holy Trinity in 1606, probably had much to do with making
Dorchester a stronghold of Puritan sentiment."^ The ' Patriarch of Dor-
chester,' as he was termed, was instrumental in organizing a scheme for
sending out a colony chiefly composed of Dorset men to settle at New
Dorchester, Mass. At the beginning of the Long Parliament he took
the covenant, and succeeded in inducing many of his fellow-townsmen to do
the same."" He and his friend William Benn, rector of All Saints', who
'" Liber Visit. Decani, 1635. This would be Bartholomew Wesley, the great-grandfather of the
revivalist of the eighteenth century. '" Ibid. 1639. ^''Mbid. 1635. "'" Ibid. 1638.
'^ Ibid. 1669. The Rev. C. H. Mayo has noted in Buckland Neuilon Parish Reg. how church discipline
was still maintained in the later part of the seventeenth century. On 3 May, 1674, the register records that
Mr. William Aarnold and Jone Lane were excommunicated in Bucidand church ; on the i6th of the same
month that Martha Lane, the reputed ' dafter ' of Thomas Trew of Clinger, was baptized ; a few days after,
on 31 May, ' Thomas Trew bore penance in Church ' (p. 10). Mr. William Arnold was again excommuni-
cated on 4 Oct. 1685.
""^ W. Densham and J. Ogle, Congregational Ch. in Dorset, Introd. p. vii.
''" Speech of Dr. R. Skinner, Lord Bp. of Bristol, at the Visit, at Dorchester (published 1744).
*" Shaw, Hist. ofCh. of Engl, during the Civil War, i, 9-12.
"' According to Fuller {IVorthies, i, 340), his influence brought about great reforms in the condition of
the town. Beginning as a moderate Puritan, his views were probably rendered more extreme by the
persecution to which he was subjected. He was summoned before the Court of High Commission in 1625,
to answer respecting certain papers that had been found in his study, but was eventually discharged and his
informant reproved for ' twattling.' Cal. S.P. Dom. 1635-6, p. 513 ; 1638-9, p. 217.
"^ Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 375.
35
A HISTORY OF DORSET
seconded all his efforts to promote the Presbyterian cause in the town, were
both among the triers deputed to examine the qualifications of candidates for
the cure of souls under the Commonwealth, and two daughters of Mr. White
married ministers who were among the ejected in this county at the
Restoration: John Wesley and Benjamin Way.
The recent publication of the minute books of the Dorset Standing
Committee,"^ which came into operation shortly after the issue of the
ordinance of i July, 1644, affords ample information as to the ecclesiastical
working of the county during the Commonwealth. The ecclesiastical powers
vested in the members of this committee enabled them to determine the
delinquency, scandal, or malignancy of any incumbent, whether he had
preached against the Parliament or joined the king's army,""' to enforce the use
of the Directory, and to make appointment of other ministers to serve in the
cures that had been sequestered, provided their names had been approved by
those deputed to examine them. Besides these duties they are found ordering
additions to small stipends, as in the case of the vicar of Abbotsbury,-'^
appointing lecturers,"" assigning stipends to schoolmasters,"" directing the pay-
ment of fifths to which the families of ejected ministers were entitled out of
sequestered benefices ; in many cases intruded ministers showed great reluc-
tance to pay and the committee had to resort to threats in order to enforce
payment. Among these was Bartholomew 'Westleye' of Charmouth, the
great-grandfather of the revivalist, who in January, 1648, was ordered to pay
the full fifths of the parsonage, or to show cause why he refused ; the follow-
ing February came the order, ' whereas it is made known to us that Mr. Nor-
rington who was outed from the church of Charmouth for scandal hath
since obtained in the county of Wilts ^^3° P^"" annum for his livelyhood,
Mr. Westley is released from payment of fifths, as the whole profits of Char-
mouth only amount to about ^20.'"'' Among smaller matters of detail referred
to the committee was the official custody of the church key,"*" which at Stoke
Abbott had been detained by the ' outed ' incumbent."*^ Out of the lands,
tenements, &c., belonging to any dean and chapter or impropriated personages
within the county under sequestration, they advised the assignment of certain
sums in augmentation of the living or the maintenance of a lecture in some
fifty different parishes, the ministers or lecturers of which should first be
approved by the committee before the extra payment should be made to them."*"
On 6 January, 1646, Walter Fry and John Squibb, gent., were appointed
to receive and distribute their payments out of the rents payable from the
"* Dorset SlanJ. Com. ed. by C. H. Mayo, 1902.
'" On 22 Dec. 1642, it was moved in Parliament that in the case of those ministers who had left their
charges and joi-ned the king's forces the profits of their livings should be sequestered and their names
presented to ' this House.' Lds. Journ. v, 516. '" Min. Bks. ofDonet ^tand. Com. 78.
*" Ibid. 67. '"' At Beaminster and Dorchester. Ibid. 29, 85
"' Ibid. 491, 500-1. W.ilker's account of the fate of this outed minister is that ' he left his wife and Five
Children as poor as Misery could make them,' and that ' his widow was at length constrained to beg the charity
of the Corporation for Ministers' Widows by whom she was relieved ' ; Sufferings of the Clerg<i,\\, 318. Other
intruded ministers who appeared unwilling to pay were John Galping at Durweston, who was admonished in
1647 and again in 1648, 'on the sad complaint of Mr. Richard Hooke, last incumbent of Durweston in this
countie on the behalfe of himself his wife and children' {Jilin. Bks. 282, 432) ; James Rawson, of Haselbury
Bryan (ibid. 304, 438) ; John Salway, of Whitchurch Canonicorum (ibid. 347, 403), who, according to
Walker {Sufferings of the Clergy, ii, 293), protested ' that hee will rather leave the place than paie any fifths' ;
John Moulas, at Tarrant G\m\\\\s. {Min. Bks. 374) ; William Hardy at Sturminster Marshall (ibid. 464, 538) ;
Henry Lamb, at Burton Bradstock (ibid. 522).
-*» Ibid. 152, 176, 341, 540. '-' Ibid. loi. =" Ibid. 159-60.
36
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
irevenues of the dean and chapter.^^'' The following benefices, or portions of
benefices, were ordered to be united : — Knighton to Lillington, Beer Hackett
to Yetminster, Stockwood to Melbury Bubb, Knowlton to Horton, Chilcombe
to Askerswell, Wraxall to Rampisham, East Holme to East Stoke and the
three Wareham churches; the inhabitants of the annexed churches were
admonished to attend the other. Motcombe was ordered to be separated from
■Gillingham.^"* On 25 December, 1646, we read an order was issued for the
rebuilding of the town of Beaminster after the fire, to be paid for out of the
■sequestered estate (amounting to ^^2,000) of Mr. George Penny of Toller, a
recusant.**"
As regards the actual number of sequestrations that took place during
the Commonwealth and the new regime introduced by the Parliament, they
•cannot be much under seventy. From the minute books of the committee
as many as fifty-nine have been extracted, the greater number of which, it has
been noted, had already occurred when the minute books, commencing in
August, 1645, began.^"" The names of six more sequestered clergy are also
given from another source,^" and Walker's list, containing only seventeen
names, includes three that are not given in either of the other two lists. ^*'*' In
October, 1646, William Gollop, rector of Stoke Abbott, was declared 'not
only a delinquent and within the ordinance of sequestration, but allso a
malignant and a scandalous minister and an enemy ag' the pliam'.'*"^ Another
entry states: 'the inhabitants of Wareham desire the removall of Thos.
Whiteroe clerke who now doth officiate in that towne in respect of his
insufficiency and scandalous lyfe.' ''° On 6 January, i 646-7, an unordained
person, one Mr. Stapleton, who had been admitted to preach in the church
of Radipole ' to the great disturbance and hazard of the garrison of Wey-
mouth and Melcombe Regis,' was inhibited. ^^^ The changes introduced by
the committee did not, however, meet with universal approval in the county,
and in sundry places parishioners refused to pay tithes to the newly-appointed
ministers. At Charlton Marshall such a dispute arose between Mr. John
Trottle and his flock that three members of the committee, Mr. Chettle,
Mr. Elias Bond, and Mr. John Squibb, were desired to make inquiry into its
cause.^^- At Silton the dissatisfaction of the parishioners with the minister for
whom they had petitioned became so great that the Committee ' finde the
discontent between them to bee growne soe high as that we conceive the
sayd Mr. Boles will not be able to doe any good in the way of his ministry
in that place,' and he was forthwith discharged from officiating there.
Among the archives of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis a minute book of
the Corporation, 1644—9, during the period when the town was occupied by
the Parliamentarians, records, 10 April, 1646, that Robert Saunders, mariner,
was heard to say ' that Mr. Ince and Mr. Way, the two ministers, were knaves
both in their preaching, and that the said Mr. Way did preach plaine Popery;
and that he would justifie to Mr. Ince his face, that he was a knave in his
preaching, and that he would soundly heare of it, or used words to the like
effect.' -^* A later entry the same year, however, states that the said Mr. Ince
'«' Miti. Bb. of Dorset Stand. Com. 1 59-60. "' Ibid. 60, 61, 106, 112, 125, 138, 148, 206.
■ »»' Ibid. 139-14-0. '"^ Ibid.Introd.pp. xxxvi-xxxviii. =>«' Add. MS. 8845.
"' Walker, Sufferings of the Clergy, W, passim. '"^ Minute Bks. 58, 59.
"» IbiJ. 67. "' Ibid. 130. ^" Ibid. 333.
^' Ibid. 234. »* Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v, App. pt. i, 587.
37
93
A HISTORY OF DORSET
' having used his function of a minister in the town as a preacher to the
garrison almost two yeares,' the mayor, aldermen, bailiffs, and burgesses were
anxious to secure him as their pastor,"' and to this end sent a petition to-
Parliament ' to settle some mayntenance on the towne for a minister, nothing
arising out of the towne (being very poore and populous) but what the people
please voluntarily to contribute.' A promise of >Ci°° P^f annum 'to be
settled upon this and Radipole which is but one pastorall charge,' was
obtained, and the townsmen generally promised to make a contribution
according to their abilities and to provide a house, but Mr. Ince in the mean-
time had been negotiating with the parishioners of Donhead in Wiltshire, and
had promised himself as their minister. The ' souldiery and the townesmen '
were very much troubled and discontented upon receiving this news, and
efforts were made to induce Mr. Ince to break, his promise to the people of
Donhead. The matter was referred at last to the House of Commons who
again referred the case to certain members of the Assembly of Divines, but
their decision is not given. -'^
The confidence of the Puritan party in the sincerity of the promises
contained in the Declaration of Breda, 1660, assuring ' liberty to tender con-
sciences, and that no man shall be disquieted or called in question for differ-
ences of opinion in matters of religion which do not disturb the peace of the
kingdom,' "^ was speedily banished after the Restoration had become an
accomplished fact. Of the 2,000 ministers — composing about a fifth of the
entire number — who, in obedience to their consciences on the passing of the
Act of Uniformity, laid down their offices ^^* some seventy or eighty belonged
to this county.''^' The very date fixed for the Act in 1662 to come into
operation (24 August) seems to have been designed with the object of making
its severity most keenly felt, for it was appointed for a time when a whole
year's tithe was due but not yet paid.'""^ Many of the ministers thus forcibly
retired from their cures continued to reside in the places where they had
officiated until they were driven from their homes by the Five Mile Act,
holding services where they could in private houses and meeting with much
persecution. Of these, Calamy notes Thomas Rowe, ejected from Lytchett
Matravers, ' twice imprisoned with some other ministers tho' not above a
fortnight either time. On the Five Mile Act he removed to Little Canford
near Wimborne and preached several times in his own house without any
persecution or disturbance, the reason of which was supposed to be the great
number of Papists in those parts who lived under the countenance of a con-
siderable knight of that religion, for they who were disposed could not for
shame disturb him and leave them unmolested.''"^ Mr. John Weeks of
Buckland Newton, for six months twice imprisoned for Nonconformity,
during his confinement ' preached out of the prison windows to any that were
disposed to hear him.' '"" Other ejected ministers were Mr. John Hardy of
''^ This was in November, 1646 ; the previous year on 11 March the authorities of the town sent a
petition to the Standing Committee stating that ' being deeply affected with the necessity of having an able
godly preacher of the Word to be settled amongst them, and a sufficient mayntenance for such a minister, doe
conceive itt their duty to present their petition to that end unto youre high Court of Parliament ' ; ibid.
"* Ibid. 588-9. "" Clarendon, Hist, of the Rebellion, xvi, 193.
*" Calamy, Nonconformist Memorial, vol. i, Pref. iii.
**' Calamy records some 64 or 65 (ibid, ii, 115—76). W. Densham and J. Ogle in an appendix to
their valuable work Congregational Churches in Dorset (407—15) give a list with some nine more.
*" Ibid. Introd. x. "" Nonconformist Memorial, ii, 133. '" Continuation, i, 415.
38
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
Symondsbury, who preached in Westminster Abbey on the Day of Thanks-
giving for the Restoration ; ^^ Mr. Timothy Sacheverel of Tarrant Hinton,
great-uncle to the famous Doctor Sacheverel of Queen Anne's time/"*
who, with three other ministers, Mr. Ince, Mr. Hallet of Shaftesbury, and
Mr. Bampfield, was arrested for preaching publicly, and indicted at the assizes
7 August, 1663, for 'a riotous and unlawful assembly held at Shaftesbury
23 July ; ' they were all found guilty and fined 40 marks each.'°^
But the most interesting of the sufferers of ' the fatal Bartholomew ' ^"^
are the Wesleys, Bartholomew and John, great-grandfather and grandfather
respectively of the eighteenth-century Reformer. The former, who had been
' intruded ' by Parliament in the place of Mr. Norrington, ' outed ' minister at
Charmouth, was in his turn ejected from his cure there. He continued to
reside at Charmouth until driven away by the passing of the Five Mile Act,
as his abode lay within two miles of the town.'" The final record of him
states that ' he lived several years after he was silenced, but the death of his son
made a very sensible alteration in the father, so that he declined apace and did
not long survive him.''"' John Wesley, his son, sent in 1658 to preach at
Winterborne Whitchurch on leaving Oxford, appears to have become early a
marked man in the county. It was reported to the bishop of Bristol,
Gilbert Ironside, when visiting the diocese on his appointment in 1661, that
Mr. Wesley refused to read the Book of Common Prayer after the passing of
the Act of Uniformity, and the bishop sent for him to question him as to his
views and the legality of his orders. At the close of an interview, which in
its real kindness and consideration on the part of the bishop is in marked con-
trast to the one held by his successor, James Butler, in 1739, with the great
revivalist,"" Ironside, finding the preacher deaf to all arguments, dismissed
liim with the words ' I will not meddle with you, and will do you all the good
I can.''^" But John Wesley was evidently a man to inspire animosity in
those who differed from him and were not, like Bishop Ironside, able to
appreciate the rigid honesty and sincerity of purpose that underlay his
obstinacy. At the instigation, it is said, of some ' persons of Figure ' in the
neighbourhood, he was seized on the Lord's Day as he was coming out of
church early in 1662 before the Act had come into effect, carried off to
Blandford, and committed to prison.'" He was afterwards released, but bound
over to appear at the assizes, where he triumphantly asserted himself, and
'"' Continuation, 414. "' Nonconformist Memorial, ii, 157.
'"^ Continuation, \, 449.
'* The 24 Aug. was St. Bartholomew's Day, and the date fixed for the Act of Uniformity to take effect is
often alluded to as ' the second Bartholomew.'
™' Beal, Biog. Notices of the Wesley Family, 13. ' Forbidden by law,' says Calamy, ' the Nonconformists
■of the south-west of Dorset stole away to the solitudes of Pinney, and there in a dell between rocks like the
Covenanters elsewhere they worshipped their God. The place has ever since been known as Whitechapel Rocks.'
Continuation, i, 429. ™* Ibid.
'"" The bishop of Bristol in his famous interview with John Wesley charged the Methodists with ' a horrid
thing, a very horrid thing,' namely, with pretending to extraordinary revelations and gifts of the Holy Spirit
and concluded by telling the reformer he had no business in the diocese, and advising him ' to go hence.
Wesley's Works, xiii, 470.
"° Calamy, Continuation, i, 439. Kennett in his account of the interview says ' the bishop was more civil
to him (Wesley) than he to the bishop.' A son of Ironside succeeded his father as rector of Long Bredy in
Dorset ; he is said to have been ejected from his benefice by the Long Parliament, and reduced to the utmost
poverty ; Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 149.
'" An entry in the Cal.S.P.Dom. (1660-1, p. 504), under date 5 Feb. 1661, records information laid
against John Wesley, vicar of Winterborne Whitchurch, ' for diabolically railing in the pulpit against the late
iing and his posterity, and praising Cromwell.'
39
A HISTORY OF DORSET
though bound over to appear again ' came joyfully home,' and continued tO'
preach every Lord's Day till 17 August, when he gave a final address to a
' weeping auditory ' from Acts xx, 32. On 26 October the place was declared
vacant and an order given to sequestrate the profits, ' but his people had given
him w^hat was his due.' Wesley then established himself with his family at
Melcombe Regis, but the corporation made an order against his settlement
there, imposing a fine of ^(^20 upon his landlady and 5J. per week upon him.
These proceedings forced him out of the borough and he went to Bridg-
water, Ilminster, and Taunton, where he met with great kindness from the
three denominations of Dissenters, and was almost daily employed in preaching.
At length a gentleman living at Preston, two or three miles from Melcombe,
offered him the use of his house as a residence rent free. The offer was-
accepted ; he removed thither,'^' and his son Samuel, the father of the
Revivalist, is said to have been born at Preston. But the Five Mile Act
subsequently drove John Wesley from this refuge. After being concealed
for some time he ventured to return again to his family, was seized,,
imprisoned, and finally died before his father."' At Dorchester, always a
lively centre of Puritan feeling, it was reported at the close of 1664 that
out of nine Nonconformist ministers four had been lately arrested on
suspicion of being privy to the plot.'^* Six ministers and seventy others were
now in prison for Nonconformity, ' the town is most factious and has daily
conventicles.' '^°
The proclamation of an Indulgence for Nonconformists in 1672 was
quickly followed by applications for licences to hold Nonconformist services in
the following places : Beaminster, Bettiscombe, Bothenwood, Bradford Abbas,
Bridport, Broadwindsor, Cerne, Dorchester, East Morden, Fordington, Hawk-
church, Lyme, Marshwood, Milton Abbas, Morden, Motcombe, Over
Compton, Quarleston Stickland, Stalbridge, Shaftesbury, Stour Provost, Tarrant
Monkton, Thornhill, Wareham, Weymouth, Wimborne, Winterborne King-
ston, Winterborne Zelstone, Wootton Fitzpaine ; "^ and a ' thankful address '
signed by thirty-eight dissenting ministers in Dorset was presented to the
king thanking him for his clemency and promising continually to pray for
' Your Royal Person, familie, Councill and Government as Dutie obligeth us
your loyal subjects and ministers of the Gospel.' "^ In all the principal towns
in this county Nonconformity can show an honourable succession of dissenting
ministers, many dating from the ejection of St. Bartholomew's Day, 1662,
and subsequent persecutions. '''
Before quitting a period which closes with the passing of the Act of
Toleration in 1689, a word must be said of the Quakers, of whom a consider-
''- Calamy, Continuation, i, 448. The borough records of Weymouth during 1665-6 record a number of
people of Melcombe Regis and the neighbourhood convicted of meeting to hold services other than those
allowed in the liturgy of the Church of England. Most of these meetings appear to have been held in the
house of Henry Saunders, mariner of Melcombe Regis and Dorothy his wife, the latter being convicted several
times. For a first offence they were fined, on a second conviction committed to the town gaol ' for the space
of 3 months and a day.' In all probability John Wesley was present at some of these meetings. Beal, Fathers
of the Wesley Family, 96—8.
'" Ibid. Blog. Notices of Wesley Family, 31.
^" In 1663 it was reported that a rising was daily expected in Somerset and Dorset ; Cal. S.P. Dom.
1663-4, P- 150-
^'^ Ibid. 1664-5, p. 130. "« Ibid. i67i-2,p. 664.
^" Ibid. 527. The Indulgence was withdrawn the following year.
'" Somerset and Dorset N. and Q. ; Nonconformist Succession In Dorset, vols, i, ii, passim.
40
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
able number were formerly to be found in Dorset."' The sect of the Society
of Friends, which sprang up towards the middle of the century and to whom
the term Quaker was first applied in 1650/^" appears to have suffered equally
under the regime of the Parliament and the Acts passed on the Restoration.*^'
The tenets of their persuasion, their refusal to pay tithes or to be chargeable
for the rates and assessments of churches whose worship they disapproved,
exposed them to much contempt and dislike, while their objection to taking
an oath in a court of justice or to remove their hats seems to have been
universally misunderstood. In Dorset, between 1650 and 1660, some fifty-six
names are recorded of those committed to prison, and sixty-six from 1660
onwards ; '"^ there is evidence of meeting houses at Bridport, Dorchester,
Hawkchurch, Sherborne, Evershot, Corfe, South Perrott, Poole. At the
beginning it must be admitted many convictions were due not only to
adherence to the above unpopular views, but also to ' speaking to the people
in the steeple-house,' or ' declaring truth,' &c. Thus
on 1 6th of the 9th month (1656) Jasper Bett being at the steeple-house in Weymouth
(Melcombe Regis) when the Priest had clone asked him whether he was a ?ninister of Christ ?
The Priest answered / am, and went away ; but the People fell violently upon Jasper
beating and abusing him sorely and then hailed him to prison where he lay several days.'-^
As persecutions became severer these officious testimonies to the ' truth ' were
dropped, offenders were ' set in the stockes,' ^"* several on their way to
attend meetings were ' whipped and put outside the town under pretence that
they were vagabonds.' ^~' In 1657 six were committed to gaol for ' uncourtly
behaviour before the justices,' i.e. refusing to uncover.*^' Quaker meetings
were always subject to interruption, and those attending them to insult, even
in the open street.^" An Act was passed in 1661 with special reference to
their refusal to take an oath,'"' and the following year it is stated there were
about 200 Quakers imprisoned in Dorset for wearing their hats in court,
not swearing, and opening their shops on 29 May and 12 June, days appointed
to be observed as a fast for fine weather. '*-"
Non-juring at the close of the century seems to have confined itself mostly
to the Roman Catholics, or ' popish recusants ' as they were still called,^'*" who,
after the 'Unnatural Rebellion' of 17 15, were obliged to register their names
and estates. The return furnished of those ' Roman Catholic Nonjurors and
others in Dorset, who refused to take the oaths to king George ' gives fifty-
'" In response to an inquiry in the Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries as to Dorset Quaker burial grounds
a list is there given (i, 1 53) showing their existence at Bridport, Cerne, Corfe, Dorchester, Hawkchurch,
Lyme Regis, Marnhull, Poole, Ryme Intrinseca, Shaftesbury, Sherborne, and Weymouth.
^'° The year succeeding the imprisonment of George Fox at Nottingham.
'*' Besse, Abstract of Sufferings of the Quakers, i, Introd. vi, vii, viii, ix.
"» Ibid. 530-1 ; ii, 463-4. "3 Ibid, i, 75. '-'' Ibid. 77.
'« Ibid. "« Ibid. 79.
'=' Ibid. 80-81. ^'» Ibid, ii, Pref pp. xi-xv.
*" Cal. S.P. Dom. 1661-2, p. 426. Persecutions did not cease till the passing of the Act of Toleration,
1689, and members of this sect continued to be presented at the assizes at Dorchester for adherence to their
opinions. 'A powerful factor,' says Bejse, ' in granting warrants for distresses in 1674 for holding meetings,
amounting to ^^97 9/. lod. was Justice Culliford, who much transgressed the Bounds of his office in kicking
Deborah Coleman an innocent woman on her Belly and other parts of her Body and striking her with his Dog-
whip ' ; Collections of Sufferings of Quakers, i, 1 70.
"" Oberton's list of clerical and lay non-jurors who refused to take the o.ith of allegiance to William and
Mary in 1689 and again in I 70 1-2 and 1 7 14, only gives the name of one clergyman in the Bristol diocese
who can be claimed for Dorset : W. Flud, Fludd, or Flood, vicar of Halstock ; The Nonjurors, 478.
2 41 6
A HISTORY OF DORSET
eight names, of whom many, like the Arundels, Sir John Webb of Great
Canford, and Humphrey Weld of Lulworth Castle, are already familiar/'^
After the turmoil and struggles of the seventeenth, the eighteenth
century with its moral and spiritual destitution, its ' colourless indifferentism,'
comes as a period remarkable chiefly for its stagnation and lack of effort
generally in the church. '^^ The abuses, pluralism, and non-residence, that
marked the clergy in the mass, the poverty of the greater number of them,
the great social difference that showed itself between their different ranks '^^
were probably as much present in Dorset, with its rural districts comprising
many small and ill-paid benefices, as in other parts of the country. From the
churchwardens' accounts of Ashmore, says the historian of the parish,
to some extent we can trace the degradation of the church. It was found at three vestry
meetings held in succession in 1 80 1-2 that the roof of the church was dangerous to
worshippers, the pulpit and altar rail rotten, that the gallery, the steps into it, and the seats
both in gallery and body of the church were in need of repair. The Holy Communion,
it appeared, was celebrated three times a year — Christmas, Easter and Whitsunday — till
1 79 1, afterwards quarterly for a considerable number of years.'^*
As regards those flourishing Nonconformist communities that the previous
century had done so much to establish and organize, though there may have
been, as has been said, an awakening among them contemporaneous with
Wesley's great work,''^ it has also been shown what a disintegrating in-
fluence Arianism had especially in the west of England where it seized on
the younger and more highly educated generation of ministers.^'* ' Non-
conformity went into the controversy united and strong,' say the authors of
the Story of Congregational Churches in Dorset, ' having the adhesion of a large
number of the most influential and even aristocratic families in the country.
It came out of it disunited and impoverished.' '" That Nonconformist suc-
cession in Dorset, to which allusion has been made, in many cases shows the
manner in which congregations split up and seceded over this controversy.
As far as the work of John Wesley actually in Dorset is concerned the
Joi/rna/ shows that, with the exception of Shaftesbury, he visited the county
where his name was already so familiar but rarely. At Shaftesbury he
stopped frequently on his way to and from the west. On the first of these
occasions, recorded in the Journa/, 31 July, 1750, he preached in the evening
in a house accommodating from four to five hundred people, ' it was soon
filled from end to end . . . none stirred, none spoke, none smiled, many
were in tears and many others were filled with joy unspeakable.' ^'^ Return-
ing from Cornwall Wesley called again at Shaftesbury, and the day after his
^^' Return transmitted to the Commissioners (printed 1 745).
''' The bishopric of Bristol — the poorest in England — was throughout the century held in succession by
men who obviously only accepted it as a stepping-jtone to higher things. Thomas Gooch, 1737-8, stayed so
short a time 'as never to have visited his diocese.' Joseph Butler accepting the offer of the bishopric in 1738
could not help remarking that it was ' not very suitable either to the condition of my fortune or the circum-
stances of my preferment, nor as I should have thought to the recommendation with which I was honoured,'
referring to the queen's interest {Diet. Nat. Biog. viii, 69). Bishop Newton, 1761-82, 'plaintively'
enumerates the various preferments he was called on to resign on his promotion to Bristol, 'the prebend of
Westminster, the precentorship of York, the lectureship of St. George's, Hanover Square, and the genteel
office of the sub-almoner.'
'^ Overton, EngL Ch. in Eighteenth Cent. 287. ^' E. W. Watson, Hist, of Parish of Ashmore, 92.
"' W. Densham and J. Ogle, Congl. Churches in Dorset, Introd. xiv.
^= Ibid. App. +24-6. *" Ibid. ''^ fount, ii, 167.
42
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
arrival ' preached at noon in the most riotous part of the town where four
ways met ; but none made any noise or spoke one word while I called the
wicked to forsake his way.' ^'^^ The civic authorities, however, took alarm,
and ' after I was set down a constable came and said, " Sir, the mayor dis-
charges you from preaching in the Borough any more," ' whereupon
Wesley replied, ' While King George gives me leave to preach I shall not
ask leave of the mayor of Shaftesbury.' "° Wesley's impressions of the
town underwent many changes in the years succeeding. In 1755, after
preaching to ' sleepy ' congregations at Reading, he reported ' a much more
lively people at Shaftesbury,' '" but on the occasion of a visit, 28 September,
1766, described the town as ' cold, uncomfortable Shaftesbury . . . spoke
exceeding strong words.' '''^ The previous 29 August he had opened the new
chapel here.'*'' In 1 771, stopping at Shaftesbury on his way to Portsmouth
from Bristol, the 'Journal records ' preached to a numerous congregation but
wonderfully unconcerned. I scarce know a town in England where so much
preaching has been to so little purpose.' '** The indifference and coldness of
which Wesley complained at Shaftesbury may possibly be explained by a
reference to another town not far removed : Frome, ' dry, barren, uncomfort-
able place.' '*^ ' In this town,' says Wesley, ' there be such a mixture of men
of all opinions, Anabaptists, Quakers, Presbyterians, Arians, Antinomians,
Moravians and what not. If any hold to the truth in the midst of all these
surely the power must be of God.^*^ His last reference to Shaftesbury, how-
ever, is more encouraging, 'I preached,' says the yoi^r/7rt/, 15 August, 1785,
' at Shaftesbury at nine to such a congregation as I had not seen there before.
I was glad to see among them the gentleman who thirty years ago sent his
officer to discharge me from preaching in his borough.' '*^
The spiritual awakening in the Church, which towards the middle of the
nineteenth century resulted from the Oxford Movement, dates in Dorset from
the year 1836, when by an order in council the whole county forming the
archdeaconry was detached from the diocese of Bristol and became again
united to that of Salisbury. In such dioceses as Salisbury under Bishops
Denison, Hamilton and Moberly you trace, says the ecclesiastical historian
of this period, the peculiar stamp of the Revival in what was done.'*^ The
charge delivered in 1855 by Bishop Kerr Hamilton in which he outlines the
changes initiated by his predecessor Bishop Denison, 1837—54, gives some
idea of the practical work accomplished in the parishes and in the diocese
at large.'*^ Beginning with confirmation, the late bishop's first care, he says :
The old custom in this diocese before the present century was, I believe, to confirm only at
the few places at which visitations were held. This number had been afterwards a little
increased, but the year in which Bishop Denison began his ministry he formed, with the
assistance of the archdeacons, a much enlarged scheme for holding 28 confirmations in
Dorset and 29 in Wilts. At his last tour of confirmations this number was increased
to 45 in Dorset and to 40 in Wilts, and he also arranged that there should be an annual
confirmation in the chief towns of that part of the diocese where the general confir-
mation was not held.^^°
S39
' Journ. ii, 172. "" Ibid. "' Ibid. 305. '" Ibid, iii, 351. '" Ibid. 217.
'" Ibid. 451. Another entry records that Wesley preached at Melcombe and Shaftesbury on 15 Sept.
1779. Ibid, iv, 169.
^" Ibid, ii, 264. "■ Ibid, iii, 351. '" Ibid, iv, 327.
"* Overton, The Anglican Revival, 2 1 8.
"' Charge to the Clergy of Diocese of Salisbury at his primary visitation. '^ Ibid. 13.
43
A HISTORY OF DORSET
Sixteen years ago (continues the bishop) out of the 556 churches and chapels in the
diocese there were 2 sermons on Sunday in only 143. There are now 2 sermons or
lectures in 426, that is to say 214 out of the 298 churches and chapels in Dorset. Of the
84 churches and chapels in Dorset where there are not 2 services and 2 sermons the
account is as follows : in 16 parishes where there are 2 churches there is only I service and
I sermon, in 33 parishes where there is one church there is one sermon, and in 24 only
one service. In 35 parishes held in plurality there is but one sermon, and in 33 parishes
similarly circumstanced one service.^^'
Bishop Kerr Hamilton, 1854-69, threw himself strenuously into the
work of church building and restoration. The number of churches con-
secrated during his episcopate amounted to 84, of those restored, to 104.*"
Under his successor Bishop Moberly, 1869—85, the number of churches
restored in the diocese reached a figure of 160.^" The nineteenth century
was prolific in church building ; to take the largest town in Dorset, Wey-
mouth, no less than five churches have been built within the borough since
its commencement : St. Mary's church, the foundation stone of which was
laid in 1 8 1 5 by command of Princess Charlotte of Wales ; Holy Trinity,
erected 1836 ; St. John's, 1854 ; Christchurch, built in 1874 as a chapel of
ease to the parish of St. Mary ; St. Paul's of Westham, formerly within
the parish of Wyke Regis but formed in 1902 into an ecclesiastical parish
under the name of St. Paul's Weymouth, was opened in 1896.'°*
In Dorset, as elsewhere, the duty that confronts the Church is not only
to carry on the work and organization so well begun but to grapple with
the difficulties presented by the different circumstances that have arisen
since the earlier part of the last century. That this is well understood may
be seen from the objects and purposes of the Queen Victoria Clergy Fund,
to which the Salisbury Diocesan Board has been affiliated since its incorpora-
tion in 1897, which aims at raising the value of poor benefices, with popula-
tions of not less than 150, to an income of _^200 per annum, while a move-
ment has been set on foot in the diocese for the union of small benefices and
the re-arrangement of neighbouring parishes enabling them to be worked by
one incumbent.'*^" In this manner it is hoped to meet the difficulties of the
present agricultural decline, the diminishing number of candidates who offer
themselves for ordination, and to ensure the fulfilment of the Apostolic injunc-
tion that they which 'preach the Gospel ' shall also 'live of the Gospel.'
'^' Charges to the C/ergy of Diocese of Salisbury at his primary visitation, 14, 15. The bishop in 1842 in
his charge spoke of an improvement in the observance of Ash Wednesday and Holy Thursday, ' of late almost
universally neglected ; ' but by the returns made in 1854 Ash Wednesday was still disregarded in 1 1 2 churches
and chapels in Dorset, and in 133 the Feast of our Lord's Ascension was still not kept. Ibid. 15. As
regards the practice of morning and evening service daily, Bishop Hamilton, at least in later years, took
occasion to uphold their being said in prii'ate if not in public according to the directions of the Prayer Book.
H. P. Liddon, Walter Kerr Hamilton, Bp. of Salisbury : A Sketch, 57. In 185 S there were twenty-six churches
in the whole diocese where daily services were held, in 1861 there were thirty-nine.
^'^ Ibid. App. 126.
'*' Though some smaller works may be included in this list. John Wordsworth, Bp. of Salisbury, Four
addresses to clergy and churchwardens of diocese of Salisbury at his primary visitation.
"' Handbook for Church Congress at JVeymouth, 1905 ; Rev. S. Lambert, Notes on Ch. of JVeymouth, 75-81.
"' Report of the Board to the Diocesan Synod, Salisbury Diocesan Gazette, April, 1906, 67.
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ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
APPENDIX
ecclesustiCjIL divisions of the county
The conversion of Dorset, as has been already described, was finally accomplished by the
establishment in 705 of a bishop-stool at Sherborne, the see of which, described roughly as lying
' west of Selwood,' was carved out of the old Wessex diocese on its partition at the death of Bishop
Haeddi. For more than three centuries — and in spite of many fluctuations — the head of the diocese
pertained to this county, but in 1075, following the decree of the Council of London which ordered the
removal of sees generally to more populous centres, it was transferred to Old Sarum and subsequently
to Salisbury to the diocese of which Dorset was attached down to the sixteenth century. In 1542
this county, then forming the archdeaconry of Dorset, was severed from Salisbury and annexed to
the new see erected at Bristol under which it remained until the year 1836, when by an order in
council it was again united to the Salisbury diocese.
The thirteenth-century compilation of church property, known as the Taxation of Pope
Nicholas IV, gives the five rural deaneries into which the archdeaconry of Dorset was then divided,
namely, Shaftesbury, Pimperne, Whitchurch, Dorchester, and Bridport, and records the names of
171 churches besides Wimborne Minster — a deanery in itself — and several dependent chapelries.
The Survey of 1340, recording the value of the ninth of corn, wool, and lambs which had been
granted to Edward III, shows a marked increase in churches, which then numbered 218. The f^ahr
Ecc/esiasticus, which Henry VIII ordered to be taken in 1 535, shows a further increase to 234.
At the present time no addition has been made to the number of deaneries, but each deanery
has been subdivided into two, three, or four portions.
The names of the difiFerent parishes under their several deaneries and portions are as
follows : —
Deanery of Bridport
Jhhotshury Portion : Abbotsbury, Long Bredy with Little Bredy, Cattistock, Chilfrome, Compton
Abbas or West Compton, Langton Herring, Litton Cheney, Maiden Newton, Portisham,
Puncknowle, Swyre, Winterborne Abbas with Winterborne Steepleton.
Bridport Portion : Allington, Askerswell, Bothenhampton, Bradpole with St. Andrew's Chapel,
Bridport, Burton Bradstock with Shipton Gorge, Chilcombe, Loders, Powerstock with West
Milton, North Poorton, Rampisham with Wraxall, Symondsbury with Eype and Broad Oak,
Toller Porcorum, Walditch, Wytherstone.
Lyme Portion : Bettiscombe, Catherston Leweston, Chardstock St. Andrew, Chardstock All
Saints, Chideock, Hawkchurch, Lyme Regis, Monkton Wyld, Pilsdon, Thorncombe, Wam-
brook, Whitchurch Canonicorum with Marshwood and Stanton St. Gabriel, Wootton
Fitzpaine.
Bearnimter Portion : Beaminster with Trinity Chapel, Broadwindsor with Blackdown and Drimpton
and Burstock, Cheddington, East Chelborough or Lewcombe with West Chelborough, Cors-
combe, Halstock, Hooke, Mapperton, Melplash, Netherbury with Solway Ash, South Perrott
with Mosterton, Stoke Abbott or Abbotstoke, Toller Whelme.
Deanery of Dorchester
Dorchester Portion : Bradford Peverell, Broadmayne with West Knighton, Charminster with
Stratton, Compton Valence, Dorchester St. Peter, Dorchester Holy Trinity with Frome
Whitfield, Dorchester All Saints, Fordington, West Fordington, Frampton, Frome Vauchurch,
Moreton, Stafford, Toller Fratrum with Wynford Eagle, Whitcombe, Winterborne Monkton,
Winterborne St. Martin, Winterborne Came, Woodsford.
JVeymouth Portion : Bincombe with Broadway, Buckland Ripers, West Chickerell, Fleet, Melcombe
Regis with Christchurch and Radipole, Osmington, Owermoigne, Portland St. George with
Southwell St. Andrew, Portland St. John, Portland St. Peter, Preston, Upway, Warmwell
with Poxwell, Weymouth St. John, Weymouth Holy Trinity, Weymouth St. Paul, Wyke
Regis.
45
A HISTORY OF DORSET
Purheck Portion : Branksea, Chaldon Herring, Church Knowle, Coombe Keynes, Corfe Castle,
East Holme, Kimmeridge, Kingston, Langton Matravers, East Lulworth, West Lulworth,
Steeple with the Grange Chapel and Tyneham, East Stoke, Studland, Swanage with Herston,
Winfrith Newburgh with Burton, Worth Matravers, Wool.
Deanery of Pimperne
Blandford Portion : Ashmore, Blandford Forum, Chettlc, Farnham, Handley with Gussage
St. Andrew, Langton Long Blandford, Pimperne, Shapwick, Steepleton Iwerne, Stourpaine,
Tarrant Crawford, Tarrant Gunville, Tarrant Hinton, Tarrant Keynston, Tarrant Monkton
with Tarrant Launceston, Tarrant Rushton with Tarrant Rawston.
Wimborne Portion : Alderholt, Chalbury, Colehill, Cranborne with Boveridge, Long Crichel with
Crichel Moor, Edmondsham, Gussage All Saints, Gussage St. Michael, Hampreston, Hinton
Martell, Hinton Parva or Stanbridge, Holt, Horton with Woodlands, West Parley, Pentridge,
Verwood with West Moors, Wimborne Minster, Wimborne St. John, Wimborne St. Giles,
Witchampton.
Deanery of Shaftesbury
Shaftesbury Portion : Bourton, Buckhorn Weston, Fifehead Magdalen, Gillingham with East and
West Stour and Milton, Kington Magna, Marnhull, Motcombc with Enmore Green,
Shaftesbury St. James, Shaftesbury Holy Trinity with St. Peter, Shaftesbury St. Rumbold or
Cann, Silton, Stour Provost with Todber.
Stalbridge Portion : Long Burton with Holnest, Bishop's Caundle, Caundle Marsh, Purse Caundle,
Stourton Caundle, Folke, Haydon, Holwell, Lydlinch, Stalbridge, Stock Gaylard, North
Wootton.
Sherborne Portion : Batcombe, Beer Hackett, Bradford Abbas with Clifton Maybank, Castleton, Over
Compton with Nether Compton, Hermitage, Leigh, Lillington, Melbury Osmond and Stock-
wood with Melbury Sampford, Oborne, R.yme Intrinseca, Sherborne, Thornford, Yetminster
with Chetnole.
Sturminster Newton Portion : Compton Abbas, Fontmell Magna with West Orchard, Hammoon,
Hanford, Hinton St. Mary, Iwerne Minster, Iwerne Courtney with Farringdon, Manston,
Melbury Abbas, Child Okeford, Okeford Fitzpaine, East Orchard with Margaret Marsh,
Sturminster Newton, Sutton Waldron.
Deanery of Whitchurch
Bere Regis Portion : AfFpuddle with Turners Puddle, Athelhampton with Burleston, Bere Regis
with Winterborne Kingston, Cheselbourne, Milborne St. Andrew with Dewlish, Melcombe
Bingham, Piddlehinton, Piddletrenthide, Puddletown, Stinsford, Tincleton, Tolpuddle.
Poole Portion : Aimer, Arne, Bloxworth, Branksome All Saints, Branksome St. Clements, Canford
Magna, Charborough, Corfe Mullen, Hamworthy, Heatherlands, Kinson with Talbot Village,
Longfleet, Lytchett Matravers, Lytchett Minster, East Morden, Parkstone, Poole St. James,
Poole St. Paul, Sturminster Marshall, Wareham, Winterborne Anderson, Winterborne
Tomson, Winterborne Zelstone.
Cerne Portion : Alton Pancras, Buckland Newton with Plush, Cerne Abbas, Fifehead Neville,
Frome St. Quintin with Melbury Bubb and Evershot, Godmanstone, Haselbury Bryan,
Hillfield, Mappowder, Minterne Magna, Nether Cerne, Pulham, Sydling St. Nicholas,
Up Cerne, Wootton Glanville.
Mi/ton Portion : Blandford St. Mary, Bryanston with Durweston, Hilton, Ibberton with Belchal-
well, Milton Abbas, Shillingstone, Spettisbury with Charlton Marshall, Stoke Wake,
Turnworth, Winterborne Clenston, Winterborne Houghton, Winterborne Stickland,
Winterborne Whitchurch, Woolland.
46
THE RELIGIOUS HOUSES
OF DORSET
INTRODUCTION
Dorset enjoyed a unique pre-eminence for the number and importance
of its religious houses founded during the Saxon period. No fewer than nine
monastic establishments are known to have existed in the county prior to the
Norman Conquest ; of these the great houses of Sherborne, Shaftesbury,
Abbotsbury, Cerne, and Milton continued after that epoch to rank as Bene-
dictine abbeys ; the two abbeys of Cranborne and Horton survived as priories,
dependent respectively upon the abbeys of Tewkesbury and Sherborne ; the
famous early nunnery of Wimborne was converted into a college of secular
canons, while at Wareham, where an early house of nuns is said to have been
destroyed by the Danes in 876, a small priory sprang up as a cell to the
Norman abbey of Lire.
The reformed Benedictines of the order of Cluny had a small priory at
East Holme, and the Cistercians an abbey at Bindon, both founded before the
end of the twelfth century. The Cistercians had also a house of nuns of
much celebrity at Tarrant Kaines ; and it is probable that the ' Camesterne,'
where, according to the Mappa Mundi^ compiled at the close of the twelfth
century, certain ' white nuns ' were established, is a corruption of Kaines
Tarrant.
It is remarkable that the canons of the Austin and Premonstratensian !
rules, so numerous elsewhere, had no foundations within this county, unless
perhaps the obscure ' priory ' or ' chantry ' of Wilcheswood in Langton Wallis
belonged to the canons regular. It seems, however, more probable that
Wilcheswood should be considered as a small collegiate church, of which
class the other example in Dorset was Wimborne Minster.
The Templars were unrepresented, but the Knights Hospitallers had a
preceptory at Friar Mayne. The Dominican Friars are mentioned at Gil-
lingham in 1267; their other settlement, at Melcombe Regis, was of far
greater importance, and is remarkable as being the last house of the order
established in England. The Franciscans settled at Dorchester, and the
Carmelites had a short-lived settlement at Bridport. During the fourteenth
century unsuccessful attempts appear to have been made to introduce Car-
melites at Lyme, and Austin Friars at Sherborne. A remarkable ' priory
' Gervase of Cant. Op. Hist. (Rolls Sen), ii, 422. On the other hand, it has been suggested
(Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 289) that this was a settlement at VVinterborne Came. Leland's statement that
.the nuns were Benedictines (Jtin. viii (2), 62) is presumably a slip, as the latter wore black.
47
A HISTORY OF DORSET
hermitage ' at Blackmoor, although stated to have been under the rule of
St. Augustine, does not seem to have belonged to the Austin ' Friars Hermits,'
nor yet to have become a house of Austin canons, as was sometimes the fate
of such hermitages.
Some twelve hospitals are known to have existed in this county, but
they were mostly small, and some were apparently unendowed lazar-houses.
A considerable amount of property was held in Dorset by alien houses,
and in five or six cases the parent house established a cell or small priory
upon its estates. These instances were at Frampton (the abbey of St. Stephen
of Caen), Loders (St. Mary of Montebourg), Spettisbury (the abbey of
Preaux), Wareham (the abbey of Lire), and possibly Povington (the abbey
of Bee Hellouin). The latter is only called a priory in 1467, more than
fifty years after it had been separated from the Norman abbey, and it is
probable that it was never more than a grange or estate managed by the
abbey's chief English cell, the priory of Ogbourne. In the same way the
lands given by Roger de Beaumont in Stour Provost to the nuns of St. Leger
of Preaux, and those in the neighbourhood of Winterborne Wast bestowed
upon the Cluniac priory ' de Vasto,' near Boulogne, were never the site of any
cell and priory. At Muckleford, which estate was granted with the advow-
son of Bradford Peverell to the Norman abbey of Tiron," a cell was said to
have been established,' but it is clear that the estate was really under the
control of the abbey's cell of Andwell in Hampshire.* Similarly, the sup-
posed cell of the Carthusian priory of Sheen at Shapwick ' was clearly no
more than a grange.
HOUSES OF BENEDICTINE MONKS
I THE ABBEY OF ABBOTSBURY In the above account we have the name of the
founder of Abbotsbury as generally accepted :
Coker states in his Survey of the Countte of ' Sir Ore ' or Ore, Orcus, Orcy or Urce, steward
Dorset, quoting the register of the monastery, un- of the palace of King Canute and Tola or Thola
fortunately destroyed with the mansion-house of his wife. The date of their foundation however
the Strangeways at Abbotsbury in the civil wars varies with different historians. Reyner, in his
of Charles I, that here history of the Benedictine order in England,
..... • ■ r • r.".L • .- •.• . gives the year 1026,* Tanner states that about
was built in the verie mfancie of Chnstianitie amongst ^ r^ ^ • ■ ■, ■ r i
the Britains a church to St. Peter by Bertufus an ;°26 Orcus instituted a society of secuar canons
holie priest unto whom the same saint had often ap- ^ere which he or Tola his widow changed to
peared and amongst other things gave him a charter » monastery of the Benedictine order in the
written with his owne Hande, reign of Edward the Confessor ' Again, accord-
ing to Coker, the monastery was built by Orcus
professing therein ' to have consecrated the church in 1044 and ' stored ' with Benedictine monks
himself and to have given it to Name Abodes- from the abbey of Cerne.* It would seem from
byry.' Afterwards the rules drawn up by Orcus for his gild or
King Canute gave to Sir Ore his Houscarle this Maternity of St Peter at Abbotsbury' that a
Abotsbury as alsoe Portshara and Helton ; all which society existed here previously which was later
the said Ore and Dame Thole his wife having no issue converted into a monastic establishment,
gave unto the church of St. Peter at Abotsbury, longe , ,
before built but then decayed and forsaken by reason , ^M'l^l' Benedict. T.^ct n, sec. v,, m. 3.
the Rovers from the sea often infested it.' , /"""^ (^^- ' 74+). Donet, 105 Orcus the steward
01 King Canute having expelled secular canons in-
' Ca/. Doc. France, 358. troJuced monks. He was buried here with Thola
' Hutchins, Hijt. of Dorset, ii, 536. his wife. Leland, Collect, iii, 254.
* Arch. Journ. ix, 250. ' Surv. of Dorset (1732), 30.
' Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iii, 166. ' Dugdale, Mon. (Charters under Abbotsbury,.
' Particular Surv. of the Ccurtie of Dorset (1732), 30. No. iii), iii, 35.
48
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
Canute by charter dated 1024 bestowed Por-
tisham on his servant Orcus.^ Tola or Thola,
the wife of Orcus, and a native of Rouen, Nor-
mandy, purchased Tolpuddle, and with her
husband gave it to the monks together with
Abbotsbury, Portisham, Hilton and 'Anstic.''
Edward the Confessor by one charter gave to
Orcus, who was his housecari as he had been
Canute's, the shore in all his lands and all wrecks
of the same,* and by another charter notified Her-
man the bishop and Harold the earl that he had
granted a licence to Tola the widow of Orcus
to bequeath all her land and goods to the
monastery of St. Peter of Abbotsbury, accord-
ing to an agreement that on the death of
husband and wife their possessions should pass
to the house, of which the king now declared
himself the guardian and protector.' William
the Conqueror testified by his charter to the
same bisiiop and Hugh Fitz Grip, the Norman
sheriff, that, for the love of God and the soul
of his kinsman King Edward, he had granted to
the abbot and brethren of Abbotsbury their land
as fr-;e and quit as it was held in the time of
his predecessor together with the right of soc,
sac, tol, team, infangnetheof and wreck of the
sea, and he desired the abbey should lose nothing
unjustly but should be honourably treated.'"
In the Domesday Survey the abbey held the
following manors : Abbotsbury, Tolpuddle,
Hilton, Portisham, Shilvinghampton, Wootton
Abbas, Bourton and Stoke Atram. The monks
complained at the same time that a hide belong-
ing to the manor of Abbotsbury, which had been
assigned to their living in the time of Edward the
Confessor, had been unjustly reft from them by
the Norman sheriff Hugh Fitz Grip, and that his
widow had taken six ; in the same manner they had
been deprived of a virgate of land in Portisham. ^^
In a letter to the king about his assessment in
the year 1 166 Abbot Geoffrey deposed that
Roger the bishop when he had the custody of
the abbey gave to Nicholas de Meriet 2 hides
of land at Stoke Atram for the marriage of a
niece, the deed being contrary to the wish of
the convent.'^
By an inquisition before the king's escheator
John le Moyne, and Andrew Wake sheriff of
Dorset, at Uggscombe, Wednesday before the
Feast of St. Simon and St.Jude (28 Oct.), 1268,
as to the rights and privileges of the abbey, it
was declared that the abbot and his predecessors
had all liberties and free customs with soc, sac,
tol, team and infangnetheof within their lands
in the hundred of Uggscombe but not in their
* Dugdale, Mon. (No. ii), iii, 55.
' Ibid. (No. i), iii, 54. « Ibid. (No. iv), iii, 36.
" Ibid. (No. v) ; Kemble, Codex Dipt, iv, 841.
'» By inspex. Ch.irt. R. 8 Edw. II, No. 5.
" Dom. Bk. (Rec. Com.), i, 78.
" Red Bk. of the Exch. (Rolls Ser.), i, 2 1 1. William
of Malmesbury records {Gesia Regum [Rolls Ser,], ii,
2 49
other lands at Hilton, Tolpuddle, * Oth,' and
Wootton Abbas ' which last is in the hundred of
Whitchurch,' that they were free of the suit
of that hundred by grant of Robert de Mande-
vile, formerly lord of the hundred, except that
their villeins were bound to come thrice a year to
la lagh-day to present the pleas of the crown with-
out hindrance. The abbot and his predecessors
were discharged from all military service to the
king by the service of one knight;'' wreck of
the sea was said always to have belonged to
them, and they had always enjoyed it. The
jury further declared that the abbey had acquired
grants of land in the following places : Cran-
ston, Wytherstone, ' Deneham,' ' Poeyeto,' Bex-
ington, Shipton, Poorton, East and West
Chaldon, Morebath, Wraxall, Winterborne
Steepleton, Wareham, Upway, Broadway, Lang-
ton, Bridport, Dorchester, ' Brigge,' Preston in co.
Somerset, and Hornington." Henry III by charter
dated 15 November, 1269, inspected and con-
firmed the charters previously granted to the abbey
by his predecessors the kings of England, William
the Conqueror, Henry I, Stephen, and Henry II,
with all privileges and gifts.'* The convent
obtained from the king two years later a grant
enabling them to hold a weekly market and yearly
fair in their manor of Hilton.'^ Edward I gave
them leave to hold a market at Abbotsbury."
Edward II in 13 1 5 confirmed anew their right
to wreck of the sea in connexion with a whale
{crassus piscis) cast up on the coast.'* Edward III
confirmed their right of free warren over their
lands at Abbotsbury, Portisham, Granston,
Wootton Abbas, Wytherstone, Hilton, Tol-
puddle, Ramsbury (Dorset), and Holwell (Som-
erset." Edward IV in the first year of his
reign, 1 46 1, made a grrnt to the abbot and
convent of St. Peter's, Abbotsbury, of the hun-
dred of Uggscombe, with view of frankpledge
and all issues pertaining thereto, rendering the
true yearly value at the exchequer.""
According to the Taxatio of 1 29 1 the spiri-
tualities of the abbey amounted to j^i3 gs. ^.d.^
559) that Bishop Roger appropriated Abbotsbury to
the bishopric so far as he was able.
'^ The abbot was returned for the service of one
knight's fee under Henry II {Red Bk. of the Exch. [Rolls
^e.r.\ passim), Richard I, John, Henry III (Pat. I Hen.
Ill, m. 8), and Edward I (Close, 16 Edw. I, m. 3).
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 53 Hen. Ill, No. 40.
" The original of this charter according to Hut-
chins, who cites it {Hist, of Dorset, ii, 733), was inj
the possession of the earl of Ilchester, 1867.
'" Chart. R. 56 Hen. Ill, m. 3.
" Ibid. 9 Edw. I, No. 55.
" Chart. R. 8 Edw. Ill, No. 5 ; Pat. 8 Edw. If,
pt. 2, m. 6, 19 a'. In 1388 the owner of a cargo com-
plained that his merchandise had been seized by the
abbot and others as though it had been wreck, although
thirteen of the crew had escaped. Ibid, i 2 Ric. II,
pt. I, m. II ^. " Chart. R. 10 Edw. Ill, No. 41.
'"Pat. I Edw. IV, pt. 3, m. 19.
A HISTORY OF DORSET
including ^\1 from the church of Tolpuddle
assigned to the pittance of the monks; their
temporahties were valued at ;^8i lOi. lod. in
the deanery of Bridport including ^31 7/. id.
from Abbotsbury with ' Luk ' and Langton,
j^3 If. from the deanery of Dorchester,
^^36 7^. td. from the deanery of Whitchurch
and ;^i 6j. %d. from the deanery of Shaftesbury,
the whole income of the convent being assessed
at ;Ci35 15^- \^^^
At the beginning of the thirteenth century,
the abbey in common with other ecclesiastical
appointments was kept vacant by John who, in the
meantime, enjoyed the proceeds or bestowed them
on his followers. We read that in April, 1212,
the king presented to the church of Hilton, the
abbey being void and in his hands. "^ The
January following, the custody of the house was
granted during pleasure to Roger de Preauton ;
it was not until 15 July, 1213, that an order
was directed to the prior and convent to send
certain men out of their number whom they
should choose to the king for an abbot to be
appointed."'' A few days later the custodians of
the abbeys of Abbotsbury, Milton and Sherborne
were notified that the king had sent to them
eighteen cart-horses and seven sick palfreys, and
that all charges both for them and the men
accompanying them should be accounted for at
the exchequer."''
Abbotsbury escaped none of the burdens in-
cidental to a religious house of any importance
and under the royal patronage. In 1244 Henry
Lombard was sent to the abbot and convent
with a request that they would find him the
necessaries of life in their house.^' Edward II
in 1309 sent Norman Beaufiz to receive main-
tenance, and a robe or 20i. yearly.-^ During the
period of the Scotch wars the abbey received the
usual requests for aid, and a little later for shelter for
disabled warriors."' William Spyney, crossbow-
man, was transferred here in January, 1 317 ; "'
William Deyvill was sent in August, 1331, to
receive such maintenance as Norman Beaufiz,
deceased, had had ; "' and six years later a re-
quest was made that the abbot and convent
would give maintenance to John de Sancto
Albano.^" It is evident that demands of this
kind were not welcomed by the different re-
ligious houses. On 20 April, 1 339, the abbey
of Abbotsbury was ordered to receive and pro-
vide maintenance for two hostages of the town of
" Pope Nkh. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 183-5.
" Pat. 13 John, m. 3.
" Close, 14 John, m. 3 ; 15 John, m. 7.
" Ibid. m. 4.
" Ibid. 22 Edw. I, m. 11 d.
'" Ibid. 2 Edw. II, m. 13 a'.
" Ibid. 3 Edw. II, m. sd.; S Edw. Ill, m. 5 </. ;
Par/. flYtts (Rec. Com.), iii, div. ii, 430.
-* Close, 10 Edw. II, m. 15 (j*.
"Ibid. 5 Edw. Ill, pt. i,m.6d.
'» Ibid. 1 1 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. zj d.
Berwick-on-Tweed to be sent to them from the
abbey of Glastonbury,'^ and on 6 October of the
same year they were ordered to transfer them to the
abbey of Tavistock.'" The monks of Tavistock
appear to have flatly declined to receive the hos-
tages,'' who consequently remained at Abbotsbury.
On 3 December orders were issued for their re-
moval to the priory of Bruton ; '* on 16 Jan-
uary next, 1340, to the abbey of St. Augus-
tine, Bristol ; '° on 15 February the abbot and
convent of Chertsey were ordered to receive these
unwelcome guests ; '° the abbot and convent
of Shrewsbury received a similar order the fol-
lowing day."
Nor did this exhaust the calls made upon the
house ; the community who enjoyed the royal
patronage were required on the creation of an
abbot to grant a pension to a clerk of the king's
appointment, and in December, 132 1, following
the election of Peter de Sherborne, we read that
the pension was claimed by John Bellymont,
king's clerk ; '^ in 1324, on the election of
William Fauconer, Peter de Mount Toure ob-
tained letters entitling him to the same ; '^ and
in 1344, on the election of Walter de Saunford,
the abbot was ordered to grant the customary
pension to Jordan de Cantuaria.^" These vari-
ous grants and liveries were still claimed in
the succeeding century. Thomas Ryngwode
in 1400 was sent to the convent to receive
such sustenance as Thomas Stanes deceased,
had had,''^ and a corrody in the monastery
was granted in 15 1 7 to Robert Penne, gentle-
man of the Chapel Royal vice Edward Jones
deceased.''"
The abbey was frequently chosen as a place of
burial, and for the foundation of chantries. A
licence was granted in 1323 to Robert le Bret
for the alienation of certain lands in Holwell to
the abbot and convent for the provision of a
chaplain to celebrate daily in the abbey church
for the soul of Richard le Bret, the father of the
founder, for the souls of his ancestors, and all the
faithful departed ; '" and in 1392, on payment
of j^20 by the monks, Robert, vicar of Portis-
ham, and others were licensed to alienate two
messuages in Dorchester, &:c., for the provision
of a monk chaplain who should celebrate daily at
the altar of St. Andrew in the abbey for the good
estate of Elizabeth, late the wife of John Mau-
" Ibid. 13 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 12.
'•' Ihid. pt. 2, m. 9 d.
'' Ibid. pt. 3, m. 26.2'.
" Ibid. m. i6</.
" Ibid. m. 9.
'° Ibid. 14 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 43.
"Ibid. 35.
'' Ibid. 15 Edw. II, m. zi d.
'' Ibid. 17 Edw. II, m. 19^.
*" Ibid. 18 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 29^.
*' Cal. of Pat. 1399-1401, p. 359.
"Z,. and P. Hen. VI H, i, 3101.
" Pat. 16 Edw. II, pt. i,m. 1.
5c
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
travers, knt., for her soul after death, and that of
her husband, for the maintenance of their anni-
versary, and for certain other charges and works
of piety .''■' The Clopton chantry, founded by
Sir Walter Clopton, was valued at the time of
its suppression at io8s. 4*/." The Strangeways
chantry was founded in 1 505 in the chapel of
St. Mary within the abbey, the abbot by a tri-
partite deed between himself and the convent of
the one part, William abbot of Milton of the
other part, and Thomas Strangeways, executor
of Alianor, late the wife of Thomas Strangeways,
senior, of the third part, engaging in return for
certain benefactions to provide a chaplain to cele-
brate daily for the good estate of Henry VII and
Edmund, bishop of Salisbury, &c., and for the
souls of the said Alianor and Thomas Strange-
ways and their friends and ancestors.^^ This
does not exhaust the number of those who made
considerable bequests to the community in order
to receive the benefit of their prayers.
The poverty which befel Abbotsbury in the
fourteenth century, though largely due to its
situation — exposed on the one hand to the
attack of invaders, and eaten up on the other
by the forces sent to defend the coast — was at
the same time greatly fostered by the bad govern-
ment of one of the abbots, Walter de Stokes
(1348-54).*' The attention of the bishop was
drawn to the house during his rule, and on 29
October, 1353, he wrote to the abbot and
convent that since visiting their monastery
' for various causes ' and being at considerable
pains to reform what he had found amiss, it had
come to his ears that against ' good obedience '
the community had deliberately spurned his
orders to the danger of souls and the scandal of
the neighbourhood ; he therefore summoned
them to appear before him or his official in the
chapter-house of their abbey on Monday, after the
feast of St. Martin the Bishop (11 November) to
answer for their conduct.^* A letter from
Edward III to the bishop soon followed, stating
that he had committed the custody of the goods
of the house, which, owing to the defective rule
of the abbot, were insufficient to maintain the
" Pat. 16 Ric. II, pt. I, m. 79.
" Chant. Cert. 16 (Dorset), Nos. 45-64. Thomas
Jenkyns is here given as the last incumbent.
" Dugdale, Mon. iii, 58, No. 12. A copy of this
deed may be seen in Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii,
720.
" He succeeded to Walter de Saunford, who pro-
probably fell a victim to the plague in 1348. The
episcopal registers record that in December of that
year the abbot and vicar of Abbotsbury were both dead.
Sarum Epis. Reg. Wyville, pt. 2, fol. 192.
" Ibid. pt. I, fol. 167. In his inability to attend
personally to the matter, the bishop wrote to two
canons of Salisbury and commissioned them, with
John de Wyley, rector of S., to correct the mis-
deeds of the brethren, and see his decrees carried out ;
ibid. fol. 166 d.
community or to meet its debts, to Robert de
Faryngdon, prior, and Henry de Tolre, monk,
Walter Waleys, clerk, Thomas Carey, and John
de Mautravers.*^ This arrangement was not
destined to run as smoothly as might have been
desired. Among the collection of Ancient
Petitions is a letter addressed by the abbot, whose
bad rule had caused him to be set aside, to the
archbishop of York, in which, complaining bit-
terly of his treatment at the hands of the above
custodians, he states that they had withdrawn
from him all the privileges to which he was
entitled — his accustomed chamber, competent
board and clothing, the services of a squire, two
chamberlains and two grooms to attend to his
horses — so that, 'insufficiently clad' {indecenterves-
W«j) and with his shoes ' enormously in holes'
{enorrniter infracth) he had been compelled to
proceed more than 18 miles on foot in order to
execute his business.'" The prior and other
custodians had also their tale of complaints.
According to them, the abbot had declined to
fall in with the arrangements made for the whole
community to lodge in one convenient house
until the debt on the abbey, amounting to ;^534,
had been wiped off ; he omitted to attend the
offices, would not come to the refectory, required
all his meals to be served at his own convenience
in his own chamber, and was spending money in
divers parts of the county, heaping up debts and
obligations which the house was wholly unable
to meet ; at the same time the seal of the abbey
had been stolen by his adherents, and affixed to
various deeds and grants prejudicial to the monas-
tery." These complaints were not groundless,
as was found by an inquisition held on 25
March, 1354, to inquire as to the lands and
rents illegally alienated ; the jury reported that
among various grants by the abbot before the
custody had been taken out of his hands was one
for a corrody and a robe for which he had received
^^20 ; he was also said to keep hunting dogs, to
have retained an excessive number of servants,
and retainers, and to be in the habit of giving
unnecessary presents ; the injury he had thus done
to the house being estimated at ^£85 5 lOJ. id}''
Fortunately for the community the abbot's career
was cut short by death the same year. The follow-
ing year the church of Winterborne St. Martin
was appropriated to the monastery ; '^ in 1 36 1 the
church of Toller Porcorum was annexed on
account of poverty, and the charges incurred
by the reception of numerous guests.'* In
1386 Pope Urban VI, in reply to a petition
from the abbot and convent representing their
house, which was situated on the coast, as
" Ibid.
'° Anct. Petitions, 10470.
" Ibid. 1047 1-2-3-4.
" Ibid. 10475.
" Sarum Epis. Reg. Wyville, pt. I, fol. 241.
" Ibid. fol. 242.
51
A HISTORY OF DORSET
frequently invaded by Spaniards, Normans, and
Bretons, and eaten up by the defenders of the
kingdom, so that unless help could be afforded it
must be destroyed and divine services cease, re-
quested the bishop of Salisbury to appropriate the
church of Tolpuddle to the uses of the breth-
ren.'* The convent in 1390 obtained from
Boniface IX a grant appropriating anew the
parish churches of Abbotsbury, Portisham, Win-
terborne St. Martin, Toller Porcorum, and Tol-
puddle, ' of which the first two were of old and
the next 3 over 40 years ago incorporated by au-
thority of the ordinary, and the last 2 by papal
authority.' Their revenues, after deducting
vicars' portions, came to 400 marks, the revenues
of the monastery being 500, and 14 marks were
to be assigned to each vicar. ^^
With the exception of the appointment of
abbots, references to Abbotsbury in the fifteenth
century are rare." VVe have the decrees pub-
lished by Bishop Chandler after visiting the
abbey in 1436. The community were warned
generally against making grants rashly, and
greater formality in their drawing up was en-
joined. The abbot was directed, 'as wine and
women cause men to err,' not to buy more wine
than was absolutely necessary for the use of the
monastery ; he was to be permitted to have
sweet wine for his table and the entertainment
of his guests ' in small and minute vessels ' (vasis) ;
the entrance of women was prohibited, the
abbot, if convicted on the evidence of two
witnesses, should be suspended for a month ;
the brethren were forbidden to resort to a cer-
tain chamber for the purpose of 'confabula-
tion.""
The notorious Dr. Legh appears to have
visited this house on the eve of the Dissolution,
for in a letter headed ' Thos. Legh, visitor of
Abbotsbury,' he appoints a certain Vincent to be
prior in the house, and desires tiie inmates to be
attentive and obedient to him.^^ Thomas Brad-
ford occurs, however, as prior in the surrender
deed of the house.
In the Fa/or of 1535 the spiritualities of the
abbey were returned at £i\.^ gs. ^d- from the
churches of Tolpuddle, Portisham, Abbotsbury,
Winterborne St. Martin, and Toller Porcorum*'";
" Sarum Epis. Reg. Erghum,fol. 81,82. Richard II
licensed the appropriation on account of expenses
connected with the defence of the coast ; Pat. 9
Ric. II, pt. I, m. 19.
'° Cal. Pap. Letters, iv, 342 ; v, 77.
'" With the exception also of bequests and references
in wills.
" Sarum Epis. Reg. Chandler, fol. 6j d. Unfor-
tunately no report can be found of the visitations
ordered in 1488 and I 503.
''■' Cott. MS. Cleop. iv, 57. The letter is inscribed
on the back. 'To the abbot of Abbotsbury, or in his
absence to Dom Vincent.'
«° Valor EccL (Rec. Com.), i, 277-8.
the temporalities were valued at ;^356 6j. "jd.^^
making a total income of £^\o\ 15J. \od. It
would seem, from the list of anniversaries kept
by the monks, that the community were faithful
in the observance of one of their main duties, the
obligation to commemorate for the souls of their
founders and benefactors.^^
A curious document, cited by Hutchins in
full,*' brings certain charges against the last abbot
of Abbotsbury, Roger Roddon, elected in 1534."
Headed 'of the monasterye of Abbotsburye and
of the saide Abbate thereof, of the mysse-usynge
of hymselfe,' it runs, ' whereas he doth breke the
kyng's foundacons and the injuncyonsof the same,'
and proceeds to denounce the superior for non-
observance of the conditions on which the
monastery had received land from benefactors ;
for wasting and wrongfully selling woods ; for
making away with jewels and plate out of the
treasur)' of the value of which no record has been
kept ;
also that he hath an abhomynable rule wyth kepyng
of wymen nott wyth i, ii or iii but wyth manie more
. . . and no relegon he kepyth nor bye day nether
bye nyghte.
Unfortunately we have no information as to the
veracity of the writer *^ who signs himself ' Dan.
Will. Grey, Muncke of Abbatsburie.' He is
included in the list of those who received pen-
sions on the surrender of the abbey, 12 March,
1539 ; the abbot who surrendered with the prior
and eight brethren receiving a pension of ;^8o ;
the prior, Thomas Bradford, ^^9 ; Thomas Tol-
puddle, j^7 ; six other brethren, among whose
names are entered William Grey and John
Vynsant, j^6 to ^^5 each ; Thomas Holnest,
405.'^'^
The site of the abbey was afterwards granted
to Sir Giles Strangewa}S, knt., by Henry VIII.*"
*' Ibid. 228-30.
''" On 2 April, 22/. \d. was distributed to the poor of
Abbotsbury for the souls of Thomas Strangeways and
Alianor or Eleanor his wife (ibid. 227) ; on 6 July
and 7 Sept. 2 \s. ^J. for the souls of Henry Russell and
Alice his wife (ibid. 223) ; 6/. 8t/. on the feast of the
Eleven Thousand Virgins for the souls of Walter
Clopton and Joan his wife (ibid. 229) ; on 16 June,
9/. id. for the soul of John Mautravers ; on 26 May,
7/. zd. for the soul of John Cary (ibid. 229-30) ; on
1 2 March, Ss. Sd. for the soul of Robert Bylsay ; a
pension in the abbey and certain doles were assigned
in commemoration for the souls of ' Orke and Thole
his wife,' the original founders.
'^ Ibid. Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 720.
" L. and P. Hen. Fill, vii, 1607 (21).
" In many cases of this kind close examination
has tended to destroy much of the value of ac-
cusations levelled against superiors by discontented
monks. See ' Religious Houses,' V.C.H. Worcs. ii,
135-
"'' L. and P. Hen. Fill, xiv (l), 506.
" Dugdale, Man. iii, 60.
52
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
Abbots of Abbotsbury
William tempo Henry ii ^*
Geoffrey occurs about 1 166 *'
Roger occurs 1201 ™
Hugh occurs 1204-5"
Hugh occurs 1238'"
Roger de Brideton elected 1246''
John de Hilton elected 1257 "■• died 1284
Philip de Sherborne elected 1284 " died
1296
William de Kingston elected 1297 '^ but his
election quashed by the bishop
Benedict de Loders appointed 1297'' died
1320
Ralph de Sherborne elected 1320'^ died 132 1
Peter de Sherborne elected 1321 '^ died 1324
William de Faukener or Fauconer elected
1324^ died 1343
Walter de Saunford or Samford elected 1343*'
died 1348 probably of the plague
Walter de Stokes elected 1348*'- died 1354
Henry Tolre elected 1354"'
Henry de Thorpe died 1376**
William Cerne elected 1376*^ died 1401
Robert Bylsay elected 1401 ^^ died 1426
Richard Percy elected 1426^' resigned 1442
Edward Watton elected 1442 ** died 1452
William Wuller elected 1452'' died 1468
Hugh Dorchester elected 1468^" died 1496
John Abbotsbury elected 1496 ^'
John Portesham elected 1505'"
Roger Roddon elected 1534 surrendered
1539"
'' Geoffrey who succeeded him speaks of William, his
predecessor, in a charter. Red Bk. of the Exch. (Rolls
Sen), i, 211.
" Ibid. " Pedes Fin. (Hunter), ii, 78-81.
" Inapatent roll of Edward II, Hugh is given as abbot
in the sixth year of King John. Pat. 8 Edw. II, pt. 2,
m. 6 d. The abbey was vacant in 1212 and 1213.
Ibid. 13 John, m. 3 ; 14 John, m. 3.
" As witness to an agreement between the bishop of
Salisbury and abbot of Sherborne. Reg. Rubrum, fol.
158. " Pat. 30 Hen. Ill, m. 7.
'* Ibid. 42 Hen. Ill, m. I.
" Ibid. 12 Edw. I, m. 11.
'' Ibid. 25 Edw. I, m. 20.
" Close 25 Edw. I, m. 12.
'' Pat. 1 3 Edw. II, m. 7 ; Sarum Epis. Reg.
:Simon of Ghent, pt. 2, fol. 182.
"Pat. 14 Edw. II, pt. 2, m. 21.
'"Ibid. 17 Edw. II, pt. I, m. 2.
«' Ibid. 17 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 6.
*' Ibid. 22 Edw. Ill, pt. 3, m. 14.
«' Ibid. 28 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 13.
^* Ibid. 50 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 5.
*' Sarum Epis. Reg. Erghum, fol. 8.
^ Pat. 3 Hen. IV, pt. I, m. 23.
«' Ibid. 5 Hen. VI, pt. 1, m. 19.
** Sarum Epis. Reg. Aiscough, fol. 12.
'^ Ibid. Beauchamp. pt. 2, fol. 22.
*'Ibid. pt. 2 (Inst.), fol. 116.
'' Ibid. Blyth, fol. 91. ■'■' Ibid. fol. Hi d.
^ L. and P. Hen. Vlll, vii, 1607 (21) ; xiv, 506.
A round eleventh-century seal attached to the
surrender deed of the abbey, the impression of
which is fragmentary, represents one of the
fronts of the abbey church with porch and side
towers. At base is an arcade of round-headed
arches. The legend is destroyed. ^^
The seal of Abbot Walter [1353] represents
in a quatrefoiled panel St. Catherine with a
wheel, the abbot kneeling before her.'* The
legend is very defective.
2. THE ABBEY OF CERNE
The Benedictine abbey of Cerne was, tradi-
tionally, founded by the first apostle of the
English, St. Augustine, who, according to
William of Malmesbury, having converted Kent
to the faith of Christ proceeded to penetrate into
the rest of the English provinces over which the
rule of King Ethelbert extended, that is to say
over the whole of England with the exception of
Northumbria, and coming to these parts met
with great rudeness from the inhabitants of the
country who fastening derisively the tails of cows'
to the garments of the evangelist and his
companions drove them away. Whereupon the
holy man perceiving the change that should
rapidly take place in the minds of the people and
' patiently and modestly rejoicing to bear reproach
for the name of Christ' cried to his companions
' Cerno Deum qui et nobis retribuet gratiam et
furentibus illis emendationem infundet animam '
(I see God who shall give us grace and impart
to these deluded people a change of heart). The
prophecy was not long of fulfilment, the people
repenting of what they had done approached St.
Augustine desiring to be reconciled, and he, attri-
buting this change to God, gave to the place
the name of Cernel, compounded from the
Hebrew word Hel or El God and the Latin
Cerno. Soon after the inhabitants became con-
verted to the new faith and water being required
to baptize them a fountain sprang out of the
ground at the word of Augustine.-
In succeeding times, continues the chronicler,
Edwold, brother to Edmund, king of the East
" Deeds of Surrender, No. I.
'^ B.M. Seals, Ixii, 22.
' This is the translation of caudas racharum given
by Hutchins {Hist, of Dorset, iv, 18), Fuller, who
repeats the story, calls them fishes' tails, Church Hist, i,
166.
' This obviously mythical account of the origin of
Cerne by William of Malmesbury [Gesta Pontif (Rolls
Ser.), 184-5) '^ subsequently repeated by Capgravein
his life of St. Augustine, by Reyner, and again
by Camden. See Coker, Particular Survey of Dorset
(1732) 65, 66. From the account given by the
thirteenth-century chronicler, Walter of Coventry, it
would seem that Helith was the name of the primi-
tive deity of these parts whose worship was destroyed
by St. Augustine. Op. (Rolls Ser.) i, 60 ; Leland,
Collect, i, 285 ; ii, 252.
sz
A HISTORY OF DORSET
Anglians, retiring from the world on the death
of his brother at the hands of the Danes, lived the
life of a hermit at St. Augustine's well ' called
the silver well' at Cerne, where he died.' So
great was the respect felt for his memory that
in later times the abbey appears under his pat-
ronage as well as that of the Blessed Virgin and
St. Peter.^ After his death Ailmer or ^Ethelmar,
generally styled earl or duke of Cornwall, trans-
lated the relics of Edwold with the assistance of
Dunstan to the old church of Cerne ' where now
the parish church is ' and built or rebuilt the
monastery which he dedicated to the honour
of St. Peter.* The foundation was begun in
the reign of Edgar according to Leland and
completed in the year 987.
In his foundation charter of that year
.^thelmar (or Ailmer) son of jElward, nobleman
of king iEthelred, notifies to Archbishop Dunstan
and Bishop iElfheah of Winchester that he has
given to God and the monks there the place
which is called Cernel in honour of the Blessed
Virgin, St. Peter and St. Benedict, for his dear
master king jEthelred, for himself and the
redemption of his ancestors ; he has granted
to them also 6 cassates of land in Minterne, 10
manses at Winterborne, 6 at Bredy, 12 in the
further Bredy, 3 in Rentscombe ; Leofric, clerk of
Poxwell, has added to the donation the vill of
Poxwell which was confirmed by grant of king
jEthelred ; jElfrith a relative of iEthelmar at
Bincombe has given 4cassates of land at Aflfpuddle,
Alfwold gave 5 manses at Bloxworth ; after the
death of his wife the founder further bestowed
on the monaster)' tithes of his yearly rent in
Cerne and Cheselbourne together with tithes of
honey, cheese and fat hogs in his other lands and
desired that the monks should observe the rule of
St. Benedict and should choose whatever secular
patron they pleased.^
Canute is said to have plundered this monastery
when he wasted the town but afterwards he
became a considerable benefactor to it.' The
abbey had added largely to its endowment at
the time the Domesday Survey was taken ; the
church of St. Peter was then returned as holding
land in the following places : Cerne, Little
Puddle, Radipole, Bloxworth, AflFpuddle, Poxwell,
East Woodsford, HeiHeton, 'Vergroth,' Little
Bredy, Winterborne, Long Bredy, Nettlecombe,
Milton, Kimmeridge, Rentscombe and Symonds-
' Will, of Malmesbury, op. cit. ; Leland, Collect.
iii, 67.
* R}mer, Foedera, xiv, 637.
' Leland, CoUect. iii, 67. The founder's name
appears under various forms, Leland calls him Ailmer,
Egelward (ibid, i, 26), and ^"Ehvard (i, 285). Previous
to his foundation there is said to have been a sm.iU
monastery here of three monks. Ibid, iii, 67 ; Tanner,
Notitia, Dorset, viii.
'Cart. Antiq. W. 16.
" Leland, Collect, i, 66 ; iii, 67. Coker, Particular
Sun', of Dorset, 65.
bury ; * the total, amounting to 113 hides and
3 virgates, was valued at ^^115, leaving
out AiFpuddle, the assessment of which was
omitted. The widow of Hugh Fitz Grip, the
Norman sheriff", held, we are told, I carucate in
Poxwell formerly belonging to the demesne of
the monks.
In 1 1 56 the abbot of Cerne was returned as-
holding by the service of three knights.' Robert
the abbot in 1 1 66 notified the king the knights'
fees of his church and the knights who held them.
Amongst these may be noted Robert Russell
who held a knight's fee, less one virgate, unjustly
and against the will of the convent because neither
his grandfather nor his father held it of the
church nor should hold it. In the demesne of
the church were three and a half knights' fees in
the vill of Cerne with freehold tenure {cum
tenura Francolemium). Each one of these ought
to keep ward at the king's command at Corfe
Castle one month in the year, or, if it should
please the king to have them in the army^
two knights should be found for his service
in the absence of ward {interim dismissa vjardia.y^
The abbot of Cerne as a knight of the shire
was summoned to Parliament in 13 15 and
to attend the Great Council at Westminster
in 1324."
The income of the abbey in the Taxatio of
1291 was assessed zt £ij'j 8s., including spirit-
ualities amounting to ^^13 ijs. j^d. from the
churches of Radipole, Poxwell, Hawkchurch,
Symondsbury, Long Bredy with the chapel of
Little Bredy, and Powerstock,'- and temporalities
valued at 1^164 ox. id, within the deaneries of
Bridport, Dorchester and Whitchurch.^' The
clear annual income of the monks in the
Falor Ecclesiasticus of 1535 was declared at
;C575 ^V- ioJ(^.," when they held the par-
sonages of Cerne, Kimmeridge, Affpuddle, and
Hermitage,'* the manors of Cerne, Hawkchurch,
Milton, Symondsbury, Maiden Newton, Mapper-
combe with Nettlecombe, Little Bredy, Long
Bredy, Winterborne, Nether Cerne, Minterne^
Middlemarsh, Bloxworth, Poxwell, AfFpuddle,
and Milborne St. Andrew, with parcels of land
in various other manors and parishes.'^
The history of the abbey is perhaps the least
eventful of any of the Dorset houses with the
exception of that of the sisters at Tarrant Kaines j
» Dom. Bk. (Rec. Com.), 77 J. 78.
' Red Bk. of the E.xch. (Rolls Ser.), i, 15.
'"Ibid, i, 212.
" Pari. M'rits (Rec. Com.), ii, div. iii, 653.
" Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 179, 180, 182.
" Ibid. 183, 1S4.
" Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 257.
"Ibid. 253.
'* Ibid. 253-6. These manors are returned as
being in the poisession of the monks at the date the
Valor ws.'i taken. The Monasticon (ii, 622) gives a list
of lands and manors held by them at different times
extracted from Hutchins' Hist, of Dorset.
54
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
the period between the two great assessments of
church property is almost entirely filled in with
the record of fresh grants and privileges added to
those the house already enjoyed, varied with the
usual charges and demands made on houses of
the royal patronage. Henry II by a charter
undated granted to the monks wreck in all their
lands by the sea, and rights of ' helium ' ' polam '
and ' forum ' (market) in the vill of Cerne, with
all their liberties to their knights and free-tenants,
and their services, doing service of two knights
for scutage and of one knight on an expedition.^'
John in 1 2 13 ordered Hugh de Neville to grant
the abbot seisin of his wood pertaining to the
manor of Bloxworth of which he had previously
been disseised by the king.'* Henry III, who
was at the abbey 11 January 1223,'' signified his
assent on 12 February, 1230, to the election of
Richard prior of Abbotsbury as abbot ; the
appointment of a superior being relegated to
the election of the said prior, the sub-prior and
sacrist or any two of them."° An inquiry was
instituted in 1275 into the complaint of the abbot
that whereas the charters of Henry II and
Henry III, inspected and confirmed by the present
king, entitled him to wreck of the sea on the
coast of his lands in Brownsea and Rentscombe
as enjoyed by his predecessors, two tuns of wine
cast upon his lands had been seized by the con-
stable of Corfe Castle and conveyed to the castle; -'
as a result of the inquisition Edward I the fol-
lowing year confirmed the abbot's claim and
ordered the constable to return the tuns in ques-
tion or make due reparation."- In October of
the same year the convent received a grant of
protection to last a year." Edward II in 1 3 18
granted a licence for the monks to acquire lands
and rents to the yearly value of jT^ 1 0, in part satis-
faction of which they obtained 5 messuages, 30
acres of land and a moiety of an acre of meadow
in Cerne, and added to that another five messu-
ages and land in Cerne and Middlemarsh and ten
acres of land in Wootton by Bridport.^* In the
same year they obtained a charter of free warren
over their lands in Cerne, Minterne, Middlemarsh,
Winterborne, Little Bredy, Poxwell, Bloxworth,
Symondsbury, Wootton, Hawkchurch, Brownsea,
Mappercombe, Nettlecombe, Milton, and Long
Bredy &c."' From Edward III the brethren
secured a licence enabling them to acquire further
lands in Estyep by Symondsbury, Wootton and
" Harl. MS. 6748, fol. 7.
" Close, 1 5 John, m. 9.
" Close, 7 Hen. Ill, m. 22.
'° Close, 4 Hen. Ill, m. 15.
" Pat. 3 Edw. I, m. 24 d.
" Close, 4 Edw. I, m. 3 ; 5 Edw. I, m. 7.
" Pat. 4 Edw. I, m. 9.
" Pat. II Edw. II, pt. I, m. 6 ; pt. 2, m. 6.
'* Chart. R. 11 Edw. II, No. 34. A few years
later another charter with right of free warren in their
manor of Symondsbury was accorded. Ibid. 19
Edw. II, No. 13.
Bloxworth.-^ On the death of Abbot John de
Hayle, who died at the close of 1382 after holding
office for only six months, the king made over to
the prior and convent the custody of the tempor-
alities of the house, retaining only the knights'
fees and advowsons, for the payment of ^zo at
the exchequer for the first five weeks or part of
the same, and afterwards at the rate of ^4 a
week.-' Richard II on payment of a fine in 1392
gave a licence for the alienation in mortmain by
William Batecombe and Edward Stykelane of
one messuage, &c., and 55. rent in Frome St. Quin-
tin and Milborne St. Andrew to the abbot and
convent in aid of their maintenance and for the
support of certain charges.-''' Two years later
by another licence Richard Chideock and Joan
his wife were permitted to make over certain
lands in Symondsbury, not held in chief, to the
brethren to support the charges of the fabric of
their church.-'' The monks took the precaution
of obtaining from Henry IV, Henry VI and
Edward IV inspection and confirmation of the
letters patent of Richard II confirming their pre-
vious charters.^^' On 10 August, 147 1, Edward IV
issued a general pardon to the abbot for all offences
committed by him previous to 6 August and for
all alienations and acquisitions of land made
without the king's licence.'' Henry VIII in
1 5 13 made over to the abbey the free chapel
called ' le Hermytage ' of Blackmoor, Dorset. '-
The charges on the abbey included the usual
requests for aid in the Scotch war,^' and later on
for loans in the war with France.^^ In the
general distribution of pensioners among the
religious houses during the wars Hugh Cade was
allotted to Cerne Abbey in 1315 ; ''^ the follow-
ing year John de Kent was sent to receive the
allowance which John Hawayt had had.'" Peter
Polter, or Pulter, was sent by Edward III to
the abbey in 1338 in the place of Thomas de
'° Pat. 4 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 35.
" Ibid. 6 Ric. II, pt. 2, m. 29. The grant was
confirmed later by Henry IV. Ibid. 2 Hen. IV, pt. 3,
m. 32.
" Ibid. 16 Ric. II, pt. I, m. 26.
^' Ibid. 18 Ric. II, pt. I, m. 3.
'" Ibid. 2 Hen. IV, pt. 3, m. 32 ; 5 Hen. VI, pt.
2, m. 12, 13, 21 ; Edw. IV, pt. i,m. 7.
" Ibid. II Edw. IV, pt. I, m. 12. His offence
may have consisted in acquiring the temporalities of
the house on his election by licence of the late king,
Henry VI (Ibid. m. 6), but there is also a tradition
which this pardon rather confirms that Margaret of
Anjou was entertained at the abbey and held a coun-
cil there before the battle of Tewkesbury. She cer-
tainly landed in this county. Hutchins, Hht. of
Dorset, iv, 29.
"L. and P. Hen. V1U,\, 3853.
^' Close, 3 Edw. II, m. 5 d, ced. ; 8 Edw. Ill,
m. 5 d.
^* Pat. 2 Ric. II, pt. 2, m. 27-8.
" Close, 9 Edw. II, m. zy d.
=" Ibid. 10 Edw. II, m. 24.
55
A HISTORY OF DORSET
la Garderobe, deceased,^' and in his turn was
succeeded by John Serle in 1347.'* In accord-
ance with the usual custom in connexion with
• houses of the royal patronage the Close Rolls
record the appointment of a clerk to receive
a pension in 1312 on the election of a new
abbot/' and again in the year 1324.'"' In the
reign of Henry VIII William Bonde, yeo-
man of the guard, in 1337 received a grant of
a corrody in the monastery void by the death
of Richard March.*^ The contribution by the
abbey to the grant raised by the spirituality in
aid of the expenses incurred by Henry VIII ' in
recovering the crown of France ' is set down at
^200.^^
Many of the grants to the abbey were made
with the object of founding chantries and estab-
lishing anniversaries for the benefit of the
grantors. In 1335 William de Whitefield gave
his manor of Milborne Michelstone to the abbot
and convent for the provision of two chaplains
to celebrate daily in the abbey church for
his soul and the souls of his ancestors and
heirs/'
Roger Manyngford and John his son in
1382 obtained from Richard II a licence per-
mitting them to grant the convent the advowson
of the church and, on the death of the chaplain,
the reversion of the manor of Stoke by Bindon
for daily celebration for the good estate of the
said Roger while living, and for his soul after
death, and the souls of his wives, children and
ancestors, and for the performance of other
works of charity.** Edward IV in 1482 per-
mitted the appropriation of a third part of the
manor of Maiden Newton to the monastery for
the sustenance of a chaplain to celebrate daily at
the altar of St. John Baptist for the good estate
of the king and Elizabeth his consort.*" Among
the few references to this abbey in the episcopal
registers may be found the record of the estab-
lishment of the Stafford chantry by an indenture
dated Trinity Sunday, 1403, between the abbot
and Humphrey Stafford, knt., whereby, in return
for the grant of the manor of Milborne St.
Andrew, the convent agreed to provide a chap-
lain to celebrate a daily mass to be called ' the
Stafford masse ' at the altar of Holy Cross in
" Close, 12 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 32 a'.
'* Ibid. 21 Edw. Ill, pt. I, in. 231/.
'Mbid. 6 Edw. II, m. 26^.
" Ibid. 17 Edw. II, m. ii</.
" L. and P. Hen. Fill, xii (2), 1008 (24). The
Falor of 1535 estimates this corrody or pension in
the gift of the crown ' in the name of the janitor or
warden of the gate of the monastery ' at 66a ^d.
There was another corrody or pension also at the
king's disposal valued at 66/. 8^. Falor Eccl. (Rec.
Com.), i, 256.
« L. and P. Hen. Fill, ili, 2483.
" Pat. 9 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. lb.
*' Pat. 5 Ric. II, pt. 2, m. 16.
" Ibid. 21 Edw. I\', pt. I, m. 8.
the nave of the church or of St. Michael near,**
for the good estate of the said Humphrey and
Elizabeth his wife, and for their souls after death,
together with the soul of the abbot, and of
various other members of the Stafford family,
who, it was stipulated, should be admitted as
participants in all the spiritual benefits of the
house, vigils, sacraments, almsgiving, and in the
masses of the monks. An anniversary was to
be fixed on which certain doles and distributions
should be made, and a poor man or bedemarj
yearly appointed whose special duty it was to be
present at the founders' mass, and to pray con-
tinually for their souls, in return for which he
should receive the sum of 1 71. ^d. yearly, and
five yards of cloth for a gown." In the Falor
of 1535 the charges on the monastery in-
clude the sum of 46?. id. in a yearly distri-
bution to the poor on 14 December for the
soul of Ailmer, ' sometime duke of Cornwall,
founder of the monastery ; ' 66s. 2id. assigned
for the provision of food, clothing, beds and
other necessaries in the abbey for two poor
men for the soul of the said founder, and a
weekly distribution of bread and ale to thirteen
poor men ' called freers ' at a yearly cost of
£1 1 5/. 4^.*^ The total annual expenditure of
the house under the head of almsgiving and in
commemoration of the souls of founders and
benefactors came to ;^34 6x. 3^.*'
Articles containing charges of a serious
character were brought up on the eve of the
dissolution against the last abbot, Thomas Cotton,
wherein he was denounced (i) for gross immo-
rality, (2) for letting the church and abbey lands
go to ruin, (3) for wasting the goods of the house
on his mistresses and natural children, and
bestowing gifts out of the conventual funds or»
the former on their marriage." William Christ-
church, monk of the house, came forward also
with complaints that the abbot did not maintain
constituted obits and doles, and permitted some
of his monks to be proprietors, that he allowed
two of them ' who daily haunt queans ' to cele-
brate mass without confession, to play at dice
and cards all night and celebrate in the morn-
" Hutchins cites an MS. 'in the public library at
Cambridge,' which gives the dedication of various
altars in the abbey church. In 1311 an altar in the
abbot's chapel was dedicated in honour of St. Stephen
and St. Katharine by an Irish bishop of Annadown
{Enachdunensis), who granted an indulgence of 20
d.iys to those who should visit it. The same bishop
dedicated the chapel of the infirmary in honour of
the Virgin, St. Margaret, andSt. Apollonia, and granted
an indulgence of 30 days. In 1318 the bishop of
Salisbury dedicated the high altar in honour of the
Virgin and St. Peter with a similar grant of 40 days'
indulgence. Hist, of Dorset, iv, 20.
" Sarum Epis. Reg. Campegio, fol. ult.
*" Falor EccL (Rec. Com.), i, 256.
''Ibid. 257.
"" L. and P. Hen. Fill, viii, 148.
56
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
ing ; women, it was alleged, were allowed freely
into the abbey. In addition * Dan Will Christ-
church' had his tale of personal injuries torecount;
he had been imprisoned by the abbot for his ill-
speaking, dismissed from the monastery, and the
prior of Monmouth had been given twenty nobles
to receive him in his priory where he had been
very ill-handled.*^ It would be rash to accept
these statements without more reliable evidence,
but they were sufficient to draw down on the
abbey the officials of the High Commissioner,
and abbot and monks were forbidden to go out-
side the bounds of the monastery. Great incon-
venience naturally resulted, and on 2 September,
1535, a letter was written to Cromwell request-
ing in the interests of the house that the abbot
might hsve liberty to ride abroad to attend to
the affairs of his monastery 'as you have allowed
the abbot of Sherborne,' adding, ' the abbot
sends you his fee of 5 marks sterling.' *^
The King's Commissioners were instructed
to induce superiors to surrender their houses
promptly and willingly in the hope of securing
liberal treatment for themselves. In December,
1538, Sir Thomas Arundel wrote to Cromwell
that the abbot of Cerne, in spite of persuasion,
was making efforts to obtain the continuance
of his house, and with that object in view was
prepared to offer ' His Majesty' 500 marks and
'your lordship ' ^100.*' The doom of the house
could not be averted, however, and on 15 March
following (1539) the abbot, with the prior and
fifteen of his brethren surrendered the abbey to
the king in the person of John Tregonwell, the
commissioner,'* the abbot subsequently receiving
a pension of ^Tioo, the prior ;^io, one brother
j^8, another ^7, the sub-prior and nine of the
inmates sums ranging from ^b 131. ^d. to
^^5 65. 8i^., and three remaining brethren 40J.
each."
Abbots of Cerne
^Ifric, appointed about 987, on the re-
foundation of Cerne as a Benedictine
monastery '^
Alfric Puttoc, occurs 1023"
Withelmus, occurs 1085 ''
Haimo, deposed ii02 for simony*'
" L. and P. Hen. VIU, viii, 148.
" Ibid, ix, 256. '' Ibid, xiii (2), 1090.
*' Among the fifteen two are entered as students.
Ibid, xiv (1), 523.
■'' Ibid.
'•^ This was the author of the Homilies, who began
as a monk of Abingdon, was successively abbot of
Cerne and St. Albans, and fin.illy archbishop of Can-
terbury.
" Dugdale and Hutchins give this without
reference.
" Hutchins cites this from the Annals of Lanercost,
Hist, (if Dorset, iv, 22.
"^ W.ilter of Coventry, Op. (Rolls Ser.), i, 121.
William, occurs 1 1 2 1 ^
Bernard, became abbot of Burton in 1 160 "
Robert, occurs 1166*-
Dionysius, occurs 1206,^' resigned 1220
R., elected 1220 "
William de Hungerford, elected 1232 **
Richard de Suwell or Sawel, elected 1244,**
died 1260
Philip, elected 1260''
Thomas de Ebblesbury, elected 1274 ^*
Gilbert de Minterne, elected 1296,^' died
1312
Ralph de Cerne, elected 1312,'" died
1324
Richard de Osmington, elected 1324'^
Stephen Sherrard, elected 1356 '^
Thomas Sewale, elected 1361,'^ died 1382
John de Hayle, elected 1382,^* died in same
year
Robert Symondsbury, elected 1382'*
John Wede, elected 1411,'^ died 1427
John Winterborne, elected 1427,'' died 1436
John Godmanston, elected 1436,"* died 145 I
William Cattistoke, elected 145 1,'' died
1454
John Helyer, elected 1454,*" resigned 1458
John Vanne, elected 1458,'^ died 1471
Roger Bemyster, elected 1471,*^ died 1497
Thomas Sam, elected 1497,^^ '^'^'^ 1509
Robert Westbury, elected 1510,"^ died
1524
Thomas Corton, elected 1524,*' surrendered
his abbey 1539
'" He was a witness to the foundation charter of
Plympton Priory (Devon). Dugdale, Mon. vi, 21.
" He is said to have then been a monk at Glouces-
ter, and to have previously quitted Cerne on account
of the great disorders of the house. Ann. Mon. (Rolls
Ser.), i, 187.
" Red Bk. of the Exch. (Rolls Ser.), i, 2 1 2.
^' Pat. 7 John, m. 5.
" Ibid. 4 Hen. Ill, m. 6.
" Ibid. 16 Hen. Ill, m. 7.
"^ Ibid. 28 Hen. Ill, m. 7.
" Ibid. 44 Hen. II, m. i.
'' Ibid. 3 Edw. I, m. 36.
" Ibid. 25 Edw. I, pt. I, m. 15^.
'" Ibid. 6 Edw. II, pt. 2, m. 8 ; Sarum Epis. Reg.
Simon of Ghent, pt. 2, fol. 1 21.
" Pat. 17 Edw. II, pt. 2, m. 19.
" Sarum Epis. Reg. Mortival, fol. 103<j'; Pat. 30.
Edw. Ill, pt. 3.
" Sarum Epis. Reg. Wyville, ii (Inst.), fol. 294.
'* Pat. 6 Ric. II, pt. I, m. 35.
' Ibid. pt. 2, m. 22.
"Ibid. 12 Hen. IV, pt. I.
" Ibid. 5 Hen. VI, pt. I, m. 16.
" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iv, 23. " Ibid..
'" Sarum Epis. Reg. Beauchamp, ii, fol. 23.
" Pat. 37 Hen. VI, pt. i, m. 12.
«= Pat. 49 Hen. VI.
'^ Sarum Epis. Reg. Langton, fol. 99.
^ L. and P. Hen. Fill, i, 822.
«= Ibid, iv, 436.
57
A HISTORY OF DORSET
A thirteenth-century round seal with very
fine but imperfect impression represents the
west front of the church, with elaborate details
of early English architecture. On the foliated
crockets of the roof on the left side there is a
small bird, on the right the corresponding bird
has been broken off. In base under two round-
headed arches of masonry are two half-length
figures of the founders, St. Augustine and
iEthelmar, with their hands uplifted to support
the church above therh. On each side behind
them a cinquefoil, that on the right broken
away. The legend is wanting.*""
An example of the above seal with very im-
perfect impression is to be found attached to the
surrender deed of the abbey.*'
The abbot's seal of the fifteenth century,
pointed oval, with fine but imperfect impression,
shows in three canopied niches full-length
figures of the Virgin crowned, with the Child in
her right hand, and a sceptre fleur-de-lis in her
left hand, St. Catherine with crown, nimbus and
wheel on the left, and St. Margaret with crown
on the right standing on a dragon and piercing
his head. In base under a round-headed arch
the abbot, half-length, with mitre and staff,
praying. On the masonry at the sides two
shields of arms ; on the left a lion rampant
within a border bezanty ; the right a cross
engrailed between four lily-flowers slipped,
Cerne Abbey.'''* Legend defective : —
SIGILL
DE CERNE
The signet of Abbot Roger Bemyster is at-
tached to a deed dated 1475, of which only an
indistinct fragment remains representing a ram
or goat with the legend [r]oger[us].*'
3. THE ABBEY OF MILTON
The Benedictine abbey of Milton or Middle-
ton was built in the year 933 ^ by King jEthelstan
for the soul of his brother Edwin, or, as some his-
torians aver, to expiate the crime of a brother's
murder," the king, in his foundation charter,
« B.M. Seals, Ixii, 30.
" Deeds of Surrender, No. 52.
«' B.M. Seals, Ixii, 31. '" Harl. Chart. 44 B. 48.
' Tanner, Notitta, Dorset, xviii. The tenth year
of King jEthelstan is the date generally accepted,
and it agrees with the date of the death of Prince
Edwin. Angl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), 85 ; Sim.
of Durham, Oj>. (Tvvysden), p. I 54. Dugdale quotes
an account of the foundation from a register of
I the abbey, no longer in existence, which states that
the house was built in the tenth year of .(Ethelstan's
reign, which began in 824 {Mon., Chart, of Milton,
No. 3, vol. ii, 348). This is palpably a mistake, as
is also the date given in the foundation charter.
Birch, Cart. Sax., ii, 452-3.
■ According to the account given in the above-
mentioned register ^thelstan, upon false suggestions
that Edwin was concerting a plot against him, caused
testifying (without reference to the above inci-
dent) that for an endowment he had granted
for the good of his soul, and the souls of
his successors, the kings of England, to God,
St. Mary, St. Sampson, and St. Branwalader
the following lands : — 26 hides at Milborne, 5
at Woolland, 3 at Fromemouthe, viz. : 2 in
an island and one at Ore (Ower), 3 hides at
Clyffe with a meadow, 3^ at Lyscombe, i at
Burleston, i at Little Puddle, 5 at Cattistock,
6 at Compton Abbas, 2 at Whitcombe, 5 at
Osmington, 6 at Hoi worth — in all 67 hides; a
weir on the Avon at Twyneham (co. Hants),
all the water within the shore at Weymouth
and half the stream out to sea, 12 acres of land
for the support of the weir and the person in
charge of it, and 3 thaynes in Sussex and a
saltern by the weir, 30 hides of land at Sydling
for the maintenance of the monks, 2 at Chel-
mington, 6 at Hillfield, and 10 at Ercecombe
(Stockland).^ The king further bestowed rich
gifts on the abbey wherein he buried the body
of his mother, together with numerous relics
procured from Rome and Brittany, including the
arm and bones of St. Sampson, archbishop of
Dol, and the arm of St. Branwalader the
bishop.^ In the reform of monasticism under
Edgar and Dunstan the secular priests here were
replaced in 964 by monks under an abbot,
Cyneward.'
At the time of the Domesday Survey besides
twelve acres of land in Hampshire, held of the
abbey by the sheriff Edward,^ the church of
Milton had manors or estates in the following
places : — Sydling, Milton, Compton Abbas,
Cattistock, Puddle, Clyffe, Osmington, Whit-
combe, Lyscombe, Woolland, Winterborne,
Hillfield — the rent of which was £2 and a
sextary of honey — ' Ora ' (Ower), Stockland —
the prince to put out to sea in an open boat with a
single attendant. The prince in despair threw him-
self overboard and was drowned, his squire with great
difficulty managed to swim to shore at Whitsand with
his body. The king repenting of his deed is said to
have confined himself seven years at the monastery
of Landport (Somerset) as a penance, and to have
founded the two abbeys of Michelney and Milton.
Dugdale, Moti., Chart, of Milton, No. 2, ii, 34S ;
Will, of Malmes. Gesla Regum (Rolls Sen), i, 156 ;
Lel.md, Coll., ii, 252 ; iii, 71 ; Stowe MS., 104.6,
fol. 24.
^ Birch, Cart. Sax., ii, 452-3. The version given
by Kemble {Coii. DipL, ii, 245) omits the grant of
the ' water at Weymouth,' but it is included in what
is called the Middle English version of the same
charter (v, 235), though left out in the confirma-
tion charter of Henry I. Dugdale, Mon., Chart, of
Milton, No. 7, ii, 350.
■■ Ibid. Chart, of Milton, No. 5, ii, 349 ; Will, of
Malmes., Gesta Pontif. (Rolls Ser.), 186, 400-1 ;
Leland, Coll., iii, 71.
' Ibid, ii, 186; iii, 72. Jngl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls
Ser.), 94.
'^ Dom. Bk. (Rec. Com.), i, 43^.
58
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
which belonged to the demesne of the monks,
and was assigned towards the expenses of their
living and clothing — and Piddletrenthide/
Henry I, reciting the charter of i^Lthelstan, king
of England, the founder, confirmed to the
abbey of Milton and the monks serving God
there their possessions therein enumerated with
all liberties, free customs and acquittances, the
right of soc, sac, tol, team, and infangnetheof,
waif, assize of bread and ale, gallows, pillory,
and all other appurtenances.* From Henry III
the abbot and convent obtained a charter in 1252
for the right of free warren over all their
demesne lands in Dorset, provided they should
not be within the king's forest, with a licence to
hold a weekly market at the monastery within
the manor of Milton on Thursday, a yearly
fair there on the vigil, feast, and morrow of the
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and a
yearly fair in their manor of Stockland on the
same three days.^ The Taxatio oi 1 291 gave
the abbey spiritualities amounting to ^Tg i8j. id.
from the churches of Sydling, Puddletown,
Tolpuddle, Dewlish, Whitcombe, and Hol-
worth, Stockland, Cattistock and Compton ; '"
and temporalities valued at £,i2b 9^." in the
deaneries of Bridport, Dorchester, and Whit-
church, the total income from both sources being
assessed at ;^I36 yj. id.
The abbot was assessed for his holding at two
knights' fees in the reign of Henry 11;'^ in
1 155-6 he paid 40J. scutage." He certified
the king by charter in 1 166 that originally the
abbey owed no knights' fees either .of the old
or new feoffment, but that Roger, bishop of
Salisbury, on the occasion when he took the
abbey into custody on its voidance at the
command of Henry I, enfeoffed one knight of
a tenement, viz. 2 hides held by Robert de
Monasteriis, and another knight of another tene-
ment, viz. 2^ hides which William Fitz Walter
held. Afterwards R., the predecessor of the
present abbot, had returned these fees to their
original state, and the knights constituted by the
bishop had been made censunrii, and held thus in
the time of the aforesaid R., as did their heirs
at the present time : William de Monasteriis and
William Brito." In the year 11 84 Osbert de
Dorchester and Robert de Godmanston rendered
' Dom. Bk. (Rec. Com.), i, 78.
' Dugdale, Mon., Chart, of Milton, No. 7, ii,
350-1-
' Chart. R. 37 Hen. Ill.m. 16. Edward II, in his
subsequent exemplification of the possessions and
liberties of the monks previous to their disastrous fire
of I 309, declared that these markets and fairs were
originally granted by their founder ^thelstan. Pat.
5 Edw. II, pt. I, m. 17.
'"Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 179.
" Ibid. 183-4.
'' Red Bk. of the Exch. (Rolls Ser.), i, 15, 26,
33. 54-
"Ibid, ii, 678. " Ibid, i, 211.
an account to the Exchequer of the farm of the
possessions of the abbey for half a year.^* An
account for three terms was rendered in 1213,^*
and on July of that year John intimated to the
custodians of the abbeys of Abbotsbury, Sher-
borne, and Milton that he was sending down
a number of sick horses to be placed in their
charge.'' Edward I, in the first year of his
reign, granted to the prior and convent on pay-
ment of a fine of fifty marks the custody of
their abbey, void by the death of Abbot William
de Taunton.'* The convent, in common with
other ecclesiastics, received in 1294 a grant of
protection for a year in consideration of the
money which they had contributed towards the
royal subsidy. ''
A great misfortune befell the community in
1309 ; on the night of 2 September the wooden
belfry of their church was struck by lightning
in the midst of a violent thunderstorm and gale ;
the building took fire, and in its destruction
perished the bells, ornaments, and vestments of
the monks, together with all their books, char-
ters, and muniments.^" The bishop of Salisbury
immediately granted an indulgence of forty days
in aid of the restoration of the church ; -' and
with the object of replacing the title deeds
which had been lost Edward II ordered a com-
mission to inquire as to the lands and rents held
by the abbot and convent previous to the destruc-
tion of their charters,"' by his own charter two
years later reciting the return made by the in-
quisition and confirming to the brethren all gifts
and privileges granted to the abbey by King
jEthelstan, his predecessor, and all subsequent
benefactors.^' The abbot and convent received
a licence from the king in 131 5 for the appro-
priation of the church of Sydling to their own
uses, the issues being charged with a sum of
20 marks, to be paid yearly to the chapter of
Salisbury towards the maintenance of the chantry
and obit of Nicolas Longespde, sometime bishop
of Salisbury, in the cathedral;"'' and in 1332
Edward III gave permission for the convent to
appropriate the church of Stockland, 'said to be
" Madox, Hist, of the Exch. i, 310.
'Mbid. 312.
" Close, I ; John, m. 4.
■« Pat. I Edw. I, m. 1 7.
" Ibid. 22 Edw. I, m. 8.
" Sarum Epis. Reg. Simon of Ghent, i, fol. 86 ;
Txw&XX, Annah (Rolls Ser.), ii, 7 ; Walsingham \Htst.
Angl. (Rolls Sen), i, 126] erroneously dates this fire in
1311.
"' Sarum Epis. Reg. Simon of Ghent, i, fol. 86.
" Pat. 3 Edw. II, m. 32.
■^ Ibid. 5 Edw. II, pt. I, m. 17. This confir-
mation was in 1393 inspected and confirmed again
to the monks by Richard II. Ibid. 17 Ric. II,
m. 27.
■* Ibid. 8 Edw. II, pt. I, m. 31 ; Sarum Epis.
Reg. Mortival, ii, fol. 49 ; see Col. Pap. Letters, iv,
207 d.
59
A HISTORY OF DORSET
of their advovvson.' " In 1324 Robert de Faren-
don alienated to the community loox. rent from
a messuage and land in Upper Sydling for the
provision of a monk to celebrate daily in the
chapel of St. Mary Milton for his soul and the
souls of his ancestors ; -'^ and in 1329 a further
grant was made by Nicholas de Weye and
William de Wydecombe, chaplain, in aid of the
maintenance of a monk who should celebrate
daily in the abbey for their souls and those of
their ancestors and successors.^' In 1336 the
convent were permitted to purchase the manor
with the advowson of the church of Winter-
borne Stickland from the chapter of Coutances
in Normandy ; at the same time it was ordained
that 10 marks should be paid annually out of the
same, and other lands in Milton and Osmington,
to the chapter of Salisbury for a chantry estab-
lished in the cathedral for the kings of England
and Simon of Ghent, late bishop ; another
5 marks for a chantry in the church of Mel-
combe Regis for the soul of Edward III, and
5 marks for a chantry in the church of Milton
for the good estate of the king. Queen Philippa
his consort, and their children, and for their souls
after death. -^ A carucate of land in Bryanston
was conveyed to the convent in 1344 for the
yearly observance, on 31 January, of the anni-
versary of William de Stokes."" In 1392 the
brethren, on payment of a fine of 100 marks,
obtained from Richard II licence to acquire
various parcels of land in Hunsworth, Langford,
Milton, and Bedeshurst to be assigned towards
the yearly maintenance of the anniversaries of
Roger Manyngford ^° and Margaret his wife, and
other works of piety.
Henry IV, on 22 October, 1400, inspected
and confirmed an agreement made in 1386
between the abbot and convent and Nicholas
Langford, whereby the former consented to re-
ceive the latter into their confraternity so that
in life he should participate in all the spiritual
benefits of the monastery and order, should
receive a weekly corrody of bread and ale, a
robe with fur every year, a 'good chamber' within
the abbey with fuel and litter, stabling, and keep
for his horse, and a yearly rent of 40s., and
after death that his name should be sent round
with the names of other dead monks throughout
England ; in return for these benefits it was
stipulated that he should assist the community in
their business with his counsel.''
The abbey was spared none of the charges im-
posed on houses of any standing belonging to the
" Pat. 6 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 16.
*' Ibid. 18 Edw. II, pt. I, m. 28.
" Ibid. 2 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 29.
»■* Ibid. 10 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 8 ; 15 Edw. Ill,
'pt. 3, m. 6 ; 21 Edw. Ill, pt. 3, m. 31.
" Ibid. 1 8 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 9.
"' Ibid. 16 Ric. II, pt. I, m. 30.
^' Ibid. 2 Hen. IV, pt. I, m. 35.
Benedictine order and of the royal patronage.'"
Pensioners were bestowed on the house with un-
failing regularity by Edward II and Edward III,"
and on the appointment of a new abbot they did
not fail to present a clerk for the pension due at
the royal nomination.'* In 1332 the abbot was
requested to contribute towards the subsidy raised
on the occasion of the marriage of the king's
sister ; '* and two years later to give a tenth
towards the expenses incurred by the Scotch
war.'^
The community, which is said to have origin-
ally numbered forty,'' was considerably reduced
in numbers in the latter part of its existence, the
change being attributed in the first place to the
loss incurred by the fire of 1309." Other
causes were not wanting, and the strain on the
resources of the abbey became marked during
the rule of Richard de Maury, 1331-52.'' On
24 April, 1344, the king ordered the chancellor
of Salisbury, John de Tylvyngton, Thomas Gary,
and John Maury to take the house, now in a state of
great depression and indebtedness owing to dissen-
sions between the abbot and convent, into their
" With the exception of the year following its
loss by fire, when Milton w.is omitted from the list
of abbots who were requested to aid the king with
victuals for the Scotch war ; Close, 3 Edw. II,
m. 5 J.
" Close, 8 Edw. II, m. I l </.; 12 Edw. II, m. 1 94'.;
6 Edw. Ill, m. 18a'. ; 7 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 3d'.;
8 Edw. Ill, pt. i,m. I a'.; 21 Edw. Ill, pt. l,m. zd. ;
23 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 12 d.
" Ibid. 8 Edw. II, m. 20,2'.; 26 Edw. Ill, m. 5 J.
^Ihld. 6 Edw. Ill, m. 16 a'.
'= Ibid. 8 Edw. Ill, m. 5 d.
" Hutchins {His/, of Dorset, iv, 390) cites this from
' an anonymous author in the Cotton Library.'
^ The excuse put forward by the community in
1320 for declining to receive a certain Robert
Oysel, clerk, who desired to enter the monastery,
was that their house was already burdened beyond
its capacity to sustain its present number, and would
not admit of another; Sarum Epis. Reg. Mortival, ii,
fol. 99.
" The abbot, who received the benediction on his
election in I 33 I at the hands of Simon, archbishop
of Canterbury, ' in the exercise of his right of visita-
tion in the diocese of Salisbur}' ' (Pat. 5 Edw. Ill,
pt. 2, m. 32), does not seem to have been acknow-
ledged by his bishop till the year I 336, when he was
formally pardoned for his irregularity in seeking con-
firmation from the primate instead of from his ordinary
(Sarum Epis. Reg. Wp'ille, fol. 30 </.). A commission
of oyer and terminer was issued in 1338 and 1340 to
investigate complaints of trespass against the superior
(Pat. 12 Edw. Ill, pt. 3, m. i6</. ; 14 Edw. Ill,
pt. I, m. 41 d.'), who in 1342 appears to have been
imprisoned for trespass at Rockingham (Close, 16 Edw.
Ill, pt. I, m. 22). In 1348 he was charged with
breaking the park of Alesia, countess of Lincoln, at
Kingston Lacy (Pat. 22 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 43 d). In
1351 'Richard Maur)', monk, formerly for more than
eighteen years abbot of Milton, in which time the
abbey acquired more than 60 marks annual rent,'
60
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
custody, and after making a reasonable allowance to
the inmates at the rate of 5 marks a year each, and
defraying the expenses of its ministers, to apply
the remainder of its revenues towards relieving
it of debt.*' The decrees forwarded by the
bishop after a visitation in July of that year laid
stress again on the discords in the abbey and the
fact that the inmates were too many for its pre-
sent financial condition.^' The abbot and con-
vent were ordered to adhere rigidly to the scheme
of retrenchment laid down by the bishop, though
they were warned about the same time not to
withdraw the chaplains serving various chantries,
or to neglect the needs of the sick. The bishop
also desired them to re-admit Brother Walter de
Sherborne, who had left the abbey with the
object of attaching himself to a severer rule, but
after joining the Brothers Preachers for some
time had apostatized to the world, and now, re-
penting of his excesses, with tears desired to
return.^^ The visitation report of 1378, con-
taining various suggestions for matters in need of
correction, makes no special reference to poverty.
The attention of the abbot — who was enjoined to
bear himself modestly and benignantly towards his
fellow monks — was directed towards the quality
of the bread and ale served out to the house-
hold and to the condition of the drains, ' which
corrupt the air and are the cause of various in-
firmities.' The usual prohibition against the
entrance of women was coupled with an injunction
forbidding the admission of certain ladies men-
tioned by name within the precincts of the
monastery.^'
Save for the appointment of abbots references
to Milton are rare in the century preceding the
Dissolution. A report issued after a visitation in
1425 comments severely on various details of the
management of the then abbot, Richard Cley ;
and he was ordered, under penalty of suspension
from choir and deprivation for forty days of the
pastoral staff, to appoint a receiver of moneys
retained by him without rendering of any
account, and to redeem the jewels and silver
vessels which he had sold.^'' In 1438 the
number of the community seems to have
fallen to fifteen if we may accept the count
obtained exemption from the jurisdiction of his
superiors, by grant of Pope Clement VI, with indult
to retain the goods which lawfully belonged to him and
to convert them to his own use, and licence to choose
one of the monks to say the canonical hours with him
and serve him in other ways ; Cal. Pap. Letters, iii,
432.
'"Pat. 18 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 3.
*' The community consisted at this time, it is said,
■of twenty-one monks, the number being increased by
the return of two absent brethren to twenty-three, as
was notified to the bishop by letter shortly after his
visit.
" Sarum Epis. Reg. Wyville, fol. 130-1.
" Ibid. Erghum, fol. i;.
" Ibid. Chandler, fol. 51.
of those monks who assembled on 10 June of
that year for the election of John Breweton or
Bruton."
The abbot and convent obtained from
Henry VIII in 15 12 a licence to hold the
yearly fair in their manor of Stockland on the
eve, day, and morrow of St. Barnabas, instead of
St. Michael, as was granted by Henry VI," on
account of the injury to other fairs in the neigh-
bourhood.''' Among the benefactions of Abbot
William de Middleton, 1482-1523, must be
mentioned the erection of a free school within
the town of Milton, for the maintenance of
which the abbot, by deed dated 10 February,
152 1, and sealed with the common seal of the
abbey, made over the manor of Little Mayne,
&c., to Giles Strangeways, knt., Thomas Arun-
del, knt., and other trustees.''^
The Valor of 153S gives the abbey a clear
income of ;^665 3J. 3^15^. from the parsonages of
Milton, Stockland, Sydling, and Osmington,^'
and the manors of Milton, Stockland, 'Huysshe,'
Sydling, Compton Abbas, Holway, Cattistock,
Hillfield, Knowle, Osmington, Whitcombe and
Dorchester, Frome and Stafford, Burleston,
Lyscombe, Winterborne Stickland, La Lee, and
other lands.'" Among the annual charges was
a sum of ^51 i6j., set down under the head of
almsgiving, assigned towards the observance of
the anniversaries of founders, including King
iEthelstan."
The appointment of John Bradley, last abbot
of Milton, as bishop suffragan of Shaftesbury,
February, 1539/^ preceded the suppression of
the abbey by a few days only. The abbot, who
surrendered the house with twelve of the monks
on II March, 1539, received a pension of
;^I33 6j. id., the prior ^^13 bs. Sd., the sub-
prior ^^8, and the ten remaining brethren
jCb 1 31. 4d. each.''
" Ibid. Beauchamp.
'^ Pat. 25 Hen. VI, pt. 2, m. 26.
*' L. and P. Hen. Fill, i, 3529.
" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iv. 396. The chantry
commissioners of Edward VI found that the rent of
the lands thus assigned amounted to £% a year, which
was paid yearly to the ' scolemaster ' for his stipend ;
Chant. Cert. 16, No. 81. An inquisition in 1600
under Elizabeth reported the school ' to be of good
regard and in former times much frequented ' ; Hut-
chins, op. cit.
*' Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 248.
'" Ibid. 249. The sum contributed by Milton
towards the king's expenses for the recovery of the
crown of France was ^^ 100, as against j^200 by Cerne
and /l 1 8 Ss. id. by Abbotsbury ; L. and P. Hen. Vlll,
iii, 2483.
" Of this sum j^30 represented the cost of provid-
ing the daily necessaries of thirteen poor men of the
town of Milton nominated yearly by the convent ;
Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 151.
" Pat. 30 Hen. VIII, pt. 2, m. 20.
=" L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiv (i), 500.
61
A HISTORY OF DORSET
The king the following year granted the
house and site of the abbey, with the church,
belfry, bells, and churchyard, the advowson of
the vicarage, manor, and rectory, to John Tre-
gonwell, the commissioner deputed to receive the
resignation of the community.'*
Abbots of Milton
Cyneward, appointed 964 by King Edgar "
Egelric, deposed 11 02 for simony'^
R., occurs in reign of Henry I "
A., occurs in reign of Henry II **
Eustace, elected 1198 ''
William de Stokes, elected 1222^"
William de Taunton, elected 1256,^* died
1273
Robert de Corfe, elected 1273 '^-
Walter de Sideling, elected 1291,"^ died
1314
Robert le Fauconer, elected 1314," died 1331
Richard de Mauro or Maury, elected 1 33 1,"
resigned 1352
Robert de Burbache, elected 1352,"^ died 1382
John Hentin, elected 1382," died 1383
Walter Archer, elected 1383,^ died 141 7
Richard Cley, elected 141 7,''' resigned 1 43 1
John Haselbere, elected 1 431,™ died 1458
John Breweton or Bruton, elected 1458,''
died 1482
William Middleton, elected 1482'^
John Bradley, elected 1525," surrendered
1539
The round, thirteenth-century seal of the
abbey ,'^ the impression of which is very fine
though the edge is imperfect, represents on the
obverse side the abbey church with a centre
and two towers, each having a tall spire and
two side turrets. Under the central tower be-
" L. and P. Hen. VIII, xv, 282 (g. 90).
" Jngl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 94.
''^ Wm. of Malmesbur)', Gata Pontif. (Rolls Ser.),
119.
" Red Bk. of the Exch. (Rolls Ser.), i, 21 1.
" Ibid. ■'' Ann. Mon. (Rolls Sen), ii, 69.
«> Close, 7 Hen. Ill, m. 28.
" Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 96.
^' Pat. I Edw. I, m. I 7. He is probably identical
with Walter de Corfe, to whom the temporalities of
the abbey were restored 17 June in the same year ;
ibid. m. i 5.
" Ibid. 19 Edw. I, m. 16.
*' Ibid. 8 Edw. II, pt. I, m. 9.
" Ibid. 5 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 2, 32.
^ Ibid. 26 Edw. Ill, pt. 3.
" Ibid. 6 Ric. II, pt. 1, m. 16.
"^ Ibid. pt. 2, m. 23.
" Sarum Epis. Reg. Chandler, fol. 1 1.
"" Ibid. Neville, fol. 11.
" Ibid. Beauchamp, i, fol. 50.
" Pat. 21 Edw. IV, pt. I, m. 7.
" L. and P. Hen. VIII, iv (l), I 291-1424 ; xiv
(l), 500.
" B.M. Seals, xl, 3.
neath a trefoiled arch the Virgin is seated,
crowned, the Holy Child with nimbus on her
left knee, in her right hand an orb. Under the
arch of each of the side towers a mitred abbot
or bishop, full-length. In the foreground an
embattled wall. In the field over the roof two
demi-angels issuing from the heavens, each swing-
ing a censer, and on the left a cross. Legend : —
+ SIGILL' : CONVEN .... AN ... . MID-
ELTONENSIS : E . . . . l'iE
The reverse represents the abbey church from
another point of view. Under two trefoiled
arches in the centre, the Annunciation of the
Virgin. In the triangular pediment above is a
bust. Legend : —
[porta : sa]lvtis : ave : .p : te : patet :
e[xitvs : A : ve] [venit : ab : eva :]ve :
ve : Q : tollis : ave
A fine fragment of the same seal is found
attached to a deed dated 131 5," and to the sur-
render deed of the abbey in 1539.^°
4. THE ABBEY OF SHERBORNE
The foundation of the abbey of St. Mary is
usually attributed to Bishop Aldhelm at or about
the time of the establishment of the episcopal see
at Sherborne in 705,^ and though, according to
an ancient record mentioning a grant to the
house of 100 hides of land at ' Lanprobi ' by
Cenwalch, king of the West Saxons, who died in
672,' it might be said to claim even greater
antiquity, this is the date popularly accepted.
Among the grants enumerated in a list of the
names and benefactions of the ' kings, founders of
the church of Sherborne,' ' are lands, many of
which figure later in the possessions of the monks
on the reconstruction of the house originally built
for secular canons, and must have formed its
earlier endowment : 5 hides of land at Oborne
the gift of King Edgar ; 5 hides out of 36 at
Bradford, ' Cerdel,' Halstock, and Yetminster,
with Netherbury and ' Ethelaldingham ' granted
by King iEthelwulf (Athulfus) ; King Athertus
gave the liberty of 140 hides, and in Up Cerne
12 hides, in Tavistock 8, in Stalbridge 20, in
Compton 8 ; King Kenewulf gave 5 hides at
Affpuddle and I hide in Lyme ; King Cuth-
red 12 hides in ' Lydcne,' ID in Corscombe, 25
at 'Menedid'; King Kenewulf 6 hides in Chard-
" Harl. Chart. 86 A. 43.
" Deeds of Surrender, No. 153.
' Wm. of Malmes. Gesta Pontif. (Rolls Ser.), 375-8.
Leland states that it was founded by King .^Ethelred
\c. 870], but probably confuses its foundation with its.
reconstruction ; Coll. i, 66 ; Tanner, Notitia, Dorset
XXV.
' Cott. MS. Faust. A. ii, fol. 23. ' Ibid.
Sherborne Abbey
Tarrant ICaines Abcey
Cerne Abbey
^"i^^T^.
Abbot of Cerne (Fifteenth Century)
m^:^.i
Clement, Abbot of Sherborne (ii6^)
Dorset Monastic Seals : Plate I
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
stock, 8 in Toller Whelme, in ' Wegencesfunte '
and Alton 30 hides, in ' Crutesdune ' 36 hides
and ' Wytecumbe ' and ' Wluene ' ; King Offa
Potterne with its appurtenances ; King Egbert
10 hides near Cerne, &c.; King Sigeberht 5 hides
in ' Boselington ' and 7 in EastCann ; King Ine
gave 7 hides near ' Predian ' and in ' Conbus-
burie ' 20 hides ; King Geroncius gave 5 hides
in ' Macnir by Thamar ' ; King JEthehed gave
* Atforde ' and ' Clethangre,' and gave and re-
stored Corscombe in ohlatum, which Canute
afterwards restored.* It is recorded in addition
to these grants ' that King ^thelstan by charter
gave to the famil'ia at Sherborne land at Brad-
ford Abbas on condition that they should say
psalms and masses for the redemption of his soul
on the feast of All Saints,^ and at Weston with
the stipulation that they should pray for his soul
and the soul of Beorhtwulf the earl ; ' about the
year 903 King Eadred granted to Bishop Wulf-
sige 8 carucates of land at Thornford, with the
reversion of the estate on his death to the
monastery.*
In the ninth century the abbey seems to have
shared with VVimborne the honour of giving
burial to the kings and bishops of Wessex. The
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that King iEthel-
bald was buried here in 860, and jEthelbert,
who succeeded him, in 866." Leland, writing
in the sixteenth century, says the two kings were
buried ' yn a place behinde the highe altare of
S. Marie chirche, but ther now be no tumbes,
nor no writing of them sene.' " In 867, after
he had held the bishopric ' fifty winters,' died
Bishop Ealhstan, ' of great power in worldly
affairs and eminent in counsel,' who took a per-
sonal share in the wars of Egbert, and by his
example and generosity inspired king and people
to continue the struggle against the Danes ; "
•'his body lies in the town.'^^
* Cott. MS. Faust. A. ii, fol.23.
' The charters of the monks include one by Cenwalch
of Wessex, 643-72, granting various privileges to the
pontifical see at Sherborne and the community there ;
it is witnessed, however by Laurentinus, archbishop of
Canterbury, who died in 619, and of more than
doubtful authenticity ; Birch, Cart. Sax. i, 46.
' Ibid, ii, 392.
' Ibid, ii, 394.
° Ibid, iii, 52. Hutchins in addition cites (Hist, of
Dorset, iv, 228) two charters by King .(Ethelwulf, the
first dated in 841, reciting a grant in perpetual alms
of I 5 cassates of land in the place c.illed ' Halganstoc '
(Halstock) ' for the honour of God and love of St.
Michael the archangel, whose church remains in the
said little monastery, to Eadberth the deacon for his
faithful service there; the other recording the grant in
844 of 2 cassates of land in a place called ' Osanstoc '
for the redemption of the soul of King ^thelwulfand
the souls of his sons ./Ethelbald and ./Ethelbert.
' Atigl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), i, 129, 130.
'° Itinerary, ii, 48.
" Jngl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), i, 1 20-1.
" Ibid, i, 132.
The reconstruction of the house and the sub-
stitution of monks for the secular canons, who
had occupied it for nearly two centuries, took
place in the reign of jEthelred by the agency of
Bishop Wulfsige, 992-1001." The king's
charter, dated 998, recites that by the persuasion
of Archbishop JEAfric and the advice of his
nobles he has licensed the bishop to ordain and
institute a rule of monks in the monastery of
Sherborne according to the constitution of St.
Benedict, and enacts that none of the bishop's
successors should in consequence usurp the tem-
poral possessions of the monks, but as shepherds,
and not tyrants nor with wolfish rapacity, should
govern according to pastoral authority and for
the benefit of the community, while any question
creating discord between the shepherd and the
flock should be referred to the archbishop, who
should advise the king as to any necessary amend-
ments ; and whereas it was not usual to consti-
tute an abbot in the episcopal see, the bishop in
virtue of his office should be abbot and father to
the brethren, who should be obedient to him as
sons and live as monks, in chastity, humility,
and subjection.^* The charter of Bishop Wulf-
sige declares that having expelled the clerks in
pursuance of the king's order, he has ordained and
constituted worthy (sapientes) monks in their
place in the church of St. Mary of Sherborne,
and restored to them the lands and possessions or
those who from the beginning served in this
holy place to the praise and glory of God, to-
gether with a carucate of land in the vill of
Sherborne, the tithe of the bishopric and every
tenth field in the whole of the said vill, and
24 cart-loads of wood yearly.^*
On comparing the estates confirmed to the
reconstituted house by King jEthelred, at the
close of the tenth century, with the lands in the
possession of the monks in the return of io86,
it will be found that the monastery had passed
through the social and political changes follow-
ing the Norman Conquest without incurring any
serious territorial loss or deprivation.^^ The
possessions enumerated in the confirmation
charter of .^thelred in 998 consist of a hundred
fields in a place called Stockland in Sherborne
itself, with the estate {praedium) of the monastery
as Bishop Wulfsige had inclosed it with hedges
and ditches ; 9 cassates of land in a place called
' Holancumb,' 15 in Halstock, 7 in Thornford,
10 in Bradford, 5 in Oborne, 8 in Weston, 20
in Stalbridge, 10 in ' Wulfheardingstoke,' 8 in
Compton, 2 in ' Osanstoke,' and a manor near
" Leland, Coll. iii, 150.
" Ibid. //;■«. ii, 51, 52. "Ibid.
"^ The omission of Halstock in the Domesday
Survey is curious, as it was one of the earliest posses-
sions of the house, and is entered in the bull of Pope
Eugenius III in 1 14;, and remained in the possession
of the abbey down to the Reformation ; Hutchins,
Hist, of Dorset, iv, 403.
63
A HISTORY OF DORSET
the sea-coast called 'At Lyme.''' The nine
manors specifically assigned to the living of the
monks, apart from the ' land of the bishop of
Salisbury,' in the Domesday Survey are returned
as follows : — Sherborne with 9^ carucates of
land valued at £b lOJ., Oborne with 5 hides,
Thornford with 7, Bradford with 10, Comp-
ton with 6 hides and 3 virgates, Stalbridge
with 20 hides, Weston with 8, Corscombe
with 10 hides less I virgate. Stoke Abbas with
10 hides ; the value of the whole amounting to
,^63 lOJ.** It was reported that 3 virgates of
land in the manor of Stalbridge, held by Man-
asses, had been taken from the church by W.
the king's son, without the consent of the bishop
or the monks.
The loss of influence and position that might
have been expected to follow the removal in 1075
of the episcopal see from Sherborne to Old Sarum
was in a great measure obviated by the readjust-
ments initiated by Roger of Salisbury in the suc-
ceeding century. The bishop in 1 122, with the
consent of Henry I, united the former abbey of
Horton to Sherborne as a dependent cell, and
raised the latter house, of which he as diocesan
was titular head, to the dignity of an abbey, '^
Thurstan being consecrated the s.ame year its first
abbot. ^ Various other arrangements and agree-
ments on the part of successive abbots and the
bishop and chapter of Salisbury followed this
change. Clement, then abbot, quitclaimed tojoce-
lin the bishop and the cathedral church of Salis-
bury, about the year 1 1 60, the castle of Sherborne,
formerly built by the great Roger of Salisbury ; -'
and the same bishop by his charter recited and
confirmed the rights and privileges of the abbot
as holder of a prebend in the cathedral, consti-
tuted by Bishop Osmund from the parish church
of Sherborne and its tithes and chapels, which
entitled the superior of the abbey to a stall in the
cathedral choir and a place in the chapter, the
grant expressly stipulating that on the decease of
an abbot no portion of the profits of the prebend
should fall to the communa because it was con-
ferred on the monastery itself and not expressly
on the abbot." The patent rolls record that on
22 July, 1386, the abbot and convent leased
their house in the cathedral close in favour of
John de Cliilterne, canon of Salisbury.-' In
" Leland, Itin. ii, 51, 52.
'* Dom. Bk. (Rec. Com.), i, fol. 77.
" Jnn. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), i, 10. William of Malmes-
bur}', who mentions other changes, by mistake ascribes
it to the fourth year of King Stephen, 1 139 ; Gesta
Regum (Rolls Ser.), ii, 559.
™ Cott. MS. Faust. A. ii, fol. 2 5 a'.
" Reg. St. OsmunJ. (Rolls Ser.), i, 235.
" Ibid. 250. The abbot is mentioned among
those prebendaries present at the framing of the New
Constitution {Nofa Constitutio) in 1214 (ibid. 374).
The prebend was assessed at ^40 in the Ta.xatio of
1 291. Pope Nick. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 182.
" Pat. 10 Rich. II, pt. I, m. 35.
1191 the monks made over the churches of
Lyme and Halstock to the bishop and chapter to
constitute a prebend in the cathedral church of
Salisbury to the honour of God and the 'glorious
virgin,' "^ and on the same date received a grant
appropriating the church of Stalbridge and Stoke
to the use of the abbey — saving a reasonable sus-
tenance to be provided for the perpetual vicar
ministering in the aforesaid churches — and a
licence to receive 2 marks annually from the
church of Corscombe when it should next be-
come vacant.-' Though by no means incon-
siderable, the rent-roll of the abbey of Sherborne
was comparable at no time to that of Shaftes-
bury, and even at this early date ' the poverty
and narrowness of means of the house of Sher-
borne ' are alluded to in the bishop's grant. In
1238 a composition between the convent and
the bishop of Salisbury released to the former all
amercements of the assize of bread and ale in
the hundred of Sherborne and Beaminster which
had been claimed against them, in return for
which they agreed to pay the bishop and his
successors half a mark annually at Easter.-'' The
bishop claimed the right to instal all superiors on
their appointment ; and in or about the year
12 1 7 Philip, abbot of Sherborne, acknowledging
that he had incurred the displeasure of the
diocesan by entering on the abbacy without his
authority, pledged himself that no abbot in
future should be enthroned save by the bishop of
Salisbury or by his special mandate.^' The
cathedral chapter, too, had their prerogative, and
in 1242 the prior and convent were required to
certify that the rights of the church of Salisbury
should not in future suffer infringement because
the abbot-elect, John de Hele, had recently
received the benediction at Ramsburyon account
of the ill health of the diocesan instead of in the
cathedral.-*
The bull of Pope Eugenius III in H45 recites
that at the request of the monks he has con-
firmed to the monaster)' of St. Mary of Sherborne^
which he has taken under the protection of
St. Peter, the following possessions : — The monas-
tery itself with all its lands, rents, and liberties
conferred by the kings of England and the bishops
of Salisbury ; the church of Stalbridge and of
Horton with its chapels of Knowlton and
' Chesilberie ' ; the chapel of Oborne ; the church
of St. Mary Magdalen by the castle with its
two chapels and appurtenances ; the church of
St. Andrew in Sherborne ; the churches of Brad-
ford, Halstock, Corscombe, and Stoke with the
chapel and all its appurtenances ; the churches of
Lyme and Fleet (Dorset), Littleham and Carswell
(Devon), and ' Cadweli ' or Kidwelly in Caer-
" Reg. Rubrum, fol. 335.
'^ Ibid. fol. 333-4.
"^ Ibid. fol. 158.
" Reg. St. Osmund. (Rolls Ser.), i, 265.
" Reg. Rubrum, fol. 160.
64
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
martlienshire/" cell to Sherborne ; the towns of
Stalbridge, Weston, Oborne, Thornford, Brad-
ford, Wyke, and ' Hloscum ' with all their ap-
purtenances ; Compton with Over and Nether
Compton, ' Propeschirche ' and Stockland with
woods, meadows and two mills ; the street before
the monastery in Sherborne, extending as far as
the church of St. Andrew, with the mill by the
monastery and the mill by St. Andrew's church ;
three taxable houses in Sherborne with other
houses belonging to them, the taxable houses
round the court [atrium) of the monastery with
their orchards and appurtenances ; all the taxable
houses in the burgh of Wareham with the chapel
of St. Andrew ; the towns of Horton, King-
ton, Halstock, Coringdon, Corscombe, Stoke,
Bromley, ' Laurechestoc,' Fleet, Beer, and Seaton
with their salt-pits and other appurtenances ; the
fisheries of Fleet, Beer, and Seaton ; Littleham
with its fisheries, meadows, woods, &c. ; Carswell
and Bromley ; various tithes with three cart-loads
of hay yearly in Bere, and one cart-load from the
demesne of the bishop ; the sepulture of the place
free for those who should desire to be buried
there, except for such as should die excommuni-
cated and saving the rights of the mother church.
On the death of the abbot or any of his successors
no one should be set over them except by the
common consent of the brethren or the counsel
of the wiser of them.^" The bull of Alexander III,
with some additions, confirms to the abbey in
1 163 the possessions enumerated in the bull of
1 145." Th&Taxat'io oi 1291 gives the abbot and
convent pensions amounting to f^() I2s. 6d. from
the churches of Stalbridge, Holy Trinity Ware-
ham, and Corscombe in the diocese of Salisbury;'^
their temporalities assessed at ;^I26 15J. 2d. in-
cluded lands and rents valued at £2^ ^s. Sd. in
the diocese of Exeter '' ; £^ in the diocese of
Bath and Wells ^* ; and ^^66 2s. 2d. in the
deanery of Shaftesbury in the Salisbury diocese.'^
The possessions of the abbey rendered it liable
to various services and taxations, and the demands
incidental more especially to houses of the Bene-
dictine order and of the royal patronage. The
abbot in 1 1 56 and 1160-1 acquitted himself to
the king for the holding of two knights' fees.'' In
1 166 the fees ot the house were certified by
charter thus : — Richard Fitz Hildebrant holds of
the abbey half a knight's fee, Thomas de Has-
weria one fee, Jordan de Netherstock half a fee,
" Roger, bishop of Salisbury, gave a carucateof land
at Kidwelly and ' the mountain called Salomon's ' ;
the churches of Pennalt, Kidwelly, and Penbray were
granted to the abbey by Richard Fitz William. Dug-
dale, Mon. i, 424.
™ Leland, liin. ii, 53, 54 ; Dugdale, Mon. i, 335.
Chart, of Sherborne, No. v.
^' Ibid. No. vi, i, 339.
»- Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 178-9.
'" Ibid. 151. " Ibid. 203. " Ibid. 184-5.
^ Red Bk. of the Exch. (Rolls Ser.), i, 15, 27.
Geoffrey de Stokes one-fifth of a fee, the above
constituting fees of the old feoffment ; of the
new feoffment Simon de Cherd holds two parts
of a fee, Walter Fitz Hugh one-fifth, Robert de
Thorncombe one-fifth.'' From that date the
abbot appears to have rendered service for two
knights' fees and a fifth part of a fee.'' In the
course of the war with Scotland he was sum-
moned by writ to send his service against the
Scots, and in 1324 was requested to raise forces in
defence of the duchy of Aquitaine;'^ his tenure
entitled him to a seat in Parliament,^" and he
leceived the usual notifications to attend. The
convent on frequent occasions received requests
or orders from Edward II and Edward III to
supply maintenance in their abbey for boarders
of the king's nomination,*' and in accordance
with the usual custom, were expected to provide
a pension for a clerk whenever a new abbot was
appointed.*^ An order was issued to the
escheator in July, 1 3 10, respiting until Michael-
mas a demand of a palfrey and a silver cup from
the abbot of Sherborne by reason of the last void-
ance, the abbot protesting that he was not
chargeable, as his predecessors had been quit of
this special payment * from time out of mind.'*'
On more than one occasion the monastery was
used as a depository for taxes and subsidies col-
lected in the county,** a strong and suitable
room being requisitioned within the abbey in
I 334 for the reception of the moneys collected in
Dorset for the tenths and fifteenths voted to the
king for the expenses of the war, with free ingress
and egress to be permitted to the collectors, who
were bound to answer for the amount."
The history of Sherborne, from the date of its
elevation in the twelfth century to the dignity of
an abbey down to the stirring incident which
led to the destruction of the church by fire in the
fifteenth century, is very uneventful, and con-
sists chiefly of small disconnected incidents.
Henry II, by one charter, confirmed a composition
" Ibid. 213.
" Ibid. 34, 64, 80, loi, 125, 166 ; ii, 344.
" Pari. Writs (Rec. Com.), i, div. viii, 1427-8.
'» Ibid.
" In I 309 William Beausamys was sent to the abbey
to receive maintenance for himself, a horse and groom
(Close, 2 Edw. II, m. 12). Hugh Cade was sent in
I 3 1 5 to receive such allowance as Richard le PoLiger
had had (ibid. 8 Edw. II, m. 1 1 d^. From the man-
ner in which on the death of one boarder another was
sent to take his place, it would seem that two was the
number maintained at a time (ibid. 10 Edw. II, m.
izd. \ ibid. 1 1 Edw. II, m. 9 </. ; 12 Edw. II, m. 30;
6 Edw. Ill, m. 2 d.). A complaint was lodged in
1335 that the abbey declined to provide full and
proper maintenance, and contented itself with merely
admitting the king's candidate. Pat. 9 Edw. Ill, pt. 2,
m. 21 (/.
"Close, 4 Edw. II, m. \% d.
" Ibid. m. 26. " Ibid. 4 Edw. I, m. 3 ./.
" Pari R. (Rec. Com.), ii, 45'-
65 9
A HISTORY OF DORSET
between G., abbot of Sherborne, and Richard Fitz
HilJebrand restoring to the abbey the towns of
Bradford and Corscombe on the death of the
said Richard, in accordance with a deed of Bishop
Roger of Sahsbury testifying that he had un-
justly taken them away from the church to give
to his brother Humphrey, and afterwards restored
them;*^ and by another charter, subsequently
confirmed by Edward I, bestowed the church of
Stalbridge on the office of the sacristan.^' The
abbey was in the king's hand in the first year of
Richard I, when Thomas de Husseburna ren-
dered account of ^^ 1 00 2s. ^d. for the fixed rent
of the house ;^' and again in 1213, John, on
15 July of that year, notifying the custodian of
the monastery that he had given instructions for
the prior and convent in the voidance of the
abbey to choose and send him suitable candidates
from whom an abbot could be selected, and de-
siring that their expenses should be provided.'"
In the month preceding his death in 12 16 John
gave instructions for the abbey of Shaftesbury to
be committed during voidance to the custody of
the abbot of Sherborne.'^'' Henry III, on
7 January, 1223, issued an order for John,
:almoner of Sherborne, to be allowed twenty
a-afters in aid of the almonry in course of build-
ing,*^ and by another grant in 1246 the monks
■were allowed two cart-loads of dead wood weekly
from the forest of Pamber." Letters of pro-
tection were obtained in 1241 by Abbot Henry
going beyond seas, until he should return from
his pilgrimage,*' licence to elect being granted to
the convent the following year on his resigna-
tion.** Edward I, in 1290, granted the abbot
and convent licence to hold a market and fair at
Stalbridge, and to have right of free warren in
their demesne lands of Weston, Oborne, Stal-
bridge, Wyke, Bradford, Thornford, Corscombe,
and 'Stawel,' in Dorset, and their lands in Devon-
shire.** Edward II granted permission in 1 3 1 7 for
the abbot and convent to acquire lands and rents
to the yearly value of ^10, provided they should
find a monk or chaplain to celebrate daily in the
abbey for the soul of the late king, of Robert
Fitz Payne, and all Christians;*^ in part satis-
faction of this grant the convent obtained lands
in Beer and Seaton (Devonshire).*'' On payment
of a fine of 50 marks, Richard II granted a
"^ By inspeximus of Edward I. Chart. R. 20 Edw. I,
No. 3.
" Ibid. *' Madox, Hist, of the Exch. i, 311.
" Close, 15 John, m. 7.
'" Ibid. 18 John, m. 3.
" Ibid. 7 Hen. Ill, m. 22.
" Pat. 30 Hen. Ill, m. 6.
" Ibid. 25 Hen. Ill, m. 8.
■■' Ibid. 26 Hen. Ill, pt. 2, m. 2.
" Chart. R. 18 Edw. I, No. 66. A grant was made
to the bishop of Salisbury of a four days' fair at Sher-
borne. Chart. R. 24 Hen. Ill, m. 2.
'^ Pat. 1 1 Edw. II, pt. I, m. 34.
" Ibid. 17 Edw. II, pt. I, m. 6.
licence in 1392 for the alienation of lands in
Coringdon, and the reversion of lands and rent
in Stoke Abbott to the abbey." The episcopal
registers record an indulgence granted by Bishop
Mitford in 1397 for a chantry founded at the
altar of St. Nicholas within the conventual
church." Various other indulgences were ob-
tained by the community at the beginning of the
thirteenth century, no doubt with the object of
supplementing insufficient revenues with the alms
of the faithful. Pope Boniface IX, in 1 401,
granted an indulgence to those visiting the con-
ventual church of Sherborne on the Annuncia-
tion, the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel, and
the Sunday following the latter feast, from the
first to the second vespers and giving alms, to-
gether with an indult to the abbot and eight
priests chosen by him, secular or religious, to hear
confessions and grant absolution.^" The abbot
in 14 1 2 received an indult to dispense four of his
monks for promotion to holy orders.*' The
following year the pope published an indulgence
with relaxation of seven years and seven quaran-
tines of enjoined penance, to penitents who, on
the principal feasts of the year, and 100 days to
those who on other days, should visit and give
alms for the conservation of the altar of Holy
Trinity and All Saints, in the church of Sher-
borne.*-
The election of superiors and their benediction
by the ordinary are recorded in the episcopal
registers, but the official records of the bishops of
Salisbury throw little light on the internal condi-
tion of the house, as they contain no visitation
reports for Sherborne. We may perhaps infer
from this omission that its management was on
the whole satisfactory. Up to the incident of
1436 existence seems to have flowed on peace-
fully and harmoniously, with but few interrup-
tions. A small break is reported among the last
entries of Bishop Mortival's register in 1329, in
connexion with the election of John de Comp-
ton ; the sacristan and a certain number of mojiks
appealing to the apostolic see and the Court of
Canterbury against his appointment on the
ground that at the time of his election he had
incurred sentence of excommunication for the
violent laying of hands on a clerk. The official
of the Court of Canterbury ordered the bishop to
cite the said John to appear before the court in
London, and to proceed no further till the case
had been decided.^' Nothing further is recorded,
and John de Compton remained in office till his
death in 1342. A dispute arose in 1 331 between
the convent and the rector of the church at Stal-
bridge of their advowson, respecting a yearly
pension of 10 marks claimed by the monks which
** Ibid. 16 Ric. II, pt. I, m. 35.
" Sarum Epis. Reg. Mitford, fol. 121 </.
** Cal. of Pap. Letters, v, 406.
" Ibid. vi. 282. '' Ibid, vi, 378.
" Sarum Epis. Reg. Mortival, ii, fol. 364 <2'.
66
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
the rector had neglected to pay for two years.^^
The parishioners of the church of Compton
' Hawy,' who had hitherto been obliged to carry
their dead for burial at Sherborne, in 1437 ob-
tained a bull from the pope conferring the right
of sepulture on their church.^'' It is probable
that during the latter part of the abbey's exis-
tence, owing to financial strain, the community
sank far below the original number of its inmates;
the voting body of professed monks at the elec-
tion of John Saunders in 1459 numbered only
fifteen,*' and about that number assembled for
the election of John Merc in 1504." At the
Dissolution the surrender deed of the abbey was
signed by fifteen brethren besides the abbot and
prior, and including the priors of the subordinate
cells of Horton (Dorset) and Kidwelly (Caermar-
thenshire).*'
That oft-quoted incident, the destruction or
partial destruction of the abbey by fire in a riot
in 1436, was the sequel of a violent and bitter
dispute between the monks and townsmen as to
their respective rights within the minster or con-
ventual church of Sherborne, the mother church
of the district, a portion of which, at the extremity
of the nave, served the inhabitants as their parish
church.*' The register of Bishop Neville sets
forth the dispute in full, reciting the appeal of the
abbot and convent to the diocesan against the
parishioners, who, to the detriment and injury of
the monastery, had set up a new font in their
parish church, and had caused the monks much
annoyance by ringing the parish bells for mattins
at unreasonable hours. The bishop visited Sher-
borne before taking steps, with the object of
hearing both sides, and sitting in the hall of the
abbot there appeared before him, 12 November,
1436, John Bazet, John Kayleway, Richard
Rochett, and John Sprotert on the part of and
in the name of all the parishioners, who set before
him their grievances, namely, that the monks
had removed the font from its old position in the
nave, and had narrowed the doorway in the in-
termediate wall between the parishioners' portion
and the body of the church by which the bap-
tismal processions were wont to pass, and they
prayed him to restore the font to its original
place and all things to their ancient use. The
bishop having heard all that could be said on the
part of either disputants announced his decision,
" Sarum Epis. Reg. Wyville, i, fol. 178.
" Ibid. Neville, fol. 88 a'.
^'^ Ibid. Beauchamp, i (2), fol. 53.
" Ibid. Audley, fol. 125.
^ L. and P. Hen. nil, xiv (i), 336.
*' Professor Willis in a paper on the minster or
church of Sherborne says : — ' At the west end of the
minster are fragments which clearly show that the nave
was prolonged in the 1 4th century by a building closely
resembling a parish church with 3 aisles, the plan of
which can be pretty accurately traced. This is known
as the church or chapel of Alhalowes.' j^rch. Journ.
xxii, 180.
67
decreeing in the first instance on behalf of the
religious men, that the new font, ' which had been
then newly and with daring rashness erected,'
should be altogether destroyed, removed, and
carried out of the church by those who had
caused its erection, and that the bells of ' Alha-
lowes ' should not be rung for mattins, except on
the solemn feasts of All Saints, Christmas, Epi-
phany, and Easter, until after the striking of the
sixth hour by the clock of the monastery and not
before ; on behalf of the inhabitants he ordered
the font to be replaced in its old and accustomed
place, and the door for the entrance of the pro-
cession of the parishioners to the font to be enlarged
and arched so as to give more space and restored
to its previous form, the manner and form of the
procession round the font to be still retained, and
a partition to be made in the nave between the
section of the monks and that of the parishioners
at the expense of the monastery, the font to be
replaced and the door enlarged by Christmas Day
following, and all things to be inviolably ob-
served by both parties under pain of the greater
excommunication.™ Practical and wise as the
bishop's decision sounds, it failed at the moment
to soothe the bitter feelings which had been roused
during the controversy, and a riot ensued, which is
described by Leland in his account of Sherborne —
The body of the abbay chirch dedicate to our
Lady servid ontille a hundrith yeres syns for the
chife paroche chirch of the town. This was the cause
of the abolition of the paroche chirch there. The
monkes and the townes men felle at variance by cause
the townes men took privilege to use the sacrament of
baptism in the chapelle of Alhalowes. Wherapon
one Walter Gallor, a stoute bucher, dwelling yn Shir-
burn, defacid clene the font-stone and after the
variance growing to a playne sedition and the townes-
menne by the meanesof an erle of Huntendune, lying
yn those quarters and taking the tovvnes-mennes part,
and the bishop of Saresbyri the monkes part, a prest
of Alhalowes shot a shaft with fier into the toppe of
that part of St. Marys chirch that divided the Est
part that the monkes usid, from that the townes-men
usid ; and this partition chauncing at that tyrae to be
thakkid yn the rofe was sette afire and consequently al
the hole chirch, the lede, and belles meltid, was
defacid."
The abbot at that time, William Bradford,
' persecuted ' this injury, we are told, and the
inhabitants of the town were forced to contribute
to the ' re-edifying ' of their church.'^
For the remainder of the fifteenth century the
community were fully occupied in the task of
restoration. Henry VI at their petition granted
a licence for them to acquire more lands to the
yearly value of jTio in aid of rebuilding.'^ The
east end of the church was rebuilt in the time
of Abbot Bradford or of John Saunders his
" Sarum Epis. Reg. Neville, fol. 10% d.
" Leland, Itln. ii, 48. " Ibid.
" Pat. 24 Hen. VI, pt. I, m. 6.
A HISTORY OF DORSET
successor.'* Peter Rampisham, elected in 1475
built the west part ' not many yeres syns,' says
Leland." From the time of the fire down to the
Dissolution, when the abbey church was sold by
Sir John Horsey to the parishioners, and the
chapel was pulled down as being no longer
required, Alhalowes' was legally and definitely
assigned to the inhabitants of Sherborne as the
parish church." The income of the abbey on
the eve of the Reformation was declared by the
Valor of 1535 at ;£682 14J. yf^. net." The
churches in the possession of the monks included
the parsonages of Bradford and Horton (Dorset),
Carswell and Beer and Seaton (Devon);'' and
among their temporalities were the manors of
Stoke Abbott, Corscombe, Halstock, Bradford,
Wyke, ' Stawell,' Thornford, O borne, Weston,
and Stalbridge (Dorset), Carswell, Littleham
and Exmouth, Beer and Seaton (Devon).'' The
amount assigned for distribution in alms to the poor
on the anniversary of founders, &c., shows that
the brethren did not neglect one of the main
duties of a religious community. In Thornford,
assigned to the office of the almoner, there was a
yearly charge of £6 6s. as follows : — 4.1. in bread
distributed annually to the poor of Sherborne on
the day of St. Cadast (?) for the soul of John Send
(Saunde or Saunders), sometime abbot ; 6s. 8d. in
bread distributed on the feast of St. Benedict for
the soul of Alfric Thornecomb ; ;^5 in a daily
distribution from the house of the almoner for
the soul of the aforesaid Alfric ; 2s. in bread dis-
tributed on Palm Sunday for the soul of Richard
Chynnock ; 13;. 4^. in bread, ale, fish, and
money distributed to the poor on Maundy
Thursday for the soul of the aforesaid founder.'"
From the rectory of Corscombe 2;. Sd. was
assigned in bread to the poor at Sherborne for
the soul of Ralph Vatrell on the feast of St. Peter
and St. Paul.*' From the manor of Stalbridge a
distribution of 2s. ^d. was yearly made to the poor
for the soul of the mother of William de la Wyll
by the foundation of the said William.*" The
sum of ;^4 1 1;. was laid out in a distribution of
bread for the soul of Peter Rampisham, late abbot
of Sherborne, and 6s. 8d. for the soul of Roger
Gylden ;*' on the feast of St. Bartholomew bread
'* ' All the est parte of St. Mary Chirch was reedi-
fied in abate Bradeford's tyme,' says Leland in one
place, 'saving a chapelle of Our Lady, an olde peace of
work that the fier came not to by reason that it was
of an older building ' (//•/». ii, 48). In another place
he says, ' Peter Ramsunne, next abbate save one to
Bradaford, buildid al the west part of the chirch '
(ibid, iii, 90).
" According to Leland the same abbot ' sette
a chapelle caullid our lady of Bowe harde to the
south side of the old Lady Chapplle ' (ii, 49).
" From the parish register of Sherborne quoted by
Dugdale, Mon. i, 335.
" rahr Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 285.
" Ibid. 281. " Ibid. 282-4. *° Ibid. 2.
" Ibid. 282. *' Ibid. 286. *= Ibid. 284.
68
to the value of 10;. was annually distributed for
the soul of Robert Ayam, knt., and alms were daily
distributed at the door of the refectory, called
' le frayter,' for the soul of Philip, sometime abbot
of Sherborne, viz. one loaf of monks' bread and
a measure of ale, at a yearly charge of £^2 51. c^d^
Among the charges on the abbey was the sum
of ySf. for the exhibition of three scholars in the
grammar school of Sherborne of the foundation
of Alfric Thornecomb,*' and ^^5 for a corrody
for a person to be nominated from time to time
by the king, and at that time held by William
Burn.
In the promotion of John Barnstable as abbot
on the resignation of John Mere in 1535,** the
policy of securing superiors unlikely to lend
opposition to the new order of things is not
far to seek. ' I thank you,' writes Sir John
Horsey, to whom the dissolved abbey was after-
wards granted, to Cromwell on 9 May from
Sherborne, ' for offering my friend Dan John
Barnstable to be abbot of Shyrborne on the
resignation of Dan John Mere late abbot,' ' the
monastery,' he adds, *are well pleased with the
appointment.'*' The new abbot, in a letter to
the ' Visitor General of the monasteries ' thanking
him for his appointment, expresses his willing-
ness to follow various directions as to the man-
agement of the house,** his compliance receiving
due reward in the measure of liberty allowed
him.*' On the fall of the house 1 8 March, 1539,
the abbot, who had surrendered with sixteen of
his brethren, received a pension of ;^ioo, the
priors of Horton and Kidwelly £% each, the sub-
prior of Sherborne and another monk £1 each,
seven of the brethren £6 13J. \d. each, and four
monks £6 each.'" Henry VIII on 4 January,
1540, made over to Sir John Horsey the house
and site of the late dissolved monastery together
with certain of its possessions.'' Sir John, on
26 March following, sold to the parishioners of
Sherborne, for the sum of 1 00 marks, the con-
ventual church, which has from that time been the
parish church of the town.
Abbots of Sherborne"
Thurstan, consecrated 1122'^
Peter, occurs about 1 142 '*
«' Ibid. 285. »» Ibid.
*^Z,. and P. Hen. Vll, viii, 852. John Mere
secured a pension of ^^40 on his resignation.
«' Ibid. 693. «* Ibid. 852.
«' Ibid, ix, 256. » Ibid, xiv (i), 556.
" Ibid. XV, 562.
'' Of the early superiors of Sherborne who presided
in the capacity of praepositu! primus or decanus over
the secular canons, and on their removal as priors over
the monks substituted in their place, no record seems
left prior to the erection of Sherborne into an abbey in
the year 1 122, when Thurstan was consecrated abbot.
Cott. MS. Faust, ii, fol. 25 a'.
*' Ibid. '* Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iv, 232.
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
Clement, occurs about i i6o '*
Henry, occurs about 1 165 '"
E., occurs in reign of Henry II"
G., occurs in reign of Henry IP'
Pliilip, occurs about 1217°'
William of Tewkesbury '''*'
Henry, elected 1227,'"' resigned 1242
John de Hele, elected 1242'°''
Lawrence de Bradford, elected 1246'"'
John de Saunde, elected I26i,died 1286'°*
Hugh de Staplebridge, elected 1286,'°' died
1310
John Thornford, elected 1310,*"° died 1316
Robert de Ramsbury, elected 1316,'"' died
1329
John de Compton, elected 1329,^"' died 1342
John de Henton, elected 1342,'°' died 1348
John de Frith, elected 1348 ""
Edward Goude, elected 1371,""* died 1385 "'
Robert Bruynyng, elected 1385,"" died 1415
John Bruynyng, elected 1415,^'' died 1436
William Bradford, elected 1436,'" died 1459
John Saunders, elected 1459,'" died 1475
Peter Rampisham, elected 1475,"^ died 1504
John Mere, elected 1505,"' resigned 1535
John Barnstable, elected 1535,^" surrendered
the abbey 18 March, 1539^"
'^ When he quitclaimed to Bishop Jocelin of Salis-
bury and the cathedral church the castle of Sherborne
(Reg. St. Osmund. [Rolls Ser.], i, 235). Willis gives the
year 1163 ; Hist, of Mitred jibbeys, ii, 71.
** About that date Jocelin, bishop of Salisbury, by
charter to Henry the abbot and convent of Sherborne,
recited the rights of the abbot as the holder of a pre-
bend in the cathedral ; Reg. St. Osmund. (Rolls Ser.), i,
249.^
" The abbots E. and G. occur in charters of
Henry II, inspected and confirmed by Edward I ;
Chart. R. 20 Edw. I, No. 3. »» Ibid.
^ Reg. St. Osmund. (Rolls Ser.), {,265.
'°° Hutchins, without a date (Hist, oj Dorset, iv,
232) from the Kennett MS.
"" Pat. II Hen. Ill, m. 15.
"" Ibid. 26 Hen. Ill, pt. 2, m. 2.
'»' Ibid. 31 Hen. Ill, m. 9.
"» Ibid. 14 Edw. I, m. 17.
'»'Ibid. m. 12.
'°* Ibid. 3 Edw. II, m. 6 ; Sarum Epis. Reg. Simon
of Ghent, ii, fol. 89.
"" Ibid. Mortival, i, fol. 182 ; Pat. 10 Edw. II,
pt. I, m. 6.
"« Ibid. 3 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. I 5.
■»' Ibid. 16 Edw. Ill, pt. 3, m. 6.
"" Ibid. 22 Edw. Ill, pt. 3, m. 10 ; Sarum Epis.
Reg. Wyville, ii, fol. 1 98.
""' Hutchins, op. cit. iv, 233.
'" Pat. 9 Ric. II, pt. I, m. 39.
'" Ibid. m. 40.
'" Ibid. 2 Hen. V, pt. 3, m. 7.
"* Ibid. 15 Hen. VI, m. 38.
"' Sarum Epis. Reg. Beauchamp, i (2), fol. 53.
'" Pat. 15 Edw. IV, pt. 3, m. 1.
'" Sarum Epis. Reg. Audley, fol. 125.
"» L. and P. Hen. Vlll, viii, 802 (27).
'" Ibid, xiv (I), 556.
An eleventh-century seal of the monastery
(round) gives a fine impression of the abbey
church from the north with apse, towers, and
porch ; the windows of the clearstory and towers
and the doorway are round-headed.^^'* Legend : —
>54 SIGILLV • SCE • MARIE • SCYRBVRNENSIS
A broken example of the above seal is to be
found attached to the surrender deed of the abbey
in I539.">
The pointed oval seal of Abbot Clement
(circa 1 160) represents St. Benedict, half-length,
holding in his right hand a scroll inscribed :
VERTITE FiLii AVDiTE ME. In bars under two
round-headed arches are two half-length monks
looking upward. '^^
The legend is defective owing to the edge of
the seal being rubbed.
. . . EMENTIS DE BVRN ....
The seal of Abbot Laurence de Bradford
(1246-59), pointed oval, the impression very
imperfect, gives the abbot standing on a carved
corbel, in his right hand a pastoral staff, in his
left a book. The background diapered lozengy
with a reticular pattern and small annular de-
pression in each space. On the left is a counter-
sunk quatrefoil containing a monk's head, the
subject on the right corresponding is broken
away.'^^
RNI
A small pointed oval seal, with very fine im-
pression but imperfect, represents on a church
with pinnacled turrets at the sides the Virgin,
half-length, holding the Child on the right arm.
In base, under a trefoiled arch, is an abbot with
pastoral staff, half-length, in prayer.^^*
The legend, which is defective, runs : —
CRA
DEI MEM
The signet of Abbot John de Flixton, attached
to an indenture dated 1347, small, oval, chipped
at the top, represents in a finely-carved and
pointed quatrefoil St. Margaret standing on a
dragon and piercing its head with a long cross
held in her right hand."'
The legend is partly defective : —
.... [vJiRGO • VERMEM • J'VO[c]aNDO •
VICIT • INER[mEM]
The signet of Abbot John Frith attached to a
deed dated i 37 1, red, represents in a finely-carved
and pointed quatrefoil a dog sitting between two
trees.
126
'» B.M. Seals, Ixii, 53.
'" Deeds of Surrender, No. 112.
'" B.M. Seals, Ixii, 54.
'" Add. Chart. I 3969.
"• B.M. Seals, Ixii, 55.
"' Add. Chart. 6082.
Ibid. 6083.
69
A HISTORY OF DORSET
The green pointed oval seal of William the
prior, attached by a woven cord of red silk strands
to a document dated 1242,^°' represents the prior
full length, holding in his right hand a pastoral
staff, in his left hand a book. The legend
runs : —
li« SIGILLVM • WIl'i • PRIORIS : SIREBURNE
5. THE PRIORY OF CRANBORNE
The monastery of Cranborne is said to have
been founded as an abbey for Benedictine monks
about the year 980.' The chronicle of Tewkes-
bury describes its foundation and early connexion
with the more widely-famous abbey in Glou-
cestershire in the following manner :
About the year 930, in the reign of King Athelstan,
flourished a certain noble knight sprung of the
illustrious stock of Edward the Elder and known by
the name of Haylward Snevv on account of his fairness.
And being not unmindful of his end, he built for him-
self and yElfgifu his wife in the days of King Ethelred
and St. Dunstan the archbishop a small monastery to
the honour of God and Our Lord Jesus Christ,
His Mother, and St. Bartholomew the Apostle, and
endowed it with lands and possessions. And having
assembled there brethren to serve under the obedience
of an abbot according to the rule of St. Benedict, he
made Tewkesbury, of which he was patron, wholly
subject to it. These things were done about the
year 980. And Haylward, having died and received
burial in the church which he had built, was suc-
ceeded by ^Ifg.ar his son, the father of Brihtric, who
according to the vow of his parents ' amplified ' the
church which they had begun.'
' Subsequently,' pursues the chronicle —
William Duke of Normandy acquired England, bring-
ing with him Robert Fitz-Hamon, lord of Astremar-
villa in Normandy, and Matilda the wife of the
Conqueror hated the said Brihtric Snew or Meaw
because when sent abroad on an embassy for the
affairs of the realm he refused her hand in marriage.
She afterwards married William, and h.iving sought
opportunity stirred up the king's wrath against the
Saxon nobleman so that he was seized by the king's
order in the manor of Hanley (Worcestershire) and
conveyed to Winchester, where he died and was buried
leaving no heir.'
'"Add. Chart. 20372.
' Cott. MS. Cleop. C. iii, fol. 220. Dugdale
mentions a tradition of a still earlier foundation, con-
tained in an MS. in the Ashmolean Museum, ' de
abbatiis et abbatibus Norman, et eorum fundatoribus,'
which states that a college of six monies was built
here in memory of the Britons who had here been
slain. Mon. iv, 465.
' Cott. MS. Clerp. C. iii, fol. 220. Freeman
dismisses this pedigree with the remark that as ' a
piece of chronology it attributes a wonderfully long
life to the persons concerned ; ' Norman Cotiq. iv,
App. T. p. 763.
' Cott. MS. Cleop. C. iii, fol. 220. Freeman
commenting on this ' legend,' which comes from the
continuator of Wace and may be found in Ckiomqucs
His estates were granted to Queen Matilda and
subsequently to Robert Fitz Hamon, who, in the
year 1 102, 'led by the Holy Spirit' and at the
instigation of ' his good wife Sybil ' and of
Ceroid, abbot of Cranborne, greatly enlarged the
church of Tewkesbury and endowed it with
further possessions ; and finding that the place
enjoyed a more agreeable site and a more fertile
soil he transferred the whole community from
Cranborne thither, leaving only a prior and two
monks that the memory of its founders might
be held for ever in remembrance, and so, trans-
forming the former abbey into a priory, he made
it entirely subject to the abbey of Tewkesbury.*
The regulations for the newly-constituted abbey
drawn up by Abbot Ceroid in the year 1105,
when the transference to Tewkesbury seems to
have been finally completed, assigned the manor of
Tarrant (Monkton) towards the improvement of
the monks' food, the churches 'which had belonged
to Robert the chaplain' towards their clothing, and
the manor of Chettle in Dorset for almsgiving.'
Previous to this removal the Domesday Survey
of 1086, which separates the estates of Cran-
borne from those of Tewkesbury, states that
the church of St. Mary here held 2 carucates
of land in Cillingham valued at 60;. in Edward
the Confessor's time, but then worth 20J.,
Boveridge and Up Wimborne, both of which
had been and were then worth iooj., Lestisford,
half a hide in Langford in the parish of Framp-
ton, and the manor of Tarrant Monkton, which
had fallen in value from ;^I2 to £\0.^ Under
the holding of the widow of Hugh Fitz Crip it
is recorded that Hugh gave the church of St.
Mary, Cranborne, a hide of land in Orchard for
the good of her soul, and ' it is worth lOiJ A
charter of Roger, bishop of Salisbury, confirmed
to the abbey of Tewkesbury the gifts of Robert
Fitz Hamon and his knights in the year 1109,
including the church of St. Mary of Cranborne
with all its appurtenances, and certain churches
which had belonged to R[obert] the chaplain,
viz., Pentridge, Ashmore, and Frome, with other
tithes.* The Taxatio of 1 29 1 gives the abbey
spiritualities valued at j^i I2j. from the churches
of Belchalwell, Pentridge, and Langton Mat-
ravers ;' those of the priory of Cranborne, amount-
ing to £2 IS., consisted of a pension of Js. from
the church of Sturminster Newton, 12s. from the
church of Edmondsham, 25. from that of Wim-
borne Karentham, and ;^i from the vicarage of
Anglo-'Normandes (i, 73), says 'it has this much of
corroboration from history that a portion of the lands
of Brihtric did pass to Matilda'; Norman Conq. iv, 166.
« Cott. MS. Cleop. C. iii, fol. 220.
' Cott. MS. Cleop. A. vii, fol. 94^. The Annates
of Winchester and Worcester are wrong in giving
1086 as the year in which the removal of Tewkes-
bury took place. Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 34 ; iv,
373. ° Dom. Bk. (Rec. Com.), i, 77^.
' Ibid. 84. ' Cott. MS. Cleop. A. vii, fol. 75*.
' Po^e Nici. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 178^, 179.
70
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
Dewlish.'* The temporalities were all entered
under Tewkesbury, and realized ^^25 I2j. 6d}^
From the date of its subjection to Tewkes-
bury the history of the cell is all but entirely
merged in that of the larger house, and save
on one or two occasions, when the abbot is
shown as keeping a watchful eye on his estate
here lest any of his rights should be infringed
by his powerful neighbour, the earl of Glou-
cester,'^ references to it are brief and rare. We
read that the body of Gilbert de Clare, earl of
Gloucester, who died abroad in 1230, was con-
veyed home for burial, and stopped at Cranborne
on its way to Tewkesbury. '' The church was
rebuilt in 1252 and dedicated to St. Mary and
St. Bartholomew.'* Occasionally the prior acted as
proxy or attorney for the abbot, as in 1 3 14 when he
was appointed to do suit and service to the abbot
of Glastonbury for lands held in his manor of
Damerham (Wiltshire)." In the course of a dio-
cesan visitation by the bishop in 1379 he was
ordered lo appear in the church of Sonning the
second Thursday after the Feast of St. Barnabas,
prepared to exhibit the title deeds of the abbot
and convent of Tewkesbury for their possessions
in the Salisbury diocese.'^ Among tlie expenses
charged on the priory in the Fa /or of 1535 is
an entry of ~s. lod. due to the bishop of
Salisbury for the triennial visitation of the church
of Cranborne.'' In the course of the Hundred
Years' War the prior was required, together with
the abbots of Sherborne, Cerne, Bindon, and
Abbotsbury, &c., to move nearer the sea-coast
for the purpose of repelling invasion, under peril
of being regarded as rebels and favourers of the
enemy.'* Edward III in 1329 'out of affection
for Peter de Broadway, prior of Cranborne,'
granted a licence for the abbot and convent of
Tewkesbury to acquire in mortmain lands not
held in chief to the value of j^io ; three years
later the prior of the subject-cell was induced
to surrender this grant and another was obtained
more specifically in favour of the parent house.'^
'" Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 178, 178^, 179.
" Ibid. fol. 183, 18+.
" Cott. MS. Cleop. A. vii, fol. 96-8 ; Jnn. Mon.
(Rolls Ser.), i, 140, 144.
'^ Ibid, i, 76. " Ibid, i, 149, 150.
" Hoare, Modern Wilts. Hund. of S. Damerham, 30.
"" Sarum Epls. Reg. Erghum, fol. 29.
" Valor Ecd. (Rec. Com.), ii, 485. In 1433 a royal
writ was issued desiring to be certified as to whether the
prior and convent of Cranborne held and hold the
parish church of Cranborne, what was the portion of
the prior therein, and at what was it assessed in all
clerical subsidies. The return stated that the church
of Cranborne, with the chapel of Archnal, was appro-
priated to the prior and convent, and taxed at
25 mariis, the vicar of Cranborne was taxed at
(}\ marks. Sarum Epis. Reg. Chandler, fol. 1 14.
" Rymer, Foed. (Rec. Com.), ii, (2), 1062.
" Pat. 3 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 21 ; 6 Edw. Ill,
pt. 3, m. 4.
According to the Valor of 1535 the gross in-
come of the priory at that time amounted to
^55 6j. \d.; the expenses to £\-i i6f. 8i.,
including ^10 paid to the vicar of Cranborne
for his stipend 'according to the composi-
tion made by the ordinary,' and a yearly dis-
tribution of lOj. in bread to the poor, for the
soul of the founder ' Ailward Mayewe'; Henry
Bromall was then prior.-"
At the Dissolution the cell shared the fate of
the abbey, which was surrendered to the king's
commissioners 31 January, 1540. William
Dydcottc, who in 1335 held the office of sacrist
of Tewkesbury, received a pension of ^^lo as ths
last prior of Cranborne."
The manor of Cranborne Priory, pertaining;
to the late abbey of Tewkesbury and rated at
£\\ 13^. id.., was sold in the reign of Philip
and Mary to Robert Freke at seventy-four years'
purchase ; the manor, rectory, and advowson of
the vicarage in the first year of Elizabeth were
granted to Thomas Francis for life. Sub-
sequently they were given by James I to Robert
Cecil, earl of Salisbury, in the possession of whose
family they still remain.'^
Priors of Cranborne
Gerold, abbot of Cranborne, transferred the
abbey to Tewkesbury i io2 ^^
Adam de Preston, died 1262^*
Walter de Appleleigh, occurs 1314-'
Peter de Broadway, occurs 1329 and 1332 ^^
Henry Bromall, occurs 1535^'^
William Dydcotte, last prior 1540 ■*
6. THE PRIORY OF HORTON
(Cell to the abbey of Sherborne)
The foundation of the Benedictine abbey,
afterwards priory, of Horton is generally attribu-
ted to Ordgar or Orgar, earl of Devon, the
founder of Tavistock, who flourished in the
reign of King Edgar and died in the year 971.'
=" Valor Ecd. (Rec. Com.), ii, 485.
" L. and P. Hen. VIII, xv, 49.
" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iii, 382-3.
'^ Jnn. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), i, 44. '* Ibid, i, 169.
" Hoare, Modern Wilts. Hund. of S. Damerham, 30.
'" Pat. 3 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 21 ; 6 Edw. Ill,
pt. 3, m. 4.
" Valor Ecd. (Rec. Com.), ii, 485.
" L. and P. Hen. VIII, xv, 49.
' Hutchins gives the date of Horton as 961 {Hist,
of Dorset, iii, 149), the same year in which Ordgar
founded Tavistock according to Matthew of West-
minster {Flores Hist. [Rolls Ser.], i, 508). Ordgar will
always be remembered as the father of the notorious
Queen Elfrida, who, after disposing of her first hus-
band, became the wife of Edgar, and whom tradition
has charged with the murder of her step-son Edward
the Martyr.
71
A HISTORY OF DORSET
The account, however, of William of Malmes-
bury, from which all subsequent accounts are
drawn,' seems rather to imply that the abbey
was the work of Ordulph or Edulph, son of
Ordgar, and should consequently be dated a
little later ; possibly the two accounts may be
reconciled by supposing that it was begun by
the elder man and carried on to completion by
the younger in deference to his father's wishes.
Horton, dedicated to St. VVolfrida, the mother
of Edith abbess of Wilton, was situated, like
Little Malvern and other foundations of that
age, in the midst of forest ; ' centuries later
Leland writes of the abbey as four miles distant
from Wimborne ' much by woody ground.' *
The earlier chronicler relates some of the
stories that have been handed down anent the
enormous strength and prowess of the younger
founder, the giant Edulph,' but adds ' spite of
this matchless physical strength death carried
him off in the flower of his age, and he ordered
that he should be buried at Horton.' Abbot
Sihtric of Tavistock, however, foreseeing the
advantage that would thence accrue to the
smaller foundation, stepped in and ' by violence '
caused the body to be transferred to his own
church where Earl Ordgar already lay buried.
In all probability Horton shared the fate of
Tavistock, which was destroyed in the Danish
raid of 997.° To return to the account of
William of Malmesbury, Abbot Sihtric added to
his crime in robbing Horton of the body of Edulph
by turning pirate in the reign of William the
Conqueror, whereby he ' polluted religion ' and
'defamed the church.'^
At the time of the Domesday Survey the
abbey was in possession of the manor of Horton,
which was taxed at 7 hides and valued at £4.,
' the king holds two of the best hides in the
forest of Wimborne.'* The church would go
with the possession of the manor as was then the
custom and the monks held at the same time a
little church or chapel {eccUs'iola) in Wimborne
and land with two houses, the church of Holy
Trinity, Wareham, and five houses paying a
rent of 65</., and a house in Dorchester' besides
estates in Devonshire.
Among the changes in his diocese introduced by
Roger, the great bishop of Salisbury and chan-
cellor of Henry I, was the reduction of Horton
from an abbey to a priory and its subsequent
annexation as a subordinate cell to Sherborne,
which in the same manner was raised to the
' Will, of Malmes. Gesta Pontif. (Rolls Ser.), 202-3.
' Ibid. * Itln. iii, 73.
' Will, of M.ilmes. Gesta Pontif. (Rolls Sen), 203.
' Matt, of Westm. Floret Hut. (Rolls Ser.), i, 524.
' Owing to a misreading of the text, the abbot in
many accounts is charged with firing the church {infla-
maz'it instead of inj'amavit).
' Dom. Bk. (Rec. Com.), i, jU.
' Ibid.
position of an abbey, the transference taking
place in 1 1 22 according to the Annalsof Margam,'"
in 1 1 39 according to William of Malmesbury."
By this change the lands and possessions of Horton
passed over to Sherborne, as we may gather from
a bull of Pope Eugenius III in 1 145 and again
of Pope Alexander III in 1163, confirming the
possessions of Sherborne and enumerating among
them the manor and church of Horton with the
adjacent chapel of Knowlton, the chapel of Holy
Trinity, Wareham, and the church of St. Mary
Wimborne.'^* The faxatio of 1 29 1 gives the prior
of Horton temporalities at Horton valued at
j^4 17J. 4^^.,^^ the church of Horton belonging
to Sherborne was valued at ;^io, the endowment
of the vicarage amounting to £s-^* In I535
the rectory was not worth more than £<) 5/. 4^.,
the vicar only receiving 17$. j^d. ; ^' the gross
value of the manor at that time was returned at
j^22 10s. 6d., out of which 2s. was paid to the
hundred court, and a fee of l6s. Sd. to Giles
Strangweys, knt., steward of the manor."
From the date of its annexation to Sherborne
the priory sinks into that obscurity mostly at-
tending the existence of small dependent cells
from which it rarely emerges.^' In April 1286
we read that simple protection, until the Feast of
St. Peter ad Vincula, was granted to Hugh prior
of Horton, going beyond seas, and appointing
John de Chegy and Henry son of William de
Horton his attorneys during his absence.'* A
commission was issued in February, 1348,00 the
complaint of Alesia countess of Lincoln, that the
abbots of Sherborne and Milton, John de Brade-
ford, prior of Horton, and others, had broken
her park at Kingston Lacy, cut down her trees
and hunted her deer.'' Again in 1401 dispen-
sation was granted to John Cosyn, Benedictine
prior of Horton, ' who is also a monk of Sher-
borne,' to hold another benefice, office, dignity.
" Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), i, 10.
" Cott. MS. Faust. A. ii. The account given
by the chronicler in his Hisloria Novella (Rolls
Ser.), ii, 559, is that Roger of Salisbury first destroyed
Horton and then added it to Sherborne ; he may be
expressing the same thing in his other account of
Horton which speaks of the abbey so being </«/ri!)r<i'
at the time in which he was writing the Gesta Pontif.
(Rolls Ser. 202), meaning that the status of Horton
as an abbey had been done aw.-iy with and not that
its existence had ceased.
" Dugdale, Mon. under Sherborne, i, Nos. v, ri,
338-9.
" Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 184^.
"Ibid. 174*.
•' Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), 1, 281.
'= Ibid. 287.
" Various references given by Tanner under this
house belong to Monks Horton, a Cluniac foundation
cell to Lewes with which the Dorset Horton is
frequently confounded.
" Pat. 14 Edw. I, m. 18, 19.
" Ibid. 22 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 43 d.
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
or priory of the same or another order and to
resign it in exchange for another as often as he
pleases.^
At the Dissolution the abbey of Sherborne was
surrendered to the king on i8 March, 1339, the
deed being signed among others ' per me John
Hart,'^' the same John Hart or Herte alias Ray-
nold, prior of Horton, receiving a pension of
;^8.'' The manors, together with the site of the
priory, the rectory and advowson of the vicarage,
were granted in the first year of Edward VI
to Edward duke of Somerset, and on his attain-
der to the earl of Pembroke.^'
Priors of Hoijton "
Hugh, occurs 1286"
John de Bradeford, occurs 1348"^
John Cosyn, occurs 1401 "'
Henry Trew, occurs 1459-60^'
John Dorchester, occurs 1504^^
John Hart or Herte alias Raynold, occurs on
its surrender, 1539'°
HOUSE OF BENEDICTINE NUNS
7. THE ABBEY OF SHAFTESBURY
The Benedictine nunnery of Shaftesbury is
generally, though not universally, ascribed to the
foundation of Alfred the Great * about the year
888;^ the king, by his charter in honour of
God the Blessed Virgin and all the saints, con-
ferring on the nunnery, over which his daughter
Elfgiva, jEthelgeofu or Algiva, presided as abbess,
100 hides of land as an endowment, consisting
of 40 hides at Donhead St. Andrew, and Comp-
ton Bassett (Wiltshire), 20 hides at Handley and
Gussage, ID hides at Tarrant, 15 hides at
Iwerne Minster and 15 at Fontmell.'
This nucleus was much increased by the
grants of Alfred's successors ; from ^thelstan
in 932 the nuns obtained 4^ carucates of land at
Fontmell on condition that they should sing psalms
for the redemption of his soul ^ and by another
charter in 935 land at Tarrant in Pimperne
Hundred.' Edmund in 942 gave to the religious
woman Wenflede the land of twenty manses at
Cheselbourne ; * Eadred in 948 land in Purbeck
*• Cal. Pap. Letters, v, 362.
" P.R.O. Deeds of Surrender, No. 40.
" L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiv (i), 556.
*' Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iii, 143.
" Very few of these can be recovered, the prior was
' dative and removeable ' by the abbey, consequent!)-
his appointment is never recorded in the episcopal
registers or in the patent rolls. Dugdale only gives
the names of two.
" Pat. 14 Edw. I, m. 18, 19.
'" Ibid. 22 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 43 d.
" Cal. Pap. Letters, v, 362.
"Dugdale, Mon. ii, 511. " Ibid.
™ P.R.O. Deeds of Surrender, No. 40 ; L. and P.
Hen. Vlll, xiv (i), 556.
' Will, of Malmes. Gesta Regum (Rolls Ser.), i, 131 ;
Matt, of VVestm. Flores Hist. (Rolls Ser.), i, 468 ;
Leiand, Coll. i, 26; Leland, however, in another place
(ibid, i, 67) speaks of .^thelbald, the son of .iEthelwulf
of Wessex, as the founder, and his brothers .iEthelbert,
./Ethelred, and Alfred as co-founders. In various
other passages the above authorities ascribe the founda-
tion to St. Elgiva, wife of King Edmund, with her
husband a great benefactor of the abbey (Will, of
2 7
to the religious woman ^Elfthrith ; ' Edwy be-
stowed on the nunnery in 956 for the love of
Christ the land of 80 manses at Donhead St.
Andrew, Easton Bassett (Wiltshire), Compton
Abbas, Handley and Iwerne Minster (Dorset).'
Edgar confirmed and renewed to the chuich
and nuns of Shaftesbury in 966 ten cassates
of land at Piddle formerly granted to them
by his grandmother Wenflede, the record of
which through carelessness had been lost.'
.(Ethelred 'the unrede ' gave in 984 the land
of twenty manses at Tisbury (Wiltshire),''' and
by another charter in looi bestowed on the
church of St. Edward the vill and monastery of
Bradford (Wiltshire) to be subject to the nuns, that
with the relics of the Blessed Martyr (King
Edward) and other saints they might find there a
refuge against the attacks of the Danes, the king
stipulating that on the restoration of peace and
tranquillity when the sisters returned to their
ancient home they should leave behind at Brad-
ford a sufficient community, according as the prior
should think fit, for its monastic state to be main-
tained.'' The chartulary of the monastery
records that in 1019 Canute, who died here in
1035,'^ made a grant of si.xteen cassates of land
Malmes. Gesta Pontif. (Rolls Ser.), 186-7; Matt, of
Westm. op. cit. i, 455 ; Leland, op. cit. ii, 252 .
It may be that the similarity in the name of the first
abbess, Alfred's daughter, and that of the benefactress
who followed her and was buried in the abbey, has
led to this confusion as to the founder.
' Asser, De rebus gestis JElfredi (Camd. Soc), 19 ;
Sim. of Durham, Opera (Twysden), 150 ; Leland,
Coll. iii, 71.
' Birch, Cart. Sax. ii, 148. The date, however,
871, generally ascribed to this charter is some years
previous to that usually given for the foundation of
Shaftesbury.
• Ibid, ii, 383 ; Had. MS. 61, foL i I.
* Ibid. fol. 15 ; Cart. Sax. ii, 414.
' Ibid. 509 ; Harl. MS. 61, fol. 7.
' Ibid. fol. 4.
' Ibid. fol. 20</. ; Cart. Sax. iii, 158.
' Ibid, iii, 449 ; Harl. MS. 61, fol. 13 d.
'" Ibid. fol. 2. " Ibid. fol. I.
" Jngl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 128.
3 10
A HISTORY OF DORSET
at Cheselbourne to his servant Agemund with
the object of their ultimate reversion to the
church."
During the first century of its existence the
abbey appears under the dedication of the Blessed
Virgin, but after the translation to Shaftesbury
of the body of Edv/ard the Martyr, murdered in
978," it was called after him and became popu-
larly known as St. Edward's ; the earlier dedica-
tion, however, was never formally dropped and
the house frequently occurs, as in the Domesday
Survey, under the dedication of both St. Mary
and St. Edward.''
According to the Survey of 1 086 the abbey
at that time held the following lands : 15^ hides
at Felpham in Sussex ; ^^ 5 hides at Beeching-
stoke ; 10 at Tisbury ; 40 at Donhead ; 42 at
Bradford ; 7 at Alvediston ; 38 at Liddington ;
and 20 at Downton (Domnitone) in the county of
Wilts ;" 5 hides at Combe, and a rent of 50^.
paid by six burgesses of Milborne in the county
of Somerset ; ^' in this county the possessions of
the nuns were as follows : 20 hides at Handley ;
8 at Hinton St. Mary ; 17 at Stour ; 15 at Font-
mell ; 10 at Compton Abbas ; 10 at Melbury ;
18 at Iwerne Minster; 10 at Tarrant; 5 at
Fifehead ; lO at Kingston; l at Farnham ; 5
at Stoke ; 1 1 at Mapperton and 10 at Chesel-
bourne." In the time of Edward the Confessor
the abbess had 153 houses in the town of
Shaftesbury, now owing to the destruction of
forty-two she only had 1 1 1, she also held at the
time the Survey was taken 15 1 burgesses in the
same town, twenty vacant houses and a garden.-"
A great increase in the value of the manors had
taken place since Edward the Confessor's time
and Domesday records that William the Con-
queror had given the church of Gillingham to
the nuns in place of a hide of their manor of
Kingston on which he had built his castle of
Wareham, and had restored to them the manors
of Cheselbourne and Stour, of which they had
been robbed by Earl Harold, on the production
of a writ by the late king ordering their restora-
tion together with the manor of Melcombe,
which the Conqueror still retained for himself.
Puddle was another manor that had been seized
by the late earl."'
The Norman and Plantagenet kings by their
gifts and privileges added enormously to the
power and wealth already enjoyed by this richly-
" Harl. MS. 61, fol. 8.
'* Angl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), 102 ; Leland,
Coll. i, 219 ; ii, 252.
" The possessions of the .ibbey for instance in
Sussex and Somerset are entered under ' Terra Sancti
Edwardi,' in Wilts and Dorset under ' ecclesia S.
Mariae Sceptesberiensis.'
'« Dom. Bk. (Rec. Com.), i, i -jb.
" Ibid, i, fol. 6ji.
'« Ibid, i, fol. 91. "Ibid, i, fol. 75.
•» Ibid. " Ibid.
endowed house."' William Rufus in 1090
confirmed to the church of St. Mary and
St. Edward and to Eulalia the abbess various
grants by different persons, each grantor bestow-
ing a daughter as a nun in the house as a con-
dition of his gift.^' Henry I confirmed the
manor of Donhead to the nuns ' for their
clothing ' to be held quit of all geld and tax,
pleas of the hundred, suits and quarrels save for
murder and theft." Stephen by his charter
confirmed the lands which Emma the abbess
had proved to belong to the abbey in the pre-
sence of Henry I and his barons.'* Henry II
took the community under his special protection
and made them free of all toll and passage."'
Richard I in the first year of his reign granted
to the abbey, and especially to the abbess Mary,
the privilege of the hundred in their manor of
Bradford.-' John count of Mortain gave the
nuns, at the special request ' of my dearest
friend the abbess Mary ' of Shaftesbury, two loads
of brushwood daily in his manor of Gillingham."'
The abbess received from Henry III a charter
for wreck of the sea in her manor of Kingston,"®
licence to hold a market and two fairs at Kint-
bury (Berkshire),'" and right of free warren over
her lands at Barton, Cheselbourne, Aimer and
Caundle (Dorset), Donhead, Tisbury and Brad-
ford (Wiltshire), and Felpham (Sussex)." Ed-
ward I by letters patent in 1290 licensed the
alienation to the abbey by Edward de Manneston
of land and two messuages in Donhead and Tis-
bury,'" and on payment of a fine in 1 304
allowed the nuns to acquire the manor of Stour
by feoffment of Ralph Wake.'' By licence of
Edward II in 131 8 Stephen Pruet, parson of
Compton Abbas, bestowed on the convent 20s.
yearly rent out of Donhead (Wiltshire) for the
provision of a light to burn through the night
in the cloister of their abbey.'* Edward III in
1337 gave a licence for the sisters to acquire
more land to the value of ;^I0 yearly." The
king in 1340 after an inquisition confirmed to
them the right to have four horse-loads of brush-
" A summary of the charters contained in the re-
gister of Shaftesbury (Harl. MS. 61) is given by
Dugdale, Mon. ii, 68.
» H.irl. MS. 61, fol. 23. " Ibid. fol. 24.
»»Ibid. " Ibid. fol. 25.
" Ibid. fol. 26. " Ibid. fol. 27.
" Pat. 54 Hen. Ill, No. 50. Confirmed by
Edward IV ; ibid. 21 Edw. IV, pt. I, m. 11.
»" Chart. R. 52 Hen. Ill, n. 12.
" Ibid. 22 Edw. I.
" Pat. 18 Edw. I, m. II.
" Ibid. 32 Edw. I, m. 16.
" Ibid. II Edw. II, pt. 2, m. 32.
'' Ibid. II Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 32. In part satis-
faction of this grant they obtained in 1348 lands
and messuages in Shaftesbur)-, Cann, Gussage St. An-
drew and Minchington (Dorset), Ke!ston (Somerset),
and Donhead St. M,.ry and St. Andrew (Wilts).
Ibid. 22 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 13.
74
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
wood daily except Sunday from the forest of
Gillingham.'^ Hugh le Despenser in 1343 be-
stowed a yearly rent of 10 marks from the
manor of Broad Town (Wiltshire) for the life-
time of his sister Joan, a nun in the abbey,^'
and the following year the community obtained
in proprtos usus the church of Felpham (Sussex)
of their advowson.'^ The abbess was allowed
in 1368 to crenellate the abbey for the purpose
of defence.'^ At the beginning of the fifteenth
century the convent obtained from Henry IV
letters patent inspecting and confirming the
charters granted to them by his predecessors,'*"
and in 1481 Edward IV inspected and confirmed
by his letters patent a grant of Henry III for
wreck of the sea in their manor of Kingston.''^
That popular form of religious endowment,
the foundation of chantries, was the object of
many additional grants to the abbey in the four-
teenth century. In 1326, and again in the first
year of Edward III, the community acquired
two messuages in Shaftesbury in aid of the
maintenance of a chaplain who should celebrate
daily in the church of St. Mary and St. Edward
for the souls of Edward I and all the faithful de-
parted.*^ In 1330 Walter Hervy obtained a
licence for the alienation of a toft and 8 acres
of land in Shaftesbury for the provision of a
chaplain to officiate daily at the altar of St. Anne
in the conventual church ; *^ by another licence
in 1334 three messuages, 26 acres of land, and
4 acres of meadow in the town were alienated
for the maintenance of a chaplain to celebrate
daily for the souls of Sibyl Cokyn, Thomas de
Hacche, John Kokyn, and Agnes de Hacche,
their ancestors and heirs, at the altar of
St. Thomas the Apostle.*'' Richard Poinz in
1340 made over a rent of l^s. for the provision
of a chaplain who should celebrate daily in the
church for his soul and the souls of his an-
cestors;" and in 1342 a chantry was founded at
the altar of St. Nicholas for the good estate of
Thomas Platel of Shaftesbury and Alice his wife
and for their souls after death, and the souls of
their ancestors, heirs, and benefactors.^' The
'= Pat. 14 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 6.
" Ibid. 17 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 3.
»Mbid. 1 8 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 15.
°' Ibid. 42 Edw. I, pt. I, m. 25. A complaint was
made by the abbess and the icing's tenants of Shaftes-
bury in 1 341 that many evil-doers and breakers of the
peace were going about armed, robbing and killing
their servants, and that no remedy had been provided
hitherto. Ibid. 15 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 45.
" Ibid. 2 Hen. IV, pt. 3, m. 20 ; 4 Hen. IV,
pt. 2, m. 23.
" Ibid. 21 Edw. IV, pt. I, m. II.
" Ibid. 19 Edw. II, pt. 2, m. 2 ; ibid. I Edw. Ill,
pt. 2, m. 23.
" Ibid. 4 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 18.
" Ibid. 8 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 21.
*■" Ibid. 14 Edw. Ill, pt. 3, m. 20.
'« Ibid. 16 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 32.
priest serving the chantry at the altar of Holy
Cross was in 1364 transferred by the bishop to
the church of Holy Trinity within the church-
yard of the monastery, and inducted therein as
perpetual chaplain with a fit salary assigned.*'
Various other chantries were established tc com-
memorate the souls of certain of the abbesses.''*
In the episcopal registers mention is made of the
chantry of St. Edward within the abbey," and
the chantry commissioners of Edward VI in
the sixteenth century made a return of three
chantries at Shaftesbury : St. Catherine's at the
altar of St. Catherine, St. John Baptist, and the
chantry of St. Anne de la Gore in the chapel
of that name within the parish of St. James."*
The abbess and convent were granted in 1386
reversion of the manor of Brydesyerd for the
support of a chaplain officiating in a place called
'leBelhous' in Shaftesbury and of the twelve
poor inmates there.'^ In the Valor of 1535
various sums were assigned by the community
in support of these twelve poor men in the
' Maudelyn ' or ' Belhous ' of Shaftesbury, who
in return for their maintenance were bound to
pray for the founders of the monastery. ^^
The endowment of the monastery was so con-
siderable and the extent of its possessions so vast
that in the Middle Ages there was a popular
saying, 'If the abbot of Glastonbury could marry
the abbess of Shaftesbury their heir would hold
more land than the king of England.' '' In the
reign of Henry II the holding of the abbess was
assessed at the service of seven knights,^' three
of whom appear to have represented her fees in
Dorset and Somerset and four those in Wiltshire.^*
In II 66 she certified the king by charter that
the seven knights she was bound to find for his
service were as follows : Earl Patrick one fee,
Anselin Mauduit, Jordan de Necche, and Thur-
stan de Huseldure a fee each, Robert Fitz-
Peter and Roger de Thoka held the fifth fee,
and the sixth and seventh were held ' against the
convent ' by Roger de Newburgh, who in addi-
tion held Aimer at a rent of 40J. and said that
he ought to hold it for half a fee, which how-
ever the abbess declared William de Glastonia
never did ; twelve other tenants held various
fractions of fees.*' Henry III by charter of
" Sarum Epis. Reg. 'Wyville, fol. 315. See Pat.
41 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 16.
*' Dionysia le Blunde, Cecilia Fovent, Edith Bon-
ham, and Margaret St. John. Hutchins, Hist, of
Dorset, iii, 36.
" According to an institution in Bishop Chandler's
register (fol. 44) the chantry of Edward, King and
Martyr, was founded at the .iltar of St. Nicholas.
" Chant. Cert. Dorset, 16, Nos. 1 7- 1 9, 95-7-
*' Pat. 9 Rich. II, pt. 2, m. 31.
" Fahr Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 280.
" Fuller, Church Hist, iii, 332.
" Red Bk. of the Exch. (Rolls Ser.), i, 27, 33, 43,
54, 80.
"Ibid. 64, 65. "Ibid. I, 214.
75
A HISTORY OF DORSET
4 May, 1233, released to the Abbess Amicia
and her successors the demand made by the king
and his ancestors of the service of three knights
and the fourth part and sixth part of a fee in
addition to the seven already enumerated, ordain-
ing that in future the said abbess should be
accountable only for the service of seven knights,
which she admitted to be due." At the close
of the thirteenth century the Taxatio assessed
the temporalities of the abbey in the diocese of
Salisbury at ;^5o6 14^,'* in the diocese of Chi-
chester at ;^50,'' and ^^33 in the diocese of
Bath and Wells.^" The spiritualities of the
convent, reckoned only at;^i4, consisted of pen-
sions from the churches of St. James, Shaftes-
bury, Tisbury, and Bradford.*' The power and
influence in the district possessed by the abbess
can have been only less than supreme ; to her
belonged a moiety of the manor of Shaftesbury —
the other half pertaining to the king*^ — and
the custody of the vill for which she paid a
\ fee farm of j^i2.*' The patronage in her
hands and those of the community was above
that of any other religious house in the county ;
in addition to the presentation of all the churches
in Shaftesbury, at that time numbering twelve
with the abbey, and the advowson of the hos-
pital of St. John super montem, she had within
her gift the four prebends or portions for secular
priests within the conventual church, viz.,
Iwerne Minster, Gillingham, Liddington, and
Fontmell, the appointment of the various chap-
lains officiating at the different chantries, and
the presentation to the office of deacon of the
high altar within the church, collation to which
fell to the crown in the vacancy of the abbey .^
In the return of church property of 1535 the
receipts and disbursements are entered of an
official appointed by the abbess and removable
at her will, William Breton, clerk, who held the
office of sacrist of the abbey and to whom was
assigned certain rents for the maintenance and
repair of the church, the provision of bread, wine,
and other necessaries for the celebration of
divine offices, and the payment of salaries and
pensions for certain priests officiating in the
church.*'
On the eve of the Dissolution the net income
of the abbey was assessed at ^^ 1,3 29 if. -T^d. ; '*
the spiritualities of the community included the
parsonages of Bradford and Tisbury and tithes
from Barton,*' their temporalities the manors
" Chart. R. 17 Hen. Ill, m. 10.
"^ Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 183. " Ibid. 1 39.
^Ibid. 203. «' Ibid. 178, 180-1.
" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iii, 11-13.
''In 1 39 1 Richard II made a life-grant to John Rods
of this fee farm paid by the abbess for the town.
Pat. 14 Rich. II, pt. I, m. 30.
" Ibid. 18 Rich, II, pt. I, m. 10.
" Falor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 280.
" Ibid. " Ibid. 276.
of Barton, Downton, Fontmell, Tarrant, Lid-
dington (Wiltshire), Hinton, Felpham (Sussex),
Kingston, Donhead (Wiltshire), Stour, Tisbury
(Wiltshire), Cheselbourne, Combe (Somerset),
Caundle, ' Arne,' ' Kulmyngton,' Handley, Mel-
bury, Sedgehill (Wiltshire), Berwick (Wiltshire),
Aimer, Iwerne Minster and Kelston (Som-
erset).** But if the revenues of the abbey were
enormous,*^ the charges on the house were by
no means trifling, and the management of so
vast an estate and the direction of so large a
community called for powers of government and
organization which it is more than probable
every abbess did not possess. Whether the diffi-
culties that arose were due mainly to the too
frequent absence of these qualities or sprang
from other causes the fact remains that from the
fourteenth century, and even earlier, onwards,
the house with every outward sign and manifes-
tation of wealth and influence was continuously
crippled by insufficient means and its existence
chequered by the constant recurrence of debt
and insolvency. As regards the charges on the
house, the abbess was summoned by writ to
furnish soldiers for the field in proportion to the
number of her fees ;"* the summons to Parliament,
to which by tenure she was entitled, was omitted
on the ground of her sex. The convent, in
common with the majority of houses under the
royal patronage, was called on to provide mainten-
ance for boarders at the king's presentation,''
and was expected on the occasion of the new
creation of an abbess to furnish a pension for a
clerk at the royal appointment.'^ In addition
the king claimed a right to present a nun on
the occasion of the voidance of the abbey,"
and the episcopal registers record that the bishop
of Salisbury, on his promotion to the see, had the
right of placing an inmate in the house and of
appointing one of the nuns to act as her instruc-
tor.'* Henry V, in the first year of his reign,
presented lodonia Wodehill to the convent in
accordance with his prerogative to nominate a
nun to the abbey on his coronation." Henry VI,
in 1480, recalling this ancient privilege, presented
«* Ibid. 276-9.
^' The contrast between the wealth of Shaftesbury
and that of all the other houses in the county is per-
haps most vividly brought home to us when we read
the list of grants made by the spirituality in 1 527
towards the king's expenses in the recovery of the
crown of France ; Shaftesbury, like Glastonbury,
contributed j{^ 1,000, double the contribution of the
chapter of Salisbury and ten times the amount paid
by Sherborne. L. and P. Hen. Fill, iii, 2483.
" Pari. Writs (Rec. Com.), ii, dlv. 3, 1424.
" Close, 4 Edw. II, m. 25 a-.; 1 8 Edw. II, m. 5 </.;
13 Edw. Ill, pt. 3, m. \6d.
" Ibid. 19 Edw. Ill, pt. 3, m. l^d.
" Ibid. pt. 2, m. 17.
" Sarum Epis. Reg. Mitford, fol. 139 ; Neville,
fol. 51a'.; Blyth, fol. 40.
" R) mer, Foed. ix, 11.
76
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
Joan Archcombe, 'of good life and honest con-
versation ; ' in like manner/^ Richard III in his
first year issued letters of recommendation for
Elizabeth Bryther to be the king's ' mynchyne '
at Shaftesbury."
One of the causes contributing to the troubles
of the monastery was the excessive number of
its inmates. The pope, whose attention in 1217
was directed to the abbey by an appeal made to
him in connexion with a disputed election,'* in
1218 forbad the community to admit nuns be-
yond the number of a hundred, on the ground
that they were unable to support more or to give
alms to the poor.'' Evidently the decree was not
observed, for in 1322 the bishop of Salisbury, after
a recent visitation of the house, wrote to the abbess
and convent pointing out that they had neg-
lected the order of the Holy Father, that the in-
mates of the house were far too many for its goods
to support, and forbidding them to admit more
until the state of the abbey had been relieved.*"
Four years later, in response to a petition from the
abbess asking him to fix a statutory number,
the bishop issued an order stating that the house
was capable of maintaining 120 nuns and no
more, and until the community had been re-
duced to that number the abbess and convent
should not receive any more inmates.'^ It is
evident that this number became considerably
reduced a century later. The voting body at
the election of Edith Bonham in 1 44 1 consisted
of forty-one professed sisters and fourteen await-
ing profession [tacite professae) ; *' the total num-
ber at the election of Margaret St. John in 1460
was fifty-one ; *' at the election of Margaret
Twyneo in 1496 twenty-five professed sisters
and eleven not yet professed are mentioned ;**
at the election of Elizabeth Shelford, 1504,
twenty-eight professed and twenty-two tacitly
professed voted.*' The surrender deed of the
abbey on its dissolution gives the names of fifty-
five sisters besides the abbess and prioress.*^
The usual expedients were adopted in order to
relieve the financial difficulties of the abbey.
The sisters, after a petition setting forth the charges
" Rymer, Foed. x, 4 38.
" Harl. MS. 433, fol. zzJ.
" Three judges were appointed by the pope to
examine the case of A., nun of St. Edward's, who, as
she declared, having been elected abbess was forced
by her electors to renounce the right of her election.
The case having been tried, however, the pope, on
the petition of J., abbess of Shaftesbury, ordered the
bishop of Salisbury, the prior of Amcsbury, and the
chancellor of Salisbury to impose silence on the said
A., sacristan of the place, whose claim was found to
be void. Cal. Pap. Letters, i, 49, 61.
"Ibid. SI.
*" Sarum Epis. Reg. Mortival, fol. 140.
" Ibid. pt. 2, fol. 231. «' Ibid. Aiscough, fol. 10.
** Ibid. Beauchamp, i, fol. 34.
" Ibid. Blyth, fol. 95. '" Ibid. Audley, 126-7.
" L. and P. Hen. VIII, xiv (i), 586.
incumbent on them for the maintenance of the
statutory number of 120 nuns and the exercise
of hospitality, as well as the losses they had in-
curred through the inundation of their lands,
obtained a bull from the pope in 1343 appro-
priating to their use the church of Bradford of
their advowson." Edward III in 1365, by a
charter reciting the reduction of the house by
tempestuous winds, pestilences, and other ad-
versities, so that its means barely sufficed to
support the community or to meet the charges
incumbent on them, granted to the prioress and
nuns the custody of the temporalities of the
abbey on the occasion of its next voidance by
the death of Abbess Joan Formage.** In 1380
the sisters were allowed, in consideration of the
damage to their lands by encroachments of the
sea and losses of sheep and cattle, to appropriate
to themselves the church of Tisbury, the advow-
son of which already belonged to them.*' About
the same time Bishop Erghum made an ordina-
tion assigning a weekly allowance of 2d. to each
nun from the issues of the house with the object
of reducing as far as possible the expenditure ot
the community.'" The convent in 1382 pe-
titioned Richard II that, whereas they could
not hold out another year against their in-
debtedness unless some remedy were provided,
the king would on all future occasions of a
voidance in the abbey allow the community to
retain the temporalities in their own hands
(saving to the king knights' fees and advowsons),
rendering an account of the same to the Ex-
chequer for a year or any part of a year.'' Bishop
Aiscough in the fifteenth century sanctioned
the appropriation of the church of Gillingham to
the abbey, which, through pestilence, failure of
crops, want of labourers ' and their excessive de-
mands,' was said to be much reduced.'^
To focuss the various references to Shaftes-
bury in the episcopal registers so as to gain
some idea of the state of the monastery, apart
from its financial condition and worldly standing,
is a task of extreme difficulty. Incidents that
illustrate the inevitable defects and shortcomings
of a house are calculated to mislead in many
instances, and doubly so if accepted as repre-
senting the normal state of affairs in connexion
with a community of the size and importance
" Cal. Pap. Letters, iii, 137. This grant was con-
firmed by the bishop, and received the royal sanction ;
Sarum Epis. Reg. Wyville, i, fol. 1 3 2 <«'. ; Pat. 2 3
Edw. Ill, pt. 1, m. 17.
"* Harl. MS. 61, fol. 116. A grant of the custody
during voidance was first obtained by the nuns from
Edward I in 1285, on payment of a fine of X'°°
(Close, 13 Edw. I, m. 3 ; 14 Edw. I, m. 8). It
became the usual custom, but a confirmation of the
grant was generally obtained on every separate occasion.
*' Pat. 3 Ric. II, pt. 3, m. 14 ; Sarum Epis. Reg.
Erghum, fol. 41. " Ibid. fol. 44.
" Par!. R. (Rec. Com.), iii, I 29.
" Sarum Epis. Reg. Aiscough, fol. 60.
77
A HISTORY OF DORSET
of the abbey of St. Edward.'^ The house
was visited from time to time by the bishop of
Salisbury or his commissary ; he received the
profession of canonical obedience from the abbess,
and bestowed the benediction on her election.
The episcopal registers record the appointment
by him of confessors to the abbey and the recep-
tion of the profession of the nuns. An order
was sent in 1298 to Robert, rector of the church
of Donington, desiring him to enforce suitable
penance to the abbess and nuns of Shaftesbury,
who, ' for their offences against God and by the
creation of scandal,' had incurred sentence of
excommunication.'* A copy of the edict of
Pope Boniface for the stricter inclosure of nuns
was forwarded to the sisters at the beginning of
the fourteenth century by Simon of Ghent, who
announced that by the ' new constitution ' he was
bound to visit yearly the nuns subject to his
authority.'' The abbess, after a visitation in
1309, was strictly admonished not to allow the
sisters to go out into the town of Shaftesbury
save under special conditions, ' lest scandal enter
in and not without negligence on your part.' '^
Further, one of the nuns, Christina Baryl, was
ordered to be confined within the cloister of the
monastery until notice had been sent by the
bishop." The archdeacon of Dorset and William
of Braybrook, canon of Salisbury, were ordered in
131 6 to adjudicate in a dispute which had arisen
in the monastery between the abbess and certain
of the nuns.^' Joan Formage, who was elected
abbess in 1362, received a dispensation from the
bishop in 1368 to leave the abbey for a year and
reside in her manors for the sake of air and
recreation." On her death in August, 1394,
the bishop ordered the abbey to be sequestrated,
and annulled a will by which she had alienated
the goods of the house in bequests to friends,
declaring such a disposition to be injurious to
the community and contrary to the usage of
religious women. ^*"' A good deal of disturbance
and a species of interregnum ensued before the
appointment of a successor, in spite of the con-
sideration of Richard II, who granted a licence
to elect immediately on the voidance of the
abbey,'**^ and, ' in pity for the poverty of the house,'
" The register of Mitford contains a letter from
the pope to the bishop desiring him to restore Alice
Wilton, nun of Shaftesbury, to the position in the
abbey which she had forfeited by the most grievous
lapse of which a religious could be convicted, the sin
of incontinence. The bishop, in accordance with the
order, reinstated the nun, who had proved her
penitence for the offence, and declared her eligible for
all offices in the monastery save that of abbess ; Sarum
Epis. Reg. Mitford, fol. 122.
" Ibid. Simon of Ghent, i, fol. 5 d.
"Ibid. fol. 33. »« Ibid. fol. 127.
" Ibid. =" Ibid. Mortival, ii, fol. 47 d.
^ Ibid. Wyville, ii, fol. 230.
""> Ibid. W.iltham, fol. 24.
"" Pat. 18 Ric. II, pt. l,m. 10.
directed the bishop to signify the royal assent
without delay to the choice of the community.'"'
In November of the same year Richard Pittes,
canon of Salisbury, John Gowayn, and Thomas
Bonham were appointed to examine and take
charge of the abbey, to inform themselves as to
its condition, the withdrawal and waste of its
goods, as well as to make allowances for the
maintenance of the nuns and their household,
holding the remainder of the revenues in charge
until further orders. According to the letters
patent of this commission the king had been
forced to abrogate the grant made by himself and
his predecessors to the prioress and convent of the
temporalities of the abbey during voidance, as
by fraudulent means an election had been obtain-
ed of an unfit person, who, with the object of
securing confirmation of her appointment, had
repaired with an excessive number of men to
places remote, to the waste and destruction of the
possessions of the community.'"' Richard II, after
an interval of more than six months had elapsed
since the death of abbess Joan Formage, wrote
to the bishop, April, 1395, desiring him to pro-
vide a fit person to the abbey, which by this time
had lapsed to his collation.'"* The choice fell
on Egelina de Counteville ; the pope, at the
king's special request, confirmed her election
as abbess, ' although Lucy Fitzherberde has the
greater number of votes,' '"' and so the matter
ended. Bishop Hallam in 1 410, on a report
that the nuns were given to frequenting places
outside the monastery, addressed a letter of
admonition to the abbess and convent, bid-
ding them consider the punishment that overtook
Dinah the daughter of Jacob for yielding to
the desire to go abroad.'"' In the same year
the bishop issued an indulgence for those who
should visit the monastery on the principal feasts
of St. Edward, King and Martyr, from the time
of the first to the second vespers.'*" In 141 2
letters of indulgence were published for those
visiting the shrine of St. Edward on the feast of
his translation, 20 June.'"* There are no visita-
tion reports of Shaftesbury during the fifteenth
century, and few references during the remainder
of its existence save those recording the election
of superiors and the admission of the profession
of nuns.'"'
The last abbess ot Shaftesbury, Elizabeth
Zouche, hoped doubtless by a conciliatory attitude
to secure from the court party some measure
ot consideration for her house. Sir Thomas
"' Ibid. m. 5. "» Ibid,
x" Ibid. 18 Ric. II, pt. 2, m. 15.
102
78
Col. of Pap. Letters, iv, 524. Lucy Fitzherberde
was probably the 'unfit person' elected on the first
occasion. '°* Sarum Epis. Reg. Hallam, fol. 29.
"" Ibid. '»» Ibid. fol. 56.
"" In 1442 the profession was received by the
bishop of fifteen of the nuns, and in 1453 of fourteen ;
ibid. Aiscough, fol. 97 ; Beauchamp, i (2), fol. 150.
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
Arundel, in a letter to the ' visitor-general of
monasteries,' in 1536, states that by the advice
of the writer the abbess and convent have given
him (Cromwell) the next presentation to the
parsonage of Tarrant, for which he had expressed
a desire, adding, ' my lady is right glad to do you
pleasure.' "° The transfer to Shaftesbury in the
same year of the prioress and nuns of the small
Benedictine priory of Cannington (Somerset),
dissolved by the earlier Act of suppression,'"
may have encouraged the poor lady to continue
her efforts, and nerved her to hold out longer
than was the general disposition in this county.
At any rate. Sir Thomas Arundel, writing again
to Cromwell in December, 1538, informs him
that, contrary to advice, the abbess of Shaftesbury
refuses to follow the 'moo' (majority), and
resign, and offers the king 500 marks and Crom-
well ;rioo for her house to be allowed to stand.'"
The offer was fruitless ; the fate of Shaftesbury
was sealed, though the house, owing perhaps to
the abbess's spirited endeavour, was the last to fall
in this county. With the surrender of Elizabeth
Zouche and her fifty-six nuns on 2 March,
1539,"' ends the long line of abbesses headed
in the ninth century by Alfred's daughter.
Abbesses of Shaftesbury
Elfgiva or jEthelgeofu or Algiva, first abbess
about 888"*
iElfthrith, occurs 948 "^
Herleva, occurs 966,"* died 982"'
Alfrida, occurs 1 00 1 or 1009"*
Leueua, occurs temp. Edward the Confessor"'
Eulalia, appointed 1074 '■"
Eustachia'^'
Cecilia, appointed 1 107 ''^
Emma, occurs temp. Henry I '"'
Mary, occurs 1189 '^
J., elected 1216'^'
Amicia Russell, elected 1223'''
"» L. and P. Hen. VIU, xi, 1340.
'" Ibid. 1450. '" Ibid, xiii (2), 1092.
"^ Ibid, xiv (i), 586. To Elizabeth Zouche was
assigned on her surrender a pension of ^^133 6/. id. ;
the prioress received a pension of ;^20, the sub-
prioress £j, and the remainder of the sisters yearly
sums ranging from £6 13/. i^d. to 56/. %d. ; ibid.
"* Will, of Malmes. Gesta Regum (Rolls Ser.), i,
131 ; Flor. Wigorn. Chron. (Engl. Hist. Soc), i, 104.
'" She is mentioned in a charter of King .i^dred,
Harl. MS. 61, fol. 4.
"* Gale, Rerum Angl. Script. \, 45.
'" Angl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), i, 103.
'" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iii, 27.
'" Dugdale (Mow. ii, 473), from Exon. Domesday.
'^'' Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 30.
'-' Dugdale, Mon. 11, 473.
'-' The third daughter of Robert Fitz Hamon, who
elevated Tewkesbury to the dignitv of an abbey. Ibid,
ii, 473. '^'Hari. MS. 61, fol. 23.
'■' Ibid. fol. 26. '" Pat. I Hen. Ill, m. 16.
'-'« Ibid. 7 Hen. Ill, m. 3.
Agnes Lungespee, elected 1243'"
Agnes de Ferrers, elected 1247 '-*
Juliana de Bauceyn, died 1279 '^'
Laurentia de Muscegros, elected 1279,'^" died
1290
Joan de Bridport, elected 1290,"' died 1291
Mabel Gifford, elected 129 1 '"
Alice de Lavyngton, elected 1 302,'^' died 1 3 1 5
Margaret Aucher, elected 13 15,"* died 1329
Dionisia le Blunde, elected 1329,'" died 1345
Joan Duket, elected 1345,"^ died 1350
Margaret de Leukenore, elected 1350'"
Joan Formage, elected 1362,"* died 1394
Egelina de Counteville, appointed 1395"'
Cecilia Fovent, occurs 1398,'*° died 1423
Margaret Stourton, elected 1423,"' died 1441
Edith Bonham, elected 1441,'*^ died 1460
Margaret St. John, elected 1460 "'
Alice Gibbcs, died 1496'"
Margaret Twyneo, elected 1496,"' died 1505
Elizabeth Shelford, elected I505,'"died 152S
Elizabeth Zouche or Zuche, elected 1529,
surrendered her abbey, 1539 '*'
The round thirteenth-century seal attached to
the surrender deed of the abbey gives on the
obverse an elaborate design of the church. la
the doorway St. Edward, King and Martyr, full-
length, with the name s' edw — ardvs upon the
string-courses at the sides.'** Legend : —
Sa[lUE :] STELLA : MARIS : TU : NOBIS :
AVX [iLIARIS :] [gemma :] PVELLARIS : regia :
DONA : PARIS
The reverse shows within a carved quatrefoil
the Coronation of the Virgin. Overhead the
Dove ; at the sides two candlesticks, crescents,
and other emblems. In base, under a trefoiled
arch, an abbess, half-length, holding a pastoral
staff, is in prayer.'*' Legend : —
1^ sigill' : scE : marie : et : sci : edwardi :
[reJgis : et : martiris : schef[tonie]
Ibid. m. 16.
'-' Ibid. 27 Hen. Ill, m. 2.
''' Ibid. 31 Hen. Ill, m. 8.
''' Ibid. 7 Edw. I, m. 21.
"' Ibid. 18 Edw. I, m. 34.
'" Ibid. 19 Edw. I, m. 3.
'^' Sarum Epis. Reg. Simon of Ghent.
"* Pat. 9 Edw. II, pt. I, m. 14.
'"Ibid. 3 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 13.
"' Ibid. 19 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 13.
'" Ibid. 24 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 21.
"' Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iii, 27.
'" Pat. 18 Ric. II, pt. I, m. 10.
"" Sarum Epis. Reg. Mitford, fol. 105.
'" Pat. 2 Hen. VI, pt. l, m. 22.
'" Sarum Epis. Reg. Aiscough, fol. 10.
'" Ibid. Beauchamp, i, fol. 37.
'" Ibid. Blyth, fol. 95. "' Ibid.
"'■ Ibid. Audley, fol. 1 26 a".
"' L.andP. Hen. Fill, iv, 5290 ; xiv (i), 586.
"'Deeds of Surrender, No. 211. See also B.M.
'" Ibid. 50.
Se.ils, 1x11, 49.
79
A HISTORY OF DORSET
HOUSE OF CLUNIAC MONKS
8. THE PRIORY OF HOLNE OR
EAST HOLME
The priory of Holme, or Holne as it was
anciently called, a cell of the Cluniac priory of
Montacute in Somerset, was founded towards
the middle of the twelfth century ' by Robert
de Lincoln, the son of Alured de Lincoln. The
founder, in his charter for the endowment of the
new establishment, recites that ' moved by divine
instinct to build a house of religion in honour of
God ' he has given to God and the church of
St. Peter of Montacute and the monks serving
God there his land which is called Holne,' in
perpetual alms for the maintenance of thirteen
monks, the gift being made with the concurrence
of Bcuza his wife and Alured his son, by the
counsel and consent of the bishop of Salisbury,
in the presence of the prior and monks of
Montacute, and of Gilbert the monk, 'to whom
I afterwards personally gave the place,* for the
souls of King Henry, of the donor's father and
mother, of himself, his wife, and children,
relations, and friends. The original endowment
also consisted of three virgates of land at Weston
Worth (JFrda) in Purbeck, a tithe of the bread,
meat, and fish provided for the use of his house-
hold {de dlipema domus met) and that of his heirs,
a salt-pan of the salt works adjacent to his manor
of Langton, with tithes of his demesne at Oke-
ford Fitzpaine, at Winterborne Whitchurch,
Langton near Abbotsbury, and Corton in Porti-
sham, besides tithes of the demesne at Chesel-
bourne and Watercombe, the gift of Bardolph
* my knight.' ' Alured, the founder's son, added
to the gifts of his father and confirmed all former
grants, stating that they were bestowed in free
alms, quit of all suit and service save of celebrat-
ing divine offices for the soul of the founder, of
his ancestors and successors, and of all the faith-
ful departed.*
An inquisition, held in June, 1 28 1, as to the
lands and tenements of the prior of Montacute
in the isle of Purbeck reported that these were
extended to the value of j^i6 6j. 2d., and in-
cluded, besides the advowson of the church of
Holme, valued at 60J., a garden and curtilage
with 34 acres of arable land, 40 acres of meadow,
a turbary, fish-pond, fixed rents {reddii' assis') of
the villeins, their works, pleas, perquisites, fines
of land and heriots within the manor of Holme.*
The Taxatio of 1 29 1 gives the priory an income
only of ;^5 10;. 8<^., the spiritualities, amounting
to j^2 13J. 8i/., derived from pensions from the
following churches : — Puddletown,' Warmwell,'
Corton, Langton Herring, and Powerstock ; *
the temporalities were valued at £^2 I'js., of
which £2 IS. id. came from Weston Worth
in Purbeck.'
As a cell subordinate to an alien house, Holme
was constantly in the hands of the crown during
the Hundred Years' War. On 8 October,
1324, the farm of the lands of the prior of Mon-
tacute in Holme and Plush was committed by
Edward II to Walter Beril and Roger de Blokkes-
worthe until the superior had found sufficient
security to satisfy the king, after which they were
ordered to amove their hand.'" Edward III,
shortly after his accession, made a general
restoration to the abbot of Cluny of all his lands
and possessions in England, '^ but they were sub-
sequently re-seized, and in 1337 the prior of
Holme was ordered to pay a fine of six marks
and 40;. for the custody of his priory." In 1339
' It cannot be hter than the twelfth year of
Henry II, as in that year Alured, the son of the
founder, was in possession of the paternal estate.
' In a charter of Henry I, the king testifies to
Roger bishop of Salisbury and Warin the sheriff that
he has granted a licence to Alured de Lincoln to
hold the land of Holme, which he has obtained by
purchase of ' Grimaldus medicus ' in fee. See early
account of Holme Priory by Thomas Bond (Hutchins,
Hilt, of Dorset, i) inserted between pp. 552-3. This
Alured has sometimes been identified with the Alured
de Lincoln who held estates in Lincolnshire at the
time of the Domesday Survey, and in all probability
they came of the same family. The Dorset branch is
subsequently found in possession of nearly the whole
estate held in this county at the time of the Survey by
the widow of Hugh Fitz Grip {Dom. Bk. [Rec. Com.],
i, 83^), which they probably obtained by marriage ;
Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, i, 552-3-
' Ibid.
* The charter of the founder and his son are given
by Thomas Bond in his early account of the priory,
ibid, i, 552-3. Among other grants, Alured, son of
the founder, conferred on the monks land at Plush,
with the right of pasturing ten oxen, one heifer, and
250 sheep there with the cattle of the abbot of
Glastonbury.
' Inq. p.m. 6 Edw. I, No. 47.
^ Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 179.
' Ibid. 1793. The charter of Alured, the founder's
son, records the grant of the church of Warmwell to
the monks by 'Gunfridus my man.'
• Ibid. 180, 182*.
' Ibid. 1833.
'° Mins. Acts. bdle. I 125, No. 7.
" Rymer, Foedera, iv, 246-7.
" Close, 1 1 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 36. The prior,
in 1332, was requisitioned for a contribution towards
the expenses incurred by the king for the marriage of
his sister ; ibid. 6 Edw. Ill, m. id d.
80
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
Edward III granted to William de Montacute,
earl of Salisbury and his heirs the advowson of
the priory of Montacute, with the custody
whenever it should be seized into the king's
hand by reason of the war with France, and at
the earl's petition the following year he added
on similar terms the advowson and custody of
Carsweli, Holme, St. Carrie, and Malpas, cells
pertaining to the said priory ' from the time of
which memory does not exist.' '' One of the
earliest acts of Henry IV on his accession was to
restore, among others, the alien priory of
Montacute with its subject cells, remitting the
farm lately paid to the king and his heirs or, by
virtue of a former grant, to the earl of Salis-
bury and his heirs, and reserving only the
payment of the ancient ' apport,' paid in time of
peace to the head house. The prior in 1407,
by the payment of a sum of 300 marks, ob-
tained a charter of denization for his house,
which made the priory, with all its posses-
sions, advowsons, &c., indigenous of England,
and provided that its superior should be elected
by the convent without collation or institu-
tion of the abbot of Cluny.'* Holme continued
up to the Dissolution as a dependent cell
with a prior 'dative and removable' by the head
house.'*
Though ordained by the founder for the
maintenance of thirteen monks, there appears
from early times to have been a considerable
decline from the original design. The inquisition
held in 1281 declared that the prior of Monta-
cute held the church and manor of Holme
subject to the charge of finding four monks to
sing for the soul of Alured de Lincoln, his
progenitors and successors." Two years previous
to that the priors of Mont Didier in France and
Lenton in England, appointed by the abbot of
Cluny, in 1279, to visit English houses of the
order, found here two monks and a prior,'' while
a fifteenth-century description, probably drawn
up from visitation reports of 1298, 1390, and
1405, stated that the community consisted of
a prior and two monks.'* Leland, in the
sixteenth century, said that the four cells
belonging to Montacute had only two monks
each."
" Pat. 14 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 7. Notwithstand-
ing this grant the prior of Holme was summoned
before the council at Westminster with other aliens to
answer for his charge in 1341 and 1347. (Close, 15
Edw. Ill, pt. 3, m. 6 ; 2 1 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 6d.)
On the conclusion of a peace in 1 361 Edward III
restored their possessions to Montacute and nine other
alien priories. Rymer, Foedera, vi, 311.
" See inspeximus charters of Henry IV to the
priory of Montacute. Pat. 12 Hen. IV, m. 37.
'* Valor Ecd. (Rec. Com.), i, 196.
" Inq. p.m. 9 Edw. I, No. 47.
" Duckett, Chart, and Rec. of Cluny, ii, 136.
" Ibid. 213.
" Collect, i, 8 I .
With regard to the internal condition and
management of the house, the visitors appointed
in 1279 reported that the inmates lived well and
commendably according to the rule, fulfilling
their religious duties as far as the exigencies
of the place permitted and the limited num-
ber of the community.^" The prior, who had
been in office for three years, had taken over
the house burdened with a debt of twenty
marks, which he had managed to pay off,
and it was now free of debt.^' The buildings
and church were in good repair, and there
was a sufficient store to last till the follow-
ing harvest. The Cluniac order being exempt
from episcopal jurisdiction and visitation by
the ordinary the Salisbury registers throw no
light on the history of the house, but various
references are made to it in other records. In
January, 1331, a commission of oyer and ter-
miner was issued on the complaint of the abbot
of Bindon against John de Montacute, some-
time abbot of Bindon, who, both before and
after his deposition, proved such a source of
trouble to his house ; in his quarrel with his
own community he seems to have enlisted the
active support of the then prior of Holme,
Walter de Welham, at all events the two, with
others, were accused of breaking into the abbey
by night, driving away cattle, and carrying off
books, vessels, and ornaments of the church,
together with the conventual seal, which they
further proceeded to append to various docu-
ments to the prejudice of the community.-^
In 1348 a certain Ralph de Midelneye was
charged with having acquired from the same
prior, Walter de Welham, then deceased, certain
premises in Winterborne Wast, Bockhampton,
and Swanage, and having entered on the same
without obtaining a licence of the king.^'
Edward III, in 1344, directed the mayor and
bailiffs of Dover to permit Gerard de Noiale,
prior of Holme, to cross the Channel in order to
visit the Roman court ' for the correction of his
soul.' 2*
The Valor of 1535 states that John Wales
was then prior of this cell, valued at
£16 9J. 4^.,^* and on the surrender of Mon-
tacute Priory, 20 March, 1539, the same John
was appointed to serve the cure of Holme witii
a stipend of £?> ; in the event of his being ' im-
potente and lame ' and past work he should
receive a pension of ^5 ly. 4^.-" The house
and site of the dissolved cell were granted by
Henry VIII to Richard Hamper for a term of
'» Duckett, Chart, and Rec. of Cluny, ii, 136.
" Ibid.
" Pat. 4 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 7 </. ; see below, Bindon,
p. 84.
'^i Pat. 22 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 40 a'.
" Close, 18 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 13 a'.
" Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 196.
»« L. and P. Hen. VIII, xiv (i), 575.
I II
A HISTORY OF DORSET
twenty-one years; Edward VI, in the first year
of his reign, bestowed the reversion of the
property on the duke of Somerset and his
heirs. By the attainder of the duke the estate
reverted again to the crown, by whom it was
granted to John Hannam of Wimborne Min-
ster, in whose family it remained till the reign
of William and Mary, when it came into the
Bond family."
Priors of Holme ■*
Hada, occurs 121 7-1 8''
Geoffrey, occurs 1262'"
Walter de Welham, occurs 1330"
Gerard de Noiale, occurs 1344^"
William Pope, occurs 1444"
John Wales, or Wallis, occurs 1535 and
1539"*
HOUSE OF CISTERCIAN MONKS
9. THE ABBEY OF BINDON »
A Cistercian abbey was built here in 11 72"
by Roger de Newburgh and Maud his wife, who
transferred to Great Bindon the earlier monas-
tery which William de Glastonia and Maud his
wife iiad begun to build at a spot now identified
with Little Bindon. King John, by his charter,
confirmed to the monks the site of the abbey,
2 acres of land the gift of William de Glastonia,
2 virgates in Lulworth, the manor of 'Borton,'
the land of Nottington, the land of Wood Street
with the meadows adjoining, and half a hide of
land with pasture for 300 sheep in the manor of
Chaldon (Herring) the gift of Thomas Harang.'
The founder himself bestowed on the abbey his
manor of Woolaston (Northants) with all its
appurtenances, to be held by the monks in free
alms quit of all secular suits and exaction.*
A charter of Henry III, dated 4 April, 1234,
confirmed to the church of St. Mary of Bindon '
and the monks serving God there the site of
their abbey, the gift of Roger de Newburgh and
Maud his wife, together with the place in which
the first monastery had been commenced, the gift
of William de Glastonia, the manor of Bexington,
given by Maud de Arundel by leave of King
Henry,* the land of Nottington and Luca, pur-
cliased by Gilbert de Percy from the monksof Ford
and bestowed on Bindon, the land of Hethfelton
according to the agreement between the monks
and Simon de Eneford, the land of Wood Street
which the abbey and convent held of William de
" Hutchins, Hht. of Dorset, i, 552.
" Hutchins, in his account of the priory, gives the
names of three ; Hist, of Dorset, i, 553.
" Hada, prior of Holme, is mentioned in a fine
respecting the church of Warmwell, 2 Henry III. Ibid,
i, 434, note.
■"' Duckett, Chart, and Rec. ofCltiny, ii, 123.
" Pat. 22 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 40.
" Close, 18 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 13.
" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, i, 553.
" ralor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 196 ; L. and P.
Hen. Vlll, xiv (l), 575.
' A ground plan of the abbey, which was visited
by the British Archaeological Associ.ition, 26 August,
1 8" I, may be seen in their Journ. xxviii, 392.
■ Cott. MS. ' Chron. S. Werburgae Cest.' Faust.
B. viii, 4 ; Hutchins, Dorset, i, 349.
Wodestert as his charter testifies, and half a hide
of land with pasturage for 300 sheep as confirmed
by the charter of Thomas Harang.' By another
charter in June of the same year, the king
further confirmed to the abbey the wood of
Stotwode, part of Hamsted wood with common
pasture, the whole land of Pulham, 150 acres of
waste, the mill of Lulworth with the land per-
taining to it and the moltura of the men of
Lulworth given by Robert de Newburgh, with
certain houses in Dorchester and all the arable
land which the monks held under the walls of
Dorchester, the gift of William Lock of Dor-
chester.*
A charter of Edward II inspecting all previous
grants confirmed to the abbot and convent lands
and rents in Lulworth, Bexington, Nottington,
Hethfelton, Chaldon, Winfrith Newburgh,
mills at Fordington, Cranborne, and outside
Dorchester, the churches of Chaldon Herring
and Fossil, and the right to hold a market and
fair at Wool, with the right of free warren in all
their demesne lands at Stockford, Wood Street,
Wool, Bovington, Lulworth, Bindon, and
Hethfelton.'
In the Taxatio of 1291 the spiritualities of the
abbey are not given ; the temporalities amount to
^^107 6;., of which j^9i 45. was reckoned from
possessions in the deanery of Dorchester,"*
£12 2s. from the manor of Bexington in the
Bridport deanery,*' and £4. from Pulham and
Winterborne Monkton in the deanery of Whit-
church.*^
' H.irl. MS. 6748, fol. 7. * Ibid.
' Bindon, like all Cistercian houses, was dedicited
to the honour of the B. V. Marj*. Dugdale cites a
charter of the reign of Henry III wherein it is styled
St. Salvator of Bindon, Alon. v, 556.
° Coker, citing ' an olde manuscript,' states ' that
Maud,' countess of Sarum, afterwards the wife of
William de Newburgh, ' was so great a benefictour
to this abbie that she was reckoned a foundress.'
Paitie. Surv. of Dorset, 76 ; Leland, Coll. i, 82.
' By inspex. of Edward I. Chart. R. 9 Edw. I,
No. 90, m. 13 ; see Cart. Antiq. Q. 18.
« Ch,irt. R. 9 Edw. I, m. 13.
' Ibid. 6 Edw. II, No3. 12-15.
"• Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 183^, 184.
" Ibid. 183.
"Ibid. 184.
82
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
The house from the outset received much
attention and kindness from the Plantagenets.
The abbot occurs frequently in the records of
John's reign, and from various entries in the
Liberate and Misae Rolls appears to have been
employed by the king in affairs of a confidential
nature.^' On 27 July, 12 13, while staying at
the abbey, John issued letters allowing the
monks tiiirty cart-loads of lead for the purpose
of roofing their monastery, together with fifty
oak logs." During the year 121 5 the king's
treasure was dispersed about in the custody of
various monasteries, preference apparently being
shown for those of the Cistercians and Premon-
stratensians ; an order issued on 24 June of that
year directed that it should be delivered up to the
king, and an entry under date of 3 July in the
patent rolls records that on the feast of St. Peter
and St. Paul (29 June) John, while at Marl-
borough, received at the hands of Robert the
precentor a staff {haculum) set with nineteen
sapphires, and another set with ten, which had
been deposited in Bindon Abbey.''
Henry III also showed favour to the community,
to whom, in 1229 and 1247, he granted letters
of protection. '* In 1235 they received by gift
of the king an order allowing them fifty oak
logs to rebuild their church." In 1272 Henry
de Newburgh, who at that time held the advow-
son, granted the monks leave to elect whom
they would to be their patron, and in view of
past favours it is not surprising that the choice
of the brethren fell on the king and Queen
Eleanor. Henry and his consort accepted their
election, the former, by his charter, signifying
that he had taken the abbey, of which he and
his heirs were now the patrons, into his protection
and defence.'* Early in the reign of Edward I
Queen Eleanor granted to the church of St.
Mary of Bindon and the monks serving God
there, for the soul of her late husband and his
ancestors, 'our' children, ancestors and successors,
all lands and tenements in Wool which she held
by gift of Thomas de Wool, son and heir of
William de Wool, to be held by them in free
alms.''
The abbot and monks bore their share in all
charges and contributions incidental to the
tenure of ecclesiastical landowners. In May,
1278, they contributed to the 'courtesy' of
^TijOOO raised for the king by the whole order
" Rot. de Liberate (Rec. Com.), 128, 144, 146.
" Close, 15 John, m. 7, 8.
" Pat. 17 John, m. 21.
'' Pat. 13 Hen. Ill, m. 3 ; 31 Hen. Ill, m. 6.
" Close, 19 Hen. Ill, m. 12.
" By inspex. Pat. 7 Edw. I, pt. i, m. i.
" Pat. 4 Edw. I, m. 32 ; Edward I in 1275 granted
letters of simple protection to the abbot to List two
years (ibid. 3 Edw. I, m. 32) ; and a few years later
confirmed his mother's gift of Wool to the abbey (ibid.
9 Edw. I, m, 13).
83
in England,^" and in 1294 the abbot received
protection for a year in favour of his person and
goods in consideration of the fact that with the
rest of ' exempt ' abbots he had granted a moiety
of his benefices and goods towards the Holy
Land.2' In the reign of Edward II the house
was twice called on to assist in the Scotch war.-^
In December, 1309, John Dassh was sent in place
of William Brid to lodge in the abbey and receive
the necessaries of life,^^ and in May, 1335, in
the midst of financial and other embarrassments,
the community was requested by the king to
allow Hugh Prest such maintenance in their
house as their earlier boarder William Brid had
had.^* In return for these accommodations the
abbot received frequent grants of protection and
was permitted freely to visit the parent house at
Citeaux and to attend the general chapter of his
order.^'
It is to be regretted that however favourable
the circumstances of the house under the earlier
Plantagenets, frequent references to the com-
munity in the fourteenth century range them-
selves for the most part under the head of debt
and disorder, internal dissension among them-
selves, and open strife with their neighbours,
making up a sufficiently sordid story. The first
mention of financial insecurity occurs in the
year 1275, when Edward I appointed Henry de
Monte Forte custodian during pleasure of the
abbey, which had fallen into debt.^^ Passing over
a small incident in 1283 of a common enough
nature in those days," the first breach with
the neighbourhood occurred in 1296, when a
charge was brought against the abbot of causing
the death of brother Nicholas de Wyther of
'° Ibid. 4 Edw. I, m. 88. The Cistercians by
special privilege were exempt from the payment of all
such tithe and subsidy and at one time were inclined
to uphold their right to refuse any contribution ;
gradually, however, they found it politic to yield so
far as to give ' by courtesy ' what they declined to pay
as an obligation. ^' Pat. 22 Edw. I, m. 8.
" Close, 3 Edw. II, m. 5, ced. ; Pari. Writs (Rec.
Com.), ii, div. 3, p. 542.
" Close, 3 Edw. II, m. i 5 </.
" Ibid. 9 Edw. Ill, m. z-] d. Ten years later, in
April, 1345, the monks were ordered to send a strong
horse to Chancery for carrying the Chancery rolls.
Ibid. 19 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 16.
" On 27 July, 127S, the abbot going beyond seas
had letters of protection till All Saints (Pat. 6 Edw. I,
m. 8). In 1286 and 1290 he obtained letters of
protection to attend the general chapter of his order
(ibid. 14 Edw. I, m. 8 ; 18 Edw. I, m. 29), and in
January, 1333, he nominated attorneys to act during
hisabsence at the general chapter. (Ibid. 7 Edw. Ill,
pt. I, m. 21).
'° Pat. 3 Edw. I, m. 32. The house may for the
time have recovered itself, for it seems to have met all
the various charges of ihe reign of Edward II.
" A commission was appointed to inquire touching
those persons who had depastured the corn of the abbot
and convent at Lulworth (ibid. I 1 Edw. I, m. I2<i'.)
A HISTORY OF DORSET
Bexington, sometime monk of Bindon, and bro-
ther Maurice, also sometime monk of this place
by relatives of the deceased. A commission of
oyer and terminer was issued in February and
again in July, 1296, but the matter proceeding
too slowly for their taste the plaintiffs appear to
have taken the law into their own hands, with the
result that another commission was appointed
the following March to investigate the complaint
of the abbot against a number of persons who
had come to the abbey and imprisoned him and
carried away his goods.'' What the upshot was
we do not know ; the abbot in the same month
received a grant of protection from the king and
the matter dropped."^ Ill-feeling, however, seems
to have remained in the district, and a complaint
by the abbot in 131 5 of trespass and assault on
the part of William de Whitefield, knt., and
others provoked from the accused knight and his
adherents a counter-charge that the abbot and
monks had trespassed in his meadow and assaulted
his men, both sides at the same time claiming
to be under the royal protection.'"
The troubles of the community came to a
climax in the early part of the reign of Ed-
ward III, and the causes mainly contributing
to the state of affairs then disclosed are clearly
expressed in the king's letter of 21 May, 1329,
appointing the abbot of Beaulieu, Hugh de
Courtenay and Hugh Poynitz custodians of
the king's abbey of Bindon, lately taken into
custody in consequence of the grievous dissension
which had arisen on the question of the removal
of the abbot, resulting in the carrying away
of the goods of the house by a large mob of
people, the withdrawal of many of the monks,
and the cessation of divine ofBces and alms
founded there by the king's ancestors.'^ The
custodians appointed were empowered to collect
the revenues, recover the goods carried away,
and after reserving a reasonable sum to its
maintenance, to apply the residue to the dis-
charge of its debts and the best interests of the
house.^^ On 28 July of the same year John
Mautravers the younger and William de White-
field, knt., were appointed to the custody of the
abbey, ' now grievously burdened with debt for
want of good rule ;' '' in December the following
year, 1330, the custody was transferred to Hugh
de Courtenay, both the elder and the younger,
and the abbot of Ford.'^ The exact date of
the deposition of Abbot John de Monte
Acuto, who appears to have so grievously abused
his trust, cannot be found, but as his succes-
sor, according to the episcopal registers, was
"Pat. 24 Edw. I, m. 12, i7</. ; 25 Edw. I,
pt. I , m. 17 d.
" Ibid. 25 Edw. I, pt. I, m. 13.
'" Ibid. 8 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 4</. ; 9 Edw. II,
pt. I, m. 29 d.
" Ibid. 3 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 18. " Ibid.
" Ibid. 3 Edw. Ill, pt i,m. 18. " Ibid. m. 21.
H
blessed by the bishop in September, 1332,'*
a species of interregnum may have ensued be-
tween the early part of 1 33 1 and that date ; for in
January of the former year the king ordered a
commission of inquiry into the complaint of the
abbot that brother John de Monte Acuto, 'bearing
himself as a monk of the house,' with a number
of adherents had invaded the abbey, driven aw.iy
cattle and sheep to the value of j^yoo, carried
away books, chalices, and other ornaments of the
church as well as charters, deeds, and muniments,
and breaking open a chest had carried away the
seal of the abbey with which divers bonds had
been sealed, &c., to the prejudice of the house.''
In March William de Warenna and John
Fraunceys were ordered to arrest John de
Monte Acuto, an apostate monk fugitive from
the Cistercian abbey of Bindon, and on 29 April
the chief culprit together with another apostate
monk, John de Wille, was arrested while wan-
dering about the country, sometimes in secular
and sometimes in regular habit to the contempt
of his profession, and ordered to be taken back
to the abbey.'' Unfortunately, John seems to
have obtained a certain following in the neigh-
bourhood and even among the inmates of the
house, and a letter, amongst various communi-
cations addressed about this time to the king by
the brethren,'' petitions that whereas Brother
John de Montagu by favour and power had
been made abbot of Bindon, and for the
destruction he had wrought had afterwards been
deposed by the abbot of Ford, 'son visitour,' and
' for his great sins ' had been placed by the
chapter-general under perpetual ward, but by
favour of his keepers had escaped, the king will
order the abbots of Beaulieu and L .... to take
him into safe custody that he may not again
escape, and that scandal may not thence arise to
the order through his being at large.**
" Sarum Epis. Reg. WjTiUe, ii (Inst.), fol. 17.
It may be that a temporary appointment was made,
for in October, 1 33 I, a commission was appointed on
complaint by William, abbot of Bindon, that William
de Stoke and others had assaulted and imprisoned him at
Great Crawford (Pat. 5 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 15 d).
'« Pat. 4 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 7 </. ; 5 Edw. Ill,
pt. I, m. 32 d.
" Ibid. 5 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 21, g d.
" Unfortunately these letters, which with the official
records give a very vivid picture of the state of the
monastery, are all undated. They abound in com-
plaints of the insolvent condition of the house, of
the misdeeds ' dun mauveis abbe, frere John de
Montague, qui a grand droit fust oste e depose ' (Anct.
Pet. 1 1943) and of entreaties to Edward III to
come to the relief of his almoners the monks, ' qui
sent en dispersion ' (Anct. Pet. 1829-31).
'' Anct. Pet. 1830. The patent rolls record that
the late abbot having made good his escape, certain
men were appointed on i August of that year (13 31)
to retake him and conduct him back to the abbey
to be chastised according to the rule of his order.
Pat. 5 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. z6 d.
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
The connexion of Bindon with the abbey of
Ford was at this pass most unfavourable for the
restoration of peace, and in November, 1332,
Edward III wrote to the abbot of Citeaux re-
citing the injuries that had been inflicted on the
monastery of Bindon ' by the indiscreet govern-
ment and detestable presumption ' of the late
abbot who, although he had been removed and
brother Roger substituted in his place, yet found
adherents in the neighbourhood and even among
the monks, and was a source of constant annoy-
ance and loss, so that the dispersal of the monks
was feared unless a remedy could be provided,
and requesting that John and his accomplices,
* who go armed to the scandal of the order,'
should be removed to places far distant to do per-
petual penance and stay there until the state of
the house could be reformed, and that as the
abbot of Ford, ' to whom the house of Bindon is
subject by affiliation,' encouraged John in his
wrong-doing the abbot-general would reserve
the visitation of the house to himself and commit
it to some discreet abbot in whom he had full
confidence.^"
The following January, 1333, Roger, the
newly appointed abbot, with the intention of
attending the general chapter of his order,
nominated his attorney in England for a year,**
and on 3 February the abbot of Beaulieu and
Roger de Guldene were appointed to the custody
of the house, ' burdened with debt by neglect
and bad rule of abbots.' *^ A commission of oyer
and terminer was issued on I May of that year
touching the trespasses of William le Rede of
Wool and others in imprisoning Roger the
abbot of Bindon and nine of his monks while
the abbey was under the king's protection and in
the custody of those appointed by him."
The sordid story continues to run on with its
tale of debt, which the appointment of custodians
failed to relieve," and of ill-feeling that refused
to be placated.'*' On 11 April, 1348, the mayor
of Dover was directed to allow the abbot of
Bindon to cross to the Roman court, whither he
was bound in the interests of his abbey,*^ and in
" Close, 6 Edw. Ill, m. 3 J.
" Pat. 7 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 29.
" Ibid. m. 21. The abbot and convent in that
year made a lease of the manor of Crich. Ibid. 7
Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 10. " Ibid. pt. I, m. 7 J.
"The Close Rolls of 1334., 1335, 1338, 1339,
1344, I347> •348. and 1352 enroll acknowledge-
ments of debt, loans, &c., on the p.irt of the abbot.
On the reappointment of custodians in I334andi335
the patent rolls reiterate that owing to its condition
the works of piety with which the house was charged
could not be maintained, and the monks were likely
to be dispersed unless a remedy could be found. Pat.
8 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 20 ; 9 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 34.
" A complaint of trespass was again lodged by the
abbot in 1335. Ibid. 8 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 6 J. ;
9 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 25 J.
*' Close, 22 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 30,^.
the same year protection was granted to the abbey
with the appointment of Hugh de Courtenay, earl
of Devon, and Hugh his son as custodians ; we
may note that at this time the reason hitherto
alleged for its poverty-stricken condition — the bad
rule of abbots — had given place to another — ' the
frequent visits of the king's enemies coming upon
us unawares.' *'' Richard II on 8 July, 1392,
on payment of a fine licensed John Dygon and
Gilbert Martyn to alienate ten messuages, with
lands and rents in East Burton, to the abbot and
convent in aid of their maintenance.*' The
only entries in the course of the fourteenth
century that do not relate to the material
condition of the abbey occur in 1317, when the
abbot and convent obtained leave to acquire
lands and rents to the yearly value of ;^io for
the provision of a chaplain to celebrate daily in
the abbey for the soul of Edward I and of all
good Christians, and for the good estate of the
king and of Roger Damory;" and again in
1325, when Thomas Crubbe of Dorchester was
licensed to alienate two messuages and loj. rent
in Dorchester in augmentation of the mainten-
ance of a chaplain to celebrate daily in the abbey
for the soul of the said Thomas, his ancestors,
and all the faithful departed.^"
The history of the abbey during the fifteenth
century is practically a blank, and, as a house of
the Cistercian order and ' exempt,' there are no
references to Bindon in the episcopal registers
which throw light on its later condition. '*
Henry IV, in the first year of his reign, made
over to his servant, John Crosby, the ;^20 which
the convent had paid yearly to the late earl of
Salisbury from the issues of the manor of Lul-
worth," and in 1401 he made a life-grant to
the abbot of a butt of wine yearly from the port
of Melcombe." In 1485 John, then abbot of
Bindon, was licensed to accept an ecclesiastical
benefice with or without cure."
There are various references to Bindon in the
reign of Henry VIII. In 15 12 a grant of a
corrody in the monastery was made in survivor-
ship to William Wycombe on its surrender by
Robert Thorney." In 1522 the abbot con-
tributed j^66 13J. 4d. towards the grant by the
spirituality for the expenses of the king in re-
covering the crown of France.'^ He was sum-
moned to convocation in 1529." On the abbey
" Pat. 22 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 9.
" Ibid. 16 Ric. II, pt. I,m. 19.
" Ibid. II Edw. II, pt. I, m. 19.
»» Ibid. 18 Edw. II, pt. 2, m. 29.
" In the middle of the fifteenth century the poor
religious of the monastery of Bindon were declared
' exempt ' by ancient custom from the payment of
tithe. Sarum Epis. Reg. Beauchamp, fol. lij J.
" Pat. I Hen. IV, pt. 5, m. 9.
" Ibid. 3 Hen. IV, pt. i, m. 23.
'* Sarum Epis. Reg. Langton, fol. 231/.
" L. and P. Ht-n. nil, i, 3567.
'^ Ibid, iii, 2483. " Ibid, iv, 6047.
85
A HISTORY OF DORSET
becoming void in 1534 the duke of Richmond
wrote to Cromwell requesting him to grant the
monks liberty to elect their own abbot, ' as the
convent intends to take care of my deer ' in
certain lands adjoining the monastery.'' In
January the following year, the abbot of Ford,
by virtue of the royal commission, was authorized
to visit the Cistercian houses of Bindon and
Tarrant," but no report has been found as to his
'findings.'
The Valor of 1535 gave the abbey spiritualities
amounting to j^i3 41. 6d. from the parsonage of
Chaldon, and tithes in Winfrith Newburgh,
Burngate, and West Chaldon,^" and temporalities
from the manors of Bindon, Wool, East Burton,
Pulham, Chaldon Herring, and South Fossil,
West Lulworth, and other lands.'^ Among the
expenses was the sum of 3^. 4^. annually dis-
tributed to the poor in Chaldon, and 13J. ^.d.
annually distributed at Abbotsbury for the soul
of the founders, 'Roger' Newburgh and Ma-
tilda his wife. The abbey, with a clear annual
income ofj^i47 7;. 94^/.,^" came under the earlier
Act for the suppression of all houses under the
yearly value ofj^200.^' There is no evidence of
a genuine desire on the part of Henry VIII to
save the house, but on the payment of £300°*
the king, by letters patent dated i6 November,
1536, restored it and constituted the former
abbot head ; the respite was of a very temporary
nature, for the house fell with the larger monas-
teries in 1539 and was suppressed on 14 March
of that year.°* The abbot, John Norman, who
signed the surrender deed with the prior and
six brethren, received a pension of ;^50 ; the
prior, who had a yearly corrody in the monas-
tery of jTio, received j^8 ; Stephen Farsey
was appointed to the living of Bindon, worth
£6 135. 4(-/. without tithes and oblations, ' if he
be impotent then to have io6j. ^.d.;' the sub-
prior had £j ; and of the four remaining, one had
£$, another ^4, and two received £2 each.^^
Abbots of Bindon
John, resigned 1191, in which year he became
abbot of Ford "
Henry ^'
Ralph, occurs 1227 °'
John, occurs 1232'"
William"
'» L. and P. Hen. Fill, vii, 821. =' Ibid, viii, 74.
"" Falor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 239. " Ibid. 240-1 .
'' Ibid. " L. and P. Hen. VIII, x, 1238.
"Ibid, xili (2), 457, I (3).
" Ibid, xiv (i), 509. ^ Ibid.
^^ Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), i, 21.
'" Given by Hutchins without reference, Hisl. of
Dors, iii, 355.
™ Ibid, from Fin. Cone. Dors. 1 1 Hen. Ill, No. 30.
'" P.it. 16 Hen. Ill, m. 8 d".
" Cited by Hutchins from a charter undated. Cus-
tum. Glaston. 84.
Robert, occurs 1243 ''"'^ 1252"
Reginald, occurs 1275'^
William, occurs 1290'*
Walter, elected 1309 ''
Richard, occurs 1316'^
John de Monte Acuto, deposed 1331-2 by
order of the chapter-general of Cheaux''
William, occurs 1331 "*
Roger HarnhuU, appointed 1332"'
William de Comenore, elected 1338"'
Philip, occurs 1350*'
William Chetus or Cletus, elected 1361 *^
William Fordington, occurs 1400*'*
Robert Lulworth, occurs 1433**
John Smith, occurs 1444*°
William Comere, occurs 1446'°
Robert, occurs 1458 and 1464*'
Thomas, occurs 1467**
John, occurs 1485 and 1495''
John Bryan, occurs 1499'''
John Waleys, occurs 1523^^
Thomas, occurs 1529^^
John Norman, elected 1534, surrendered
finally 1539°'
A fourteenth-century pointed oval seal with
a very imperfect impression and the legend en-
tirely defaced represents two crowned saints in
a canopied niche. There is an obliterated shield
of arms on each side. In base under a pointed
arch an abbot is lifting up his hands in adora-
tion.'* A much mutilated example of this seal
is attached to the surrender deed of the abbey ."^
" Hutchins, Hist, of Dors, iii, 355. " Ibid.
" Pat. 1 8 Edw. I, m. 29. He may probably be
identical with William de Huleburn, who occurs
1296. Ibid. 24 Edw. I, m. 17 J.
" He made his profession and was blest by the
bishop 5 Ides May of that year. Sarum Epis. Reg.
Simon of Ghent, ii, fol. 79 </.
" He was summoned to convocation in that year.
Ibid. Mortival, il, fol. 31.
" Close, 6 Edw. Ill, m. 3 d.
" Pat. 5 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 15. This was probably
merely a temporary appointment.
" S.irum Epis. Reg. Wyville, ii (Inst.), fol. 17.
«" Ibid. fol. c,-j d.
*' Cal. Pap. Letters, iii, 204.
** Sarum Epis. Reg. Wyville, ii (Inst.), fol. 28612'.
'' Hutchins, op. cit. " Ibid.
" Sarum Epis. Reg. Aiscough.
*° Ibid. " Hutchins, op. cit.
^' Sarum Epis. Reg. Beauchamp, il, fol. 104.
""^ Ibid. Langton, fol. 230 ; Blyth, fol. 47 d.
" According to Hutchins (op. cit.) in that year
John Brjan was made rector of Chaldon Herring by
apostolic dispensation.
"' Hutchins, op. cit.
'' L. and P. Hen. VIII, iv, 6047.
" Cf L. and P. Hen. VIII, vii, 821 ; Valor Eccl.
(Rec. Com.), i, 421 ; L. and P. Hen. VIII, xiv (1),
519.
»' B.M. Seals, Ixii, 24.
" Deeds of Surrender, No. 21.
86
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
HOUSE OF CISTERCIAN NUNS
10. THE ABBEY OF TARRANT
KAINES '
The Cistercian nunnery of Tarrant Kaines,
commonly said to be of the foundation of
Richard le Poor of Salisbury, owed its early
origin to the ' ancient and renowned familie
of Keines,' a member of which — Ralph de
Kahaynes — according to Coker, ' in Richard the
first's time built neare his mansion house a little
monasterie for nunnes which his son William de
Kahaynes much encreased.'^
Accepting the tradition which identifies these
nuns with the sisters to whom was addressed
that famous treatise, the ' Ancren Riwle,' that
modern authority has attributed to Bishop Poor,'
and assuming that the ' Riwle ' was written
about the commencement of the thirteenth
century, we find that the community at that
time consisted of three ladies with their domestic
servants, and that they are described as being
' for your goodness and nobleness of mind
beloved of many, sisters of one father and of
one mother, having in the bloom of your youth
forsaken all the pleasures of the world and
become anchoresses.'^ It also appears that the
sisters, though they had renounced the world to
apply themselves to pious exercises and devout
meditations, had not as yet joined any existing
order, for the bishop advises them ' if any
ignorant person ask you of what order you are,
say that you are of the order of St. James,'
which indeed had no existence in actual fact, but
whose rule {Epist. i, 27), and especially the latter
part of it, * to keep unspotted from the world,'
was specially to be observed by them. It was
probably by the counsel and consent of their
benefactor that the community finally adopted
the Cistercian rule, and it may account for the
tradition soon after prevailing that the bishop was
their actual founder. The step must have been
taken before his translation to Durham in 1228,
for the profession of Clarice, abbess of Tar-
rant Kaines, to Bishop Richard le Poor as
ordinary can still be seen at Salisbury.^
' In the modern parish of Tarrant Crawford.
^Particular Surv. of Dorset (1732), 106. As
Ralph de Kahaignes is returned in the Great Roll
of the Pipe of 1 167-8 for the knights' fees at
which he was assessed in the county, and William
de Chahaygnes in the Roll of 1 186-7, 't seems
more than probable that this ' little monasterie ' was
founded during the reign of Henry II. Red Bk. of the
Ex('h. (Rolls Ser.), i, 44.-64.
^ The '■Ancren Riivle' (The King's Classics), 1905.
Preface. * Ibid, p. 145.
' Among a number of professions' kept in the muni-
ment room of the cathedral. The nuns are described
as belonging to that order in a royal mand.ite
The earliest of a series of charters granted to
the abbess and convent during the reiijn of
Henry III is dated 24 July, 1235, and confirms
to God, the church of All Saints, and the nuns
serving God there all previous gifts, including
those of the original founder and his son. Of
the gift of Ralph de Kahaynes : the church of
All Saints, the manse before the church and the
croft near it, the mill before the manse, all the
downs called ' Thorendon,' ' Holdeley,' and
' Bushenden,' \\ acres of land in Goldecroft,
the land called Medgare, and 2 acres of meadow
at the hedge of Crawford, 2 acres of wood at
Fordham Serlon,' 2 acres of wood in Chetred,
and pasture for a plough-team of oxen with the
oxen of the grantor, a virgate of land in Spettis-
bury. William de Kahaynes added to his
father's benefactions a tithe of all the bread made
in his household wherever he should be in any
part of his demesne 'saving the bread ofRenges,'
a tithe of all salt meat whether of pigs, sheep, or
cows killed in his household each year, one barrel
of his prime and good ale for Christmas with
another barrel of second ale, or malt to make as
much, yearly ; the prior and convent of Christ-
church, Twyneham, among other gifts gave two
mills in Tarrant and pasturage for sheep and
cattle, &c. ; the manor of Woodyates was the
gift of William de Woodyates ; Richard, bishop
of Durham, bestowed all the right which John de
Reygate gave to him in the third part of a hide
and in a messuage and garden in Pimperne.'
Bishop Poor's interest in the house he had
practically re-founded did not diminish on his
translation to Durham ; he made over to the
sisters the custody of the manor of Tarrant
Kaines granted to him by Henry III during
the minority of William, son and heir of
William de Kahaynes, the king sanctioning
the transfer on 7 February, 1237, ^"'^ ^^ ''^^
same time granting letters of protection to the
abbess of the ' Blessed place upon the Tarrant.' *
Two months later the bishop turned his
steps homeward to die in his native place.'
of 1233 prohibiting the exaction of any subsidy
from the Cistercians. Close, 17 Hen. Ill, m.
' The church appears originally under the dedica-
tion of All Saints, but as all abbey churches of the
Cistercian order were ipso facto dedicated in honour
of the Blessed Virgin the church of Tarrant Craw-
ford subsequently appears under the double dedication
of St. Mary and All Saints (See Tanner, Notitia, Dor-
set, xxviii), though it is also given as the church of
St. Mary only. Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 265.
' Chart. R. 19 Hen. Ill, m. 4.
' Pat. 21 Hen. Ill, m. lo.
' Tarrant is generally assumed to be his birthpKice.
Leland, Itin. iii, 62.
87
A HISTORY OF DORSET
Matthew Paris describes the scene at Tarrant
on 13 April, 1237, when, surrounded by the
household, at the hour of comph'ne, devoutly
following the prayers, Richard le Poor at the
words, ' I will lay me down in peace and sleep '
passed peacefully away.^" Before his death he
had sought to secure the welfare of this loved
community by placing the house under the pat-
ronage of Queen Eleanor, wife of Henry III, who
is afterwards occasionally termed the founder,
the house becoming popularly known as Benc-
dtctus Locus Reg'tne super Tarant. In October
following the death of their benefactor Henry III
confirmed to the sisters the grants set out in
his previous charter of 1235 with fresh addi-
tions, including the gift by William de la
Prentice of all his right in the hermitage of
Mannington, at the same time notifying that he
had taken under his protection the abbey of
Tarrant ' which Richard, sometime bishop of
Durham, founded.' In 1265 the king bestowed
on the abbess and convent — styled ' of the Cis-
tercian order' — for the good of his soul and
the soul of Eleanor, queen of England, ' our
consort,' his manor of Hurstbourne Tarrant
in Hants for the service of half a knight's
fee.i'
The year following the bishop's death the
abbey was called on to give burial to a sister of
Henry III, Joan the wife of Alexander II of
Scotland, who fell ill while on a visit south to
her brother, and dying 4 March, 1238,
bequeathed her body to the nuns for burial ; '-
the king in the same month testified that he
was bound to assign to the abbess and convent,
within fifteen days of Easter next, land to the
value of ;/^20 a year according to a bequest
made to them by his sister Joan, sometime
queen of Scotland.^' A few years later, in
1246, a grant was made to the Abbess Maud
that the sheriff of Dorset should henceforth be
charged with the provision of two wax lights to
burn day and night in the abbey, one before the
host and the other before the place where the
body of the late queen lay buried.'*
It would be impossible to enumerate all the
gifts made to this favoured house in the course of
the thirteenth century. A charter dated 2 1 April,
1242, sets out at considerable length all previous
grants, many of which had been included
in the charters of 1235 and 1237 already
'° Matt. Paris, Chron. Maj. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 479.
" Rot. Fin. 50 Hen. Ill, m. 8.
" Matt. Paris, Chron. Maj. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 479.
The sheriff of the county lodged an account in
the Exchequer for 1 00/. which at the king's com-
mand he had paid for having an effigy of a queen
carved in marble stone, for the carriage of the s.ime to
the abbey of Tarrant and there placing it over the
tomb of the queen of Scotland.
" Pat. 22 Hen. Ill, m. 8.
" Ibid. 30 Hen. Ill, m. 3.
mentioned.^' On 5 December, 1252, Henry III
granted to the nuns for the soul of his sister
Joan that they and their men should be quit
of suits of the county and hundred court
and of sherifTs tourn, that they might claim the
amercements of their men before the king's
justices whether in eyre or on the bench ; the
right of free election ' as fully as obtains in
the Cistercian order,' and the right of free
warren in all their demesne lands in Dorset,
Wilts., and Sussex, provided they should not be
within the king's forest.^' Edward I exhibited
the same regard shown by his father, and at the
instance of his wife, Eleanor of Castille, restored
to the nuns the wood of Beer which John de
Bohun had formerly bestowed on them without
licence of the king, with the result that it had
escheated to the crown.'' The manor of Bin-
derton, the gift of Bernard de Sauve, was
included in a charter of confirmation granted in
the eighth year of the king.'*
According to the Taxatio of 1291 the yearly
income of the convent came to £,i2i> 16;. 4^^.,
including spiritualities from the churches of
Tarrant Kaines, Little Crawford, and Wood-
yates amounting to ^^ 1 2 bs. 2id}^ Their tem-
poralities were assessed at ^i^ in the deanery of
Dorchester, ^^33 loj. 2i\d. in the deanery of
Whitchurch, £\() gx. "jd. in the deanery of
Pimperne, ^^22 lbs. ^d. in the manor of Han-
ford within the Shaftesbury deanery.** The
total value of their possessions within this county
came to ;^ioi 31. 45^., and they had ^^15 from
the manor of Binderton in the diocese of
Chichester,'' and j^io 31. from the manor
of Hurstbourne Tarrant in the Winchester
diocese.^^ In spite of the respectable rent-roll
represented by these figures we read that in
1292 the abbess obtained leave from the
king to sell forty oaks from her manor of
" Chart. R. 26 Hen. Ill, m. 3. Among other gifts
the charter includes the church of St. Nicholas of
Woodyates with a virgate of land, the gift of the
prior and canons of Breamore (H;ints), the manor,
advowson of the church, and mill of Hanford given
by John de Mares and Agatha his wife, which the
king had confirmed, quit of all suit and foreign
service, 26 February, 1240 (ibid. 24 Hen. Ill, m.
3), with licence to hold a weekly market on Tuesday,
and a yearly fiir on the vigil, feast, and morrow of St.
James (ibid. 25 Hen. Ill, m. 3).
"Chart. R. 37 Hen. Ill, m. 18. On i July,
1245, a royal licence was granted for the abbess to
hold free of service and in frankalmoign all the land
in Gussage All Saints, which by a former grant the
king had permitted Imbert Pugnes to give to them
for the same service for which he had held it. Ibid.
29 Hen. Ill, m. 3.
" Close, 4 Edw. I, m. 10.
"Chart. 8 Edw. I, No. 35.
" Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 178.
""Ibid. 184*, 185.
" Ibid. 1383. »' Ibid. 213*.
88
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
Hurstbourne to whomsoever she would in order
to pay her debts.^'
Save for the record of their temporal posses-
sions the community rarely emerge from the
obscurity that veils their history. It is evident
that the name by which they continued to be
known, ' the poor nuns of Tarrant,' "* was
something of a misnomer if it should be read to
imply absolute poverty. The time had long
gone by since the days when the sisters were
warned by the bishop to avoid the holding of
personal property : ' Ye shall not possess any
beast, mv dear sisters, except only a cat,' or, when
seeking their pittance in the hall of their early
founder, were bidden ' be glad in your heart if
ye suffer insolence from Slurry the cook's boy
who washeth dishes in the kitchen.' " As
belonging to the Cistercian order the house was
technically ' exempt,' and beyond forwarding a
copy of the Constitutions of Pope Boniface for
enforcing the stricter inclosure of nuns in 1301
the bishop, so far as we can gather from the
registers, made no attempt to impose his authority
therein.^^ At all events history does not deprive
us of the hope that these ladies remained true
to the ideal of the Christian life pointed out to
them by their early friend.
In the fourteenth century certain chantries
were founded in the conventual church that
prayers might continually be offered for the souls
of royal and distinguished benefactors. In 1347
in consideration of the sum of 4.6s. 8d., Thomas
Baret obtained a licence to bestow certain mes-
suages and lands in Charlton and Little Crawford
for the provision of a chaplain to celebrate every
IVIonday in the abbey church at the altar of St.
Mary for the good estate of the king, for his soul
when dead, the souls of his progenitors, the
grantor and his heirs.^' Thirty years later, by
an indenture dated 'Nuns Tarent, Saturday, St.
Mark,' the nuns granted to ' Sir ' Thomas Gilden,
chaplain, a weekly corrody for life from their
abbey, with a chamber in the houses lately built
by Thomas Baret to be kept in repair by the
abbess, and assigned to him the office of chaplain
of the parish church of All Saints, Little Crawford,
'otherwise called St. Margaret's Chapel,' in return
" Close, 20 Edw. I, m. 9.
" The name by which the sisters are designated
in the reigns of Henry III and Henry IV, and later
still when they were declared to be 'exempt' by
ancient custom from the payment of tax and subsidy.
Close, 1 7 Hen. Ill, m. l^J.; Pat. i Hen. IV, pt. 2,
m. 17, 28 ; Sarum Epis. Reg. Beauchamp, fol.
187 </.
"The 'Jncrert Ritv/e' (the King's Classics), 316,
287.
^ Sarum Epis. Reg. Simon of Ghent, fol. 73. The
abbess, in common with Bindon and the heads
generally of Cistercian houses, was blessed by the
bishop, to whom she made profession on her
election.
" Pat. 21 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, No 21.
2
for ;^20 paid by him to the abbess and for other
benefits.'^ In 1383 Sir Robert Rous, whom
Leland mentions as a great benefactor of the
sisters,^' desired by his will to be buried in the
abbey, ' the place of St. Richard the Bishop ; '
among other legacies bequeathing to every nun
at Tarrant 40d., to every sister 2s., and an annual
rent of 8 marks for the provision of four priests tcj
celebrate at the altar ' near the body of St. Richard
in St. Michael's church in Tarrant Kaines,' and
two priests in the church of St. Mary at Tarrant
Crawford ; to the abbess he left a pair of gold
beads with other plate engraved with his own
and his wife's arms.'" On 23 February, 1389, a
licence was granted for the alienation of the
manor of Tarrant Keynston by Robert, bishop
of London, Walter Clopton, William Gascoigne,
and John, parson of Keynston, to the abbess and
convent for the ordination of a chantry of two
chaplains in the abbey to celebrate daily for the
souls of Robert Rous, knt., Joan his wife, his
parents and friends, and to perpetuate various acts
of piety for the benefit of their souls and the
souls of the father and mother of Joan, according
to the ordinance of the bishop. '^
The fifteenth century is almost bare of records
relating to this house. Henry IV on 3 March,
1403, inspected and confirmed letters patent of
Richard II in 1394, confirming the charter of
Henry III for the right of free warren within all
the demesne lands of the abbey.'' The grant
may have been specially made in consequence of
a complaint lodged by the Abbess Joan in May,
1402, that Robert Turbulville, ' chevalier,' and
others had transgressed her right of free warren
at Beer, hunted and fished her preserves, felled
her trees, and assaulted her servants.'' The epis-
copal registers record that a dispensation was
granted to the abbess on 9 September, 1406,
allowing her to have divine service celebrated for
" The corrody was to consist of a weekly allowance
of bread and ale, with a daily pittance of fish or flesh
'such as each nun received,' a cart-'.oad of wood and a
cart-load of litter yearly at Michaelmas. Pat. 5 Ric. II,
pt. I, m. 31. By insfeximus.
" Leland, Itin. iii, 62.
^^ The terms of the will, if correctly reported by
Hutchins {Hist, of Dorset, iii, 122), are somewhat per-
plexing, as the bishop of Durham, Richard Poor, was
buried in the church of Tarrant Crawford or Litde
Crawford, and not in the church of Tarrant Kaines.
The two churches are described as ' not 4 furlongs apart,'
and were united in the seventeenth century. Ibid,
iii, 122. See a paper of the Rev. E. Highton, Last
Resting Place of a Scottish Queen and a great English
Bishop.
^' Pat. 12 Ric. II, pt. 2, m. 20. This foundation
is not entered in the list of chantries suppressed by
the Acts of Henry VIII and Edward VI.
" Ibid. 4 Hen. IV, pt. 2, ra. 37.
" A commission was appointed to investigate the
case. Ibid. 3 Hen. IV, pt. 2, m. 17 </. ; 5 Hen. IV,
pt. I, m. \zd.\ pt. 2, m. 29 -s*.
89 12
A HISTORY OF DORSET
herself and her household wherever she might be
w::hin the city and diocese of Salisbury.'^
'Terenta of the Nuns' was included among
religious houses of the Cistercian order to be
visited by the abbot of Ford in virtue of the
royal commission, January, 1535," but no report
is recorded of its condition.
The Valor of the same year gives the abbey a
clear annual income of jr2l4 7;. <^d., the abbess
claiming to be discharged of a yearly allowance
of £t, for an annual distribution of bread to the
poor on Maundy Thursday in commemoration of
' Eleanor, sometime queen of England, the
foundress."^ The convent held the par-
sonages of Little Crawford, Woodyates, and
Hanford, with a portion out of the church of
Tarrant Keynston.'^ The abbey was at that
time void, conge cTHire on the death of Edith, last
abbess, being granted in August of the same year.'*
The names of the principal officers are given as
follows : — Margaret Lynde, prioress ; Anna
Cheverell, sub-prioress ; Joan More, cellarer ;
Alicia Hart, sacrist.'^
Margaret Russell, who succeeded, held office
till 13 March, 1539, when with the sub-prioress
and eighteen of her nuns she surrendered the
abbey into the hands of the royal commissioner,
John Smyth. A pension of j^40was assigned to
the abbess, to the prioress ^^6 1 31. 4^., to the sub-
prioress lOOi., and to the seventeen remaining
sisters sums ranging from £^ to 66;. 2id. each.*"
William Joliffe, chaplain, later received a pension
of SV- 4^^-"
After the Dissolution the abbey, with the
manor of Preston or Tarrant Crawford, was
granted in reversion to Sir Thomas Wyatt ; *-
a few years later it came into the hands of
Richard Savage and W. Strangways.*'
Abbesses of Tarrant Kaines
Claricia, elected about 1228"
Emelina"
Maud, occurs 1240"
IsolJa, occurs 1280^'
Elena, elected 1298 ''^
Anne, occurs 135 i *'
Clemence de Cernyngton, occurs 1377*°
Joan, occurs 1402 '^
Avice, occurs 1404'"
Edith Coker, died in 1535 "
Margaret Russell, elected 1535," surrendered
March, 1539"
The thirteenth-century pointed oval seal
attached to the surrender deed of the abbey
represents on a corbel the Virgin with crown,
standing, the Holy Child on the left arm. Be-
fore her the abbess kneeling holds up a flowering
branch. In the field two trees.'*
The legend runs : —
jjl SIGILLVM . CONVENTVS . DE . TARENT
HOUSES OF KNIGHTS HOSPITALLERS
II. THE PRECEPTORY OF FRIAR
MAYNE
It cannot exactly be stated when the preceptory
of Friar Mayne was erected, though there is ample
evidence that the Knights Hospitallers possessed
property here and at West Knighton early in the
reign of Edward I.^ Thus it is reported among
the inquisitions returned 3 Edward I that Thomas
del Boys gave to the hospital of St. John of
" Sarum Epis. Reg. Mitford, fol. 1 15 </.
« L. and P. Hen. Fill, viii, 74.
^ Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 265-7. " Ibid.
"* L. and P. Hen. Vlll, ix, 236.
'' Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 267.
*» L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiv (l), 515.
" Add. MS. 19047, fol. 6.
" Dugd-ile, Mon. v, 628.
" Tar.ner, Votltia, Dorset, No. xxviii.
" Her profession to Richard le Poor, bishop of
Salisbury, cannot be later, as in that year he was
translated to Durham.
" Her profession on election, undated, can be seen
in the muniment room at the cathedral at Salisbury.
« Chart. R. 24 Hen. III,m. 3.
*' Hutchins, Hist, oj Dorset, iii, 121.
*' In that year she did homage to the bishop on her
election ; Sarum Epis. Reg. Simon of Ghent, i, fol. 33.
Jerusalem land in Kyngeston or Knighton which
used to do suit and service at the hundred court,
and that this service valued at li. had been with-
drawn by the prior and brethren." In 1290 the
prior of the order obtained from Edward I a
charter of free warren in all the demesne lands
of his manor of Mayne,' and in the Taxatio of
•' Cat. of Pap. Letters, iii, 407.
"> Pat. 5 Ric. II, pt. I, m. 31.
*' Ibid. 3 Hen. IV, pt. 2, m. ij d.
" Ibid. 5 Hen. I\', pt. 2, m. 29 d.
« L. and P. Hen. Vlll, ix, 236.
** Both Dugdale and Tanner make the mistake of
giving Margaret L}-nde, who was prioress when the
Valor of 1535 vvas t.-ken, as abbess; Dugdale,
Mon. V, 620 ; Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iii, 12 I.
" L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiv (i), 515. This list,
with the addition of fresh names and some corrections
of date, closely follows that of Hutchins, Hist, of
Dorset, iii, 121.
" Deeds of Surrender, No. 233.
' According to Hutchins {Hist, of Dorset, ii, 498)
Knighton took its name from the Knights Templars
or Hospitallers here (Knightoun); Friar Mayne, now a
hamlet in West Knighton parish, was formerly a manor
adjoining.
' Bund. R. (Rec. Com.), i, 100.
' Chart. R. 18 Edw. I, No. 810.
90
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
1 29 1 he is said to have had a portion out of the
church of Knighton.*
The preceptory was founded some time be-
tween then and the year 1338, when full
particulars of the bailiwick of Mayne are given in
the return made of the possessions of the Hos-
pitallers of England to the Grand Master of the
Order by Philip de Thame, provincial prior of
England. The ' bajulia de Maine ' with its
members Knighton and Waye was valued at
144 marks, 2s. lod. ;° the outgoings amounted
to 63 marks 5^- 4<^-> ^nd included ordinary ex-
penses of the household with the exercise of
hospitality, a duty much enjoined on all members
of the order — _^8 14?.; a life-corrody to Sir Robert
de Norfolk at the table of the brethren, a robe
and his necessaries, 271. ; the kitchen, £"] 16s. ;
the brewing of the beer, ^^5 145. id. ; robes,
mantles, and other necessaries for the preceptor
and his brother knight, 69;. ^.d. ; for the squire
and others of the household, 50J. ; the chaplain's
stipend for celebrating in the chapel was 20s. ;
the cost of entertaining the prior for three
days on his annual visit came to bos. An annual
pension of £2 6s. Sd. was paid to the vicar of
Stinsford,' and small payments of 6s. and Js. to
the rector of Warmwell and the prior of Holme
respectively. The household consisted at that
time of the preceptor, brother John Larcher,
junior ; Richard Bernard, his brother knight ; and
Sir Robert de Norfolk, the corrody-man or
boarder ' in the place of a knight,' besides squire
and servants.' The balance to be paid into the
treasury after all expenses had been met amounted
to 79 marks lOs. lod. The house was not
reported in a very good state, for the court at
Mayne was ' badly built,' the house in ruins :
* burnt by misfortune,' so that the whole return
of the bailiwick for one year would hardly suffice
to repair the buildings, and owing to these un-
* Pofe Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 1 79. The first
presentation to the rectory of West Knighton was made
in 1304 (Hutchins, 7^///. of Doiset, ii, 504). Stinsford
church is not mentioned in the Taxation of 1 291,
but is given as appropriated to the preceptory and
worth 18 marks in the return made by the provincial
prior of England in 1338 (Larking, Knights Hospitallers
in England [Camd. Soc], 11); the first presentation to
the vicarage is recorded in 13 19 (Hutchins, Hist, of
Dorset, ii, 569).
' At Mayne besides dovecot and water-mill there
were 340 acres of land, 15J acres of meadow and
pasture for 12 oxen, 12 cows, and 500 sheep; at
Knighton, a messuage and garden, 68 acres of land,
\\ acres of meadow, and pasture for 6 oxen, 8 cows,
and 100 sheep ; at Waye a messuage with garden, 10
acres of meadow, 160 acres of land, and pasture for
6 oxen, 8 cows, and 100 sheep ; Larking, Knights
Hospitallers in England (Camd. Soc), lo-l I.
* This payment was made up to 1535, and is given
in the Valor Eccl. of that year ; op. cit. (Rec. Com.),
i, 262.
' Larking, Knights Hospitallers in England (Camd.
Soc), lO-II.
fortunate circumstances that voluntary contri-
bution to their funds by the neighbourhood, on
which every preceptory relied for a large fraction
of its income, could hardly be expected to reach
the average of 36 marks.*
The establishment at Mayne previous to the
Dissolution seems to have become incorporated
with or united to the larger and more flourishing
preceptory of Baddesley or Godsfield in Hamp-
shire. In 1523 brother William Weston paid
;^38 17J. I (^. for the commandery of Baddesley
and Mayne into the treasury or capital fund of
the order for the year ending at the feast of St.
John the Baptist,^ and in 1533 the prior and
hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, by an indenture
dated 27 June, leased to John Gerard of Tincle-
ton the capital messuage or mansion of their
manor of Friar Mayne with the tithes of the
chapel and a warren of coneys in Lewell or East
Stafford for a term of twenty-one years. ^'^ The
preceptory, therefore, in all but the name, seems to
have sunk to the position of a ' camera ' or estate
maintaining no community and farmed out for
the benefit of the society.
In the Valor of 1 535 all receipts and payments,
with the exception of the rectory of West
Knighton, are made out jointly in the name of
the commandery or preceptory of Baddesley or
Mayne ; the receipts were 20J. %d. from the
aforesaid rectory,^' i^d. out of the rectory of
Langton Matravers and Worth," and 55. in tithes
out of West Chaldon ; " the vicar of Stinsford
received a stipend of £2. 6s. 8d. as in the return
of 1338.1*
At the Dissolution the property of the Knights
Hospitallers was by Act of Parliament vested in
the crown, and the manor and premises here in
reversion of the afore-mentioned lease were
granted by Edward VI to William Dennys for
twenty-one years." On the re-establishment of
the order under Philip and Mary they were re-
stored in 1558 to Thomas Tresham, Grand Pre-
ceptor of St. John of Jerusalem,'^ but the advent
» Ibid.
' Hutchins, quoting from the records of the
Knights Hospitallers at Malta, says that in 153 1 Roger
Boydell, preceptor of Baddesley and Mayne, paid by
the hand of Francis Balyard j^44 12/. id. into the
treasury and the same in 1532. In 1533-4 Thomas
Dingley paid ^44 12s. id. for Baddesley and Mayne
for half a year, and he owed the same sum for 1535.
Hist, of Dorset, ii, 501. '" Ibid. 499.
" Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 244. '» Ibid.
1' Ibid. 239. " Ibid. 262. " Pat. 5 Edw. VI.
" Pat. 4 & 5 Phil, and Mary, pt. 14. This
restoration comprised not only the manor of Friar
Mayne and Westbroke with messuages and lands in
Westbroke, East Stafford, Warmwell, West Waddon,
and Dorchester and a pension of 20/. %d. from
West Knighton rectory, all belonging to the precep-
tory of Friar Mayne, but certain other lands and rents
in the county belonging to the preceptory of Temple
Combe in Somerset included in the same patent of re-
edification.
91
A HISTORY OF DORSET
to the throne of Elizabeth brought about the
destruction of the order anew, and the queen in
April, 1564, in consideration of the sum of
j^ 1,189 '9*- 7^- re-granted the manor in rever-
sion of the former lease of Edward VI to
William Pole of Shute and Edward Downing
and their heirs." In addition to the preceptory
of Mayne with its members West Knighton and
Waye, the order possessed a smaller estate re-
turned in 1338 as the 'camera' of Chilcombe,
which comprised the manors of Chilcombe and
Toller Fratrum with the rectory of the latter;
it was valued at £\ 55. 4^., paid 30 marks
into the treasury at Clerkenwell, and was farmed
out to Ivo de Chilcombe.'* The HospitaUers
also held lands in Hammoon, Watercombe,
MarnhuU, Wareham, Upway, Charlton Marshall,
Turnworth, and Shroton.*'
FRIARIES
12. THE DOMINICAN FRIARS OF
GILLINGHAM
On 8 December, 1267, Henry III granted
twelve oaks in Gillingham Forest to the Friars
Preachers to repair the fabric of their church at
Gillingham.' This was probably a chapel con-
nected with the royal palace.^ No other reference
to the house has yet been found.
13. THE DOMINICAN FRIARS OF
MELCOMBE REGIS'
The friary at Melcombe Regis was the last
Dominican house established in England. It was
founded by Hugh Deverell, knt., and John Rogers,
chief of the house of Rogers of Bryanston in
Dorset.* In furtherance of their purpose the
provincial of England, supported by the master-
general of the order, applied to the Holy See in
141 8 for powers to make the foundation; and
on 1 7 August Martin V gave the necessary leave
for erecting a convent here, with church, belfry,
churchyard and cloister, and all things necessary for
a religious house, even without the consent of the
ordinary of the diocese, provided there was no
other house of Mendicants within the distance of
150 cannae (about 280 yards) and saving the
rights of the parochial churches.' Deverell and
Rogers then gave two messuages, two tofts and
four curtilages, containing altogether 270 ft. in
length and 160 ft. in breadth, held of the crown
in free burgage at a rent of 2J. I^;^. a year and
estimated at the annual value of 65. ^d. This site
wasconveyed toEdward Polyng, who was appoint-
ed thefirst prior ' both by the superiors of theOrder
and by the aforesaid Hugh and John,'' and with
" Tanner, Notitia, Dorset, xvi.
" Larking, The Knights Hosf'italUrs in England
(Camd. Sec), 105-6.
" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 502.
' Close, 5 2 Hen. Ill, m. 12.
' Cf. the houses of Friars Preachers and Minors at
Clarendon ; Liberate R. 34 Hen. Ill, m. 5 ; 54 Hen.
lll,m. 2.
' Rev. C. F. R. Palmer, ' The Friar-Preachers of
Melcombe Regis,' in The Reliquary, xxi, 72-6.
* Cf. Leland, Itin. ( ed. 1745), iii, 65.
'Refill, xxi, from Bull. Ord. Pracd.
'Pat. 8 Hen. VI, pt. 3, m. 4.
him were associated friars John Lok and John
Lowen to carry on the new foundation. They
immediately established a chapel and set up an
altar in one of the houses and began their spiritual
ministrations among the people. John Chandler,
bishop of Sarum, opposed the new foundation, and
in 1426 shortly before his death declared the
friars contumacious and forbade their proceedings.'
Deverell and Rogers, however, secured the royal
licence for the foundation 16 February 1 430-1 *
and addressed a petition to the bishop, Robert
Neville.' In this they stated that they had begun
the house moved by the desolation of the town ;
that there was no place dedicated to God in Mel-
combe ; that the parochial church of Radipole
was a long mile and a half away and was incon-
venient for the burgesses ; that the inhabitants
were rude, illiterate, and situated in angulo terrae :
that the vill lay open to enemies, whereby the
king's rent was not paid and the customs were
diminished. An arrangement was soon made
with the bishop and the prohibition removed.
The friars did not confine their attention to
the spritual welfare of the inhabitants, but contri-
buted to the defence of the town and increase of
the port by building a jetty against the ebb and flow
of the tide. After they had begun this work,
they determined to add a tower as a fortification
for the town, port, and their own house. They
therefore applied to the crown for help, and on
17 February, 1445-6, received from the king and
council a grant of land, 1,000 ft. long and 600 ft.
broad by the sea for the site of the tower in free
alms without any rent, and also a sum of ^10 a
year for twelve years out of the customs and sub-
sidies of the port of Poole towards the expenses
of making the jetty.'" In the Act of Resumption
passed in 1450 this grant was specially exempted
in consideration of the great charge and costs that
they have had and yet must have in making and re-
pairing of a jetty in defence of the said town of Mel-
combe against the flowing of the sea."
'Sarum Epis. Reg. Chandler inter acta, fol. 54;
Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset (ed. 3), ii, 454.
»P.it. 8 Hen. VI, pt. 3, m. 4.
' Sarum Epis. Reg. Neville, inter acta, fol. 34 ;
Hutchins, loc. cit.
'"Pat. 24 Hen. VI, pt. 2, m. 24.
" Par/. R. v, 187.
92
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
Friar Simon Ball or Bell, sometime prior of
this house, was collated to the rectory of Radipole,
18 December, 1533.'^ Owen Watson, rector of
Portland, who died in 1533, willed his body to
be buried at the Friars Preachers here where he
had built a tomb for himself.^'
Shortly before the Dissolution some new altars
were erected and new stalls placed in the choir
and new seats in the church, as appears from the
inventory of the 'stuff' taken at the end of Sep-
tember 1538, when the bishop of Dover as visitor
took the priory into the king's hands.'* Among
the belongings of the house may be noticed in
the choir a fair table of alabaster, ' a fair table
folk of beyond sea work,' a frame of iron hanging
for tapers, and new stalls : in the church, new
altars, seven images, six marble stones, new ceiled
seats at the Jesus altar, new seats in the body of
the church, and a little bell in the steeple. The
contents of the parlour, buttery, and vestry were
few and poor : in the chambers were four old
bedsteads, one feather bed and one flock bed : the
kitchen also was scantily furnished, though every-
thing seems to be included in the inventory down
to a broken saucer. The visitor, however, paid
his expenses and discharged the debts owing by
the house, which amounted only to 20s. He
carried away a chalice weighing ii|^oz. and left
the house in charge of John Gierke, controller of
the customs.'^ There was no lead except a few
gutters,'* and the timber was hardly sufficient to
keep the fences in repair."
The Black Friars was let in 1541 to Sir
John Rogers, knt., grandson of the founder, for
twenty-one years at a rent of 1 35. ^.d. a year."
Sir John purchased the whole with other
"Ellis, Hist, and Jntiq. of Weymouth, 261 ; Hist.
MSS. Com. Rep. v, 581.
" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 454.
"i. and P. Hen. Fill, xiii (2), 12 14.
" Ibid. Ellis in his History and Jntiquitiei of Wey-
mouth (1829) has preserved an inventory of jewels and
plate of this house which probably dates from the
Dissolution ; the articles mentioned are a short pair
of beads of gold coral with eighteen stones of silver and
a ring of silver and a Saint Dominic's shell ; sixteen
rings of gold, and a ' gymmere ' (a ring with two rounds
of pearls) of stones and a buckle of gold ; an Agnus
Dei of silver ; a circlet of silver ; a cross of silver ;
a box with two silver beads ; a paten of silver ;
a chalice of silver ; a Holy Rood ; a piscina ; a
pair of beads of gilt with stones of silver ; a pyx;
an ampul, etc. He also mentions a tradition that
the prior had a wonder-working chair, the gift
of a cardinal and engraved with a cardinal's hat and
' certain arms,' which at the Dissolution was ' con-
verted into the municipal office of holding the persons
of the borough representatives.' Ellis had, however,
found no trace of it. The tradition (mentioned by
Hutchins) that there was a nunnery adjoining the
priory is without foundation.
^"L. and P. Hen. Fill, xiii (2), 489.
" Partic. for Gts. (P.R.O.), file 944.
'« Ibid.; L. and P. Hen. Fill, xvii, 703.
monastic lands in 1543, holding the friary at a
rent of \6d. from the crown."
The friary was situated in the east part of the
town, in Maiden Street, near the sea.^" Leland
called it a ' fair house.' '' The patron saint of
the church was, according to Speed, St. Dominic ;
according to Willis, St. Winifred. The ceme-
tery appears to have been on the north side,
where many skulls and bones were dug up in
1682. The priory was in a ruinous condition
in 1650, but some old buildings still remained
in 1803, including the church, which had been
converted into a malt-house. In 1861 the
whole of the buildings were pulled down and
the ground cut up into building plots.^'
14. THE FRANCISCAN FRIARS OF
DORCHESTER
The Franciscan friary, or the priory, as it is
generally called, stood on the north side of the
town, on the banks of the river, a little east of
the castle.^^
The date and circumstances of its founda-
tion are unknown. It was already in exist-
ence in 1267, as in that year the friars were
presented for encroaching upon the road by
erecting a wall ; ^ that the encroachment was
of recent date is shown by the entry in the
same year of the death of a workmen who fell
off the wall while building it.^' It is said by
Speed to have been built by the ancestors of
Sir John Chideock.^^ Richard III claimed it as
a royal foundation,^' probably with justice. At
the time of the Dissolution there was still a
room in the friary known as ' the king's cham-
ber.' ^' The house was already a large one
containing thirty-two friars in May 1296, when
Edward I gave them 321. for three days' food
through Friar Nicholas of Exeter.^' In a deed
" L. and P. Hen. Fill, xviii (2), 241 (31) ; xix
(1), 278 (40); Pat. 35 Hen. VIII, pt. I, m. 34;
and pt. 14, m. 11.
" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 454.
" Leland, Itin. iii, 65.
" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 455.
" Ibid. (ed. 3), ii, 364.
" Assize R. 202. " Ibid.
" Speed, Hist. 1055. Dugdale and others say it
was built 'out of the ruins of the Castle.' The
tradition that some monuments in St. Peter's
church were monuments of the Chideocks and
were removed from the Grey Friars church lacks
confirmation : Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 381.
For pedigree of the Chideock family, see ibid. 257.
In the Year Book of 1364 there is a reference to a
'college de xxx soers in le Precheurs de Dorcet':
this is probably a mistake for Dartford : Les Reports
des Cases on Ley (1679), Mich. 36 Edw. Ill, 28.
" Harl. MS. 433, fol. 131.
" L. and P. Hen. Fill, xiii (2), 474 (2).
" B.M. Add. MS. 7965, fol. 7.
93
A HISTORY OF DORSET
dated 1310 a burgage held by the abbey of
Milton is described as lying near the Friars
Minors,'" and in the same year the house
received legacies from Thomas Button, bishop
of Exeter," and from Robert Bingham of
Dorchester."
Friars of this house received licence to preach
and hear confessions, as Friar John of Grymston
in 1338." About the time of the Peasant
Revolt the head of the house was ordered by
the king to correct Friar John Grey for having
excited the cottagers and tenants of the abbot of
Milton against their lord.**
Alexander Riston, rector of the church of
Sarum, left these friars two quarters of corn and
one of barley, c. 1393 :" and Robert Grenelefe
aSas Baker of Dorchester left them his ' best
bason with ewer and best brass pot' in 1420."'
They also had bequests from Elizabeth de
Burgh, Lady Clare (1355)," Sir Robert Rous,
knt. (1383),'' John de Waltham, bishop of
Salisbury (1395),'' John Seward (1400),**
Sir William Boneville, knt. (1407)," William
Ekerdon, canon of Exeter (141 3)," John Pury
of Dorchester (1436)," William Wenard of
Devonshire (1441)," John Martyn of Dorches-
ter (1450)," Thomas Strangways (1514).^*
Richard III in 1483 granted to the warden
and brethren of this house full power to have
the rule and governance of the hospital of St.
John the Baptist in Dorchester, lately occupied
by Sir Richard Hill, priest, and now in the king's
hands, and to minister divine sen'ice there and
receive the rents to their use.*' This hospital
had been endowed with lOOs. of rent by
William Mareschal of Dorchester in 1324,*' and
in the time of Henry VIII the master of the
chapel of St. John held nine burgages or tene-
ments in the parish of St. Peter, thirteen in the
parish of All Saints, and two in that of Holy
Trinity." The hospital had already been
*> Hutchins, Hiit. 0/ Dorset, ii, 364.
" jiccount of the Executors of . . . Thomas bishop of
Exeter (Camd. Soc), 42.
'' Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 364.
" Reg. Rod. de Sahpia (Somers. Rec. Soc. ix), 322.
" Camb. Univ. Lib. MS. Dd. iii, 53, fol. 97.
'=■ P.C.C. Rous, fol. 66b.
'« Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 387.
" Nicholas, Royal and Noble Wills, 33-4.
^ P.C.C. Rous, fol. I ; Coll Top. et Geneal. iii,
100.
»' P.C.C. Rous, fol. 32.
*° Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Arundel i, fol. I93'»,- cf.
Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 389-90.
*' E.xeter Epis. Reg. Stafford, 391.
" Ibid. 402.
" Hutchins, Hist of Dorset, ii, 364, 388.
" P.C.C. Rous, fol. 105.
" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 364, 388.
" P.C.C. Fetiplace, qu. 13.
" Harl. MS. 433, fol. 131.
«' Pat. 17 Edw. II, pt. 2, m. 28.
" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 408-9.
conferred on Eton College by Henry VI and it
is doubtful whether the grant of it to the Grey
Friars took effect.'*' The friars, however, at
the time of the Dissolution held three tenements
in the parish of All Saints and four in the
parish of Holy Trinity." In March 1483-4
the king further ordered the receivers and
tenants of the manors of Little Crichel,
Chideock, and Caundle Haddon to pay in all 8oj.
a year to this friary.*-
An important addition was made to the
possessions of the convent in 1485, when
Sir John Byconil, knt., built and gave them
some mills on the water that ran by the friary.
The friars in return recognized him as chief
founder of the house, conferred on him special
spritual benefits and engaged to celebrate his
decease on the day after the feast of St. Francis.
The mills were given on the following conditions :
(i) that 40i. of the profits of the mills should be
set aside each year for repairs ; (2) that the friars
should take it in turn week by week to pray for
the donor and each should at the end of his
week receive bd. ; the cursors or lecturers ' being
diligently employed about their scholars ' were
excused this service and entitled to receive the
alms, provided that they substituted another to
perform the office ; (3) each friar praying at the
obsequies of Sir Jolm should receive an alms ;
(4) the remainder of the revenues derived from
the mills was to be employed
in bringing of boys into the Order and their education
in good manners and learning and in making good the
books in the choir and in no other way : and the
brethren so brought in and educated to the perpetual
memory of the said John were to be called Byconil's
Friars and none of them to be called by their sur-
names.
If these conditions were not fulfilled, the profits
of the mills were to be divided equally between
the Franciscan houses of Bristol, Bridgwater,
and Exeter. The agreement was confirmed by
William Goddard, D.D., provincial minister, and
John Whitefield, custodian of Bristol, and the
seals of the provincial minister, the custodian, and
the convent were affixed to the deed.''
It is noteworthy that Sir John Byconil made
no bequest to any houses of friars in his will in
1500.'* His widow Elizabeth left 20s. to the
friars of Dorchester in 1504." In 1510 John
Coker, esq., having given the friars a barn and
a garden annexed, on the south side of the
cemetery, was admitted with his family and
" On this hospital see Dugdale, Mon. vi, 759.
" Ibid.
" Harl. MS. 433, fol. 1643.
" Fr. a. S. Clara (Chr. Davenport), Hist. Minor
Fratrum Minorum Pror. Jngliae, 37-8 ; Collectanea
jing.'o-Minoritica, i, 208 ; Dugdale, Mon. vi ; Hutchins,.
Hist, of Dorset, ii, 364.
" P.C.C. Blamyr, 5.
" Ibid. Holgrave, 15.
94
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
successors to the privileges of confraternity by
Richard Draper, D.D., custodian of the custody
of Bristol and warden of the convent of
Dorchester/'
Sir Roger of Newborough, lent., and William
who was abbot of Milton 148 1-1525 granted to
these friars an annual alms of 43J. 4^. from lands
in Upper Stirthill."
The bishop of Dover visited the house in
September, 1538, and had some difficulty in
obtaining the surrender;'' he notes that the
warden, Dr. Germen,^" had been there many
years and was in high favour, so that he (the
writer) had much trouble to come to a knowledge
of the state of the house. Finding that the mill,
which was worth ^TlO a year, had been recently let
to Lord Stourton for ^^4, the visitor seized it into
the king's hands and retained the miller to the
king's use. The deed of surrender was signed
on 30 September, 1538, by Dr. William
Germen, Edmund Dorcet, Thomas Clas, John
Tregynzyon, John Clement, John Laurens,
Stephen Popynjay, and Thomas Wyre.'° The
'stuff' was delivered to the bailiffs of the town
on behalf of the king : it included a table at the
high altar of imagery after the old fashion,
a small pair of organs, fair stalls well canopied,
and divers tombs in the choir, four tables and
three great images of alabaster, a new tabernacle
for the image of St. Francis, divers images stolen
(?), and divers tombs in the church ; three bells
of different sizes in the steeple. In the vestry
six suits with other vestments, some of them with
blue velvet embroidered. In the chambers a
feather bed without a bolster, blankets, quilt
and sheets ; two old carpets, ' one of them in
the king's chamber,' besides furniture in the hall,
frater, buttery, kitchen and brew-house. Further,
to redeem plate in pledge for £1 and to pay
certain wages and the visitor's charges the
following articles were sold : an iron grate about
a tomb in the church (40J.), a white vestment
with deacon and subdeacon (40J.), two feather
beds and a covering ( I o;.), 'an old cope durneks,'
a pillow and old iron with a holy water stoup
[fs. ^d.). The visitor also sold a press standing
in the vestry for 131. /^d. The plate weighed
1265^ oz. There were also various deeds and
' two horses belonging to the mill.' *' Part of
the steeple and three panes of the cloister were
covered with lead.""
William, Lord Stourton, sought to secure a
grant of the Grey Friars,*' but the house and
grounds were in 1539 leased and in 1543 sold
'* Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 365.
" Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 25 i.
" L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiii (2), 482.
" Cf. Little, Grey Friars in Oxf. (Oxf. Hist. See),
275.
^ L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiii (2), 474. «' Ibid.
«- Treas. Receipts (P.R.O.), A. j\, fol. 4.
" L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiii (2), 482.
to Edmund Peckham, cofferer to the king's
household." The property, consisting of the
house and site, with water-mill and 6 acres of
ground, was valued at £\ a year, less 8j. for the
tenth, and the price paid was £'J2.^^ Peckham
had at the time of the Dissolution bought the
elms growing on the property for ;^8.*' He sold
the estate to Thomas Wriothesley, earl of
Southampton, and Paul Dorrel, esq., in 1547,
and it subsequently passed to Sir Francis Ashley,
knt., whose heiress brought it to Denzil, Lord
Holies."
Wardens
John Colsweyn, 1327^*
John Loss, 1485"'
Richard Draper, 15 10
William Germen, 1538
15. THE CARMELITE FRIARS OF
BRIDPORT
In a letter of which the superscription is lost
the writer, who represents himself as the special
protector of the Carmelite order, requests his
correspondent ' to permit the friars to perform
divine offices without molestation or difficulty in
the oratory which they have built at Bridport.
The letter was probably written by Cardinal
Ottobon, papal legate in England 1265 to 1268,
to Walter de la Wyle, bishop of Salisbury.™
In 1269 the Carmelites of Bridport received a
legacy of 2s. from Christina de Strikelane,
widow, of Bridport.'^
The house had only a brief existence. In
1365 Sir John Chideock,knt., applied for licence
to confer on the provincial prior and Carmelite
Friars of England 3 acres of land in Bridport for
the establishment of a friary, together with a
mill the profits of which would supply them
with bread, wine, wax, and other things
necessary for celebrating masses. An inquiry
being held, the jurors declared that the grant
would be injurious to the patron and rector of
the church of Bridport, and the licence was
not given.''^ It would appear from this that the
"Ibid. XV, 555 (Aug. Off. Bk. 211, fol. 24);
xviii (i), 981 (108).
" Partic. for Grants, file 852, m. 2, 6 ; Hutchins,
Hist, of Dorset, ii, 366.
^ Partic. for Grants, ibid. m. 3.
" On the history of the site see Hutchins, Hist,
of Dorset, ii, 365-6.
'" Sarum Epis. Reg. Mortival, ii, 187 ; Hutchins,
Hist, of Dorset, ii, 365.
«' Franc, a. S. Clara (Chr. Davenport), Hist. Mm.
Frat. Minorum Prov. Angl. 37-8.
" Bodl. MS. Laud. Misc. 645, fol. 135; other
letters in the collection appear to have been written by
a papal legate about this time.
" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset (ed. 3), ii, 19.
" Inq. a.q.d. file 355, No. 13. The writ says \oa.,
the return 3a.
95
A HISTORY OF DORSET
original settlement had either ceased to exist or
that the friars were for some reason compelled
to vacate their premises. No further attempt
to re-establish the Carmelites in Bridport appears
to have been made.
1 6. THE CARMELITE FRIARS OF
LYME
In November, 1325, a jury of inquest declared
that it would not be to the king's prejudice if
he licensed William Darre, chaplain, to grant a
•■nessuage and 8 acres of land in Lyme to the
Carmelite Friars. The land paid 155. lof^a'.
towards the firm of the town and was worth 21.
a year besides.'^
The house does not seem to have been
founded.'*
17. THE AUSTIN FRIARS OF SHER-
BORNE
In 1343 Robert of Bradford had licence to
grant to the provincial prior and Austin Friars in
England a messuage and 8 acres of land in
Sherborne to build thereon an oratory and
houses for friars of their order." The house
does not seem to have been founded.
HERMITAGE
18. THE 'PRIORY HERMITAGE'
OF BLACKMOORi
Obscure though the early history of this house
is it may reasonably be assumed that, originally
a hermit settlement in the heart of the forest of
Blackmoor, it attracted to itself so large a com-
pany of the faithful that a community was
formed, a rule adopted — apparently similar to
that of the friars hermits of St. Augustine,
though the hermitage seems clearly never to have
been affiliated to that order — and the brethren
placing themselves under the protection of the
lords of the forest, the earls of Cornwall, who
had permitted if not built the earlier foundation,
acquired the site of their dwelling and such
property from time to time as the generosity of
their patrons added to them. The precise date
of these events cannot be given, though they
probably took place in the reign of Henry III.
Edmund, earl of Cornwall, died in 1300 seised
of the hermitage in Blackmoor,' and in 1314
Edward II granted a licence to the brethren to
retain without let or hindrance of any justice or
forest officer the land which they had acquired
within the forest without licence from his pre-
decessors, comprising the site of their hermitage,
" Inq. a q.d. file 183, No. 4.
" Willi.im of Worcester (//;'». 372), speaking of
Thomas Beaufort, duke of Exeter, says : ' Item habuit
iii vel iiii infantes et obierunt apud Lyme inter
fratres.' (?)
" Inq. a. q.d. file 265, No. 12 ; Pat. 17 Edw. Ill,
pt. I, m. 17.
' This house has not been fully or correctly treated
by previous compilers. Tanner, in the earlier Notitia
(1744), mistaking it for an Austin priory of the same
name in Essex, states that it was dedicated to St.
Lawrence and attributes to it various references relat-
ing to the Essex house. The matter is not cleared
up in the later Notitia, and the edition of the third
and corrected edition of Hutchins, while giving much
fresh information, repeats some of the old errors. Hist.
0/ Dorset, iv, 467.
consisting of 10 acres of land the gift of Ralph,
earl of Cornwall, 7 acres acquired from Richard,
earl of Cornwall, who died in 1272, and 7 acres
bestowed by Edmund, the late earl,' which they
had inclosed according to the assize of the forest
so that the deer could enter and leave. Tlie
following year the prior and hermits were allowed
8 acres of land out of the waste of the forest in
a place called ' Rocumbe,' with liberty to
inclose the same with a little dyke and low
hedge and bring it into cultivation,'' and in
1325 Ingelram Berenger, who had been ap-
pointed steward of the forest,' made over to them
100 acres of land in ' Rocumbe,' held in chief
for the service of rendering 32/. ,^d. at the
Exchequer, on condition that they should find a
chaplain to celebrate daily in the church of the
hermitage for the souls of the said Ingelram and
the faithful departed and for the maintenance of
ten mendicants to be refreshed once a day in the
hermitage.^ The List charge seems to have
dropped speedily out of practice and even
memory, for the return made to the writ of
Edward III, dated November, 1338, requiring
to be certified whether it would be to the injury
of the king or any other for the prior and
chaplains of the hermitage of Blackmoor Regis,
Dorset, to retain 14 messuages, 100 acres of
land, 2i- acres of meadow with a rent of
67J. ^d. and of a pound of cummin in Knighton,
Fossil, Winfrith, and Baltington, which they
had acquired in fee from the late Ingelram
Berenger since the publication of the Statute of
Mortmain without licence of the late king,
' Inq. p.m. 28 Edw. I, No. 44. Unfortunately
the section giving the return relating to the hermitage
within Blackmoor forest, parcel of the duchy of Corn-
wall, is reported as ' missing ' at the P.R.O.
' Pat. 7 Edw. II, pt. 2, m. 15; see Dugdale,
Baron, of Engl, i, 76 1.
* Pat. 9 Edw. II, pt. I, m. 28.
' Ibid. 18 Edw. II, pt. I, m. 25.
° Ibid. 19 Edw. II, pt. 1, m. 13.
96
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
stated that the grant had been made on condi-
tion that the brethren should pay the said
Ingelram the true yearly value of the same
during his life and after his death should provide
a chaplain to celebrate daily for the souls of the
kings of England, of Ingelram and the faithful
departed,' without mention of the daily pro-
vision for mendicants ; possibly it may have ceased
owing to the financial condition of the house,
and his consort and for their souls after death. '''
Henry VI the following year, 17 December,
1470, ratified the estate of William Brown
as master of the hospital of St. John the
Baptist, Dorchester, and as master of the house
or chapel called ' le priory hermitage ' by Dor-
chester." On the death or cession of William
in 1473 Edward IV made a grant of the
custody of the ' chapel ' to Robert Bothe,
for the grant of the following February, enabling doctor of law,'° the deed being annulled four
them to retain the land and premises, records that
it was made by fine of 1 00s. because of the
poverty of the said chaplains.*
A few particulars as to this forest house may
be gleaned from the episcopal registers. They
record that the house belonged to the order of
St. Augustine and that the prior and brethren
were presented to the ordinary for examination
and approval before admission, as in the case of
John de Ramesham, 28 October, 1327 ; ' Wil-
liam de Bradewas, who was presented to the
custodian of the spiritualities of the bishopric,
Robert de Worth,'" in the vacancy of the see,
8 May, 1330 ; another instance is recorded
2 October, 1387." On the resignation of
John de Ramesham the house presented John
de Wyke to the bishop, who on account of the
poverty of the brethren proceeded to admit him
in a summary manner, 9 July, 1340.'^ In
1389, all the inmates being dead, the bishop
bestowed the house in commendam on Thomas
Wilton 25 August. '^ An inquisition being
held as to its state in 1424 it was found that
the house was of royal foundation and that
the king held the custody of it when vacant,
that the brethren elected a prior subject to the
royal assent, and that the house was not taxed at
10 marks per annum.
After this date the style of the house alters
and it becomes known as the free chapel of St.
Mary, 'called the Hermitage,' and as such was
placed by Edward IV in 1469 in the custody of
William Brown, clerk, who already held the
mastership of the hospital of St. John the
Baptist, Dorchester, with a grant for life of the
yearly pension or annuity of 52^. 2d. with which
the chapel was charged to the king, of which
38J. lod. was payable to the Exchequer and
1 35. ^d. to the bailiff of the king's manor of
Fordington for the use of the duke of Cornwall,
on condition that he should maintain the old
service and pray for the good estate of the king
' Inq. p.m. 2 Edw. Ill (2nd nos.), No. 147.
. ' Pat. 3 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 3;.
' Sarum Epis. Reg. Mortival, fol. 164.
'" Ibid. Wyville, fol. 3.
" Ibid. Erghum, fol. 84.
" Ibid. Wyville. " Ibid. Waltham.
years later, November, 1477, in favour of
Master Robert Myddelham, bachelor of
theology." He was succeeded by Richard
Hill, dean of the king's chapel, appointed by
Henry VII in the first year of his reign,'* who
was again followed by John Cole, appointed by
Henry VIII in 15 11." Two years later, on
the surrender of the patent by which it had been
bestowed on John Cole,^" the king granted the
free chapel called ' le Hermytage ' in Blackmoor
to the abbot and convent of Cerne.
No reference is made to this house in the
chantry certificates of Henry VIII and Ed-
ward VI.
Priors or Masters of Blackmoor
William, occurs 1327^'
John de Ramesham, resigned 13.1.0^^
John de Wyke, presented 1340^^
Richard Andrew, presented 1349"
Thomas Marshall ^'^
Thomas Wilton, appointed 1389^'
John Baret, appointed 1424"
William Brown, appointed 1469"*
Robert Bothe, appointed 1473"''
Robert Myddelham, appointed 1477'°
Richard Hill, appointed 1485-6"
John Cole, appointed 151 1, surrendered 15 13
on the annexation of le Hermytage ' to the
abbey of Cerne ^^
" Pat. 9 Edw. IV, pt. 2, m. 22.
'' Ibid. 49 Hen. VI, m. 12.
■' Ibid. 13 Edw. IV, pt. I, m. 3.
" Ibid. 17 Edw. IV, pt. 2, m. 23.
'" Hutchins, Hisl. of Dorset, iv, 467.
" Pat. 3 Hen. VIII, pt. i, m. ^ d.
'"' L. and P. Hen. Vlll, i, 3853.
" Sarum Epis. Reg. Mortival, fol. 1 64.
" Ibid. Wyville.
■'' Ibid. " Ibid.
'■' Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iv, 467.
"'■ Sarum Epis. Reg. Waltham.
" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iv, 467.
'' Fat. 9 Edw. IV, pt. 2, m. 22.
" Ibid. 13 Edw. IV, pt. i, m. 3.
" Ibid. 17 Edw. IV, pt. 2, m. 23.
" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iv, 467.
'^ Pat. 3 Hen. VIII, pt. i, m. 3 a'.; L. and P.
Hen. nil, \,38S3.
97
13
A HISTORY OF DORSET
HOUSE OF UNCERTAIN ORDER
19. WILCHESWOOD >
The history of this priory, chantry, or free
chapel is very obscure, and can only be partially
reconstructed with the help of certain documents
which came into the possession of the Coker
family on the Dissolution.' Coker, in his Survey
of Dorset (1732), states that this house,dedicated to
St. Leonard, was founded by Roger le Walleys,
lord of the manor of Langton Wallis and
grandson of Ingelram le Walleys, in the forty-
seventh year of Edward III (1373) ; ' but it was
certainly founded many years earlier, probably
in the first part of the century. According to a
charter, undated, Alice, once the wife of William
de Ponsont and widow of Ingelram le Walleys,
gave a tenement in the manor of Mappowder for
the maintenance of William Bonet, chaplain, to
celebrate an obit for the souls of the said William
and their ancestors at Wilcheswood for life, with
a proviso that in the event of the transference of
the prior and brethren of the house the chaplain
should receive satisfaction out of the revenues.''
By another deed, also undated, William de
Watercumb, chaplain, warden of the house of
St. Leonard at Wilcheswood and the brethren
there leased to William Aignel and his wife
of Stour Provost a certain tenement with houses,
lands, &c., for the term of their lives for the
sum of 8 marks sterling in hand.'
Roger le Walleys, Wallis, or Walsh, whom
Coker erroneously gives as the founder, appears
to have added rather to the endowment of the
house; in 1373 he presented Henry Atte-
chapelle, chaplain, to the chantry, that he might
find maintenance for himself and two fellows
{soc'tt) in the chapel of Wilcheswood and St. George
of Langton (Matravers), serving God and St.
Leonard there, with the grant for life of i caru-
cate of land in Mappowder, and charged only with
the provision of a lamp to burn during mass in
the chapel of Langton.*^
The advowson of the priory appears always
to have accompanied the manor, and by a fine
levied in 1398 between John Fauntleroy and
Joanna his wife, granddaughter of Roger le
Walleys, and John Foliol, the second husband
of Margaret, daughter of the same, the manor
of Langton Wallis, &c. with the ' chantry '
of Wilcheswood was granted to John Foliol for
his life with remainder to William Foliol his
son and Joanna his wife and the heirs of
Joanna.^ In the third year of Henry V
William Talbot, clerk, warden of the chantry
of Wilcheswood, delivered over to William
Foliol the muniments of the chantry, consisting
of nineteen charters and indentures sealed, and
one indenture unsealed, two papal bulls, four
royal letters patent, and a copy of the presenta-
tion of Henry Attechapelle by Roger le Walleys.*
The lands of the priory in the reign of
Henry VIII consisted of a carucate of land in
Mappowder valued at 6j., lands in Knowlton,
parcel of the manor of Woodlands, with other
lands and a mill estimated at £i) lbs. 4^. ;'
after the Dissolution these came into the hands of
the Coker family.
Chaplains or Wardens
Adam de Watercumb, occurs in a deed with-
out date ^^
Ralph de Sayr, occurs in a deed of 1316-17 "
Henry Attechapelle, presented 1373*'
William Talbot, occurs 1413 and 1417^^
Richard Petworth, presented 1417"
Hugh Filiol, occurs 1506-7, and in the reign
of Henry VIII "
HOSPITALS
20. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. MARY
MAGDALEN, ALLINGTON
At Allington,* anciently a village not far distant
from Bridport and now forming part of the
borough, was a lazar house or hospital for lepers
dedicated to the honour of St. Mary Magdalen.
' At the time of the Domesday Survey, Wilceswode,
as it is termed, formed part of the holding of the widow
of Hugh Fitz Grip ; Dom. Bk. (Rec. Com.),i, 84.
' Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, i, 641 ; iii, 729, note^.
' Hutchins, op. cit. i, 48. ' Ibid, i, 641.
» Ibid, iii, 729. " Ibid, i, 641.
' Ibid. 637. M bid. 641.
' Ibid, and iii, 729.
98
Various accounts are given of its foundation.
Coker, in his Survey of Dorset, attributes it to the
family of the Chideocks.' Hutchins, reciting
an instrument contained in the corporation
archives of Bridport, states that it was 'founded,
or rather better endowed,' by John Holtby,
canon of Salisbury and custos of the house de
" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, i, 641.
" Ibid, iii, 729. '» Ibid, i, 641.
" Ibid, iii, 729 ; i, 641.
" Ibid. " Ibid.
' In Domesday Book the village occurs as Adeling-
tone (Rec. Com. i, 80^). Later it is given also as
Athelington or Allington.
' Op. cit. (ed. 1732), 24.
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
valle scholarium or Vaux College, in the latter
part of the reign of Henry VI. ^
Other records show us, however, that the
house had at that time been in existence for con-
siderably over two hundred years, and may
claim to be one of the earliest foundations of its
kind within the county. In 1232 Henry III
granted letters of protection without limit to the
lepers of St. Mary Magdalen of Bridport,* as
from its proximity to the town it was in-
differently termed, and by her will dated St.
Gregory's Day, 1268, Christine de Stikelane left
among other bequests to the religious esta-
blishments of the town and neighbourhood
' vi^. to the Magdalene house of Adlington.' '
The hospital appears to owe its original endow-
ment— if not foundation — to the de Lega or de
Legh family, for by a document, previous to the
year 1265, and still preserved at Bridport, Wil-
liam de Legh the son of Philip de Legh* granted
to the house of St. Mary Magdalen of Allington
called ' The Hospital of the Lepers of Mary
Magdalen of Bridport ' for the good of his soul
and for the soul of his wife Dame Nicola de
Legh 50 acres of arable land in ' Alingtone ' with
pasture for one steer, six oxen, three cows, and
fifty sheep, a sufficiency of marl for marling
their lands, of turf to be taken from his
moor, and liberty to be ' sterefry ' and toll-free
in his mill. In return for these benefactions
two chaplains at least should be appointed by
the house ' of laudable life and honest conversa-
t'on,' one of whom should say a mass of the
Blessed Virgin Mary with a special collect for
his soul and for the souls of Dame Nicola his
wife, Geoffrey de Auk' and Isota his wife,
Master John de Bridport, physician, and Robert
the Serjeant of ' Alingtone ' ; the other chaplain,
on days not feast days, should pray in his first
prayer especially for the souls of the same.'
Further, a covenant dated at Leghe, 1265,
between William de Legh, knight and lord of
Allington, and William de Stikelane and Hugh
Rodhum, provosts of Bridport, and other good
and lawful men, sets forth that whereas the said
William had given to the said provosts &c. full
power to administer his grant of lands to the
two chaplains, brethren, and lepers of St. Mary
Magdalen of * Alingtone ' aforesaid, they were
empowered to compel the said chaplains, brethren,
and lepers to observe the terms of the grant, and
directed to hold an inquisition yearly at Easter
' Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 206.
• Pat. 16 Hen. Ill, m. 3.
' From the corporation archives quoted by Hutchins
under 'Bridport,' ii, 19, note a.
* In the reign of King John, lzo6, Richard
Wallensis quitclaimed to Philip de Lega and Clarice
his mother all his rights in half a knight's fee in
Allington ; Hunter, Pedes Fin. ii, 95.
' Rec. of Corp. of Bridport (Hist. MSS. Com.), Rep.
vi, App. 486.
and Michaelmas to ascertain whether the chap-
lains were living honestly, and whether the
brethren and lepers were treated in a due and
humane manner, together with other conditions
of the grant. ^
The later grant of John Holtby in 31 Henry VI
aforementioned was of the nature of a re-foun-
dation, the terms of which were carefully planned
with a view to safeguard the interests of the
parochial chapel of St. Swithun, within whose
limits the hospital lay, and to prevent the possi-
bility of any dispute between the two. Drawn
up with the consent of the dean and chapter of
Salisbury, here given as patrons of the house, it
gave permission to the brethren and sisters of
the hospital to have two chaplains to celebrate
daily in their chapel, 'saving the rights of the
chapel of St. Swithun.' They might receive
all obventions and oblations of the said chapel,
but none from the parishioners of Adelington
or Allington. Certain tithes were assigned or
rather confirmed to them from their first founda-
tion and their present benefactor quitclaimed to
them I mark of silver which they were accus-
tomed to pay annually to the chapel of St. Swithun
for their ' chantry.' The brethren and sisters
were expected to provide for the chaplains.'
As time went on and Allington became
practically merged into Bridport, we find the
hospital more usually entered under the name of
the latter ; in the confusion thence arising, many
writers have supposed that there were two religious
foundations at Bridport, both of which, according
to the early edition of Hutchins and Tanner,
were dedicated to the honour of St. John the
Baptist, while the explanation offered by the
editors of the late and amended edition of
Hutchins hardly accounts for the fact of two
entries appearing under Bridport in the Valor
Ecclesiasticus of 1535, one of which we can now
see belongs to Allington.^" All the ecclesiastical
authorities of the town in 1444 joined together
in aid of the work of repairing the haven, promis-
ing for themselves and their successors that all
benefactors of the port should be remembered
in the prayers and masses they were bound to
offer daily for their founders ; the list of clerical
persons thus associated includes the names of
John Hasard, chaplain of the ' chantry ' of the
Blessed Mary Magdalen, and John Brode, chap-
lain and stipendiary there.^^
' Ibid. 4.85-6.
' Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 206.
'° They hazard the conjecture that these two houses
were one and the same without accounting for the
fact of the separate entries. Leland's description
by its ambiguity has furthered the error. Proceeding
from Chideock to Bridport he says ' there was in Sight
or ever I came over the river into Bridport a lazar
house and not far off a chapel of St. Magdalen in
the which is a chantry founded. And over the bridge
a little by west in the town is a chapel of St. John ' ;
Leiand, I tin. iii, 61. " Ibid, ii, 16.
99
A HISTORY OF DORSET
The Valor of 1535, which gives the hospital
as the priory of Blessed Mary Magdalen of
Bridport, states that it was worth £b^ and tliat
Henry Danyell was prior there" ; by the chantry
commissioners it was valued at ^t 8j. 4^., and
again at £"] is. ^.d., and they reported that it had
among its possessions 'one chalice of 6 oz.,' two
pairs of old vestments, two candlesticks worth
Sd., and two bells worth 20s. ; the house was
certified
to be ordeyned for the relief of lepers and lazar
men and to one priest to sny mass before them, the
profits thereof the priest hath for his stipend, the
poor men live by alms of the town."
The last incumbent, Robert Blakewell, received
a pension of ^^6." In the third year of his reign
Edward VI granted the hospital and lands
belonging to it to Sir Michael Stanhope and
John Bellow, and in the same year they came
into the possession of Giles Kelway." Urtder
the name of the Magdalen Charity the hospital
still exists as an almshouse for eight poor
women.
Masters
John Brode, occurs 1444'^
Henry Danyell, occurs 1535 "
Robert Blakewell, last incumbent ^*
21. HOSPITAL OF LONG BLAND-
FORD
Hutchins states that there was here a hospital
for lepers, mentioned in an old deed of the date
of 10 Edward I." Nothing further is known of
its existence, but local tradition preserves its
memory in a farmhouse w thin the parish of
Langton or Langton Long Blandford, known as
St. Leonard's Farm.
22. HOSPITAL OF ST. MARY AND
THE HOLY SPIRIT, LYiME
Beyond one reference we know nothing of
a hospital for lepers founded here. In 1336
Bishop Robert Wyville of Salisbury granted an
indulgence for the repair of the fabric and bell-
tower,
20
" rahr Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 232.
" Chant. Cert. 16, Nos. 51, 62.
" Pensions to Religious in Dorset, Add. MS. 1 9047,
fol. 8 d.
'* Hutchins, op. cit. (ed. 3), ii, 206. '* Ibid. 1 6.
" Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 232.
"Add. MSS. 19047, fol. id.
" Hist, of Dorset, i, 98.
^' Sarum Epis. Reg. Wyville, i, fol. 40 d. Hutchins,
Tanner, and Dugdale state that this hospital is valued
in the chantry certificate of Edward \' I at 38/. iid.,
but further evidence is wanting to establish identity
23. HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN THE
BAPTIST, BRIDPORT
Though the date of its foundation cannot be
exactly stated it is evident, from its mention
in various deeds of the time of Henry III
belonging to the corporation of Bridport, that
the hospital here, like that of Allington, was
already in existence in the earlier half of the
thirteenth century.-^ Among these documents
is a charter, dated 1240, which recites that
Helias de Wroccheshel, for the good of his soul
and those of his ancestors and successors, has
granted and confirmed to the house of the
Blessed John the Baptist in Bridport within the
east bridge, and to the brethren and sisters
serving God there, leave to graze ten oxen, four
yearling cows, one hog, one steer, and fifty sheep
in the whole of his pasture land at Walditch,
except in his meadows in fence-time [in tempore
defencionii), as well as sufficient fencing from
his wood to inclose their land in Wal-
ditch.^' Another deed sets forth an agreement,
made on Christmas Day, 1 271, whereby John,
son of William Telle of Bridport, leased to Sir
William, prior of the hospital of St. John, a cer-
tain croft situated between the land of St. John
and the way leading to the mill of Richard
Killing, together with a house, curtilage, and
croft bounded by the curtilage which lately
belonged to Osbert Baldwyn.*' The benefactors
of the hospital were numerous, and included
Mabel, the daughter of Edward Hux, who, in
her widowhood, gave to God and the brethren
and sisters serving God in the hospital of St. John,
Bridport, I J acres of land in Portmannefeld for
the soul of Richard her late husband ; "''
Richard Hux, who, by charter undated but
belonging to the time of Edward I, engaged
himself to pay 1 2d. yearly to Roger de Rydeclive,
warden of the hospital and his successors, from
his tenement in the South Street of Bridport ; ^'
Christine de Stikelane, who, by her will, dated
in 1268, left various small sums to the religious
foundations of her town, bequeathed 'xiif^. to the
"church" of the Blessed John.'^^
Little is recorded of this hospital beyond what
is contained in these and similar charters. It
appears to have been in the patronage of the
bailiffi and commonalty of Bridport, who, by
an indenture dated on Sunday after the Feast of
between this hospital for lepers and the seri'ice of the
Blessed Man,-, for which the sum of 38/. lid. was
applied towards the finding of a clerke and children,'
the only entry under Lyme Regis in the said chantry
certificate. Chant. Cert. 16, No. 71.
" Rec. of Corp. of Bridport (Hist. MSS. Com.),
Rep. vi, App. 475-99. " Ibid. 4S2.
" Given by Hutchins from the same source. Hist.
of Dorset, ii, 19.
" Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, App. 4-9.
" Ibid. 484-j.
" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 19, note a.
100
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
St. Peter and St. Paul (29 June), 1357, granted
the custody of the hospital, together with the
administration of its goods, to John de Shapwick,
chaplain, on the understanding that he by him-
<;elf or a fit chaplain should celebrate daily in the
chapel.^' A document still exists among the
town archives entitled —
Implements of the priory of St. John the Baptist
•delivered to Sir John Syltere by Richard Burgh and
John Cryps, Bjilifts of Bridport, received from Hugh
Prior, late prior there, the 9th October in the 32nd
year of King Henry VI,
tlie possessions and furniture of the inmates are
■set out under the following headings : — In the
Chapel, In the Hall, In the Pantry, In the
Kitchen, In the Chamber.^' In the deed of
1444, to which all the ecclesiastical authorities
of the town set their hands pledging themselves
to assist in the pious work of repairing the
haven, the master or warden here, John Shipper,
is styled ' prior of St. John.'^'
The clear income of the house, according to
the Falor of 1535,'" was estimated at ^8 bs. id.,
the name of the then prior being Robert Chard.
The chantry commissioners in the reign of
Edward VI stated that it was worth £6 155. 8d.,
out of which 165. should be deducted in rents
resolute;^' the incumbent, William Chard, re-
ceived the whole profits for his own use ; ^^ there
was found there ' one chalice and one gold ringe
of 12 oz.,' two ' lytle ' bells worth 20;., and
' certain ornaments ' worth 20d?^ The last
warden, William Shard or Chard, who may be
the same as the Robert Chard of 1535, received
a pension of £S-^^
Wardens or Priors of Bridport Hospital
William, occurs 127 I ^*
Roger de Rydeclive, occurs temp. Edward I '*
" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 21.
" Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, App. 493.
" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 16.
'" Hutchins, in the earlier edition of the Hist, of
Dorset, and Tanner after him, has fallen into the
mistake of supposing that there were two foundations
at Bridport both dedicated to St. John the Baptist,
and the error is not entirely explained away by the
editors of the last edition of Hutchins ; they give it
as their opinion that there was only one foundation,
* the chapel of St. John over the bridge a little by
west in the town,' described by Leland in his
Itinerar-) (iii, 61), and fail to see that one of the
foundations valued in 1535 under Bridport belongs
to the hospital of Allington ; Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.),
i, 232-4.
" Chant. Cert. Dorset, 16, No. 49.
^' These, in a further section of the roll, were reduced
to^6 8/. 9i^. Ibid. No. 61. 'M bid. No. 49.
" B. Willis, Hist, of Mitred Abbeys, ii, 72.
" Hutchins, Hist of Dorset, ii, 19.
'^^ In a charter of Richard Hux ; Hist. MSS. Com.
Rep. vi, App. 4845.
William Worgan, occurs temp. Edward I ^^
Richard Castelayn, occurs 1295-6 and
1316-17 ^*
John de Shapwick, appointed 1357,''' resigned
before 1411^°
John Shipper, occurs 1444^'
Hugh Prior, occurs in 1453 ^* 'late' prior ^
Robert Chard, occurs 1535^'
William Shard or Chard, last incumbent ^*
24. HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN THE
BAPTIST, DORCHESTER
The hospital here, commonly called ' St.
John's House,' was under the royal patronage,
and presumably of royal foundation, but we
hear nothing of it until the year 1324, when
William Marshall of Dorchester obtained a
licence from Edward II to endow a chaplain
who should celebrate daily in the chapel of the
hospital of St. John, Dorchester, for the soul of
the said William, for the souls of his ancestors
and successors and all the fiithful departed.^*
The date, therefore, when the hospital was built
cannot be definitely stated.
The wardenship, like that of many other royal
free chapels and hospitals within the gift of the
crown, was frequently held with other offices. In
June, 1334, Edward III presented his clerk, Mar-
tin de Ixnyngge, to the custody of the king's
hospital of Dorchester for life, directing the
brethren and sisters of the house to be ' inten-
dant' to their new head,^* who, in the previous
February, had been appointed master of the hos-
pital of Maidstone, Kent.*' In 1 45 I William
^' William Worgan occurs as 'prior' of the hospital
in another charter by the same Richard Hux, conceding
certain lands to the brethren and sisters of the hospital
of St. John the Baptist ; ibid.
"* He occurs as master in a further charter of
Richard Hux, dated 24 Edw. I, and is given as
' keeper of the gate of the hospital of St. John of
Bridport ' in a grant of Stephen Crul of Walditch,
dated 10 Edw. II. From the archives of Bridport;
Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 20.
'' Ibid. 21.
'" In that year an inquiry was instituted into the
consanguinity of John Shapwick, late prior of the
hospital of St. John of Bridport ; Madox, Formukre
Angl. 15.
*' Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 16.
" He is called late prior of the hospital in the
inventory of goods of 9 Oa. 1453 ; Hist. MSS. Com.
Rep. vi, App. 49;.
" Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 234.
"Chant. Cert. 16, No. 61 ; B. Willis, Hist, of
Mitred Abbeys, ii, 72.
*^ Pat. 17 Edw. I!, pt. 2, m. 28.
" Ibid. 8 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 14.
" Ibid. m. 41 ; see Newcourt, Eccl Rcpert. (i, 748),
for a list of the preferments at different times of this
clerk.
lOI
A HISTORY OF DORSET
Man, vicar of Sturminster Marshall, was warden
of this hospital."
As far as its internal management is concerned
a royal writ was issued, 1 8 November, 1359,
directing the eschcator of the county to make
inquiry into the truth of the report that certain
lands and rents pertaining to the hospital of St.
John of Dorchester ' of our patronage ' had been
granted away by former custodians to the great
waste and destruction of the house, so that various
services and almsgiving, established for the souls
of the king's progenitors, had ceased and been
withdrawn ; a jury should be empanelled to
ascertain what lands and rents formerly belonged
to the house, what had been alienated away, and
by whom it had been done.*' The return, made
the following month, stated that the hospital
formerly possessed seventeen messuages in the
town of Dorchester which produced a yearly
rent of £j 6s. ^.d., a water-mill, 96 acres of
a-able land, and 7 acres of meadow in Fording-
ton, two cottages, 5 acres of land and meadow in
Puddletown with appurtenances, and that Richard
Creyk, late master, eight years ago alienated
one messuage to Richard Tannere, chaplain, for
the annual rent of ijs. for the term of his life.
Since that time the present warden, Simon
de Brantingham, had made further alienations,
and had not only conveyed away land but
carried oiF the goods and chattels of the house,
including linen [naperia) and bedding.'" In
the course of these proceedings the said Simon
seems to have been either deposed or suspended,
for the following year the patent rolls, under
date of 6 July, 1360, record that Edward III
granted to his beloved clerk, Thomas de Brant-
ingham, the life custody of the hospital of
St. John Baptist, Dorchester, vacant and in his
gift."
In March, 1451, Henry VI made a grant of
the hospital (vulgarly called ' Sayntjohneshous ')
with all its emoluments to the provost and
college of Eton, his deed reciting that whereas
the custody was then in the hands of William
Man, vicar of Sturminster Marshall, the present
grant should not hold good until by the death
or cession of the said incumbent the hospital
should next come into the king's hands. °^
Whether this grant ever took effect it is diffi-
cult to say, for though it was confirmed by
Edward IV in 1467," and again in 1473,"
the crown continued to appoint as the cus-
" Pat. 29 Hen. VI, pt. i, m. 8.
" Inq. p.m. 33 Edw. Ill (2nd Nos.), 88.
" Ibid.
'" Pat. 34 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 23. This may be
an error of the scribe and refer to Simon, or it may
be mere coincidence for two wardens to have the same
name.
'' Ibid. 29 Hen. VI, pt. I, m. 8.
'' Ibid. 7 Edw. IV, pt. 3, m. 13.
" Ibid. 13 Edw. I\', pt. I, m. 10.
tody fell vacant,'^ and in the first year of his
reign Richard III bestowed the hospital, ' lately
occupied by a priest and of our disposal,' on the
Friars Minor of Dorchester." The Act of Re-
sumption passed on the accession of Henry VII
ordained that it should not be prejudicial ' to
anygraunte or letters patents made by King Ed-
ward IV, late king of England, to Maister
Richard Hill, now dean of the king's chapell, of
and for the free chapell of Seynt John's in Dor-
chester.' "
The Valor of 1535 gives this house a clear
income of £2> 4*- Antony Wcldon was then
' rector ' or incumbent.*' By the Chantry Com-
missioners it was valued at ^<) 13J. 2d., out of
which 42X. 8i. was deducted in 'rents resolute,'
leaving a balance of ^7 los. 6(/." The whole
amount was received by the last incumbent,
Edward Weldon, ' towards his exhibition at the
University of Oxford by virtue of king's letters
patent dated 4 August 32 Henry VIII' (1540).^
On the confiscation of colleges and chantries he
was assigned a pension of ;^6.*^
Wardens of Dorchester Hospital''
Martin de Ixnyngge, appointed 1334^'
Robert Creyk, appointed 135 1 "
Simon de Brantingham, appointed 1354^'
Thomas de Brantingham, appointed 1360*'
Roger de Stoke, appointed 1370 ^'
Thomas de Brounflet, appointed 1376**
" Edward IV in the first year of his reign, 2 1
Feb. 1462, appointed William Brown to the custody
(ibid. I Edw. IV, pt. 5, m. 18). Henry VI on his
brief return to power in 1470, without reference to
his former grant, ratified the estate of the said William
as master or warden of St. John Baptist, Dorchester,
as well as master of the house or chapel called ' le priory
hermitage' by Dorchester (ibid. 49 Hen. VI, m. 12).
Edward IV, after granting the reversion of the house,
when it should ne.xt come into the king's hand, in
frankalmoign to William Westbury, the provost and
college of Eton, March, 1473, in November of the
same year committed the custody to Master Oliver
Kyng, one of the clerks of the Signet (ibid. 1 3 Edw.
IV, pt. I, m. 10 and 2), the letters patent for the
last being exchanged in November, 1477, in fn'our
of Rich.ird Hill (ibid. 17 Edw. IV, pt. 2, m. 29).
'' Harl. MS. 433, 1603, fol. 131.
" Pari. R. (Rec. Com.), vi, 367.
" Valor EccL (Rec. Com.), i, 243.
"Chant. Cert. 16, No. 2.
" Ibid. 1484. The clear income was estimated
again at [j 1 5/. ^d. ; ibid.
" B. Willis, Hist, of Mitred Abbeys, ii, 72.
" The following list of wardens is taken, with
some additional names and corrections, from that sup-
plied by Hutchins from B. Willis, Hist, of Dorset,
ii, 416.
« Pat. 8 Edw. Ill, pt. i,m. 14.
" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 416. " Ibid.
** Pat. 34 Edw. in, pt. 2, m. 23.
" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 416.
" Pat. 50 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 5.
102
Milton Abbey [Oh'versc)
Milton Abbey [Re-verie)
'^'-^^ri
WfV^:
Shaftesbury Abbey i^Oh'vcrse)
Shaftesblry Abblv i^Reuersi')
Dorset Monastic Seals : Plate II
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
Henry Harburgh, 1399^^
William Man, occurs 145 1 '"
William Brown, appointed 1462/^ occurs
1470 '^
Oliver Kyng, appointed 1473'^
Richard Hill, appointed 1477,^* resigned be-
fore 1485'*
Thomas Otteley, 1485 ^^
John Burton, 1495," died 1499
John Argentine, 1499^^
Antony Weldon, occurs 1535''
Edward Weldon, last incumbent*"
25. HOSPITAL OR LAZAR-HOUSE,
DORCHESTER
There appears to have been a hospital built
-here for the relief of lepers, but no particulars
have yet been recovered as to the date when it
was founded or the name of the founder. The
chantry certificate of Edward VI states that the
hospital or 'house of leprosy' at Dorchester had
no lands, but consisted of ten poor men who
received an annual rent of 40;. for their gowns
* by the hands of Mr. Williams, Esquire.' '^
26. HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN THE
BAPTIST, SHAFTESBURY 82
When and by whom this hospital was
founded history does not say. The earliest
notice of it occurs 5 January, 1223, when the
king issued an order to John Lancelive, bailiff
of Brian de Insula of the forest of Dorset,
directing him to allow the prior of the hospital
of St. John of Shaftesbury three trees {fusta) of
the windfall wood of the king's park of Gilling-
ham for the repair of his house.*' The founda-
tion, therefore, cannot be dated later than the
beginning of the thirteenth century. The
chantry commissioners in the sixteenth century
reported that it was ordained for the relief of
five poor men who then lived by the alms of
*' Hutchins, Hist. 0/ Dorset, ii, 416.
'" Pat. 29 Hen. VI, pt. I, m. 8.
" Ibid. I Edw. IV, pt. 5, m. 18.
"Ibid. 49 Hen. VI, m. 12.
" Ibid. 13 Edw. IV, pt. I, m. 2.
'* Ibid. 17 Edw. IV, pt. 2, m. 29.
" Par/. R. (Rec. Com.), vi, 367.
" Hutchins, Hisf. of Dorset, ii, 416.
" Ibid. " Ibid.
" Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 243.
^ This last may be the same as the Antony
Weldon of 1535. Chant. Cert. 16, No. 84.
»' Chant. Cert. 16, No. 89.
*' Hutchins describes this hospital as situated in
the parish of St. Martin and near the church at the
meeting of Hert Crope and Shetwell lanes ; Hist, of
Dorset, iii, 38.
** Close, 7 Hen. Ill, m. 22.
the town, the whole of the profits being re-
ceived by the priest who officiated there.**
The house, or priory as it is occasionally
termed, was in the patronage of the abbess of
Shaftesbury and the diocesan registers give a
succession of presentations by the nuns down to
the Dissolution, beginning with William de
Eggeclyve, priest, presented to the wardenship
by the abbess and convent 11 November, 1305.*''
In April, 1 541, Robert Fowke, the last warden
or master, was presented by Edmund Wynter,
knt., David Brokwey, gent., and Nicholas
Tyddour, patrons pro hac vice by reason of the
grant of letters of advowson made to them by
the last abbess and convent of Shaftesbury.*'
For some reason not very apparent the patronage
of the house came temporarily into the hands of
the king in 1381, and in September of that
year Richard II presented John Ridgway, chap-
lain, to the life custody of the hospital of St. John
on the Mount at Shaftesbury, his appointment
being shortly afterwards followed by that of John
Bridport.*'
Beyond the names of the different wardens
the history of St. John's is almost a blank. The
master in 1348 probably fell a victim to the
terrible plague that ravaged Dorset in the
autumn and winter of that
year,
for in the
heavy list of presentations for December occurs
that of John de Meleborn to St. John's, Shaftes-
bury, on the death of William de Godeford,
late warden.** William Russel, called the prior
of the hospital, was visited along with other
rectors and vicars of the deanery by the diocesan
in the church of Holy Trinity, Shaftesbury, in
April, I344-*'
In an inquisition made in 1499 the hospital
was said to be founded by the king's ancestors.
The property, consisting of five tenements, 4
acres of arable, loi acres of pasture, and half an
acre of meadow, was valued at ^b. The sup-
port of the poor and the celebration of the divine
services weekly and yearly had been neglected
for the last twenty years, and had completely
ceased in the last two years, during which David
Knolle, chaplain, had taken the profits and also
removed the ornaments of the hospital.*^''
On the confiscation of chantries this hospital
was valued at ^4, with one bell worth 3;. 4^.^"
" Chant. Cert. Dorset, 16, No. 100.
^ Sarum Epis. Reg. Simon of Ghent, ii, fol. 45.
"* Ibid. Salcot or Capon, fol. 7 J.
" Pat. 5 Ric. II, pt. I, m. 12, 19. These two
exceptions, as against some twenty appointments by
the nuns, seem to have led Tanner into the error of
supposing that the house was of royal patronage.
There is no ostensible reason for the king's action,
the abbey then being ' full ' and under the rule of
Abbess Joan Formage.
^ Sarum Epis. Reg. Wyville, ii (Inst.), fol. 193.
»' Ibid. Waltham, fol. 73.
"^ Esch. Inq. file 896, No. 21.
'"Chant. Cert. 16, No. 15.
103
A HISTORY OF DORSET
It was granted by Edward VI with lands be-
longing to it in Shaftesbury, Motcombe, and
GiUingham, to Kendal, Burgh, and others for
the sum of ^^136 lis. ^d.^^ The last incum-
bent, John Hame, received a pension of
Wardens or Priors of Shaftesbury
Hospital
William de Eggeclyve, appointed 1305''
William de Godeford, died 1348"
John de Meleborn, appointed 1348'°
John Lord, appointed 1361,'^ died 1 38 1
John Ridgway, appointed 138 i ''
John Bridport, appointed 138 1 '*
William Russel, appointed 1381,^' died 1423
James Grevey, appointed 1423'"*'
John Wynnyngham, died 1470'°^
John Tyrell, appointed 1470'"^
William Ketilton, resigned 1492^°'
George Twynho, appointed 1492,^°^ resigned
1496
David Knollys or Knolle, appointed 1496 '"'
William Wylton, died 1525 i'^«
William Parkows, appointed 1525 ^"^
William Percuste, died 1541 ^'*
Robert Fowlce, appointed I 541 ^"^
John Hame, last incumbent.*"'*
27. HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN THE
BAPTIST AND ST. JOHN THE
EVANGELIST, SHERBORNE
A hospital here of comparatively late founda-
tion ' was begun,' according to Leland, ' by de-
votion of the good people of Sherborne in the
fourth year of Henry VI, and the king is taken
for founder of it.'*'" On 11 July, 1437,
eleven years after the date given of its inception,
Henry VI granted a licence to Robert Neville,
bishop of Salisbury, Humphrey Stafford, knt.,
" Hutchins, Hist, of Done-/, iii, 39.
'^ B. Willis, Hist. ofMiired Abbeys, ii, 72.
'^ Sarum Epis. Reg. Simon of Ghent, pt. 2, fol. 45.
" Ibid. Wyville, ii (Inst.), fol. 193.
" Ibid. '"= Ibid. (Inst.), fol. 278.
" The registers take no note of this and the fol-
lowing appointment by the crown (Pat. 5 Ric. II, pt.
I, m. 19), and Stat J that William Russel was appointed
on the death of John Lord. Sarum Epis. Reg.
Erghum, i, fol. 44 <^.
»« Pat. 5 Ric. II, pt. I, m. 12.
'' Sarum Epis. Reg. Erghum, i, fol. 44 d.
"* Ibid. Chandler, fol. 61.
'«' Ibid. Bciuchamp, fol. I 50. "" Ibid.
'" Ibid. Langton, fol. 40 d. "» Ibid.
'" Ibid. Blyth, f.il. zdd
'»" Ibid. Campegio, fol. 3 d. "" Ibid.
™ Ibid, .-alcot or Capon, fol. 7 d. '™ Ibid.
"^ B. Willis, op. cit. ii, 72.
"° Itin. ii, 49. 'It yet standeth,' adds Leland, but
most of its property had been dispersed ; ibid, iii, 1 10.
Margaret Gogh, John Fauntleroy, and John
Baret, to incorporate and establish a certain
house of perpetual charity in Sherborne to the
honour of God and St. John the Baptist and St.
John the Evangelist for the reception of twenty
brethren, twelve ' poor sick and impotent ' men
and four women, with a chaplain who should
pray for the good estate of the king and of the
brethren of the house and their benefactors while
they lived, and for their souls and those of all
the faithful departed ' when they shall have
withdrawn from this li^ht.' The brethren were
yearly, or whenever it should be convenient, to
elect a master froiti among themselves, and were
empowered to fill up any vacancy that should
occur in their number, and to remove or expel
the master from his office or any of the poor
men or women from the house ; all the inmates
should live under the rule and government
ordained by the said bishop. Sir Humphrey
Stafford, Margaret Gogh, John Fauntleroy, John
Baret, or any four, three, or two of them. The
master and brethren were declared capable of
holding lands in the name of the society, and of
pleading and being impleaded in the law courts
of the land, they should use one common sea!,,
and might hold lands and rents in socage
or in burgage to the annual value of 40 marks
for the benefit of the poor men and women
in the hospital, while the perpetual chaplain
and his successors might acquire and hold the
same to the value of 10 marks, notwithstand-
ing mortmain and all previous statutes to the
contrary.*"
Henry VI in October, 1448, made a further
grant to the brethren of the house that for a
fine of ;^io they might acquire lands and tene-
ments to the annual value of £33 6j. 8d.,^^^
and by a later deed reciting his former grant
he licensed William Combe, John Downton of
Folke, and William Couland to give and assign
to William Smyth, then master of the hospital,
thirty-nine messuages, two tofts, one dovecot,
39^- acres of land, 19 acres and one rood of
meadow and I acre of grove situated in Sher-
borne, Beer Hackett, and Caundle, of the yearly
value of j^5 3;. 4.d.y to be held in part satisfaction
of the ^33 6s. 8./.*" Bishop Richard Beau-
champ of Salisbury is mentioned as a great
benefactor to the house,*** which, indeed, was
situated within his ' vill ' of Sherborne, but he
can hardly have been the founder as one report
states ; **' his predecessor Aiscough, according
to an entry in his ofScial register, dedicated an
altar in the chapel of the hospital in 1442, five
years after its incorporation by royal charter.*'*
"' Pat. IS Hen. VI, m. 5.
"» Ibid. 27 Hen. VI, pt. 1, m. 30.
'"Ibid. 32 Hen. VI, m. 15.
"* Hutchins, op. cit. iv, 294.
ns
Magna Brit. Jntiq. et Nov. i, 567.
"* Sarum Epis. Reg. Aiscough, fol. (^J d.
104
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
On the confiscation of colleges and chantries
under Edward VI the house entered as ' the
hospital or house of leprosy of St. John the
Evangelist in Sherborne' was found worth
j^35 8s. 6d., out of which £^ 35. 6d. was
deducted in rents resolute, leaving a clear income
of £2^ 5^- which the officiating priest received
half-yearly, £^ 6s. 8d., the residue, being applied
'to the finding of eleven poor and impotent
men and four poor women according to the
foundation thereof.'"' The name of the last
incumbent is not given, nor is he entered among
those who received pensions."^
Masters of the Hospital of St. John the
Baptist and St. John the Evangelist,
Sherborne
John Deen, occurs 1448 "'
William Smyth, occurs 1454'-"
Henry Borman, occurs 1468 '^'
28. HOSPITAL OF ST. THOMAS,
SHERBORNE
Very little is known of this hospital or chapel
dedicated to St. Thomas Becket, but commonly
known as St. Thomas atte Grene or on the
Grene, yet from a reference in a charter '^^
granted by Bishop Richard le Poor of Salisbury
in 1228 to his tenants at Sherborne 'between
St. Thomas's chapel and the castle,' it appears
to have been in existence in the early part of the
thirteenth century, and was probably founded
during that period when dedication to the honour
of that most famous and popular of English
saints was high in fashion.
Presentation to the hospital was in the gift of
the crown and the custody was usually held by
king's clerks together with other benefices ; on
20 June, 1395, Richard II ratified the estate of
his clerk, John de Wendelyngburgh, as parson
or warden of the chapel of St. Thomas on the
Grene,'^' Sherborne, and on 22 September of
the same year following the death of John
committed the wardenship of the hospital to
Nicholas Slake, king's clerk ; ^^* both these
"' Chant. Cert. 1 6, No. 91.
"' B. Willis, Hist, of Mitred Abbeys, ii, /i-z.
"" Pat. 27 Hen. V'l, pt. 1, m. 30.
■>° Ibid. 32 Hen. VI, m. 15.
'" On 25 Nov., 1468, Edward IV licensed Henry
Borman, the master and the brethren of the almshouse
of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist to
acquire lands and other possessions held in socage or
burgage to the yearly value of j^l3 ; ibid. 8 Edw. IV,
pt. 2, m. 4.
'" By inspeximus of Richard II. Pat. 5 Ric. II,
pt. I, m. II.
"'Ibid. 18 Ric. II, pt. 2, m. 9.
"* Ibid. 19 Ric. II, pt. I, m. 18.
2 I
wardens held the office in plurality with other
benefices. In 1405 John Brunyng is given as
rector of the Chapel de Grene according to the
register of Dean Chandler.'^'
In the reign of Henry VIII Leland describes
'Thomas Bekettes chapelle by the New Yn'
as still standing, but ' incelebrated.' '-^ The college
and chantry commissioners of Edward VI re-
ported that it was worth 621., had no plate or
ornaments, but two bells valued at 265. 8<^.'"
Roger Hord or Horsey, late incumbent, received
the whole of the emoluments'^* to his own use
without performing any manner of service in
the chapel ; ' there is no power (poor) people nor
headmen found nor relieved of the premises.' '-'
The chapel was granted by Edward VI to John
Doddington and William Ward.'"^
Wardens of St. Thomas's Hospital,
Sherborne
John de Wendelyngburgh, occurs 1395,"'
died in the same year
Nicholas Slake, appointed 1395 "^
John Brunyng, occurs 1405 ''^
John Hord or Horsey, last incumbent "*
29. HOSPITAL OF ST. LEONARD,
TARRANT RUSHTON
At what date and by whom this house or
hospital was founded it is impossible now to say.
The first mention of it occurs in the reign of
Edward I, when the advowson and lordship
{dominium^ of it were in the hands of the
Deverel family, and they may have been the
founders; at any rate in 1314 they made over
the entire rights to the prior and convent of
Christchurch, Twyneham."* According to an
inquisition post mortem, held as to his possessions
'" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iv, 257. The warden
is mentioned again as 'rector of the Grene' in a
grant of Menry VI in 1454 to the master and brethren
of the hospital of St. John the Baptist and St. John the
Evangelist of Sherborne, enabling them to acquire
thirty-nine messuages in the town, and describing
one of these same messuages as situated between the
tenement of the rector 'de la Grene,' called the
George Inne,' on the north and the king's highway
leading from the Grene to the Castle on the south ;
Pat. 32 Hen. VI, m. 15.
'^•^ Leland, I tin. ii, 49 ; iii, I 10.
'-' Chant. Cert. 16, No. 8.
"'* Entered again as worth 66/.
■'' Chant Cert. 16, No. 92.
"' Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iv, 257.
"' Pat. 18 Ric. II, pt. 2, m. 9.
'" Ibid. 19 Ric. II, pt. l,m. 18.
'" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iv, 237.
'" Chant. Cert. Dorset, 16, No. 92.
'" Inq. p.m. 6 Edw. Ill (2nd Nos.), 97.
05 14
A HISTORY OF DORSET
in Milborne Deverel or Gary, in March, 1332,'"^
Elias de Deverel died in October the previous
year, and on his lands escheating to the crown
by reason of the forfeiture of his son and heir,
John de Deverel, the then prior and convent
petitioned the king to restore to them those
rights in the house of St. Leonard of Rushton
near Palmeresbrugg of which they had been
unjustly disseised by the late donor and his son.
The king ordered an inquiry to be made, and
on 28 November, 1332, the jury found that
the advowson and custody of the house had
been granted to William Quentyn, late prior of
Christchurch, the convent and their successors
by Elias de Deverel on the morrow of St. Nicholas
(6 December), 1304; that then, in accordance
with the terms of the grant and on the cession of
the master, John Curteis, they had presented
Robert de Horton, chaplain, to the custody and
mastership of the house, to which he had been
admitted on the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle
(21 December) the same year ; that subsequently,
on 2 May following, they had been unjustly
dispossessed of their rights by the said Elias de
Deverel and John his son, and Robert de Hor-
ton, then master, had been removed and Ralph
Lychet, chaplain, admitted to the custody in
his place ; and that the same Elias and John
had continued to usurp possession of the house
from that time up to the date of the attainder
of John de Deverel, when it came into the
king's hand. The jury further estimated its
value at 40J."'
These facts having been ascertained, Edward III
did not hesitate to make good the claim of the
monks, his deed of restoration the following
January, 1333, reciting that the original grant
of the premises in the reign of Edward I had
been made to the then prior, William Quentyn,
and the convent without licence of the king, but
that in consideration of a fine of 10 marks he
had consented to pardon the lack of this for-
mality."'
The subsequent history of the house is
unknown, and it is not entered in the
chantry certificate of the county in the reign of
Edward VI.
Masters of Tarrant Rushton Hos-
pital
John Curteis, resigned in 1304'"
Robert de Horton, appointed 1304, resigned
1 305,"°
Ralph Lychet, appointed 1305"'
"^ Inq. p.m. 6 Edw. Ill (2nd Nos.), 59.
"' Ibid. (2nd Nos.), 97.
"* Pat. 7 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 13, 15.
"' The names of these three wardens are all given
In the inquisition of 28 Nov. 1332 ; Inq. p.m. (2nd
Nos.), 97.
'«» Ibid. '*' Ibid.
30. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. MAR-
GARET AND ST. ANTHONY, WIM-
BORNE
The date of the foundation of this ancient
hospital, commonly called St. Margaret's of
Wimborne, is unknown. Tradition has re-
ported that it was founded by John of Gaunt,
but, as evidence has been found of its exist-
ence long before the reign of Edward III, the
conjecture was probably based on the fact that
the house was situated within the manor or
Kingston Lacy, which formed part of the duchy
of Lancaster ; it may at some time or another
have been rebuilt or re-established by John of
Gaunt or one of his descendants. '*-
From certain deeds found in a chest in the
chapel the house appears to have existed as a
house for lepers as far back as the reign of King
John, and to have depended for its support al-
most entirely on the alms of the town and
neighbourhood ; a grant dated 1245 recited that
for the encouragement of such charitably-dis-
posed Christians as should contribute towards its
relief Pope Innocent IV by
an indulgans or bulle did assoyl them of all syns
forgotten and offcncis done against fader and moder
and of all swerj-nges neglygently made
This ' indulgans ' granted of Peter and ' Powle '
and of the said pope should hold good for fifty-one
years and 260 days, provided a certain number
of Paternosters and Ave Marias were repeated
daily.'«
In the absence of a sufficient endowment
licence to beg must have been almost a necessity,
and for that purpose Edward I in 1275 granted
letters of protection for a year to the brethren and
sisters of the hospital of St. Margaret and St. An-
thony, Wimborne,^*' and renewed the grant on
the expiration of the term the following year,*^'
and again in 1286."^
The Chantry Commissioners of Edward VI
valued the house at 291. 8^., and found it was
ordained for the relief of poor men, and that
there were then eight who 'not only live by the
profit of the said house but by the devotion of
the people and inhabitants of the town of Wim-
borne.' "'
In the chapel of the hospital there was estab-
lished in early days a chantry founded by John
Redcottes and named after him ; it was annexed
'" In the beginning of an account book of the hos-
pital of the sixteenth centurj' the house is said to
have been erected by the sometime duke of Aquitaine
and Leicester, which shows that its early origin had
been lost as far back as the reign of Elizabeth ; Hut-
chins, op. cit. iii, 247.
'" Ibid. '" Pat. 3 Edw. I, m. 23.
>" Ibid. 4 Edw. I, m. 19.
'" Ibid. 14 Edw. I, m. 24.
"' Chant. C ert. 16, No. 112.
106
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
to the college or free chapel of Wimborne and
is entered among its possessions, being held in
the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI by
the sacristan of the college in conjunction with
his other office. At the time the Valor of 1535
was taken it was worth ^^5 6s. 8d., and was
held by Thomas Yeroth, sacristan."' Accord-
ing to the chantry certificate Simon Benyson,
then incumbent, received for his stipend
£^ 6s. Sd. arising out of certain lands ' called
Dixon and Capons lands,' parcel of the duchy
of Lancaster ; after his death these rents should
be paid into the duchy. In the meantime he
held another living to the value of ;^30."^ An
annual pension was allowed him of ^^5 a year.^'"
The book of ancient accounts above men-
tioned further shows that from the year 1567
to 1683 the hospital was continued under the
control and direction of two parishioners, annually
elected and styled the guardians or wardens of
St. Margaret's Hospital or Almshouse, assisted by
the constable of the town and the stewards of
the lord of the manor of Kingston Lacy, the
latter signing the accounts on behalf of the lord
of the manor.^^^
From 1683 the election ofguardians ceased, and
the entire management and control of the funds
was placed under the stewards of the lord of
the manor, to whom belonged the appointment
of the poor to the almshouses. In a return to
Parliament in 1786 the value of the house was
given at ;^35 iij. The hospital benefited
largely by the will of the Rev. Wm. Stone,
dated May, 1865, whereby certain lands and
tenements in the parish of Wimborne Minster
were left in trust to the use of the almsmen
only in St. Margaret's Hospital. The house is
described as standing on the high road which
runs from Blandford to Wimborne."^
31. HOSPITAL OF WAREHAM
The only reference to a hospital here is to be
found in the return of the commissioners for
chantries and colleges in the sixteenth century,,
which states that the hospital or house of charity
in the town of Wareham, valued at £() 13J.,
was founded for the relief of six poor and im-
potent men and five poor women ' to have their
continual living there and so yt ys usyd.' ^^^
COLLEGE
32. WIMBORNE MINSTER
One of the earliest religious foundations in
this county was the nunnery built here at the
beginning of the eighth century, converted on
its restoration into a house of secular canons pre-
sided over by a dean, and subsequently known
as the royal free chapel and college of Wimborne
Minster.
The Saxon monastery was built by St. Cuth-
burh or Cuthburga, the daughter and sister re-
spectively of the Wessex kings, Kenred and
Ine, who after her union with Aldfrid, king of
the Northumbrians, renounced married life and,
with the consent of her husband, entered the
abbey of Barking and became a nun under the
rule of the Abbess Hildelitha.'^ Various dates
»« Fa/or Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 273.
'" Chant. Cert. 16, No. 107. He also held the
sacristan's office of Wimborne Minster.
'••» B. Willis, Hist, of Mitred Abbeys, ii, 72.
"' The lords of the manor were reputed the
founders.
'*' Hutchins, op. cit. iii, 248.
'" Chant. Cert. Dorset, 1 6, No. 1 1 7.
' Will, of Malmes. Gesta Regum (Engl. Hist. Soc.),
i, 49 ; Flor. Wigorn. Chron. (Engl. Hist. Soc), i, 49 ;
Matt, of Westm. {Flores Hist. [Rolls Ser.], i, 367),
Leland {Coll. i, 211-12 ; ii, 387), and a few other
writers give Ecgfrid, king of the Northumbrians, half-
brother to Aldfrid, as the husband of St. Cuthburga,
but Capgrave, who in his life of the saint records a
dialogue between her and her husband on the subject
are assigned for her subsequent foundation at
Wimborne. Cressy, whose account is generally
adopted, gives the year 713 ;" the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle meniions it under 718, but makes no
definite statement as to when it came into exist-
ence.' The foundation must, however, be
dated some years earlier and previous to 705
according to a letter of Bishop Aldhelm, written
in that year, granting liberty of election to the
monasteries under the charge of the bishop, who.
died in 709, in which he mentions particularly
' the nuns in the monastery by the river which
is called Wimburnia presided over by the abbess
Cuthburga.'*
' St. Cuthberga,' says Cressy, translating various
passages from the Fita of Capgrave —
having built her monastery and therein a church to
the Queen of Virgins, there macerated her body with
almost continual watchings and fastings. She was
humble both to God and man and mild to all. Many
virgins she assembled in the same place ; she per-
mitted her body to enjoy no rest ; but importunately
day and night her prayers sounded in the ears of a
merciful God. She happily ended her d.iys in the
year of grace 727, and her memory is celebr.ited by
the church on the last day of August.'
of the renunciation of marriage, as well as her dying
charge to her nuns, calls the king Aldfrith or Aldfrid;.
No^a Legenda Anglie (15 1 6), fol. 79-80.
' Ch. Hist, of Brit. (1668), lib. xxi, cap. 18.
' Op. cit. (Rolls Ser.), 39.
* Birch, Cart. Sax. i, 168.
' CA. Hist, of Brit. (1668), lib, ; xi, cap. iS.
107
A HISTORY OF DORSET
According to Leland she was buried on the
north side of the presbytery, but afterwards
translated to the east end of the high altar of
the church,* which was subsequently re-dedicated
in her honour.'
With St. Cuthburga is frequently associated
as co-foundress her sister St. Cuenburh or Quin-
burga, also said to have been buried in this
church,* and who, if we accept her identification
with abbess Cneuburga — the joint author of a
letter addressed to Atjbot Coengils of Glaston-
bury, Abbot Ingeld, and the priest Wiethberht
agreeing to a proposal for mutual intercessory
prayer and asking in particular ' that remem-
brance may be had of our dead sisters,' — prob-
ably succeeded to the rule of the monastery on
the death of the first abbess.' The Eta to
whom reference is made in the same letter may
possibly be identified with Tetta the venerable
abbess, said to be a sister of iEthelheard, the
kinsman and successor of King Ine, who soon
after became superior of the monastery and was
responsible for the religious training and educa-
tion of the sisters Lioba and Agatha, destined to
carry abroad the benefits of the instruction they
had received while under the care of ' that
devout mother.'
A great proof of the perfection of monastical dis-
cipline observed after the death of the foundress in
her monastery is this : (again quoting Cressy) that
St. Boniface the glorious apostle of the Germans,
having founded a monastery of virgins at Biscofisheim
in Germany made choice of her disciples above all
others, and particularly of St. Lioba, to plant religious
observances there. This is testified bv Rodulphus,
disciple of Rabanus Maurus, in the life of Lioba
written by him.'"
St. Lioba died in a monastery near Mainz,
28 September, 757.
Besides the nunnery there appears to have
been a monastery or ' cloister of monks ' at
Wimborne, built either by St. Cuthburga or her
brother King Ine, strict regulations being laid
•down prohibiting any intercourse between the
two sections of religious men and religious
women.
Excepting priests who were to serve at the altar, no
men should be permitted to enter the monastery of
those religious virgins, nor any woman that of reli-
gious men. And that among the other obligations of
the virgins at their profession this was one, never to
step out of their cloister except upon a necessary'
.cause to be approved by superiors."
° Leland, Itin. iii, 72 ; Collect, ii, 409.
' The church occurs under this dedication ; Clo^e,
14 Hen. IV', m. 28,2'.
' John of Tinemouth, ' Hist. Aurea,' Hickes,
'Th'saur. iii, 120.
° H.iddan and Stubbs, Councils and Eccl. Doc. iii,
342-3. She died three years after her sister, says
Cressy, and is commemorated on 22 September ; Ch.
Hist. o/Bnt. lih. xxi, cap. 18.
"> Ibid. " Ibid.
We are told in her life given by Mabillon that
St. Lioba '^ was fond of citing the example set
by her former superior. Abbess Tetta of Wim-
borne, who presided over the houses of both
men and women as over a double monastery,
and whose observance of this regulation was so
strict ' that she would not so much as permit
the bishop's entrance ' in the women's section."
References to Wimborne in the ninth and
tenth centuries afford ample proof of the import-
ance of the town and the veneration paid to its
Minster during the Saxon period. It was select-
ed as the burial-place of King jEthelred, who
died in 87 I in consequence of wounds received in
the battle fought against the Danes at Merton.^*
The yinglo-Saxon Chronicle recording the death
of king Sigferth, who killed himself in 962, adds,
' his body lies at Wimborne.' "
Again, Wimborne was the centre of events
attending the accession to the throne of Edward
the Elder in 901, for .iEthelwold, son of
j^lthelbert, an elder brother of Alfred, disputing
tiie title of his cousin and relying on some
measure of popular support for his own claim,
seized the royal towns of Oxeley or Christchurch
(Hants) and Wimborne, and investing the latter
place with such troops as he could muster
resolved to stand a siege, declaring that there ' he
would either live or lie.' To the injury more-
over of whatever cause he might possess, he
forcibly abducted an inmate of the famous
monastery ' without leave of the king and con-
trary to the bishop's ordinance, for she was a pro-
fessed nun,' and made her his wife. King
Edward meanwhile raising a powerful army for
the defence of his kingdom and the vindication
of religion marched into Dorset, and encamped
at a place called Bad bury, where there was a
castle at no great distance from Wimborne.
The courage of .iEthelwold then apparently
deserted him and he fled away by night and
came to Northumbria, where he joined himself
to the Danes and besought them to receive him
into their company to fight against King
Edward, being soon after made king by them.
Edward the Elder in the meantime relinquishing
the pursuit of the enemy contented himself with
receiving the submission of the town, ordering
the religious woman who had been abandoned
by iEthelwold in his flight to be sent back to her
nunnery.''
A blank in the history of Wimborne succeeds,
and it is generally conjectured that the monastery
" Acta Sanctorum Ord. S. Benedicti, Sacculum, iii
(2), 247-
" Ibid. See Cressy, Ch. Hist, of Brit. lib. xxiv, cap. 4.
" Anglo-Sax. Ckron. (Rolls Ser.), i, 62 ; Matt, of
Westm. Fiores Hist. (Rolls Ser.), i, 444.
" Anglo-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), i, 92.
'' Ibid. 75 ; Matt, of Westm. Fiores Hist. (Rolls
Ser.), i, 478 ; Matt. Paris, Ckron. Maj. (Rolls Ser.),
i, 435-6.
108
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
perished in one of the Danish raids of the period.
The Danes, we are told, ravaged the country in
the year 998 ; no details are given, but the Anglo-
Saxon Chronicle, recording fruitless attempts to
withstand the destructive march of the enemy,
adds sadly : ' In the end they ever had the
victory.' " According to Leland Wimborne was
rebuilt by ' King Edward,' supposed to be the
Confessor, and by him was converted into a house
or college of secular canons with a dean at its
head.'* No reference is made to it until the
reign of Henry III beyond the statement in
Domesday, that the church of Wimborne had a
hide and a half and a virgate of land in Hinton."
From the date of its restoration it appears to have
enjoyed the status and privileges of a royal free
chapel with college attached under the direct
patronage of the crown. In 13 1 8 Edward II
addressed an order to Rigaud Asser, then
papal nuncio, afterwards bishop of Winchester,
forbidding him to exact aught from or to lay any
imposition whatever on the dean and preben-
daries of Wimborne Minster —
Whereas it is a free chapel of the king and altogether
exempt with the prebends and chapels pertaining
thereto from all ordinary jurisdiction and from all
exactions, procurations and contributions whatsoever."'
Owing to this immunity from episcopal juris-
diction there are no entries in the diocesan registers
which can throw light on the internal condition
of the college. A solitary mention occurs in
1379 wherein William Crundell, proctor of the
dean and college, was summoned with the proc-
tors of Ford, Cerne, and Tewkesbury to appear
before the bishop's commissary in the parish
church of Sonning prepared to exhibit their title
to all ecclesiastical benefices, portions, and
pensions held by them.^'
The earliest appointment to Wimborne that
is recorded occurs at the beginning of the reign
of Henry III, when Martin de Pateshull received
letters of presentation to the deanery then vacant
and at the royal collation, 6 December, 1223.^^
" Anglo-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), i, 108.
'* Collect, i, 82 ; see also Itin. iii, 72.
" Dom. Bk. (Rec. Com.), i, 77^. This may be
either in Hinton Martell or Little Hinton, as both are
included in the survey of Hinton.
™ Close, II Edw. II, m. 10. In the event of a
general contribution by the clergy to the crown the
king was in the habit of addressing a special order to
the dean, appointing him collector of the subsidy due
from all benefices pertaining to his chapel, which was
exempt from the jurisdiction of the ordinary. Ibid.
8 Edw. II, m. 9.
" Sarum Epis. Reg. Erghum, i, fol. 29.
■" Pat. 8 Hen. Ill, m. 12. The Rev. R. W. Eyton,
in \a%Key to Domesday {Dorset,), suggests that Maurice,
bishop of London, and Hugh his predecessor held half
a hide in OJeham in the parish of Wimborne in
virtue of the deanery, ' having in their time been deans
of Wimborne,' but they are not included in any list
of the deans of Wimborne.
The following year the sheriff of Dorset was
directed to cause proclamation to be made that
the market and fair formerly held within the
cemetery of Wimborne should in future be held
outside under the walls, on land belonging to the
dean on the same days and with the same liberties
and customs as formerly.^'
The deanery was always held by men holding
other ecclesiastical benefices and in many cases
secular offices, and. was bestowed by the king on
his clerks and court favourites as a reward for their
services, and by no means always with a view to
their spiritual fitness. Martin de Pateshull,
early in the reign of Henry III, sat as a justice
of the King's Bench, was a justice itinerant and
constantly employed as a judge ; besides other
ecclesiastical benefices he held a prebend in St.
Paul's, London, the archdeaconry of Norfolk, and
in 1228 was appointed to the deanery of St.
Paul's.^^ On his death the following year he
was succeeded at Wimborne, 20 October, by
Randolf Brito,^* who in the previous December
had been presented by letters patent of the king
to prebends in London and Salisbury and to the
rectory of Charing (Kent),-^ and the March
following appointed constable of Colchester Castle
and warden of the ports of Essex.^' John
Mansel, the notorious pluralist, who succeeded
in 1 247 on the death of Brito, had, as we may
gather from the pages of Matthew Paris,"* a very
distinguished career in many ways, but the
positions which he held and the difficult negotia-
tions in which he was frequently employed by
the king can have left him no leisure to bestow
on Wimborne, and the fact that he held the
deanery is not even mentioned in the Chronica
Major a, which records his varied appointments.^'
For examples of pluralism in this county we
have only to turn to this deanery, a notorious
instance being that of John Kirby the tax-
gatherer, who followed Mansel. The number
of his clerical preferments, granted solely in
reward for his services to the king, and with
no regard to his fitness,'" created a painful
^ Close, 9 Hen. Ill, m. 20.
" Le Neve, Fasti Eccl.Jngl.u, 308, 371, 482; New-
court, Repert. i, 35. " Pat. 13 Hen. Ill, m. i.
»= Ibid. m. II. "Ibid. m. 9.
'■^ Chron. Maj. (Rolls Ser.), vols, iii, iv, and v.
-' He held a prebend in London {Fasti Eccl. Angl.
ii, 397), was chaplain to Henry III, made chancellor
by the king in 1243 (Pat. 27 Hen. Ill, m. 10), and
the following year principal councillor (Matt. Paris,
Chron. Maj. [Rolls Ser.], iv, 294). In the same year
that he was presented to Wimborne he received the
charge of the Great Seal and was made provost of
Beverley (ibid. 601). In 1258 he witnessed a charter
as chancellor of York (ibid, v, 672). Bilsington
Priory in Kent was founded by him (ibid, v, 690-1).
*° He appears to have held only deacon's orders, and
was ordained priest by Peckham the day before his
consecration to Ely in 1286; Reg. Epist. Peckham
(Rolls Ser.), iii, App. ii, 1 041.
109
A HISTORY OF DORSET
impression in the minds of the more scrupulous
and devout of the clergy, while the nature of
his employment did not tend to add to his
popularity. "*' On his election to Rochester in
1285, Archbishop Peckham actively interfered
and, on the ground of Kirby's notorious
pluralism, desired the chapter to make another
choice of a fit person.'^ The archbishop did not
interfere, however, when, in 1286, the dean was
promoted to Ely."
No record seems to exist of the original
endowment of the college and deanery, which
at the beginning probably consisted of the great
tithes of the parish, to which were added as
time went on considerable gifts of portions of
tithes and land. According to the Taxatio of
1 29 1 the possessions of the dean and college
were assessed at ;^7 1 ; the portion of the dean
amounting to £26 ly- 4-d- from Wimborne,
Kingston, and Shapwick ; that of the four pre-
bendaries jTio each ; the sacrist ^^4 6s. Sd.^* In
1349, on the appointment of Reginald Brian,
four commissioners were deputed, together with
Thomas de Gary the sacrist, to survey the chapel,
which was reported to be very defective in books
and ornaments, and in need of repairs in the
manse and houses as well as in the manors and
other places in the country pertaining to the
deanery, to the great injury of the then dean,^*
who, the following year, was raised to the see of
St. David's and subsequently made bishop of
Worcester. The next occasion for an inquiry
was in 1367, when an inquisition was ordered
to be held in the presence of Richard de
Beverley, lately presented to the deanery, or his
proctor and the executors of the late dean, Henry
de Bukyngham, with a view to ascertain what
damages and waste had occurred during the last
" Just before the death of Henry III he was given
the Great Seal, and, though he subsequently resigned it,
appears to have been attached in some capacity to the
chancery ; the Anna'es speak of him as vice-chancellor
{Ann. Man. [Rolls Sen], iii, 315). In 1284 he was
made treasurer, but he was employed chiefly to travel
the country and collect what sums he could for the
king. The benefices with which his zeal was rewarded
included the rectory of St. Burian's, Cornwall, the
deanery of Wimborne, a canonry in Wells and York,
and in 1272 the archdeaconry of Coventry ; Wharton,
Angl. Sacra, i, 637, note 4 ; Fasti Eccl. Angl. i, 568.
" Reg. Epist. Peckham (Rolls Ser.), ii, 575.
" Wharton, Angl. Sacra, i, 637.
" Po/>e Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 180. Within the
deanery of Pimperne the dean is said to have
portions consisting of 1 3/. \d. from the church
and chapel of Shapwick (ibid. 178), j^l from
Edmondsham, 10/. from Stanbridge or Litde Hinton,
and j^l from Hampreston (ibid. 179) ; Hutchins,
Hist, of Dorset, 139, 142,435. The parishioners of
Hampreston were formerly buried at Wimborne until
1440, when they obtained a licence for their own
burial-ground from Henry VI ; Harl. MS. 6963,
fol. 56.
'^ Pat. 23 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 22 d.
occupancy of the deanery, the nature of the
defects, and whether they could be repaired
within a cost of ^^400. The return made to the
writ, giving the value of the dean's possessions,
enumerates titlies in Shapwick, lOOs. ; Kingston,
8 marks ; Pimperne, 20s. ; Bradford, 20s. ;
Crichel, ioj. ; parcel of Holt, with tithes of
wool and lambs, ;^8 ; tithes of Hampreston, ^^4 ;
demesne lands let to farm, 235. ; tithes of wool
and lambs, 40^. ; and states that William Sewell,
chaplain and farmer of the late dean, had 20
marks remaining in hand, and the reeve
[praepoiitus) £6 of arrears.'*
Leaving the deanery, we find the staff
of the college with sacrist and four preben-
daries increased in the middle of the fourteenth
century by the addition of four chaplains ap-
pointed to serve the chantry, known as the
Great or Brembre's Chantry, founded in 1354
by the dean Thomas de Brembre, who, on 10
August of that year, obtained a royal licence to
appropriate the advowson of the church of
Shapwick, held in chief of the king, to the canons
and college of Wimborne Minster for the sus-
tentation of four chantry priests celebrating
divine ofSces in the chapel under the sacrist
according to the ordination of the dean." In
addition to this grant the custodian and four
chaplains obtained a licence enabling them to
acquire 10 'marcatas' of land and rent in
Walsford, Chalbury, Kingston, ' Duppleshegh,'
and ' Cokeshull,' not held of the king in chief;
while Richard de Corfton, at the same time, was
permitted to assign to them one messuage, 12
bovates of land, 16 acres of meadow, 5 acres of
pasture, 2 acres of wood with 40;. rent, and
pasturage for sixteen oxen, twelve cows, forty
pigs, and 400 sheep in the above places, valued
at J IS. 4.ci., to be held by the custodian and
chaplains at the annual value of £i^., in part
satisfaction of the grant of I o ' marcatas.' '* The
" Inq. p.m. 41 Edw. Ill (2nd Nos.), No. 37.
" Pat. 28 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. I 5. The church of
Shapwick seems, from early times, to have been
attached to the deanery. In 1238 Henry III
addressed letters to the bishop of Salisbury bidding
him revoke the presentation he had made to the
church on the ground that it belonged immediately to
the deanerj' which pertained to the royal patronage.
Pat. 22 Hen. Ill, m. 2.
" Pat. 28 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 10. There m.iy
later have been some dispute in reference to this grant,
for an entry in the Close Rolls of the last year of
Henry IV states that Thomas Corfton testifies that
he has released and quitclaimed to Richard Holhurst,
sacrist of the church of St. Cuthburga of Wimborne
Minster and custodian of the chantry of Thomas de
Brembre, founded in the church, to Richard Skvll,
William Vyncent, Richard Shephurd, and Thomas
Pylle, chaplains, all personal actions which he may
have or could possibly have against them ' from the
beginning of the world up to the dav of the " con-
fection " of these present.' Close, 14 Hen. IV, m. 28.
1 10
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
office of custodian of the chantry was held, ex
officio, by the sacrist.
Besides the foundation of Dean Brembre, there
was another and later chantry of equal, or even
greater, importance in the church, founded by
Margaret countess of Richmond and Derby but
not completed till after her death. By a tri-
partite deed, dated 12 March, 1511, between
the executors of the will of the deceased countess,
the dean and chapter of the college, and the
sacrist or custodian and chaplains of the Great
Chantry, reciting the grant procured by the
countess of her son Henry VII by letters patent
of I March, 1497, for the foundation of a
chantry of one chaplain in the royal free chapel
or collegiate church of Wimborne ' to the praise
and honour of Jesus and the Annunciation of
the B. V. M.,' with licence to appropriate lands,
rents, and benefices &c., to the annual value of
j^io, to the said chaplain and his successors;
and after the death of the countess and the ap-
pointment of her executors (Richard bishop of
Winchester, John bishop of Rochester, and
others), the letters patent of Henry VIII,
7 August, 1509) in the first year of his reign,
confirming the previous grant of his father and
granting an additional licence to appropriate lands
and rents to the annual value of j^6, besides the
above ;^io, was established a perpetual chantry
for the augmentation of divine service and for
the souls of the said countess, her parents and
ancestors, and all the faithful departed at the
altar on the south side of the tomb of John
Beaufort, late duke of Somerset, and Margaret
his wife, the father and mother of the aforesaid
countess.
By this same deed Richard Hodgekynnes,
B.A., was appointed the first chaplain, to reside
in a house within the college opposite the
chamber or dwelling of the sacrist and to teach
grammar to all comers after the form and manner
used at Eton and Winchester. Besides this duty
he was bound to celebrate daily for the soul of
the founder, and for the souls of her father,
mother, and ancestors, special collects being
appointed to be recited ; an anniversary was fixed
to be kept yearly on 29 July, whereon a
requiem mass should be said, and at the end of
the mass a distribution of 20s. made in the
following manner: — To the sacrist of the college
if he should be present in his surplice and amice,
idd.; to each chaplain 'present and devoutly
singing,' 8i. ; to every secondary and parish
clerk, 4</. ; to the sacrist for five wax candles to
be burnt round the bier, and two on the altar
during the mass, and for bell-ropes, ibd. ; to
those ringing the bells, 8^. ; the remainder of the
20;. should be distributed to the poor of the
parish by the advice of the sacrist according to
their necessities, thus : — to one, id. ; to another,
2d. The said Richard Hodgekynnes should
receive yearly £10, and his servant or usher
40J., and he should present a yearly account,
within Michaelmas and the Feast of All Saints,
of his receipts and expenditure in the presence of
the dean, or, in his absence, of the sacrist, and of
the senior chaplain of the chantry of Thomas
Brembre, and it should be deposited in a chest
with three keys whereof one key should be in the
custody of the dean, or, in his absence, of the
sacrist, another in the custody of the senior
chaplain, and the third should be kept by Richard
Hodgekynnes himself and his successors.'^
The deanery was held on the eve of the
Reformation by the famous Reginald Pole, and
according to the Valor of 1535 was worth
^^29 8j. \d. clear.*" The office of the sacrist,
held by Thomas Yeroth who also served the
'Redcottes' Chantry founded in the chapel of
the hospital of St. Margaret and St. Antony
within the manor of Kingston Lacy,*' was
valued at ^^5 9;. i^d. clear.*^ The incumbents
of the four prebends, Richard Sperkeford, John
Starkey, Thomas Myllys, and George Lylly,
received respectively the following stipends : —
^15 5j. id.,li6 15s. 8^2'., ^15 13^. 4^^., and
£12 191. The number of chaplains attached to
the Brembre or Great Chantry had been reduced
from four to three, their names being given as
Walter Gardener, Edward Thorpe, and John
Ase, or Ace as he afterwards appears ; each
had a stipend of £•] lis. lod. Edward Laborne,
the schoolmaster and chantry priest attached to
the foundation of the late countess of Richmond
and Derby, had a net income of ^9 I li. 2d.*^
In the return of the commissioners, appointed
under Edward VI to take the value of the pos-
sessions of colleges and chantries and to report
on their plate, goods and ornaments, the ' college
or free chapel of our Sovereign Lord the king in
Wimborne ' was said to be worth ^5 1 ^s. 6d.,
with 'rents resolute' of £6 131. ^.d. and fees
£6 6s. 8d., reducing the clear income to
;^3^ 5^'** The sacrist's office after deducting
'rents resolute' of j^3 14s. lod. was returned
at £5 2s. 4.d. clear.** The Great Chantry, with
a deduction of £10 2s. \d. in ' rents resolute,'
was worth ^^34 is. ^d., and had the following
' jewels ' and ' ornaments ' : — Three chalices
weighing 55 oz., three pairs of old vestments
worth bs., two table borders, and one ladder 2s.
Item I challice belonging to St. James weighing 5 oz.
2 basons of silver and gilt gyvty to the kinges Majestic
by the parishioners of Wymborne so it [is] said =
50 oz. Total 8/., 1 10 oz."
" A copy of the original of this deed is given by
Hutchins, Hiii. of Dorset, App. 3, iii, 271-3.
'" yalor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 273.
*' For account of this chantry see under hospitals,
p. 106.
" Falor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 273.
" Ibid. 274-5.
*' Chant. Cert. Dorset, 16, No. 24..
" Ibid. 25. *' Ibid. 27.
I I I
A HISTORY OF DORSET
The chantry of Margaret, countess of Rich-
mond, was returned at a clear income of
£(> 2s. o^^., and had no ornaments.*' The four
prebends in the college called the ' first,' ' seconde,'
' thirde,' and ' fourthe staulle,' were worth re-
spectively ^^8 los., £j !$!■ 2d., £12 I5i. 2d.,
and £j IS. id. clear.*'*
Pole forfeited the deanery in 1537 and was
succeeded at Wimborne by Nicholas Wilson.'"
Some of the leading parishioners the following year
addressed the dean a very respectful letter, saying
they had been informed that ' Seynt Cuthborow's
hed ' was to be removed from their church.
And we know by our composycion that yt ys the
p,irishioners' goods and our chyrche ys in gret ruyn
and decay and our toure ys foundered and lyke to
fall and ther ys no money left in our chyrche box,
and by reason of great infyrmyty and deth ther hath
byn thys yere in our parysh no chyrche aele the
whych hath hyndred our chyrche of xx nobles.
The letter proceeded to ask whether the
parishioners might sell the silver about the head
of the image, and apply the proceeds to the re-
pair of their church.'"
The college was dissolved in 1547, and we
may gather the immediate effect of its suppres-
sion and of the withdrawal of the activity of the
staff from the parochial and social life of the
town from the second part of the commissioners'
report of Edward VI. The chantry of the
Countess Margaret,'^ ' founded to the intent that
the incumbent thereof should say mass for the
soul of the founder and to tech schoole'mg,^ was
empty, and complaints appear to have been
made by the townspeople that their children
had been deprived of the means of education
provided for them : —
It is very requisite and necessary (ran the report) to
have the said school maintained, for the town of
Wimborne is a great market town and a thoroughfare
and hath many children therein, and there is no
grammar school kept within i 2 miles of Wimborne,
at which pLice the poor men dwelling in Wimborne
and there.ibout are not able to keep their children.
Wherefore it is very requisite that the said school may
remain still for the bringing up of young children in
larnyng . . . without anything paying at all as it
was in times past."
*' Chant. Cert. Dorset, 28. " Ibid. 29.
"i. and P. Hen. rill, xii (i), 1 1 15 (42). At
the close of 1536, on the report that Pole was about
to forfeit his promotion, William Marshall sought to
procure the ' little deanery ' from Cromwell for his
brother Thomas Marshall or his son Richard. Ibid,
xi, 1355.
"* Given by Hutchins from the parish records
(Hist, of Dorset, iii, 1888). It is not noted whether
so apparently reasonable a request was granted.
" With the exception of this chantry, the net value
of which was returned at ^lo 12/. I \d., the value of
the rest of the offices had fallen in the second part of
the report below that of the first.
" Chant. Cert. 16, No. 106.
From the sacrist's office, the last holder of
which was Simon Benyson," a distribution was
annually made to the poor of 205.'* The clear
income of the deanery, lately held by Nicholas
Wilson, then amounted to ;^34 6i. id.,
all which was employed as well towards his own
portion and finding as towards the finding of poore
men, in which said town of Wimborne be very many
poore people unto the finding and relief whereof he
did yerely distribute ^^4 at the lest."
A note in reference to the four prebends in the
college states : —
Mem"* to have 4 priests to serve the cure in the
parish of Wimborne because there be 3 chapelles
wherein ther is devyne service, because the said
chapelles be distaunt from the church of Wymborne
3 miles and are for the ease of the people.''
The report also serves to show of what the
staff of the college consisted ; besides the dean
and sacrist, the four chaplains — afterwards reduced
to three — ordained to serve the Great Chantry,
the chantry priest and schoolmaster of the
foundation of the Countess Margaret, there were
four prebendaries who were bound out of their
salaries to find and maintain four vicars and four
'secondaries' to discharge the cure of souls in
the parish. The repetition of some of the
names indicates that some offices were doubled ;
John Ace and Walter Matthew, chaplains of
the Great Chantry, served as vicars of the
first and third prebend.''
On its dissolution, in the first year of the reign
of Edward VI, most of the possessions of the
college were granted to (i) Edward, duke of
Somerset, (2) to Giles Keylsway and William
Leonard, and in 1551 to Edward, Lord Clinton.
Notwithstanding the representation of the com-
missioners no steps appear to have been taken
for the retention of the school till the reign of
Elizabeth, when by a grant of the queen part
of the property of the late college was vested in
the governors of the free grammar school of
Queen Elizabeth in Wimborne Minster in the
county of Dorset.'*
" He received a pension of ^^5 as late incumbent
of Redcottes Chantry ; Willis, H'tst. of Mitred Abbeys,
ii, 72.
" Chant. Cert. 16, No. 108. This was probably
the distribution ordained to be made annually at the
discretion of the sacrist on the anniversary of the
countess of Richmond and Derby and her parents.
" Ibid. No. III. The late dean was entered for
a pension of 53/. \d. ; Add. MS. 19047, fol. 8 d.
''Chant. Cert. 16, No. iii. Besides the free
chapel of St. Peter within the town there were these
three chapels outside the town : St. Katherine's of
Leigh, St. Stephen's at Kingston Lacy, and St. James
of Holt. Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iii, 228.
" Chant. Cert. 16, No. 109-11. They received
a pension of £6 each ; Add. MS. 19047, fol. 8 d.
" Dugdale, Mon. vi, 1452.
112
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
Deans of Wimborne '^
Martin de Pateshull, presented 1223^-'
Randolf Brito, presented 1229"
John Mansell, presented 1247
John Kirby, 1265
John de Berwick, presented 1286
Stephen de Male Lacu or Mauley, presented
1312'='
Richard de Clare, presented 131 7"
Richard de Swynnerton, presented 1335^'
Richard de Murymouth, presented 1330 '^■''
Robert de Kyngeston, presented 1342"''
Thomas de Clopton, presented 1349," died
in the same year
Reginald Brian, presented 1349"*
Thomas de Brembre, presented 1350''
Henry de Bukyngham, presented 1 36 1
Richard de Beverley, presented 1367'"
John Carp, presented 1387'^'
Roger Coryngham, presented 1400^^
Peter de Altobasso or Altobosco, presented 1 4 1 2
Walter Medford, occurs 141 5
Gilbert Kymer, presented 1423"
Walter Hurte, occurs 1467
Hugh Oldham, presented 1485
Thomas Rowthel, occurs 1508
Henry Hornby, occurs 1509 as an executor of
the will of the countess of Richmond and
Derby
Reginald Pole, presented i 5 i 8 '*
Nicholas Wilson, presented 1537 ''
ALIEN HOUSES
33. THE PRIORY OF FRAMPTON
The Domesday Survey records that the manor
of Frampton in Dorset was held by the church
of St. Stephen, the Norman abbey of Caen
founded by William the Conqueror 'for the
weal of himself, his wife, his children, and his
relatives,'' and that 2 hides of land adjoining
the manor were the gift of his queen Matilda,
the whole being worth 40;.^ Henry II, con-
firming to the monks of Caen the gifts of his
predecessors, enumerates the manor of Northam
in Devonshire with its appurtenances, including
wreck of the sea and dues of the ships calling
there, given by Matilda in her last illness ; the
manors of Frampton and Bincombe in Dorset,
the gift of the Conqueror together with 7 hides
of land in East Hendred, Berkshire ; the manor
of Burton Bradstock, Dorset, given by Henry I,
partly for the redemption of his soul and those
of his father, mother and relatives, and partly
in lieu of the crown and other ornaments belong-
ing to it which William his father had bequeathed
to the abbey ; and the little manor [maneriolum)
of Pantfield in Essex.' Richard, archbishop of
" The following are taken from the list given by
Hutchins {Hist, of Dorset, iii, 186) from Browne
Willis, verified and in some cases corrected according
to the patent rolls and other official records ; where
no further reference can be found the list has been
allowed to stand.
"' Pat. R. Hen. Ill, m. 12.
" Ibid. 13 Hen. Ill, m. I.
" Ibid. 5 Edw. II, pt. 2, m. 3.
^ Ibid. II Edw. II, pt. I, m. 30.
" Ibid. 8 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 5.
" Ibid. 12 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 13.
'° Ibid. 16 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 14.
" Ibid. 23 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 31.
'' Ibid. m. 4.
" Ibid. 24 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 17.
'" Inq. p.m. 41 Edw. Ill (2nd nos.), No. 37.
" Pat. II Rich. II, pt. I, m. 27.
2 I
Canterbury, 1172-84, confirming to the abbot
and convent of St. Stephen's all their possessions
in the province of Canterbury, includes the
churches of Frampton, Bincombe, Winterborne,
and Bettiscombe — saving the rights of the bishop
of the diocese — according to the charter of Jocelin
bishop of Salisbury.* Henry III in 1252 granted
to the prior and monks of Frampton the right
of free warren within their demesne lands of
Frampton, Ernley, Bettiscombe, Mosserigg,
Burton Bradstock, and Bincombe, Dorset, and
Northam (Devonshire), provided their lands
should not lie within the king's forest.*
The Taxatio of 1 291 gives the prior tempor-
alities in this county amounting to £b2 2s. ;
£j 31. 4r/. from Northam, Devonshire, and
;^3 lOJ. from East Hendred, Berkshire.^ The
spiritualities of the priory are omitted. In the
same year an order was sent to the treasurer and
barons of the exchequer to acquit the prior of a
fine of lOOf. in which he had been amerced for
his claim for wreck of the sea within his manor
of Northam.'
" Ibid. I Hen. IV, pt. I, m. 34.
'' Ibid. 2 Hen. VI, pt. I, m. 33.
" L. and. P. Hen. Vlll, ii (2), 3943.
'» Ibid, xii (i), 1 115 (42)
' See the Conqueror's charter for the abbey, CaL
Doc. France, 155.
' Dom. Bk. (Rec. Com.), i, 78^.
' Cal. Doc. France, 155-60. The charter of
Richard I in I 190, contained in the inspeximus
charter of Henry IV (Pat. 2 Hen. IV, pt. I, m. 33),.
confirms the two manors of Frampton and Bincombe
with their members ; the manor of Northam, Devon,,
7 hides of land at East Hendred, Berks ; Pantfield ini
Essex ; Burton Bradstock, Dorset ; and a grant by
Henry II of all kinds offish cast up on their land.
' CaL Doc. France, 162.
'Chart. R. 37 Hen. Ill, m. 21.
^ Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), fol. 132^, I S3,
184, 196.
' Close, 19 Edw. I, m. 7.
n »5
A HISTORY OF DORSET
The cell of Frampton as a typical example
affords very good material for a study of these
alien dependencies, and from its history we may
learn in a measure the vicissitudes of fortune that
during the greater part of their existence alter-
nately despoiled and restored them. As regards
the attention they evidently attracted in this
county it should be noted that their number
and position near the coast made them legitimate
objects of suspicion, and we have to remember
that their prayers were naturally engaged, or sup-
posed to be engaged, not for the armies of England
and her king, but for her adversaries and an alien
cause.* On the seizure of lands held by Nor-
mans in England following the loss of Normandy
in 1204, the prior of Frampton is said to have
secured his property from John by promising to
pay a fine of 100 marks in two moieties, the
first at Michaelmas, 1204, and the second at the
Feast of St. Hilary following, and afterwards
;^8o yearly at the usual four terms, in return for
which he was allowed the custody of the lands
of the abbot of Caen in Somerset and Dorset.'
From this time ;^8o per annum, or a propor-
tionate fraction of it, seems to have been tlie
sum demanded by the crown on the vacancy
of the parent house occasioned by the death or
cession of the abbot of Caen.^° Hugh de Neville
was ordered 10 April, 1208, to restore to the
prior of Frampton all his lands taken into the
king's hands by reason of the interdict. ^^ The
reign of Henry III passed without incident,
but early in the reign of Edward I the cell
excited suspicion, and the prior was required on
a summons from the sheriff, April, 1275, to
certify that neither he nor his house were in any
way bound to any foreign merchant, nor had
received from them money or 'arras' in ex-
change for their wool, which on the contrary the
prior declared had been sold to Geoffrey and
Thomas de Aune, burgesses of ' Corcestree,' and
to Stephen Bray, burgher of Sefton.^^
In 1294 the prior obtained letters of protec-
tion from Edward I for a year with other
ecclesiastics who had granted a moiety of their
benefices and goods to the crown," and, in
accordance with the principle of allowing the
foreigner to escape none of the burdens imposed
on the native clergy, in 1332 he was requested
* This reason is set out among others in a letter of
Edward II to the bishop of Salisbury in 1326 res-
pecting the foreign cells in his diocese. Sarum Epis.
Reg. Mortival, i, 274 a'.
' Rot. Norman. (Hardy), 126; Rot. de oblat'ts et finibus
(Hardy), 199. In Oct. 1209, the king notified
the sheriff that the first moiety had been paid into
the Camera at Winchester on the Monday follow-
ing the Feast of St. Michaelmas. Close, 6 John,
m. 15.
" Close, 8 Edw. II, m. 30.
" Ibid. 9 John, m. 3.
" Anct. Corresp. xvii, I 2 5.
"Pat. 22 Edw. I, PI 8.
to assist the subsidy raised on the occasion of the
marriage of the king's sister.** In December,
1 295, the protection granted to him the previous
year was renewed, with the restoration of his
lands and goods on condition that he should
pay yearly a fixed sum at the exchequer for the
custody,'^ the grant being repeated March, 1297,
on the same terms.*'
On the general seizure of the property of
aliens in 1324, the issues of the manors belong-
ing to Frampton Priory taken into the hands of
custodians by the king's orders from 8 October
to the 10 January following were valued at
^^260 "Ji. \dy An inquisition held to inquire
as to the yearly value of the priory lands esti-
mated Frampton with the advowson of the
vicarage at 100;. and the church held 'in pro-
prios usus'at ^^13 6j. to be worth ^^58 4J. ()d}^
This measure, however, did not satisfy the king,
and in September, 1326, in anticipation of a
French landing, Edward II addressed a letter to
the bishop of Salisbury pointing out the danger
that lay in the position of the enemy's confederates
near the coast, and desiring certain brethren
dwelling in these parts to be transferred to other
houses of the same order further inland. The
bishop in his reply notified the king that in
obedience to his order he had sent William
Pyequier of the priory of Frampton up country
to the monastery of Sherborne.*' As Edward III
restored the lands and possessions of no alien
houses a few days after his accession the follow-
ing January, Frampton belonging to the abbey
of Caen being of the number, this transference
was probably not of long duration.^
A period of tranquillity ensued till the year
1337, when an outbreak of war caused foreign
dependencies to be again seized, and Henry de
Haydok, clerk, was deputed to take into the
king's hand the lands and rents ' of foreign
religious men of the power and dominion of the
king of France ' in this county, the sheriff to
whom they had been delivered accounting for
the issues of Frampton Priory then valued at
j^294 19J. "jd}^ The prior meantime was
granted protection and allowed the custody of
his house on condition of paying a yearly
"Close, 6 Edw. Ill, m. xd d.
'^ Pat. 24 Edw. I, m. 21.
'' Ibid. 25 Edw. I, m. \zd.
" Mins. Accts. bdle. 1125, No. 7.
■' B.M. Add. MS. 6164, fol. 270. The allowance
made by the king to those foreign ecclesiastics whose
goods and benefices he had seized was at the rate of
I %d. a week with 40/. per annum for clothing and
boots. Sarum Epis. Reg. Mortival, i, fol. 236.
" Ibid. fol. 274.
'" Rymer, Foed. iv, 245-6. In fact the prior in
1338 was ordered to take up his station near the sea
for the protection of the coast under penalty of being
regarded as an adherent of the enemy. Rymer, Foed.
(Rec. Com.), ii (2), 1062.
" Mins. Accts. bdle. 1 125, No. 9.
114
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
farm of ^^90 and 10 marks.^^ This payment
included all incidental charges, and the king's
escheator in 1 341 was ordered not to meddle
further with the priory, which he sought to enter
on the excuse of the voidance of the abbey of
Caen by the death of Simon the last abbot, as it
was being farmed by the prior for the king ; ^' in
the same way the collectors of the tenth granted
by the clergy in 1338 were ordered to exact no
more from the prior of Frampton, as he was
already paying ^^90 for his farm.^* In December,
1 34 1, the foreign superior was ordered to appear
before the council, and to bring with him all
accounts and memoranda of payments made by
him.^* The following month he received a
promise that a quantity of wool requisitioned by
the crown officials commissioned to take a moiety
of wool in Dorset for the king's use should be
paid for."^ An extent of the priory was ordered
to be made at the close of 1344,^' and in 1346
Edward III granted ;^ioo of the farm of the
priories of Frampton and Loders to William de
Groucy,^' Thomas de Lancaster receiving a
grant of £100 of the farm of Frampton alone
the following year.^'
The waste and destruction attending the
occupation of alien cells in the reign of Edward III
resulted in a harvest of inquisitions under
Richard II with the object of ascertaining the
cause. A commission in 1381 was appointed to
survey Frampton and its lands and to make inquiry
into the damage done therein.'" The king, the
year after, on the payment of 1 00 marks, licensed
John Devereux, knt., to acquire the priory from
the abbot of St. Stephen's, Caen, for life with
successive remainder to Margaret his wife, John
their son, and Joan their daughter, paying ;^8o
yearly farm at the Exchequer while the war should
last.'' The lessee presented in 1387 to the
church of Frampton, which, except for an interval
following the restoration of alien houses in 1361,
had been in the king's hands since 1337, and in
1385 the farm paid for the custody of the priory
was remitted by letters patent of Richard II.
Henry IV in 1400 confirmed the manor or priory
of Frampton with its issues to Joan, the daughter
"Close, II Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 13; Pat. 11
Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 37.
"Close, 15 Edw. Ill, pt. 3, m. 4. There was
evidently some delay in complying, for the order was
repeated in I 343. Ibid. 17 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 17.
" Ibid. 12 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 20.
" The order was transmitted to the sheriff the fol-
lowing month. Ibid. 15 Edw, III, pt. 3, m. 5 a'.
6 d. In 1 345, and again in 1 347, the prior, Lawrence
de Brioco or Breoto, was summoned by name. Ibid.
19 Edw. Ill, m. 22 (/. ; 21 EJw. Ill, pt. I, m. 6 d.
" Pat. 15 Edw. Ill, pt. 3, m. 2.
-' Ibid. 1 8 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 12 d.
^'Ibid. 20 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. I.
^' Ibid. 21 Edw. Ill, pt. 3, m. 34.
'"Ibid. 4 Ric. II, pt. I, m. 27 a'.
''' Ibid. 5 Ric. II, pt. 2, m. 19.
of John Devereux, who had survived her mother
and brother, and with her husband, Walter Fitz-
Wauter, ' chivaler,' entered into possession in
1398.'* In 1402 after the restoration of alien
houses, Frampton Priory, 'which is conven-
tual,' was restored to Ralph de Nubibus, monk
of the abbey of St. Stephen, Caen, on condition
that he should maintain its former condition and
pay to the king during the war the ancient
apport due to the head house in time of peace,
with other charges.''
It is, as a rule, extremely difficult to get any
real idea of the internal condition of a foreign
cell, and Frampton is no exception in this respect.
The episcopal registers record that priors were
presented by their superiors, the abbot of Caen or
his proxy, to the bishops of Salisbury for institu-
tion, letters being subsequently issued to the
archdeacon of Dorset for their induction. The
resignation of a prior was also made into the
hands of the ordinary, but though the house was of
the Benedictine order and consequently could not
claim exemption, there is no record that he
exercised the right of visitation. A very common
cause of misgovernment, the frequent and
arbitrary withdrawal of the head of a dependent
cell by the foreign superior, seems to have been
present here, for in 1343 the bishop successfully
petitioned the pope to confirm the presentation
of Lawrence de Sancto Brioco to the priory in
order to strengthen his position and prevent his
arbitrary removal by his superior.'*
Previous to the suppression of alien cells in
1 414 the priory or manor of Frampton was made
over by Henry IV to John, duke of Bedford,
and Thomas Langley, clerk, keeper of the privy
seal, for as long as the war should last for a
yearly farm of ^93 6s. 8d., the grant under date
of 2 March, 141 4, providing that a reduction
should be made at the Exchequer in the event of the
priory being injured and destroyed by the enemy
lliiad absit) ; it was followed in December of
tiiat year by another grant which remitted the
payment of this rent and included William, prior
of Ogbourne, as holding jointly with the duke
and Thomas Langley, and again in 1410 by a
licence enabling the duke to acquire from the
chief houses in Normandy the whole, or part, of
all the temporalities pertaining to the priories of
Ogbourne and Frampton." Henry V confirmed
the grants of his father in the first year of his
reign, "* but on the reversion of the priory of
Frampton to the crown by the death of the duke
of Bedford, it was given by Henry VI, 16 No-
" Ibid. 2 Hen. IV, pt. I, m. 8. The February
following, the king cancelled his previous grant of the
profits of Frampton rectory to John Cheyne, knt., and
Thomas Horston, clerk. Ibid. pt. 2, m. 31.
'' Ibid. 3 Hen. IV, pt. 2, m. 22.
" CaL Pup. Letters, ii, 26 ; iii, 187.
" By inspeximus of Henry V, Pat. I Hen. V, pt. 3,
m. 41. 'Mbid.
115
A HISTORY OF DORSET
vember, 1437, to the dean and canons of the
royal college of St. Stephen, Westminster,'' the
gift being confirmed to them in 1445,'* and again
on the accession of Edward IV.'' The Valor of
1535 gives the possessions of Frampton as still
held by the college, who retained them down to
the Reformation.*"
Priors of Frampton
William Humez, 1207-14.*^
Guimund, 1261 *"
Robert*'
Richard "
Martin,** occurs 1296 and again in 1302
James de Troarno, presented 1302*^
Richard de Montigney, presented 131 7, re-
signed 1329*'
William de Rusca Villa, presented 1329, re-
signed 1335*8
Lawrence de Sancto Brioco or Breoto, pre-
sented 1335,*' occurs 1345 and 1347,'" he
presented to the vicarage in 1363
John Letour, collated by the bishop, 1377 *^
Ralph de Nubibus, collated by the bishop
1400"
" Pat. 16 Hen. VI, pt. I, m. 14.
•^ The confirmation of 1 1 July, 1445, vvas given as
the result of a petition of William Walesby dean, and the
canons of St. Stephen, setting forth that by an inqui-
sition held at Dorchester 1402, it was found that a
carucate of land within the manor had been granted
by Henry IV on condition that a distribution of cer-
tain alms should be made to ' poor men,' that the
carucate was valued at 44; , but that the distribution
had ceased previous to the inquisition and the canons
knew nothing of it, though the escheator continued to
distrain them for the value of the land, and they prayed
a remedy. The king in his reply stated that the
possessions of the priory had been granted to the
dean and canons in free alms and that, therefore, no
exaction could be made from them. Ibid. 23 Hen. VI,
pt. 2, m. 8.
'' Ibid. Edvv. IV, pt. 6, m. 1, 2.
" VabrEccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 428.
" According to a Cole MS. he was prior here until
he was made abbot of Westminster in 1214 ; Dugdale,
Mon. vi, 1000. " Ibid,
" This name is also given, but with no date and by
no authority, in Hutchins and Dugdale.
" A seal found at Sydling in 1849 with the legend
S. RicarJi Prioris de Fruntmte, appears to be of thir-
teenth-century work ; Jourv. of Arch. Assoc, vii,
(1852), 162.
'^ As authority for these dates, Hutchins gives a fine
paid by the prior, 25 Edw. I, and a presentation to
the vicarage ; Hist, of Dorset, ii, 300.
" Sarum Epis. Reg. Simon of Ghent, ii, fol. 3 3 </.
'" Ibid. Mortival, fol. 172.
*' Ibid. Wyville, ii (Inst.), 40.
"' Ibid. Wyville.
■"' Close, 19 Edw. Ill, m. 22 </. ; 21 Edw. Ill, pt. I,
m. d d.
^' Sarum Epis. Reg. Erghum, i (Inst.), fol. 15.
" Ibid. Mitford, fol. 67 d.
The fourteenth-century pointed oval seal of
Prior Richard found at Sydling, near Frampton,
represents the Virgin half-length, the Holy Child
on the left knee, in the field on the left a crescent,
on the right a star. In base, under a pointed
arch with a carved gable topped by a cross on
either side, the prior, half-length, in prayer."
Legend : —
^ s' RICARDI PRIORIS DE FRVMTVNE.
34. THE PRIORY OF LODERS
This alien priory, cell to St. Mary of Monte-
bourg, was founded about the beginning of the
twelfth century in connexion with the manor
which Richard de Jledvers had given to the
Norman abbey, said to be of his foundation.
Henry I by charter confirmed the grant and
testified to Roger, bishop of Salisbury, 1107-37,
and Aiulf the chamberlain (sheriff of Doriet),
that for the souls of his father and mother, of
himself, his wife and children, and all his rela-
tions, he had granted to the abbey of Montebourg
and Urse its abbot that the manor of Loders,
which Richard de Redvers had given by his per-
mission, should be assessed at five hides henceforth
and for ever both in geld and other dues.'''
Baldwin, earl of Exeter, confirming the gifts of
his father to the abbey, which was to be wholly
quit of all dues to the donor and his heirs,
specifies the manor of Loders with all its appur-
tenances and the church, in Dorset, and the
manor, appurtenances, and church ofAxmouth,
in Devonshire ; '* these are included in the charter
of Henry II ratifying to the abbey the previous
gifts of the reputed founder and his family."
Besides the church of Loders the abbot of
Montebourg held in Dorset before the end of the
twelfth century the chapel of St. Andrew of
Bradpole, the gift of William de Moreville ;*^ the
cliurch of Powerstock, the gift of Roger Arun-
del ; ^~' and the church of Fleet granted by Hawy-
sia Redvers, the sister of Earl Richard,'* the last
two being confirmed by Jocelin, bishop of Salis-
bury, in II 5 7.'' About the year 1215 the abbot
and convent of St. Mary, Montebourg, released
" B.M. Seals, Ixii, 411^.
"' Cal. Doc. Trance, 313.
^ Ibid. 314.
" Dugdale, Mon. vi, 1097. Among other grants
to the abbey by Henry II was one directing that the
house, which was under his protection, should enjoy all
such liberties and dues as it enjoyed in the time of
his father ; and another stating that the abbot and
monks should be free of toll and passage and of all dues
wheresoever they should go or whatever they should
buy, provided it should be for the use of the monks.
Cal. Doc. France 319.
" Ibid. 316.
" Chart, of Salisbury in Ttvelfth and Thirteenth Cent.
(Rolls Ser.), 26.
"Ibid. 28. "Ibid. 29.
116
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
to Bishop Herbert Poor and the chapter of Salis-
bury their churches of Powerstock and Fleet,'''*
and by a mutual arrangement were allowed to
retain the church of Loders and chapel of
Bradpole as a prebend in Salisbury, thereby
entitling the foreign superior to a stall in the
cathedral choir and a voice in the chapter.'^ In
the Taxatio of 1 29 1 this prebend of Loders ' with
the chapel ' was assessed at ;^20, the vicarage at
£S->^' t^lic temporalities of the prior of Loders
within the parish were reckoned at £26.^^ A
commission was appointed on 18 October, 13 13,
to investigate a complaint of the prior that John,
rector of St. Mary's church in the neighbouring
town of Bridport, had carried away his goods at
Bradpole.**
The external history of Loders as an alien
dependency follows very closely that of Frampton,
with which it is frequently coupled during the
period of the French wars. On its seizure by
John in 1 204, together with the property of other
Norman landowners in England, the land was re-
ported to be worth ^^33 unstocked, with the stock
£^0.^^ The sheriff the following year was
ordered to restore to Prior Baldwin full possession
of his property ' which he holds of the abbot
of Montebourg,' for which he had given two
palfreys to the king with a promise to pay what-
ever he had formerly paid to the abbot, and not
to transport any goods abroad without licence.*^
The prior received from Edward I in 1 294,
1295, and 1297 letters of protection with licence
to retain the custody of his goods on the same
terms and under the same circumstances as the
prior of Frampton.^' On the seizure of alien pro-
perty by Edward II in 1324 his goods within the
manor of Loders and Bothenhampton, taken into
custody from 8 October to 28 December, were
valued at ;^99 is. 3^.,*^ the extent of the yearly
value of his lands was returned at ;^54 8j. 5J^. ;
the church of Loders, which the monks held in
proprios usus, a prebend of Salisbury, was worth
£,2\; the advowson of the vicarage iooj.,and of
the vicarage of Bradpole ;^io.^' On the eve of
a threatened invasion of the French in the
autumn of 1326 the bishop advised the king that
in accordance with his mandate he had caused
Ralph Pothyn of Loders Priory, a foreigner, to he
transferred to the abbey of Sherborne as further
removed from the coast.™
The outbreak of war in 1337 resulted in the
priory being again taken into the hands of the
^ Reg. St. Osmund. (Rolls Ser.), i, 225. " Ibid. 226.
^' Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), i8i/5.
'■^ Ibid. 1%-ib. '■* Pat, 7 Edw. II, pt. I, m. i\J.
'''' Rot. Norman. (Hardy), I 24.
^ Rot. de Finibus 1 199-1 2 l 5 (Hardy), 313.
"' Pat. 22 Edw. I, m. 8 ; 24 Edw. I, m. 21 ; 25
Edw. I, m. 12 d.
''Mins. Accts. bdle. 1 125, No. 7.
"" B.M. Add. MS. 6164, fol. 270.
'" Sarum Epis. Reg. Mortival, i, fol. 236.
king, who restored it to the prior, 3 August, on
condition that he should pay 10 marks and a
yearly farm of £jo for the custody,'' the payment
of this amount superseding all other dues. The
possessions of the priory at Loders and Bothen-
hampton, with the custody of which the sheriff
had been charged, were valued at £s^ 2J. and
;r34 175.'^ An interesting record under the
year 1339 states that the king wrote to the
bishop of Winchester cancelling his order for the
removal of the prior of Applcdurcombe in ths
Isle of Wight and two of his monks from their
priory near the sea coast to Hyde Abbey, owing
to the war with France, desiring that they should
be transferred instead to the house of the prior of
Loders within the cathedral close of Salisbury,
' which is further still from the sea.''^
Events in 1343 throw some light on a com-
mon enough feature of most dependent cells :
the state of subjection in which the house was
kept by the foreign superior. The bishop, we
may note, beyond instituting the prior appoint-
ed by the abbot and convent of Montebourg
and receiving official notification of his with-
drawal, neither exercised nor attempted to exer-
cise any jurisdiction in the priory ; the check
placed that year on the arbitrary methods of the
abbot came from the king, who in February
wrote to the sheriff that whereas he had com-
mitted to brother Roger, prior of Loders, an alien,
the custody of his house for a certain farm, the
abbot, his superior, on the false suggestion of
the death of the prior had committed the man-
agement to another monk, and was endeavouring
forcibly to remove the former contrary to the
appointment made by the king, who forbade
any such substitution to be allowed.'* The fol-
lowing year Roger Hariel, prior of Loders,
obtained from the pope an indult that he should
not be removed from the priory without reason-
able cause," and as the next presentation does
not occur until 1 36 1 he seems to have made
" Close, 1 1 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 37.
" Mins. Accts. bdle. I 125, No. 9. An inventory
of the household goods of the cell, including beds or
rather iino lecto xx', is informing as to the internal
equipment of a small religious house. Ibid.
" Rot. Aleman. 13 Edw. Ill.m. G d. On the other
hand the prior of Loders and the heads of other alien
cells as well as of native houses were ordered in 1338
to repair to manors nearer the sea in order to defend
the coast from attack. Rymer, Foedera (Rec. Com.),
ii (2), 1062.
" Close, 17 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. zj d. This order
was addressed to the escheator in the Isle of Wight for
the benefit of Roger Hariel, prior of Applcdurcombe,
as well as to the sheriff of Somerset and Devon for
Roger, prior of Loders, who appear to be one and the
same person, as Roger Hariel was certainly appointed
to Loders in I 320 and occurs here in 1344 and later.
" Cal. Pap. Letters, iii, 116. In February, 1346,
he received as prior of Loders another indult to choose
a confessor. Ibid, iii, 210.
17
A HISTORY OF DORSET
good his position. This is the nearest approach
to any hint as to the internal condition of the
house that can be discovered.
, An inquisition held at Bridport the Wednesday-
after the Feast of the Annunciation, 1387, states
that the possessions of the priory in the parish of
Loders at that date were worth £^']0 and at Ax-
mouth, Devonshire, ;^30.'* Richard II, in the
early part of 1399, bestowed the house with all its
appurtenances, rendering a yearly farm of ;^8o to
the crown, on the Carthusian priory of St. Anne
by Coventry," but the grant can barely have
taken effect, for in November, almost immediately
after his accession, Henry IV restored it to its for-
mer owners in the person of the prior, Sampson
Trisal,''* the grant beina; confirmed to William
Burnell, collated to the priory in March, 1 40 1.'''
On the final suppression of alien houses in 1 414
Henry V made over the possessions of this cell to
the abbess and convent of the nunnery of Syon,
which he had founded in the manor of Isleworth,
Middlesex, the grant being ratified by Henry VI
in 1424,'° and confirmed by Edward IV in the
first year of his reign,*^ the manor appearing as
parcel of the possessions of the abbey of Syon in
the Valor of 1535.*'
Priors of Loders
Baldwin, occurs in 1205 *'
R[oger or Robert], occurs in surrender deed of
abbot of Montebourg, probably of the year
1 2 1 3 **
Robert, occurs 1308*'
William de Carentonio or le Condu, presented
1313,^' withdrawn 1320
Roger de Hariel, presented 1320*'
Robert Dore, presented 1361,^ resigned 1364
Sampson Trigal, presented 1364*'
William Burnell, collated 1401'°
35. THE PRIORY OF POVINGTON
Povington, formerly a manor and now a
hamlet in the parish of Tyneham in the isle of
Purbeck, was granted to the abbot and monks
of Bec-Hellouin in Normandy by Robert Fitz
"= Add. MS. 6164, fol. 506.
" Pat. 22 Ric. II, pt. 3, m. 4.
" Ibid. I Hen. IV, pt. 2, m. 13.
" Ibid. 2 Hen. IV, pt. 3, m. 20.
'" Ibid. 2 Hen. VI, pt. 3, m. 20.
" Ibid. I ¥.dv/. IV, pt. 3, m. 1.
*> Fa/or Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 425.
^ Rot. de Finibus, 1 1 99-1 2 1 5 (Hardy), 3 1 3.
^ Reg. Rubrum, fol. 142.
** Sarum Epis. Reg. Simon of Ghent, ii, fol. 73.
'« Ibid. fol. 126.
" Ibid. Mortival, i, fol. 8 7 a".
«' Ibid. Wyvllle, ii (Inst.), fol. 285.
«' Ibid. fol. 305.
"> Ibid. Mitford.
Ceroid,'^ a Norman who accompanied the Con-
queror to England, and who is returned in
Domesday as holding ' Povintone ' of the king,
the manor being valued then and in the days of
Edward the Confessor at ;^ii.'^ In the roll of
Norman landowners in England of the year
1205 the manor of Povington belonging to the
abbot of Bee was valued at loof. unstocked, and
at double that amount with the stock. The prior
of Bee was reported to have removed since Easter
eighty-five cheeses and all the wool of the flock,
together with i mark from the sale of beans,
1 5x. from the sale of oats, and 20j. <)d. of the
Easter rent."
Notwithstanding the many charters granted in
favour of this Norman abbey by the Norman and
early Plantagenet kings,''' the claim of the monks
to their estates here did not pass unchallenged.
As a result of a trial by wager of battle fought
out between Avenel Fitz Robert and Henry
abbot of Bee by his attorney, William de Wane-
cing, the former by a fine levied within fifteen
days of Michaelmas, 1223, released to the said
abbot his claim to the manor of Povington, and
received by way of compensation the sum of
30 marks of silver.^'
Towards the close of the thirteenth century
the manor of Povington with its members of
West Whiteway in the parish of Tyneham,
Lutton and Blackmanstone in the parish of
Steeple, and Milborne Bee in the parish of Bere
Regis, had come to be reckoned as parcel of the
priory of Ogbourne, Wiltsliire, another cell to
Bee ; '* the temporalities of the prior of Og-
^' The pancarta of this foreign abbey, granted by
Henry VI (Pat. 12 Hen. VI, pt. I, m. 13), contains
inspeximus charters of Henry IV, Richard II, Edward
III, Henry III, and Henry II, with a confirmation of
the possessions of the monies by Henry I, including a
grant of the manor of ' Ponniton ' in the county of
Dorset by Robert Fitz Ceroid.
=' Dom. Bk. (Rec. Com.), i, 80^.
" Rot. Norman. (Hardy), 123.
'* See collection of charters contained in Pat. 1 2
Hen. VI, pt. I, m. 13, and Cal. Doc. France, 120-31.
'^ Feet of F. 7 Hen. Ill, 5 (26). Again in the autumn
of 1225 Henry III directed the sheriff to del.iy a suit
between Avenel de Purbeck and the abbot respecting
acarucate of land with appurtenances in Milborne,
and between John Fordham and the abbot in regard
to the mill in Wareham until the following Easter,
on account of the death of the proctor-general of
the abbot in England, the abbot subsequently ap-
pointing Ralph de Exon, his monk, to act as his re-
presentative ; Close, 9 Hen. Ill, ni. 1 ; lo Hen. Ill,
m. 29.
*' In 1206 John signified to the sheriff of Bucks,
that the prior of Ogbourne had paid ;^ioo down for
the right to hold in his custody all lands and pos-
sessions of the monks of Bee in England, so that he
might be disseised of none of them save by the special
command of the king, and that he had also engaged
to send none of the issues abroad ; Rot. de Oblatis
et Finibus, 1199-1216 (H.irdy), 314. The town of
118
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
bourne in Tyneham and Steeple, Milborne Bee
and Povington being assessed at ^i i lOi. in the
year 129 1.''
In common with other ah'en cells Povington
was constantly taken into the king's hands dur-
ing the wars with France. By an inquisition
held on the occasion of its seizure 8 October,
1324, by Walter Beril and Martin Roger de
Blokkesworthe the goods found in the manor of
Povington and Lutton were valued at ;^58 gs.^^
The sheriff in 1337 was charged with the issues
of Povington and Lutton, and of ' a certain place
called Milborne Bek,' amounting to ^^28 4s. gd.,
which had been taken into custody by Henry
Haydok, clerk, and delivered to him.'' The
inquisition at VVareham the Monday after Easter,
1387, probably ordered with a view to ascertain
the cause of the steady decrease in value then
taking place in most of the alien cells, showed
that the possessions of the prior of Ogbourne at
Povington and West Whiteway, Lutton, and
Blackmanstone were worth £6 1 3$. 4.d. after all
charges and deductions had been made.'"''
The vicissitudes of the manor during the fif-
teenth century were many and various, and one
can hardly account for the contradictory effect
of many of the grants. Before the final suppres-
sion of alien priories in 1 41 4 Ogbourne, with
all its rectories, manors, land, and possessions,
&c., was granted by Henry IV to John duke of
Bedford, who, piously recollecting the religious
nature of the benefaction, made it over to the
warden and canons of St. George's, Windsor, the
gift being confirmed by Henry V.'''' Henry VI,
on the death of the duke in 1435,'°' granted the
manor of Povington — together with pensions and
portions in Milborne Bee, Turnworth, Charl-
ton, and Up Wimborne — parcel of the sometime
alien priory of Ogbourne, which had reverted to
the crown, to Richard Sturgeon, clerk, for life,
and in 1442 bestowed the reversion of the manor
with its members on John Carpenter, the master
and brethren of the hospital of St. Anthony,
London, for the exhibition and support of five
boys or scholars ' well disposed ' at the university
of Oxford, each of whom should previously have
been well and sufficiently instructed in the rudi-
ments of grammar at Eton College and should
receive at the university lOs. per week until he
Povington was returned in 1285, however, by the
jurors of the hundred as belonging to the abbey of
Bcc-Hellouin, though they could not say by what
title. The abbot claimed to have the fines {amercia-
menta) of his tenants, the assize of bread and ale, and
the right to hold a view of frankpledge within the
manor ; Inq. of Assess, relating to Feud. Aids, ii,
'' Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 183-4.
"' Mins. Accts. bdle. 1 125, No. 7.
'' Ibid. No. 9.
'™ Add. MS. 6164, fol. 506.
"" Chart. R. I Edw. IV, m. 20.
"" Inq. p.m. 14 Hen. VI, No. 36.
had attained the degree of bachelor of arts.'*"
This arrangement notwithstanding, the king nine
years later gave to the provost and college of
Eton the farm or rent to be paid by John
Newburgh, knt., for the custody of the manor of
Povington to which he had been appointed the
previous Michaelmas, 1450, together with the
reversion of the same.'"^ Edward IV, in the first
year of his reign, while confirming the pre-
vious grant to St. George's, Windsor, of the
alien priory of Ogbourne and all its appurte-
nances by John duke of Bedford, granted the
manor of Povington to William Beaufitz for the
term of twenty years.'"* In 1467 he made it
over to Eton College,'"^ and again in 1474 made
it the subject of another grant in favour of the
chapel of Windsor.""
The schemes of the Yorkist king for the union
of Eton and Windsor and the enrichment of the
royal chapel of the latter by the endowments of
Henry VI's college were foiled by the decision of
Archbishop Bourchier.'"^ Edward IV by letters
patent of May, 1478, appears to have repeated
his grant of this manor to Windsor,"" but Po-
vington was, nevertheless, restored to Eton with
other lands of which it had been deprived in
anticipation, and remained in the hands of the
college down to the reign of Henry VIII. ""
There is in the case of Povington little to
favour the presumption that a religious house
was actually maintained here. A single refer-
ence to it as a ' priory ' occurs years after it had
passed away from its ancient possessors the abbots
of Bee,'" and, in all probability, it would be
most accurately described as a grange.
36. THE PRIORY OF SPETTISBURY
Robert de Bellomonte or Beaumont, earl of
Leicester and count of Meulan, in the reign of
William Rufus granted to the abbey of St. Peter
of Prdaux in Normandy, twin foundation to the
other abbey of St. Leodegar or Leger on whom
his father Roger had bestowed Stour Provost in
this county,"^ the manor of Toft, Norfolk,
with the tithes of Charlton Marshall and Spet-
tisbury, Dorset, the churches of these two vills,
and the lands belonging to them ; "' the earl by
another charter testifying that his gift, made for
'" Pat. 20 Hen. VI, pt. I, m. 5.
"" Ibid. 29 Hen. VI, pt. I, m. 9.
"^ Chart. R. I Edw. IV, m. 20.
"■^ Pat. 7 Edw. IV, pt. 3, m. 13.
"" Ibid. 14 Edw. IV, pt. 4,m. i.
"" Hist, of Colleges of mn Chester, Eton, ice. (Acker-
mann), 29.
'"' Pat. 17 Edw. IV, pt. I, m. i.
"» yalor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv, 216.
'" This is in the patent of Edward IV in 1467 ;
Pat. 7 Edw. IV, pt. 3, m. 13.
"' Tanner, Notitia, Dorset, xxvii.
'" Cal. Doc. France, 1 1 1 .
119
A HISTORY OF DORSET
the souls of the Conqueror and Matilda his
queen, for the weal and prosperity of William
king of the English, as well as for the souls of
his own parents, Roger and Adelina, for himself
and Henry his brother and all his predecessors,
had been allowed and confirmed by King William
at Whitsuntide when he first held his court in
his new hall at Westminster.*'* The valuation
in the reign of John of the lands of Nor-
mans in England seized into the king's hand
states that Spettisbury belonging to the abbot of
Pr^aux was worth ^12 unstocked, and with the
stock already there ;^I5; if stocked to the extent
of its capacity it should be worth ^20; nothing
had been removed therefrom.'" In 1 29 1 the
church of Spettisbury, in the deanery of Whit-
church, together with the chapel of Charlton
Marshall was assessed at ;^io. The prior of
Spettisbury had a pension therein of 30J., and
received ^^'4 ds. 8d. from tithes ; the temporalities
in Spettisbur)' were reckoned to the abbot of
Pr^aux or de Pratellis as worth ^^12 6s}^^ On
27 October, 13 12, Thomas de Marisco of Spet-
tisbury obtained a licence from the king enabling
him to alienate a moiety of a mill in Spettisbury
to the abbot and convent of Preaux in exchange
for 2 acres of land and I rood of meadow in the
same town.'''
Little is known of the history of this alien
cell up to the period, at any rate, of the French
wars. Edward II in 131 7 ordered his escheator
to restore the manors of Toft (Norfolk), Spettis-
bury (Dorset), Warmington (Warwickshire), and
Aston (Berksiiire) belonging to the abbot and
convent of Pr6aux, which had been seized into
the king's hand on the pretext of the vacancy
of the abbey, alleging that these were originally
granted by Robert, earl of Leicester and count of
Meulan, with the consent of his progenitors, and
that neither he nor they had been accustomed to
receive any of the profits on the death of the
foreign superior."* The abbey seems to have
placed a monk here at an early date to look after
the property and conduct divine service, for the
prior of Spettisbury is included among those
ecclesiastics who in 1294 received from Edward I
a grant of protection in return for a contribution
'" Ca/. Dec. Franc/; III. By 3 subsequent charter
in the reign of Henry II, Robert count of Meulan
confirmed to the monks of Preaux all the land be-
stowed on them in Charlton by the gift of his knight
Hugh, named the villein {cognomento Villanus) ; ibid.
1 17-18. Henry II confirmed the grant made to the
abbey, his charter being inspected and confirmed by
Edward I. Chart. R. I 3 Edvv. I, m. 2 i , No. 69.
'" ^oA Norman. (Hardy), 122.
"" Pope Khh. Tax. (Rcc. Com.), 178, iS+/^.
'" Pat. 6 Edw. II, pt. I, m. 13. The following
May the monks, on payment of a fine of 20/., were
pardoned their trespass in having acquired the above
premises without obtaining a royal licence. Ibid. pt.
2, m. 6.
'"Close, II Edw. II, m. 22.
I2i
to him from their goods and benefices ; '" and
in 1328 protection for a year was conceded by
Edward III.'^ Previous, however, to the year
1324 the foreign superior annexed this manor to
the priory of Toft in Norfolk, the head house
of the abbey in England ; and in the capacity
of proctor to the abbot the prior of Toft pre-
sented to the rectory of Spettisbury in March,
1327, the king directing the bishop of Salisbury
not to institute until it had been ascertained
whether the late rector, Ralph Moreb, an alien,
had died before or after 5 February, on which
date Edward III restored the possessions of alien
religious men seized during the late king's
reign.'^"'
On the seizure of aliens' lands under Edward II
the issues of the manor of Spettisbury, taken into
custody as parcel of the temporalities of the prior
of Toft, 8 October, 1324, and restored to his
proctor the following 25 February, were valued
at ^^61 4/. Sd'.'"' On their re-seizure by
Edward III in 1337 the issues with which the
sheriff was charged amounted to ^^25 1 7^.'**
The goods belonging to the rectory, held by a
Frenchman [Gcil/ictis), were seized at the same
time and estimated at ^I2 O^ 4(/.'^' They
were subsequently restored to the foreign incum-
bent on condition that he should pay the king
annually a farm of loos}^*
Towards the end of the century the abbot of
Preaux was successful in letting his English
property. Lewis de Clifford obtained a licence
from the crown, 12 October, 1390, to acquire
for life, with remainder to his son, the manor of
Toft with Spettisbury and other possessions of
the abbey of Preaux, on condition that he should
pay annually during the continuance of the
French war the sum of ;^8o to the king's
exchequer, the payment of this farm being re-
mitted later in the year.'-' Henry IV, in 1403,
confirmed a grant of these manors by Lewis de
Clifford to Thomas Erpingham,'-"^ in whose pos-
session they remained down to the suppression
of alien houses by the Parliament of Leicester
in 1 4 14, after which they were held in trust to
the use of the said Thomas for the term of his
life ; '■' and subsequently, with the approval of
Henry V, made over to the priory of Witham
(Somerset), the first house of the Carthusian
order in England.'-' Edward IV, in the first
year of his reign, confirmed to the Carthusian
'" Pat. 22 Edw. I, m. 8.
""Ibid. 2 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 17.
""'Close, I Edw. Ill, pt. 1, m. 9 ; see also Rymer,.
Foedera, iv, 246-7.
"' Mins. Accts. bdle. 1125, No. 7.
'" Ibid. No. 9. '" Ibid.
"* Close, I 5 Edw. Ill, pt. 3, m. 6 a". ; 17 Edw. III,,
pt. 2, m. 27 d.
'-' Pat. 14 Ric. II, pt. I, m. 21 ; ibid. pt. 2, m. 46.
"« Ibid. 4 Hen. IV, pt. 2, m. 8.
'" Ibid. 1 Hen. VI, pt. 4, m. i 5.
'" Ibid. 7 Hen. VI, pt. i, m. 12.
RELIGIOUS HOUSES
house the manors of Spettisbury (Dorset),
Warmington (Warwickshire), and Aston (Berk-
shire), lately belonging to the ah'en priory of
Toft, together with all fees and advowsons per-
taining to the same.'"' The following February
(1462) he transferred the possessions of Toft to
the college of St. Mary and St. Nicholas — now
King's College — Cambridge,''" with the excep-
tion of Spettisbury, which remained in the pos-
session of Witham Priory down to the Dissolu-
tion, the Falor of 1535"' stating that the
prior of Witham had rents here amounting to
;^35 OS. lod., besides the sum of 26j. 81^. as
the fee of William Frye the steward, and a pen-
sion of 30J. similar to the one paid to the prior
of Spettisbury in 129 1.
37. THE PRIORY OF WAREHAM
An ancient monastery, probably the earliest
religious foundation in this county, was built
here in Saxon times, but afterwards destroyed in
the Danish raid of 876."' Cressy, in his account
of the assault on Wareham by the Danes in tiiat
year, describes the house as 'a noble monasterie
of religious virgins seated in the same town.'"'
After the Conquest a priory or cell to the
Norman abbey of Lire, founded by William
Fitz Osborn, kinsman and marshal to the Con-
queror,"* was established here in the early part
of the twelfth century in connexion with the
churches and lands in Wareham granted to the
abbey by Robert earl of Leicester. A charter
in the register of Carisbrooke Priory, the chief
house of Lire in England, states that Henry II
confirmed to the abbot and convent among their
English possessions the church of Wareham with
its appurtenances, the church of Gussage with
100s. worth of land, and the church of
' Rinchorde ' with its appurtenances, the gift
of Robert earl of Leicester, with a hide of land
in Wareham the gift of William de Waimura
or Weymouth ; while by another charter he
confirmed to the abbey the churches of Ware-
ham, with a hide of land given by Robert earl
of Leicester, and an ounce of gold given by
''" Pat. I Edw. IV, pt. 4, m. 6.
"° Ibid. pt. 3, m. 23.
"' Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, I 57-8.
'" Tanner, Notitia, under Dorset, xxix.
"^ Ch. Hist, of Brit. (1668), lib. xxviii, cap. iv.
Leland describes this nunnery as situ.ited between the
two rivers, the ' Frome ' and the Trent or Puddle, but
it must not be confounded with that other monastery
near the Frome in Somerset built by Aldhelm and
included in the bull of Pope Sergius I in 701, grant-
ing privileges to various monasteries of the bishop's
foundation, which was probably also destroyed by the
Danes ; Leland, Collect, ii, 388 ; Birch, Cart. Sax. i,
152; Tanner, Notitia, under Somerset, xxi.
"' Dugdale, Mon. vi, 1040.
William de Waimuta, in the reeveship [prae-
poiitura) of Wareham."*
In 1290 the prior successfully petitioned the
king to grant a licence for Peter Doget, chaplain,
to alienate to the brethren a messuage and a
carucate and a half of land in Whiteway ; '"^ and
in 1329, by a fine of 20/., the prior and convent
obtained a licence for the alienation in mortmain
of a messuage and land in Whiteway towards the
support of a chaplain to celebrate daily in the
convent church for the souls of all the faithful
departed.'''"
Besides the church of St. Mary, Wareham, of
which the prior was the rector, the prior held
the presentation of the churches of St. Martin,
St. Michael, and St. Peter within the town. In
1291 the spiritualities amounted to ^,^12 25. 9^/.
from the churches of Shapwick, Gussage (St.
Michael), Holy Trinity Wareham, St. Mary
Wareham, Knowle, Winfrith Newburgh, and
East Stoke."' The temporalities within Steeple
and Tyneham, Whiteway, Egliston, Blandford,
and Wareham, were worth £% os. 8;/."'
The priory is not mentioned in the general
seizure of alien cells as the property of Norman
landowners in 1204, but it occurs on the eve of
John's death in 1 2 1 6, when the king notified Peter
de Manley that he had committed the abbey of
Shaftesbury to the prior of Wareham during a
vacancy, and that the abbey should remain under
the king's protection so long as it was in the custody
of Prior William.'*' An order was subsequently
issued in November in the first year of Henry III,
directing the prior to cause the newly-elected
abbess to have full seisin of all the possessions of
the abbey.'*'
Edward III in 1294 granted letters of protec-
tion to the prior in return for a grant of a contri-
bution from his goods,'*^ the letters being re-
newed in March, 1297, for Prior Nicholas
Bynet.'*' On the seizure of alien property in
1324, the goods and possessions found in this cell
by Walter Beril and Roger de Blokkesworthe,
custodians of religious houses 'of the power and
dominion of the king of France,' were found on
inquisition to be worth ^^27 14.S. 6d., of which
£6 OS. lod. came from the parish of Wareham.'**
On being taken into the king's hands by
Edward III in 1337, they were valued at
'" See Chart, under Carisbrooke, Dugdale, Mon.
vi, 1 04 1, No. V.
"' Anct. Pet. 1088 1 ; Pat. 18 Edw. I, m. 18.
'" Ibid. 3 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 17.
'■'" Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 178, 178^, 179^.
'^Mbid. 183-4.
'*" Close, 18 John, m. 1,2.
'" Pat. I Hen. Ill, m. 16.
'*' Pat. 22 Edw. I, m. 8. The prior of Wareham
was also requested in 1332 10 contribute towards the
subsidy raised on the marriage of the king's sister ;
Close, 5 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 6a'.
'" Pat. 25 Edw. I, pt. I, m. 13.
'" Add. MS. 6164, fol. 282.
21 l6
A HISTORY OF DORSET
jf39 i6s. 2^y.,"^ and the house was committed
to the custody of the prior for the payment of
10/. and an annual farm of 405. at the exchequer.'**
A year later the prior of Wareham, together with
the heads of nine other abbeys and priories, was
ordered to remove to manors nearer the sea, for
the defence of the coast in view of a threatened
attack from the enemy.'*'
Information may be gathered as to the manage-
ment of the cell in the middle of the fourteenth
century from a complaint made by Prior Robert
•de Gascur or Gascourt, soon after his appointment
in 1354,'*' as to the condition in which he then
found it. According to the writ of inquiry issued
the following year, the late Prior William de
Noys, to whom the custody had been committed,
had grievously abused his trust ; he had consumed
and entirely dissipated the goods and chattels of
the house, had alienated its property, and trans-
ferred abroad a large sum of money acquired by
such alienations ; the present head, in conse-
quence, found he could not get a sufficient living
for himself and his fellow monks, could neither
pay the king the annual farm of 40;. or 6 marks,
nor restore the buildings which his predecessor
had allowed to get out of repair, and he prayed
the crown to appoint a remedy.'*' We may
here state that the episcopal registers record the
presentation of priors to the ordinary by the
abbots of Lire, or their proctors the priors of
Carisbrooke, and their admission after having
made profession of canonical obedience ; but, as in
the case of the larger priories of Frampton and
Loders, no attempt seems to have been made by
the bishop to exercise jurisdiction.
Richard II in 1 39 1 committed to Ralph
Maylok, proctor of the abbot of Lire, the custody
of all the possessions of the abbey in England,
with the exception of the three priories of
Carisbrooke, Wareham, and Hinckley (Leicester-
shire), for an annual rent of ^\1%. In Novem-
ber, 1394, the grant was renewed in favour of
Thomas Wallwayn, Robert de Whytyngton,
and William Slepe, but revoked the following
) ear on the petition of the abbot's proctor.'^''
An inquisition held at Wareham the Monday
before Easter, 1387, as to the possessions of
the priory, stated that these were then worth
j^io after all deductions and charges had been
reckoned."' In the last year of his reign, the
king, at the request of his nephew Thomas duke
of Sussex, made over to Edmund, prior of Mount
'" Mins. Accts. bdle. 1 1 25, No. 9.
'" Close, 2 Edw. Ill, pt. 3, m. 6.
"' Rymer, Foed. (Rec. Com.), ii (2), 1062.
"' Sarum Epis. Reg. W)-ville, ii (Inst.), fol. 264.
'" Hutchins gives a copy of the original of this writ
■of inquiry ; Hut. of Dorset, i, 87.
"" Pat. 18 Ric. II, pt. 2, m. 7.
'" Add. MS. 6164, fol. 506.
Grace in York>hire, the priories of Hinckley,
Wareham, and Carisbrooke, paying respectively
a yearly farm of ^^50, ^^4, and no marks, with
the rest of the English possessions of the abbey,
the farm of which amounted to 200 marks, for
as long as the war should last, and quit of all
payment of yearly rent."^
Upon the suppression of alien houses in 141 4,
Henry V bestowed on the Carthusian priory
which he had founded at Sheen all the lands
belonging to the abbey of Lire in England with
the exception of the Hinckley prior)','^^ the Valor
of 1535 giving the Surrey foundation temporali-
ties and spiritualities in this county amounting to
j{^44 I Ox. 8^. from estates that had formerly
belonged to the late priory of Wareham.'**
Priors of Wareham
Roger, temp. Richard I "'
William, occurs 12 16'**
Nicholas Bynet, occurs 1297 '"
Peter de Deserto, presented 1302 "'
John Mabere, presented 1309,'*' died 1311
Hilderic de Pacoys, presented 131 1 ""
Ralph, called Coudray, presented 1323'"
William de Bally, presented 1329,'*- resigned
1332
John de Bediers, presented 1332^*'
Michael de Molis, presented 1334'**
William de Barly, presented 1343"^
William de Noys, presented 1349, resigned
1354 166
Robert de Gascur, or Gascourt, presented
1354^" .
Ludovicus de GoulafFe, presented 1362,"^ re-
signed in same year
Peter de Ultra Aqua, presented 1362,'*' re-
signed 1364
William de Minguet, presented 1364"'
Stephin de Barra, died 1412"^'
John Kyngeston, presented 1412"'^
Walter Eston, presented 1 41 6 "'
"■ Pat. 22 Ric. II. pt. 3, m. lo-ii.
'" Chart. R. 3 & 4 Hen. V, No. 8 ; Pat. 2 Hen. \I,
pt. 4, m. 26-27.
'" Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 52.
'"As witness to a charter (1191-7) of Hawys,
countess of Gloucester ; Cat. Doc. France, 387.
"* Close, 18 John, m. I, 2.
'" Pat. 25 Edw. I, pt. I, m. 13.
"'' Sarum Epis. Reg. Simon of Ghent.
"» Ibid, i, fol. 79 d. >«° Ibid. fol. 106 d.
'*' Ibid. Mortival, i, fol. 114.
""Ibid. 178 a".
"^^ Ibid. WpiUe, ii (Inst.), fol. 18.
'"Ibid. fol. 31. '"Ibid. fol. 131.
"« Ibid. fol. 264. '" Ibid.
'«' Ibid. fol. 295. ■" Ibid. fol. 298.
"" Ibid. fol. 305 d. '•' Ibid. Hallam, fol. 39.
'" Ibid. 'n Ibid. fol. 59 d.
122
POLITICAL HISTORY
DORSET is tripartite, the three sections being feHx, petraea, de-
serta; clay, chalk, sand; vale, down, heath. ^ Sahent high ground
stretches between the Axe and the Stour, thrusting to Poole
Harbour a southern arm, the Chaldon and Purbeck downs, un-
broken but by the gap of Lulworth. ' Dorset fehx ' is the alluvial fringe of
this central mass, the valleys of the Stour and Char, and the land drained by
the Birt and the Wey. The Frome valley, between the main plateau and the
northern hills, is heathland. Dorchester guards it on the west, Wareham on
the east, for it is the natural inlet into the heart of the county.
Such an area is a geographical nucleus, but lacks naturally defined
boundaries. Its borders will impinge on the adjoining districts. Hence
Dorset is ever closely connected with Somerset and Wiltshire. But the
watershed of the Char and the Axe tended to strengthen the fortuitous
circumstances dividing Devon from the West Saxon kingdom ; while the
development of Dorset and Hampshire was long differentiated by the
marshes and heaths of the Avon, geographical features possibly reproduced in
an old tribal boundary.^
Dorset does not, like Hampshire, centre round its main water system.
Unlike that of the Avon, the lower Frome valley is sterile, and its estuary
difficult of navigation. The marshy flats running west from Chesil ' cause the
county to look north, towards the fertile vale of Blackmoor, and to turn its
back upon the seaboard, even as Weymouth long faced inland, away from the
bay. Dorchester,* communicating at ease with north and south, east and
west, is the obvious political centre : Weymouth, called into being for its
natural harbour,^ and separated from Dorchester only by the Ridgeway, gave
access to the continent.
Of the British inhabitants little is known. The Druidic worship of
the Poxwell temple, and the phallic rites connected with the Cerne giant,
examples of the two types of British remains, point perhaps to occupation
by diffisrent tribes (Goidel and Brython), perhaps merely to the Celt and the
pre-Celtic Iberian of the round and long barrows respectively, °
Roman exploratory expeditions were succeeded by Roman colonization,
but Dorset lay on the western fringe of both movements, and their influence
'H. M. Moule, in Quart. Rev. 1862.
'See Guest, The Four IVays, Be/gic Ditches ; Early Engl. Settlements ; Warne and Smart, Ancient Dorset;
Warne, Map of Ancient Dorset ; Camden, Britannia (ed. Gibson, 1722), i, 51 ; Hubbard, Early Man on the
Diwns ; Neolithic Dewponds and Cattleivays.
^ Middendorf, Altenglische Flurnamen (WUrzburg, 1900), i, 27.
* For the origin of the names Dorset and Dorchester, see Guest, Orig. Celt, i, 46, 372 ; Freeman, Norm.
Conq. i, 49, 571.
' It would seem that Weymouth was always the sea-station for Dorchester ; Warne, Celtic TumuR
of Dorset, 1,2.
° See Rhys and Brynmor-Jones, Welsh People, map, p. 75 (ed. 1902) ; see also p. 83 ; Seebohm, Tribal
Custom in Anglo-Saxon Law, 397 (ed. 1 902) ; Willls-Bund, Celtic Church in Wales, 12.
1-3
A HISTORY OF DORSET
lacked intensity. No Dorset town received the higher municipal franchise ;
while the villa-remains end at Lyme Regis.^
The long prevailing view of the West Saxon conquest was that, after
their first settlement round the Solent, the Gewissas received a check at
Badbury,^ that the thick forests then covering the present Dorset caused a check
in their incursions, and led ultimately to the conquest of the Selwood by way
of Wiltshire and Somerset, and not by sea. This conquest is said to have
been very gradual, and to have taken place by distinct stages, between the
conquest of Old Sarum,^ and the beginning of the eighth century. The
victory of Deorham (577) threw open the Severn valley, and the invaders,
(forced back upon the territories in their rear, by the insurrection of the
Hwiccas, and loss of the Severn valley and the Cotswolds), poured thence
over Mendip.* Cenwalh's victory in 658 ' aet Peonnum ' is placed at
Poyntington, near Sherborne, and called an incident in the attempted pene-
tration of the forest barrier.' Under Ine and his saintly kinsman Aldhelm,'
Christianity and education went hand in hand with military conquest, the new
frontier-fortress of Taunton ^ precluding help for the Selwood Britons from
their hard-pressed kinsmen of Dyvnaint. At the same time the foundation
of the West Saxon monastery at Wareham * shows attempts at subjugation and
colonization by way of the north-east.
Objections to this circumstantial reconstruction are fourfold. It is con-
tended that the use of documents is uncritical, that the arguments from
philology are faulty, and from archaeology untrustworthy.' Also it is said
that Dorset has been planted with ' great stretches of woodland ' on the basis
solely of twelfth-century forest perambulations, and to suit the necessities of
a preconceived theory. It is true that we have no good evidence of the extent
of land under trees in the sixth and seventh centuries. But the assumption,
though based on inadmissible evidence, would seem not unreasonable.
Physical conditions would render very probable the presence of trees in great
numbers. Even at the present day the area under trees is 37,600 acres, out
of a total acreage of only 625,578. The clay districts, amounting roughly to
nearly half the county, naturally favour the growth of trees, and the chalk
uplands ^° show a wide distribution of superficial gravels, particularly along
the borders of the vale of Blackmoor, on the chalk hills along the Piddle, at
Durweston (where the chalk abuts on the Stour valley), on the chalk between
Blandford and Dorchester, and at Dewlish.^' They also cover many even of
' See Smart, InltoJ. to Primaeval Ethnology of Dorset ; Warne, Ancient Dorset ; Sussex Arch. Coll. xxxiv, 239,
sqq. ; F. J. Haverfield, ' Romanization of Roman Britain ' (Proc. Brit. Acad.), ii, 8.
' Gildas, Hisi. Sec. ; Bede, Ecc/. Hist. (ed. Plummer) ; Notes and Queries for Som. and Dors, i, 43 ; Notes
and Queries (6th Ser.), xii, 461 ; (7th Sen), iv, 208, 372.
'An. 552. Angl.-Sax. Ckron. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 17.
*J. R. Green, Making of Engl. 129, 339 ; Guest, in Arch. foum. xvi, 109-17.
' Angl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 24, 26 ; T. Kerslake, ' The Welsh in Dorset ' {^Proc. Dors. Field
Club), iii, 81.
* Bede, op. cit. (ed. Plummer), ii, 308, note.
^Angl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 39 ; Freeman, in Som. Arch. foum. xx, 31, xviii, 37.
'Dugdale, Mon. Ar.gl. vi, pt. iii, 1617 ; see Freeman, Engl. Totvns and Dists. 151.
'W. H. Stevenson in Engl. Hist. Rev. 1902, p. 625 sqq.
'° Geol. Sirv. Maps, ii, plate ; and ibid. Memoirs, 'Cretaceous Rocks,' i, 144-91.
"Analysis of Dorset soils, from Stevenson's Agricultural Report: Chalk, 160,759 acres ; sand, 8;, I 57 ;
loam, 37,746; gravel, 59,894; cornbrash, 29,700 ; clay, 117,331 ; miscellaneous, 13,427 acres. Damon,
Geology of Weymouth (ed. 1884), 137.
POLITICAL HISTORY
the highest levels in the county.^ As regards physical conditions there is
thus no reason why Dorset should not have been one of the most thickly
wooded of the southern counties. The theory of the main inhabited tracts,
before the Saxon conquest, being the ' natural clearings ' of the chalk
outcrop ' receives confirmation from the fact that Celtic village-remains follow
to a large extent the lines of ungravelled down/ Geography makes reasonable,
on this supposition, the West Saxon advance from the north. The very
places said to have been chosen for incursion upon the forest area are the
intrusions of the chalk upon the surrounding clay, that is, of the natural
clearings, upon the woodland. And it is that southern shore, supposed so
long to have defied the Saxons, which exhibits a clay outcrop along the
greater part of its margin, and which has a heavier rainfall and a higher
mean temperature than the north of the county. To this day landing-places
between Weymouth and Lulworth, and Lulworth and Swanage, are few and
difficult ; the chalk cliffs come in many places sheer down to the sea, and the
shore is fringed with reefs and ledges. Such an inhospitable coast-line,
flanked by a range of hills all but continuous and averaging 500 ft. in height,
was unlikely to tempt, till earlier conquests had been exhausted.
Whether the generally accepted story is correct or not, of the main
issues there can be no doubt. The Saxon conquest took place at a suffi-
ciently late period, when either Christianity, or the satiation of the need of
land and of plunder, or both forces acting together, prevented the exter-
mination or expulsion of the earlier inhabitants. Proofs of this are
both direct and inferential. No such close analysis of the Dorset dialect
has been undertaken as would reveal the percentage of pre-Saxon words
yet in use.* But the laws of Ine make it plain that an appreciable
British population remained side by side with the later Saxon settlers.' The
' Ordinance Respecting the Dun-Saetas ' is conclusive, and could only have
been necessitated by the presence of such a population in large numbers in
Dorset.' How large a proportion that was, is shown by anthropological
evidence. The Welsh physical type is, and it would seem has always been,
dark and tall.'' Giraldus contrasts his countrymen, in their ' brunetness,'
with the fair-complexioned Saxons.* The relative brunetness of Dorset
( I o per cent, excess brunet over blond) is even now greater than that of Somerset
and Wiltshire (5 per cent, brunet excess), and much greater than that of
Hampshire. It is in fact as high as Cornwall,' and this in spite of the
fact that in elevated districts some factor tends to increase blondness.^" The
average Dorset stature is the same as that of Devon, whereas the averages
' Hutchins, Hist. Dorset (ed. 3), i, Ixxxvi ; Mansel-Pleydell, Botany of Dorset ; H. Rider Haggard,
Rural Engl. 1,257 and map.
'J. R. Green, op. cit. 8-9.
' Warne, Map of Anct. Dorset ; Pitt-Rivers, Excavations in Cranborne Chase, etc. 1887-98.
* Prior, 'Introduction to a Som. Glossary' {Som. Arch. Soc. Proc. xviii).
'Thorpe, Laws and Institutes (Rec. Com.), 45, 51, 53, 57, 60; see also Seebohm, Tribal Custom in
Jngl.-Sax. Law, 402-4 ; W. H. Stevenson, Life of Asser, 36, 37, 249 ; and Proc. Dors. Field Club, iii,
80, sqq., for a further philological argument, and for the argument from church invocations. A theory put
forward by Sir H. Howarth {Engl. Hist. Rev. 1898, p. 670) was answered ibid. 1899, p. 32, sqq.
'Thorpe, op. cit. I 50 ; see also T. Kerslaice, op. cit. ; Lappenberg, Engl, under the Angl.-Sax. Kings, \, 1 20.
'J. Loth, V Emigration bretonne en Armorijue, xix ; Reclus, Geographie universelle, II, viii, 612, is
here incorrect.
'Giraldus Cambrensis, Opera (Rolls Ser.), vi, 193.
» W. Z. Ripley, Races of Europe, 318. '° Ibid. 7 5 .
A HISTORY OF DORSET
for Somerset and Wiltshire are lower.^ But such evidence as can be safely-
drawn from place-names does not give much support to the theory of a
widespread and persisting Celtic remnant.*
Typical house-grouping is regarded as a constant race-characteristic,'
nucleated villages being considered Germanic in their origin, while ' in the
land of hamlets and scattered steads ' Celtic communities are traced. The
accompanying map shows the disposition of nucleated and hamleted tenements.
The later hidation may also show Celtic influence still surviving, the
relation between the hides and team-lands of Domesday being the basis of
calculation. ' Where the Saxon was thick on the ground, the hides were
more,' * for the Saxon is the better agriculturist, and can make a smaller area
support himself and his family, and pay Danegeld as well." The ratio of team-
lands to hides changes gradually throughout southern England, rising steadily
towards the west. It has been held to correspond to the waves of Saxon
conquest, ' in each successive conquest the hides are fewer.' In the West
Dorset hundreds of Whitchurch and Beaminster there are 249 team-lands
to 200 hides, or 1-25 per hide. The county average is practically one to one.*
This would seem to show a fair clearance of Welsh in West Dorset ; and
their survival in the east of the county goes to support the traditional view of
the conquest of Dorset, not by sea, by way of the Frome valley, but by
land, west before east, by way of Somerset and the vale of Blackmoor.
Once conquered, the speedy political absorption of Dorset in Wessex
had been assured by the division of the West Saxon diocese and erection of a
bishop's stool at Sherborne.^ But far more influential in removing any
remnants of old ' folk ' feeling, as opposed to sentiment already semi-national,
were the invasions of the Danes. These, both by chronology and by char-
acter, fall into two distinct groups — those of the ninth century which were
mere plunder-raids (though not less dreaded on that account), and those of the
later tenth and early eleventh centuries. The eff^ect of these was political
suzerainty, involving even in Wessex supersession of the old aristocracy, and
in the non-noble classes admixture of blood. Both series of descents were
made coastwise, thus differing materially, in method and conduct, from
previous invasions. Unlike the Romans, whose normal method was to seize
a point of coast and overrun the country thence with land forces, the Danes,
attacked all round the coast, their superior seamanship enabling them to.
make use of landing-places hitherto impracticable, such as Ringstead, Arish-
mill and Portland.^ The civilization of the West Saxons, and consequent
abundance of provisions and value of booty, both facilitated and encouraged
attacks from many points, and by many different war-bands.
Resistance was of a nature calculated to be ultimately successful. Naval
battles were frequent. Ethelwulf was defeated (840) off Charmouth, but in
' W. Z. Ripley, Races of Europe, 327. ^Taylor, JVords an J Places ; Proc. Anthrop. Inst. (1885), 66.
• Maitland, Dom. Bk. and Beyond, 222, 15 ; Meitzen, Siedelung u. Agraruesen der Germanen, ii, 119 ;,
Enqulte sur ks Conditions de P habitation en France. ' Les Maisons Types.' Paris, 1894, pp. 9-18 ; Cotta,
Deutschland's Boden ... a. dessen Eintviriung (Leipzig, 1858), ii, 63, 599 ; W. Z. Ripley, Races 0/ Europe,
8, 9, 10 ; J. Loth, Uemigration bretonne, 104, 1 18, 599.
* F. Baring in Engl. Hist. Rev. 1899, p. 297. ' Maitland, op. cit. 436-43.
° Eyton : hides, 2,321 ; team-lands, 2,332. Pearson : hides, 2,277 ; carucates, 2,303.
^ Angl.-Sax. Chron. i, 68-9 ; ii, 38 ; Wm. of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontif. (Rolls Ser.), 175 ; Haddan,.
Counc. and Docts. iii, 276 ; W. H. Jones, Episcopate in Dorset and U'ills.
' See Warne's Map oj Ancient Dorset ; Jng/.-Sax. Chron. i, 118 ; Hutchins, Hist. Dors, ii, 813.
126
POLITICAL HISTORY
875 Alfred, putting out most probably from Wareham, 'fought against the
crews of seven ships and took one of them and put the rest to flight.' ^ The
land resistance was as thorough and better organized. The alderman ' and the
bishop are generally found leading the fyrd of the county. Somerset and
Dorset frequently, and Wiltshire sometimes, join forces — an anticipation
of their shrieval ties at a later period. In 845 the men of Somerset and
Dorset, with their respective aldermen, Eanulf and Osric, and with the
bishop of Sherborne, Ealhstan,' defeated the Danes at the mouth of the Parret.
But such pitched battles, however successful, did not stem the tide of invasion.
Occupations of Wareham, and spoliation of the country thence, were only too
frequent.* But the victories of Merton (871) and Ethandun (876), in both
of which the men of Dorset took their share, marked the end of Danish
attacks for the time being.
The interval between the two series of descents was marked by con-
structive measures, constitutional and military. The military reorganization
comes first in point of time, since it is associated with the name of Edward the
Elder. But it cannot in reality be dissociated from the constitutional remodel-
ling which went on, perhaps on a large scale, under Edwy and Edgar, to be
continued and finally shaped by Cnut. To this period of peace and recon-
struction belongs the development of the systems of boroughs and of earldoms.
So far as Wessex is concerned, Dorset holds a position somewhat apart.
While it was no part of the nucleus of the West Saxon kingdom, and thus
included only a moderate portion of royal demesne,'' yet, being not only
peculiarly open to attack by sea, but also the gate of the state, special pre-
cautions were taken for its defence. From this period probably dates the
Burghal Hidage,^ representing a scheme of West Saxon defence, in which
figure the Dorset boroughs of Shaftesbury, Wareham, and ' Brydian.' ^ The
names of thirty-one burhs (twenty-seven assessments only) are given. They
are divided among thirteen counties. Dorset is thus more than ordinarily
well provided for. But more important than the number of burhs to a
county is the number of supporting hides assessed to each. Of these Shaftes-
bury has 700, Wareham 1,600,^ and 'Brydian' 1,760, the latter being only
exceeded by Bath and three joint assessments. Of these fortified places,
where trade was already no doubt beginning,' the importance of Shaftesbury
and Wareham is obvious. A mint was one of the privileges of a borough.
The Laws of Athelstan record two moneyers at Shaftesbury and two at Ware-
ham.^" But it is to be noticed that the ' monetarii ' of Domesday occur not
only at these two places, but also at Dorchester and Bridport, the two latter
having, in the interval, attained to borough rank. But ' Brydian ' has been
identified with Bredy, rather than with Bridport, on the ground, apparently,
' Jngl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), i, 120, 144.
' H. M. Chadwick, Studies on Angl.-^ax. Institutions, 161, 169.
' Angl.-5ax. Chron. i, 132. Heahmund 8th bishop, and Waerstan 14th bishop (see Napier and Steven-
son, Anecdota Oxoniensia, 108, note 14) also died in action against the Danes. Heahmund, bishop, was
killed at the battle of Merton (871). Angl.-Sax. Chron. i, 140-141.
* Angl.-Sax. Chron. i, 146, 145 (bis). ' Maitland, Dom. Bk. and Beyond, 367, 498.
* Ibid. 504.
' The document is printed in Maitland, Dom. Bk. and Beyond, 502 ; Birch, Cart. Sax. iii, 671 ; Lie-
bermann. Leges Anghrum, 9, 10. See also ?«<:. Soc. Antiq. xxxiv, 267, 268, for the further distinction between
castles, forts, and burhs.
* Wareham was fortified at any rate by 876. Asset's Life of Alfred (ed. W. H. Stevenson), 36, 37.
' Maitland, op. cit. 212, sqq. '° Thorpe, Laws and Institutes, 514.
127
A HISTORY OF DORSET
that Little Bredy contains a ' King's Tun ' (Kingston Russell).^ It was, if so,
important as guarding the one gap in the downs which connects south-east
with south-west Dorset. This had been followed by the Roman road from
Old Sarum through Dorchester to Exeter, and was rendered still more
important through the necessity of rounding, in the alternative sea route, the
dangerous Portland Bill.
Constitutional reorganization was more tentative and uncertain than that
of the defensive system. Fluctuation in ideas as to the status of the alderman
is a marked characteristic of this period. The alderman (the Danish word
earl was only just beginning to be used) is sometimes military leader of the
individual county, sometimes political head oi a group of counties, possessed
of powers only not royal. Both experiments were tried, and it would seem
that Dorset had sometimes an earl of its own,^ while more than once it was a
member of the great south-western group of shires.'
Want of political stability in Wessex no doubt contributed to Danish
successes. In 982 Portland was ravaged by ' three ships of vikings,' * and six
years later the Danish army ' again wended eastward into the mouth of the
Frome, and everywhere they went up as far as they would into Dorset ;
and a great force was often gathered together against them, but as soon as
they came together, then was there ever through something flight deter-
mined on, and in the end they ever had the victory.' ^ It is probable that
the growing sense of religion in public feeling had been thoroughly outraged
by the murder of Edward ' the Martyr ' in 978,* The solemn splendour of
the translation of his body by Dunstan and the alderman Alfliere,^ from
Wareham to Shaftesbury,* and the fresh charters granted to Sherborne Abbey*
do but express the spirit of ecclesiasticism then dominant in Dorset, and
unlikely to succeed against the determined attacks of a virile nation.
It is to Domesday Book that we look to trace the process of substitution
of a Norman for the Anglo-Danish land-holding class. Incidentally we may
hope for further evidence upon uncertain happenings. To deal first with the
latter question. It is stated that ' the Dorset towns ' joined ' the Western
Rebellion ' of 1068, and that William, on his way to dispose of the Exeter
resistance, delayed to make an example of Dorset.'" The rebellion is said to
have been engineered by Gytha and the sons of Harold by Edith Swanneck,
who certainly were old enough, in 1069, to gather an Irish fleet and ravage
the Devon coast." The territorial influence of Harold himself in Dorset
was inconsiderable for an English king in a county which later possessed so-
much royal demesne. That of his family, considering the notorious rapacity
of the house of Godwin, was small. If Dorset was, indeed, concerned in
the rising, and received its punishment accordingly, we should expect to find
either a widespread desolation throughout the county, as in the north, or else
' Maidand, op. cit. 502, note ; Kemble, CoJ. Dipl. iii, 224-5, ^°- 636.
' Edgar, Laws (Rec. Com.), iii, 5 ; Cnut, Laws (Rec. Com.), ii, 18, ^nct. Laws and Inst. 165.
' H. M. Chadwick, Studies on Jng/.-Sax. Institutions, 168-80.
• Jngl.-Sax. Chron. i, 236. ' Ibid. 247-8.
° Ibid, i, 234. Henry of Huntingdon, Hist. Angl. (Rolls Ser.), 167.
'His festival was kept four times a year, Wynkyn de Worde, The Martirhge, 1526, who claims to
follow Sarum use.
' Jngl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), i, 234 ; Jnn. Jf'ig. ii, 13. ' Jnn. Theokcsb. (Rolls Ser.), i, 183.
'" Freeman, liorm. Conq. iv, 1 5 I, and Exeter (Hist. Towns Ser.), 36 ; Palgrave, Engl, and Normandy,.
iii, 345. " Diet. Nat. Biog. xxiv, 425.
128
POLITICAL HISTORY
a line of wasted manors along William's route to Exeter. The Worcester
chronicler says, ' he harried all the land he overran.' ^ The traces of a
conquering army, supported by the lands it traverses, will hardly be obliter-
ated after twenty years, even though a January campaign will not cause the
same damage as one undertaken in spring or early summer. But a map of
the decreased or increased values of manors in 1087, as compared with the
T.R.E. period, is barren of geographical results. Depreciation here evidently
depended upon individual circumstances. Thus the lands of the widow of
Hugh FitzGrip (' Hugh of Wareham ' first Norman sheriff) have fallen in
value in most cases. No doubt the woman could not manage them as advan-
tageously as her husband. It is, however, only fair to add that though Hugh
had ' reft unjustly ' one hide of the manor of Abbotsbury from the monks of
that foundation, his wife ' since detained six unjustly.' ^ The lands of the
church have very generally doubled and even trebled in value,* probably in
consequence of a more progressive agriculture and an increase in applied
capital, both due to a new personnel. Exceptions tending to prove the rule
are the lands of St. Mary of Glastonbury and of Bishop Odo of Bayeux.
Against the former William had ever a grudge, and he seized 4 hides in
Bagbere, part of the manor of Sturminster Newton, belonging to this monas-
tery, and gave them to his cook Goscelin. The Bishop of Bayeux was under
forfeiture at the date of the survey.*
Far otherwise was it with the Dorset boroughs.^ Dorchester, Bridport,
Shaftesbury, and Wareham suffered heavily, on the authority of Domesday
itself. Wareham illustrates the ' tenurial heterogeneity ' of the typical old
English borough.
T.R.E. there were 143 houses of the king's, now there are only 70 houses, 73 are
waste. The Abbey of Fontanelle (the Norman house, S. Wandragesil) had 62 houses,
45 remain and 1 7 are waste. Other holders had 80 houses, of which 20 still remain, and
60 are destroyed.*
It is this destruction of town houses which has given rise to the story of the
participation of the Dorset towns in ' the Civic League.'
But there are at least two other causes which would account for such
house destruction at that date. One such was castle-building, and the
necessity for an open space around the castle to prevent fire or the use of
adjacent houses by a hostile body of troops.^ But Bridport certainly and
Shaftesbury probably did not so early possess Norman castles ; and though it
has been claimed, but without certainty, that Dorchester Castle dates from
this time,* the case of Wareham is beset with difficulties. The ' castellum de
Warham ' surveyed under Kingston ^ is undoubtedly Corfe,^" and yet the wars
of Stephen and Matilda and the Pipe Rolls of John " show the presence of a
castle at Wareham likewise, which may or may not have been built by
' Angl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Sen), i, 340.
' Dom. Bk. (Rec. Com.), i, 78. Hugh also took a virgate at Portisham from Abbotsbury Abbey, and the
manor of Tatton from the Abbey of Cerne.
' Dugdale, Mon. Angl. (cd. 18 17), ii, 472.
* His manor of Rampisham T.R.E. was worth ^^lo ; T.R.W. only [fi ; Dom. Bk. i, 77.
' Round, Feudal Engl. 436, 437. ° Dom. Bk. \, 75.
' Engl. Hist. Rev. xx, 7 1 o.
' Hutchins, op. cit. ii, 365. It only certainly existed in 1 176. Pipe R. 22 Hen. II, m. 9 J.
' Dom. Bk. i, 78. '" Eyton, Key to Dorset Dom. 43, iii, n. 2. ; Round, Feudal Engl. 339.
" Pipe Rolls, 6, 8, 9, 10 John, under ' Honour of Gloucester.'
2 129 ^7
A HISTORY OF DORSET
William. It has been pointed out that there is a priori likelihood that
William would not leave this important post, which was also a royal fortified
borough, without a castle. It seems more likely that the confusion between
Corfe and Wareham is a slip in Domesday Book rather than that the castle of
Corfe was known as Wareham for a long period. The solitary Pipe Roll of
Henry I mentions the castle of Wareham, and in i io6 Henry had imprisoned
Robert of Belesme there.^
Domesday itself, however, tells us that the destruction of houses in
Dorchester, Shaftesbury, and Wareham dates 'a tempore Hugonis vicecomitis,'
the Wareham entry ' further describing it as continuing usque nunc. This
clearly points to the exactions of the Norman sheriffs, for Aiulf would appear
to have followed Hugh's example. Of Lincoln, Domesday expressly states
that seventy-four houses ' which are waste within the limits of the castle are
not so as the result of the oppression of the sheriff or his servants, but by
misfortune, poverty, or fire,' ' thus plainly showing the frequency of shrieval
exactions. None of the Dorset towns had been able to contract with
William to hold their liberties by a fee-farm rent. It has been seen that
Hugh was an unscrupulous and avaricious man. His exactions would not
improbably do much towards bringing these towns to destitution, since,
unlike many country manors, they were without the protection of powerful
owners, able to look after their interests.*
In the process of substitution of a Norman for an Anglo-Danish land-
holding class, Dorset, though eventually thoroughly Normanized, suffered
a less violent convulsion than some of the eastern or midland counties.
Normanizing tendencies had been actively at work during the reign of the
Confessor. Certain geographical and personal causes tended to counter-
balance the Godwin national party. The harbour of Wareham was more
frequented than any port in southern England. This ensured the constant
passage through the shire of Normans going to and from Winchester and
Westminster. King Edward himself had held in demesne more than a fifth
of the county, and his preferences are undoubted. Emma his mother had
held Wyke, Elwell, and Weymouth.' His sister. Countess Goda, married
successively to Drogo count of the Vexin, Walter count of Mantes, and
Eustace count of Boulogne, had held lands in Melcombe and Tarrant
Hinton. After the death by poison of her son Walter, King Edward was
her rightful heir. Brictric, Matilda's English lover, had lands in Ashmore,
Boveridge, Mappowder, Loders, Affrington, Tyneham, and Tarrant Gunville.
Further, even had the Godwin territorial influence been greater than was
actually the case, the ravages of Godwin at Portland in 1052, during his
outlawry,* must have earned him local ill-will. Even before the Conquest
large tracts of land were in the hands of the Church, and her sons would be
scandalized at the behaviour of Tostig, but still more indignant at the
exactions of Harold. In the absence of danger from Welsh or other
foes Harold did not become a hero in common eyes. He took from
St. Mary of Shaftesbury the fat manor of Sture (East and West Stour)
' Ann. Marg. Wlnt. and Waverl. (Rolls Ser.), i, 10 ; ii, 42, 44, 2 1 5.
^ Dom.Bk.\,-]%. 'Ibid. 33iJ.
' See also Eyton, Dor:et Dom. 72 ; EngL Hist. Rev. xx, 703-11, and ibid. 1902, pp. 296, 297 ; ibid.
25, sqq.
' Hutchins, Dorset, ii, 814. ' Jngl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), i, 319.
130
POLITICAL HISTORY
worth £S, and Cheselbourne, worth >Ci6/ and from a certain priest 2 hides
in Ilsington, valued at 20s. It must, however, be remembered that
such charges were almost matters of course after his death, for all churchmen whose
lands had come into his hands, whether rightly or wrongly, would naturally try to get
them back, and the Normans would put the worst construction on all his actions.^
This body of public opinion must have assisted the feudal tendencies already
at work, the greater since the proportion of Danes among the holders of
land T.R.E. was small. Of ninety-eight names of those holding T.R.E. only
seven are pure Danish, though others with West Saxon names may possibly,
like Gytha herself, have had a Danish descent. Of the twenty who, holding
before 1066, were still holding in 1087, only two have Danish names.
The Conquest undoubtedly accelerated the concentration of estates in a
small number of hands. The Dorset tenants m capite, at the date of the
survey, were 146.' To the king, either in demesne or by escheat, belonged
in 1087 rather more than one-seventh of the county; to the greater feuda-
tories taken conjointly rather more than one-third ; to the lesser feudatories,
king's thegns, king's Serjeants, the four boroughs and a few unclassified land-
holders, about one-ninth. The various ecclesiastical persons and bodies,
headed by the bishop of Salisbury, held little short of a third.*
This was the great era of castle-building.' William had obtained the
land for his ' castellum de Warham ' by exchange with the abbess of Shaftes-
bury for the advowson of Gillingham. It is now generally held that this
castle, referred to in Domesday,* is Corfe. It was almost certainly not only a
new building, but new on that site. For if ' the religious woman Alfthrith '
to whom Edred granted Purbeck^ was indeed abbess of St. Edward,^ the
abbey at Shaftesbury would seem to have held this land since 948. It is not
easy to account for Elfrida's palace at Corfe,'* for Edgar's grant to his queen
was at Buckland.^" The chronicle states that Edward was killed at ' Corf-
geat,' ^' which may possibly have been Coryates ; a charter of Canute to
Abbotsbury mentions ' Corfgeat ' near Portisham.^^ There is also a Corfe,
anciently a member of the manor of West Milton, now a hamlet in the parish
of Powerstock.'^ Camden thought there was a Saxon castle at Corfe, and that
it must have been built after 941,'* citing an inquisition of the time of
Henry III ' before the building of the castle of Corfe, the abbess and nuns of
S. Edward at Shasten had the wreck of the sea within their manor of
Kingston.' He gives 941 as the date of the foundation of this abbey by
Edmund, but Dugdale considers it to have been founded, perhaps by Alfred,
at any rate before 900." Research goes to show that there was no castle at
Corfe before the Conquest.'*
' Dom. Bk. i, 78. ' Article ' Harold,' in Diet. Nat. Biog. xxiv, 418.
' Ellis,/n/;W. to Dom. ii, 438. * See Eyton, op. cit. i 56.
' G. T. Clarke, Mediaeval Milit. Anhit. i, 23.
* Dom. Bk. \, 78, b. 2. See also Testa de Nevill (Rcc. Com.), 164^.
' Birch, Cartul. Sax. iii, 12, No. 868. * Dugdale, Mon. Angl. ii, 473.
' Sec Bond, Corfe Castle, 9. '° Birch, Cartul. Sa.v. iii, 436, No. 1 177.
" Jngl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Set.), i, 232-3. " Mon. Angl. ii, 55, charter ii.
" Hutchins, Dorset, ii, 319. '* Camden, Britannia (ed. Gibson, 1 721), i, 57.
" Mon. Angl. ii, 47 1 .
'° Round, in Archaeologia, LVIII, i, 313 sqq. and Quart. Rev. July, 1894 ; Mrs. Armitage, in Engl. Hist.
Rev. 1904, pp. 227, 450, and I905,p.7ii ; and in Proc. of Scottish Antij.-nyixvr, lij . See also Round, Geoffrey
de Mandeville, 328 ; Arfh. Journ. Ix, and Antij. xiii, 241.
A HISTORY OF DORSET
The remaining Dorset castles present almost equal difficulties.
Gervase, in the Mappa Mundi (about whose date, unhappily, there is some
obscurity),^ mentions Corfe, Sherborne, and Dorchester. But Lul worth and
possibly Cerne are mentioned in 1139 and 1142.^ Bow and Arrow Castle,
Portland, is said to have been built by Rufus.' At any rate, Portland had a
castle in 11 42.* There are also earthworks of the motte-and-bailey type at
Sturminster Newton, Shaftesbury, Chelborough, and Powerstock.^ Power-
stock was held, at the date of Domesday, by Roger Arundel, but may possibly
have been fortified by John, into whose hands it came by exchange with
Robert of Newburgh (to whom it had come from the Arundels) for a
Somerset manor. ^ It is probable that some of these are among the adulterine
castles of the reign of Stephen.
Situated on the line of the empress's communications between her English
strongholds of Bristol, Oxford, and Devizes, and her continental base, the
Dorset castles became important factors in the civil war, which shared
with other mediaeval wars the characteristic features of absence of pitched
battles and importance of castles. It is impossible to ascertain the sentiment
of the county in the struggle between king and empress, for public feeling
was both dominated and voiced by the great land-holders alone. Of these
Robert of Gloucester, the empress's half-brother, stands above all others. His
Dorset lands, part of the honour of Gloucester, came to him with his
wife Mabel, daughter of Robert FitzHamon, who himself had married Sybil,
daughter of Roger of Montgomery, and sister of Robert of Belesme, who
suffered perpetual imprisonment in Wareham Castle. To FitzHamon Rufus,
probably about 1090,^ had given the inheritance called of Gloucester, which
had originally been held by the Saxon Brictric, then by William's Queen
Matilda, and which on her death had reverted to the crown. It included
many Dorset manors.* Among the empress's men were also Baldwin of
Redvers, and William of Mohun. Baldwin descended from the ' francus '
who in Domesday Book held three and a half hides in Mosterton in South
Perrot, and not from the ' Baldwinus Vicecomes ' or Baldwin of Moeles,
sheriff of Devon, and constable of Rougemont Castle, Exeter. William of
Mohun was lord of Dunster.^ The Mohun holding in Dorset included
lands in Todber, Spettisbury, Winterborne Houghton, Hammoon, Chalbury,
Iwerne Courtney, Broadwinsor, and Mapperton in Aimer.'" Robert of
Bampton (co. Devon), who was in rebellion against Stephen," had succeeded,
by the female line, to the Domesday fief of Walter of Douai, which
included lands in Winterborne Clenston and Purse Caundle. William de
Cahaignes, who made the king prisoner at the battle of Lincoln (1141), had
' Stubbs places it about 1 199, Intnd. to Gervase (Rolls Ser.), i, p. xxix.
' Will. Malms. Hist. Novella (Rolls Ser.), ii, 557, 59+. 595 ; Gesta Stephani (Rolls Sen), iii, 58. The
latter, however, is quite as likely to be Cerney, near Cirencester. See Ramsay, Found, of Engl, ii, 388.
» Hutchins, Dorset, ii, 816. * Will. Malms, op. cit. ii, 595.
' Information supplied by Mrs. Armitage. See also Hutchins, op. cit. iv, 336, 339 ; ii, 655, 318 ;
Coker, Surv. of Dors. 100.
« Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), 97. ' Ord. Vit. Hist. Eccl. iii, 350.
' See Round in Genealogist (New Ser.), iv, 129-40. Hutchins, op. cit. iii, 369, and 375, 376 follows
Dugdale about the three FitzHamon heiresses, one of whom, he says, was abbess of Shaftesbury. But see the
art. ' Fitzhamon,' in Diet. Nat. Biog.
° See H. Maxwell Lyte, Dunster and its Lords, 2, 3.
«° Dom. Bk. i, 82. " Round, Feud. Engl. 486 ; Engl. Hist. Rev. v, 746.
132
POLITICAL HISTORY
obtained in maritagio Tarrant Keynston and Coombe Keynes, with his wife
Alice, daughter of Hugh Maminot, the nephew and heir of Gilbert
Maminot bishop of Lisieux. The bishop's Dorset holding was a lay fief,
i.e. descended to his secular heir.^ William of Saint Clare ' was, at least
in 1 140, on Stephen's side, for he witnesses the first charter to Geoffrey de
Mandeville.' The castle of ' Cernei ' built by Miles of Gloucester,* as has i
been said, may have been Cerne (co. Dorset), or Cerney. Some of the
abbot's tenants in the vill of Cerne however owed duty of castle-ward at
Corfe Castle,^ not at Cerne.
Robert of Gloucester in 11 37, after the Exeter rebellion of Baldwin of
Redvers, fortified Wimborne, Corfe, Dorchester and Wareham against
Stephen," probably encouraged by the king's absence in Normandy. When
he returned, at the end of that year, Stephen most probably landed in
Dorset.'' The following year, probably during the campaign in Somerset,
he took Wareham, making Robert de Nicole castellan.^ Robert of Gloucester
recaptured it in 1138.' Baldwin of Redvers, in August, 1139, landed there
with an advance army.^° He was now the empress's devoted adherent.
Stephen hurried down to cut him off, but he threw himself into Corfe
Castle, where the king laid siege to him ; but hearing of the approach of
the empress and Earl Robert, who had by this time landed in Sussex and
were making for Bristol, he raised the siege." On his way back Stephen
besieged and took ' Cernei ' castle, which Earl Robert however garrisoned
again the following year."
Some time before 1141 the empress made de Redvers earl of
Devon, and Mohun earl of Dorset or Somerset — a fact noteworthy, since
to Stephen alone are sometimes attributed the creations of this period.
The status of the Mohun earldom is doubtful. The Gesta Stephanl states "
that he was made earl of Dorset. He founded Bruton Priory in 1142
as earl of Somerset.^* It was unimportant that he took his distinguishing
name from either county, for they were under one sheriff. But de Redvers
himself already held the manor of Puddletown,^^ which carried with it the
third penny of the pleas of the county." The empress's own charter of 1 142
to Aubrey de Vere, confirmed by her son Henry, offered de Vere a choice of
Dorset or Oxfordshire, Berkshire or Wiltshire, for his new earldom. ^^
Robert of Gloucester committed Wareham to the safe-keeping of his
eldest son William, and departed in June, 1142, also from Wareham, 'the
empress's family haven,' on his mission to Geoffrey of Anjou.'* Stephen,
recovered from his sickness, seized the opportunity to raid the enemy's own
country. He marched on Wareham, burned the town, and took the castle."
Sherborne Castle, built by the Justiciar, Bishop Roger of Salisbury, in 1137,'°
' Liber Niger (ed. Hearne), i, 8; ; Pipe R. Dors. 14 Hen. II, m. 2.
' Pipe R. Dors. 31 Hen. I. * Printed Round, G. Je Mandcville, 51,52. * Gesta Stefh. 58.
' Dom. Bk. i, 76 ; Liber Niger, i, 77 ; Red Bk. of the Exch. (Rolls Ser.), i, 212.
' Ann. Man. ii, 226. ' Jnct. Chart. (Pipe R. Soc. ed. Round), x, 37.
" Ann. Theokeib. (Rolls Ser.), i, 46 ; Hen. Hunt. Hist. Engl 261 ; Jnn. JVav. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 229.
' Ann. Wav. ii, 226. '" Gesta Stefh. 53, and Intr. xxi-xxv ; Round, G. de MandeviUe, 278, 279.
" Gesta Steph. 53. " Will. Malms, op. cit. 557. "p. 80.
" Round, G. de MandeviUe, 271, 274, 277. " Eyton, Dors. Dom. 75.
" Dom. Bk. i, 75. " Round, op. cit. 180-3.
'* Will. Malms, op. cit. 592. " Ibid. 593 ; Gesta Slefh. 93.
" Ann. Winton, ii, 51 ; Will. Malms, op. cit. 547, 549 ; Gesta Steph. 49, 50.
A HISTORY OF DORSET
(a time when all who could fortified themselves), was already in his hands,
from his seizure of the bishop in 1139. So when in December Robert of
Gloucester returned, not with the empress's husband, but with her son Henry,
her cause seemed hopeless. She was at the time closely besieged in Oxford.
Instead of going to her help, the earl lingered to retake Wareham ^ (which
Stephen allowed to fall into his hands, sooner than abandon the siege of
Oxford to go to its relief), and to occupy the two small castles of Lulworth
and Portland.' The former castle had been held by William de Glastonia,
who had lately turned traitor to the empress : Portland had been previously
fortified by Stephen.'
Immediately on the surrender of Oxford, Stephen marched on Wareham,
reaching it probably about i January. Earl Robert, on its recapture, had
most strongly fortified it.* The king laid waste the adjoining country with
fire and sword.
Next year he lost Sherborne Castle ; William Martel the Dapifer, who
was holding it for the king, was captured at Wilton, and was compelled to
give up this castle, to regain his liberty.^ After the withdrawal of the
empress, Dorset took no further part in the Civil War.
The reconstructions of Henry II are generally said to have involved the
degradation of the fiscal earls, and the destruction of adulterine castles. The
Mohun earldom of Dorset does not occur, even after 1 142. But of the fate of
the adulterine castles, or which of them were adulterine, we have no know-
ledge. The custody of Dorchester Castle was eventually granted to Earl
Reginald of Cornwall.* Eleven years later it appears under the honour of
Gloucester.'' A bull of Eugenius III in 11 46 had confirmed to the bishop
of Salisbury the possession of his two castles of Sherborne and Devizes.* But
two agreements, in 1152 and 1157, between Henry II and Bishop Jocelin,
restoring the castle of Devizes conditionally to the bishop, do not seem to
have been copied with regard to Sherborne Castle, which was taken into
the king's hands. The hundred of Sherborne was restored in 11 60 by the
widowed countess Mabel of Gloucester and her son William to Bishop
Jocelin.'
In 1 1 89 John married Isabel of Gloucester, third daughter of this
William Fitz Robert. She was made heiress of the honour, for the benefit
of her husband, who received confirmation of the earldom,^" but no castles
were committed to his keeping. In 1189, no place being assigned to him
in the government, Richard purchased, or hoped to purchase, his loyalty
by lavish grants, which included all crown rights over Dorset, Somerset,
Devon, and Cornwall." Whether or not he had by this means attained
possession of the castles of these counties, he lost them again in 1 191, at
the Grand Council of Winchester (28 July), for the pacification of the
' Will. Malms, op. cit. 594, 595.
' Arm. Winton, ii, 53 ; Ann. U'ig. iv, 379 ; Will. Malms, op. cit. loc. cit.; Gesta Stiph. 93.
' Will. Malms, op. cit. 595. The Newburghs probably did not acquire Lulworth before 1300. They
appear at Winfrith in 1210.
* Gesta Steph. 94.
' Hen. Hunt. Hist. Ar.gl. 276 ; Gesta Stefh. 96 ; Ann. Theokcsb. (Rolls Ser.), i, 46. See Round, op. cit. I47.
' Pipe R. 22 Hen. II, m. 9 ^. ' Pipe R. 33 Hen. II.
' ^arum Chart. (Rolls Scr. 97), 13. ' Ibid. 32.
'" Bened. Pet. Gesla Regis (Rolls Ser.), 78 ; Gervase, Opera, i, 458.
" Bened. Pet. op. cit. 99. Roger of Hoveden, Chron. (Rolls Ser. 51), 27.
134
POLITICAL HISTORY
count and Longchamps over the Camville case. But in October he again
got control of the royal castles, on the deposition of Longchamps. After
the release of Richard from captivity John sent w^ord from Normandy to
have his castles put in order for a fresh rising. But Hubert Walter pro-
ceeding against the places fortified, and the king landing in England, John
surrendered. A special iter of the justices that September (1194) had, as
one of its objects, to take account of all lands and goods forfeited by John
or his foUow^ers under decrees issued against them, and not subsequently
re-granted by the king to them. It appears that Dorset had been impli-
cated, to some extent, in the last rising. Reginald of Saint Leodegar in Todber,
Brian de Goviz in Kingston, and Lucia de Broil in Milborne^ lost their
lands entirely. Walter de Turberville in Toller,^ and Eustace de Stokes in
Lulworth,'' recovered them eventually, after temporary dispossession. Eustace
de Stokes was a knight of Alured of Lincoln.*
The time spent by John, when king, in the county has sometimes
been exaggerated. Of 1,314 changes of place recorded of his court,' ninety-
four only relate to Dorset. According to the Itinerary he spent 131 days
in the county, out of a rough total of 4, i 59, about three per cent, only.' This
was remarkably little, since to a parsimonious king (whose frequent move-
ments necessitated the seventeenth clause of Magna Carta) it was of import to
have his court maintained free for a few nights at a time.'' He spent much
money on strengthening his castles, and the Pipe Rolls for this reign have
frequent mentions of expenses incurred for work on the castles of Dorchester,
Sherborne, Gillingham, and Corfe.' The king had been reinstated with
the honour of Gloucester in 1195, while still only count, but without
its castles. On his accession he divorced his wife Isabel, on the pretext
of Archbishop Baldwin's early objections to the marriage, on grounds of
consanguinity. He deprived her of her patrimony, conferring the estates
and earldom upon her sister's husband, Amaury of Montfort, but by the
ninth year of his reign the honour was again in his own hands. He used
Corfe Castle as a state prison as well as a fortress. Among its prisoners
were the nobles of Poitou and Guienne whom he captured at Mirebeau '
{1202), the Lusignans, from whom he had abducted his new wife, Isabel
of Angouleme. There also were confined Griffith, king of Wales,^" the
princesses of Scotland," given by their father as hostages in 1209, William
of Albini,'^ afterwards one of the twenty-five elected barones^'^ and even his
own queen."
In 1205 the king, having been successfully resisted by the barons
in the matter of service abroad, embarked, and put out to sea for
three days, landing again at Studland, probably as a kind of protest against
' Pipe R. 6 Ric. I, m. 13 -j". ' Ibid, i John, ra. 17 </.
' Ibid. 7 Ric. I, m. 17. * Liber Niger, i, 80.
' Hardy, Itin. Arch, xxii, 125 sqq.
' He reigned from 27 May, 1 199, to 18 Oct. 1 2 16. Four years of this time were spent in Normandy,
for two more years the Itinerary is wanting.
' See Pipe R. of the bishopric of Winchester, p. 76. {Studies in Econ. and PoUt. Sci.)
' See, inter alia, Pipe R. 2 John, m. 7 ; Pipe R. 10 John, m. l\ d. ; Pipe R. 2 John, m. 7 ; Pipe R.
4 John, m. 7.
' Ann. Marg. (Rolls Ser.), i, 26 ; Pat. R. 4 John, m. 3. '" Ann. U'int. ii, 68.
" Pipe R. 5 Hen. III. " Ann. Londiniensis (Rolls Ser. 76), i, 17. " Ibid.
" Gervase, op. cit. ii, 102.
135
A HISTORY OF DORSET
the refusal of his miUtary tenants to accompany him on the French expedi-
tion.' This he repeated in 1213, again landing at Studland.'
After the Interdict (1208) and the excommunication of the king (1209),
Peter of Pontefract or Wakefield, a seer, prophesied that John would reign
fourteen years and no more. John imprisoned him in Corfe Castle till the
time for fulfilment of the prophecy should have expired.^ The surrender to
the papacy took place in 121 3 (23 May), the fourteen years were up, count-
ing from Ascension Day, 1 199 (from which John's regnal years were dated),
on 27 May. The prophecy therefore came true, in a sense, and the king had
the prophet executed in Corfe Castle.*
On the landing of the Dauphin in 12 16, John at first entrenched himself
in the castle, but Louis, instead of advancing upon him, stayed to harry
Hampshire. Nevertheless John, who had been at Corfe and Wareham till
17 July ^ (the Dauphin landed 20 May), withdrew to Bristol.
One of the barons who had helped to call in Louis was William
Longespee, the natural son of Henry II. He had married Ela, daughter and
heiress of William earl of Salisbury [ob. 1196), grandson of Edward of
Salisbury, and successor to his Domesday fief. This had included the manors
of Canford and Kingston, and the manor of Great Kingston had been added
to the Salisbury inheritance by the marriage of the son of Edward of
Salisbury with the daughter and coheiress of Ernulf of Hesding, successor
to many of the lands of Ulward the White. Another of the rebellious
barons was William of Montacute, sheriff of Dorset and Somerset from
1206 to 1208, grandson of Drogo of Montacute, who at the date of
Domesday had been in Dorset a tenant of the count of Mortain."
On the death of John the castle of Corfe was handed over to the regent,
William Marshall (whose nephew John had already held Dorchester Castle^),
by Peter de Mauley, one of John's Poitevin favourites,' and formerly sheriff
of Dorset and Somerset, and constable of Corfe. In 1221 he was again
sheriff", and in 1222 was made governor of Sherborne Castle, presaging the
downfall of Hubert de Burgh, who had himself up to 1206 held the manors
of Corfe Mullen and Milborne, with lands in Winfrith.' Queen Eleanor
of Provence, wife of Henry III, held lands at Warmwell, in the hundred of
Winfrith.^" The connexion with Dorset of another foreigner, the great Earl
Simon, arose through his mother. The elder Earl Simon, ' the scourge of
the Albigenses,' had married Amicia, sister and heiress of Robert de
Beaumont earl of Leicester, sometimes also called ' Fitz Pernell ' from his
mother Petronilla, daughter of Hugh of Grantmesnil. Earl Robert had
mortgaged at one time the manor of Blandford Forum to Aaron, a Jew of
Lincoln," but became repossessed of it on the seizure of the latter's
property. The inheritance of the earls of Leicester came originally from
Roger de Beaumont, who as a very old man was holding at the time of the
' Ralph of Coggeshall, Chron. (Rolls Ser. 66), 152-4 ; Rog. Wend. Chrm. (Rolls Ser. 84), iii.
' Walt. Covent. Chron. (Rolls Ser. 58), ii, 212 ; R. Cogg. op. cit. 167 ; Rog. Wend. op. cit. iii, 261, 262.
' Walt. Covent. op. cit. ii, 209 ; Rog. Wend. op. cit. 240.
'Walt. Covent. op. cit. 212 ; Rog. Wend. op. cit. 255 ; Ann. Men. 278; Chron. Th. Wyka (^oVi»
Ser. 36), iv, 58. ' llin. ' Dom. Bk. i, 79.
' Dugdale, Baronage, i, 599. ' Ibid, i, 733-4 ; Ralph of Coggeshall, op. cit. 66, 190.
' Liber Niger, i, 102 ; Ejton, op. cit. 120.
'" HunJ. R. (Rec. Com.), 103. Plac. de Quo Warranto (Rec. Com.), 181.
" Pipe R. 5 Ric. I, m. 8.
136
POLITICAL HISTORY
Domesday Survey inter alia the valuable manor of Sturminster Marshall
(involving also Lytchett Minster and East Aimer), once Archbishop Stigand's.
In 1258, Henry III granted to the great Earl Simon (who had married his
sister Eleanor) the manor of Bere, which he had from his father.
During the Barons' War Corfe came again to the front. In 1258 by
the Provisions of Oxford it was placed in the hands of Stephen Longespee ^
brother of William, who had been killed on crusade in 1250. It was one of
the three castles which, six years later, on the surrender of the Prince of
Wales, Simon placed in the custody of his son the younger Simon, to prevent
the effectual sending of foreign troops by the queen. ^ Its connexion with
the de Montforts ended with the captivity there of Aimery and Eleanor de
Montfort, who had in 1275-6 been taken at sea off Bristol.^
The de Montfort lands in Dorset, on the fall of the great earl, lapsed
to the crown. Edmund, son of Henry III, brother of Edward I,* who in 1267
was made governor of Sherborne Castle, was granted Shapwick ; ^ Kingston
and Blandford went to Henry de Lacy, grandson of John de Lacy (made
earl of Lincoln 1232), who was son-in-law to Hawise, sister of that Ran-
dolf of Chester (o.s.p.) who had helped Henry III at Lincoln in 12 17. For
this he was rewarded with the earldom of Lincoln, being nephew of the first
earl, William of Roumare, who was himself nephew and heir of Robert
son of Gerald, who, in Domesday, held Corfe Mullen, Lye, Ranston, and
Povington. Henry de Lacy received full investiture of the earldom in 1272.
In 1258 he had married Margaret Longespee, the above-mentioned heiress.
The Quo Warranto of 1275 did not, in Dorset, deal with the greater
barons, with one exception. For the most part those summoned were
ecclesiastics, such as the abbesses of Tarrant and Shaftesbury, the abbot of
Cerne, and the dean and chapter of Salisbury. Their offences were mainly
of the nature of taking wreck of the sea, or free warren, without authority.
Among the local secular land-holders, William Ic Moyne, summoned for
taking free warren, wreck of the sea, and assize of bread and ale, in Winfrith
and Owermoigne, pleaded that he held in chief of the king by serjeanty, and
that his ancestors had had these rights.* Walter de la Lynde, summoned for
the same cause, answered on the first count, a grant of King Henry's, which
not improbably later gave rise to the legend of the White Hart of Blackmoor.
The only great baron, among the secular land-holders, was Gilbert of Clare
earl of Gloucester. Three years earlier the Hundred Rolls^ stated that, for
years past, he had diverted to his own court Helwell, which formerly owed
suit to the hundred court of CuUiford Tree. In 1275 he was summoned for
encroachments on the royal rights in the hundreds of Rowburgh, Haslor,
Culliford Tree, Pimperne, and Ugscomb. He alleged in answer a grant of
Henry I, made at Marlborough. The matter was ordered to be further
inquired into.^ He was also accused of taking free chase on the highway
between Shaftesbury and Blandford and ' over the hill from the west,' with a
' Provisions of Oxf. ; Tit. Les Nums des Cheveteins Chasteaus le ret. Stubbs, Chart. 392 ; j^nn.
Burton (Rolls Ser.), i, 453.
^ j4nn. Wig. (Rolls Ser.), iv, 453 ; Stubbs, Charters, (ed. 1895), 409.
' Thom. Wykes, Chron. (Rolls Ser.), iv, 267 ; Gervase, op. cit. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 284.
* Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), 97. ' Patent R. 51 Hen. Ill, m. 8.
' Abbrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 184. ' Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), 10 1.
' Ptae. Jbbrev. (Rec. Com.), 183, Rot. 5 d.
2 137 18
A HISTORY OF DORSET
list of further geographical details. To this he returned that a perambulation
of the bounds and chase of Cranborne, in the reign of King John, had deter-
mined the rights of the earls of Gloucester. Further encroachments were
alleged against him in the hundred of Combsditch ; but it was admitted that
he had assize of bread and ale, and wreck of the sea, in the manors of
Weymouth, Portland, Wyke, and Elwell.^
Such checks upon the power of the great territorialists, though in them-
selves negative, were assisted by the parallel movement of increased privileges
of town-dwelling communities. The fact that such definition of status and juris-
diction occurred somewhat late in Dorset does not imply that the powers
now formally legalized had not hitherto been exercised. It would seem that
the number of royal boroughs in the county had tended to make for peace
between the burgesses and their overlord. In no case is there sign of
previous strained feeling between the community as such and the overlord who
grants the charter. The charters were therefore not extorted perforce, but
were the result of handsome pecuniary compensation. Henry III gave
charters to Bridport and Shaftesbury in 1252,* by which the former was in-
corporated, while Shaftesbury (whose mayor witnesses a charter in 1352)'
obtained freedom that its burgesses should not be impleaded outside the
borough during the visits of the justices in eyre, and that they should elect
from among themselves two coroners to determine the pleas of the crown in
the said vill. Weymouth, granted by Henry I to the monks of St. Swithun,
Winchester,* and exchanged by them with Gilbert of Clare for other lands,'
passed by the marriage of Gilbert's granddaughter Elizabeth to Lionel duke
of Clarence (son of Edward III), who then obtained for the town certain
liberties. Sherborne was never a borough, but belonged to the bishop of
Salisbury.' Melcombe, Bere Regis, Lyme, and Newton received charters
from Edward I,^ by which the former obtained the usual freedom from extra-
burghal impleading, and that the burgesses should have their town at an
annual fixed fee-farm rent in perpetuity. Bere and Lyme became free boroughs.
The men of Wareham for many years had paid 100 marks to have their town
at fee-farm rent.* It received a charter from William Longespee,^ as did also
Poole, probably about 1248.'° Corfe Castle and Blandford were boroughs by
prescription, but were not formally incorporated till 1576 and 1606 respec-
tively.'^ Dorchester, which had hitherto paid ^^20 by tale or f^iT. blanch for
the fee-farm rent of the town,'^ an arrangement on a somewhat uncertain foot-
ing,'' obtained the perpetuation of this scale in 1337/* having only obtained
from Edward I that they might ' make at their own expense a prison to
detain there the persons indicted for trespass and felony.' "
' Plac. Abbrev. (Rec. Com.), 183, Rot. 5 d.
' Madox, Hist. Exch. 250, 290 ; Browne-Willis, Hot. Pari, ii, 460-1 ; Mayo, Municip. Rec. of the
Borough of Shaftesbury, 3. ' M.iyo, Municip. Rec. of the Borough of Shaftesbury, 3.
' H. J. Moule, Calendar of Weymouth Charters, 3.
' Hutchins, Dors, ii, 428. ' Ibid, iv, 208.
' Browne-Willis, A'o/. Pari, ii, 446 ; Pat. 19 Edw. I, pt. i, m. 22 d.; Chart. R. 13 Edw. I, No. 136.
' Pipe R. I 2 John, la. ' d. ; rep. I 3 John [nova oblata).
' Hutchins, Dors, i, 82. " Sydenham, Hist. Poole, 154, 78.
" Hutchins, op. cit. i, 471-2 ; Browne- Willis, Not. Pari. (ed. 1716), ii, 391.
" Dorchester Corp. MSS. A. 30 ; Madox, Hist. Exch. 195.
" Bro%vne-Willis, Not. Pari, ii, 418.
" Dorch. Corp. MSS. loc. cit. ; Chart. R. 11 Edw. Ill, m. 3, No. 26
"- Dorch. Corp. MSS. loc. cit.
138
POLITICAL HISTORY
The towns quarrelled among themselves as to their status and jurisdiction
all through the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In 1432 Poole obtained
an Act of Parliament reducing Melcombe for a time from a port into a creek,
and erecting itself into a port.^ It was erected into a county by Letters
Patent of 1568, but the borough was still subject to the authority of the
Lords-Lieutenant of Dorset, the Privy Council, the year after, sending a
special letter to ensure this.^ The burgesses of Dorchester in 1445 succeeded
in enforcing certain jurisdictions as against those of Bridport.' They had
already (14 14) drawn up by-laws for the governance of their town.*
Eleven towns sent representatives to Parliament at one time and another.
Dorchester, Bridport, and Lyme sent them continuously from 1295,^ Shaftes-
bury from 1297,° and Wareham from 1302.^ Weymouth and Melcombe
(the latter summoned in 1305 and 1306, but not replying) were represented
from the reign of Edward II onwards.* Sherborne was represented at the
Great Council held in 1344.' Blandford was represented in Parliament on
two isolated occasions^" (i 305 and 1329). Poole was represented in 1341,
1363, and 1 369, and then not again till 1453 or 1455, after which it returned
members continuously.^^ Corfe Castle returned no member till 1572.'^ The
knights of the shire during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were
drawn '' from that class of secondary landholders which furnished the ' new
men ' of the Tudor county-administration. Their forefathers appear for the
most part as knights of the great feudatories, but themselves inconspicuous.
The families of Mowbanks (or Maybank), Turberville, Newburgh, Sifrewast,
Goviz, Herring, Matravers and Filliol (many of them commemorated in
place-surnames) now begin to come into prominence as representing the
county in Parliament. It is not till the reign of Edward VI that the well-
known names of Strangways and Horsey occur in this connexion.
In spite of the growth of popular freedom, the local influence of the
great barons was still strong in 131 1, when Gaveston fled to the west. The
king was compelled to issue a proclamation (30 November) ordering search
to be made for him. Dorset was mentioned as one of his probable hiding-
places.'* Gilbert of Clare was the king's close friend, and Gaveston's brother-
l in-law ; and Henry of Lacy ^' (who had only just died, and had, indeed,
ended his days in the county) had before his death come to an understanding
with the king, probably with reference to Gaveston.'* Alice, daughter and
heiress of Henry of Lacy and Margaret of Salisbury had, it is true, married
Thomas of Lancaster, the son and heir of Edmund, son of Henry III, who
held, in his own right, the manors of Kingston, Fordington, and Bere,''
together with other Dorset manors,'* both in his own right and in that of
' ffeymouli darters, i, 26 ; Sydenham, op. cit. 4, 5.
' Browne- Willis, Not. Pari, ii, 407 ; Sydenham, op. cit. 179 sqq.
' Dorch. Corp. MSS. A. 9, B. 2. * Ibid. ' Dorchester Domesday.'
' Hutchins, op. cit. ii, 356, 12, 51. ' Browne-Willis, Not. Pari. 11,478, 483.
' Hutchins, op. cit. i, 84. * Ibid, ii, 433, 452-
' Browne-Willis, op. cit. i, 87. '° Ibid, ii, 391.
" Hutchins, op. cit. i, 25. " Ibid, i, 471.
" See list in Hutchins, op. cit. i, p. xlv sqq.
" Rymer, Foedera (orig. ed.), iii, 294. " Vide supra.
'* Cal. Docts. Scot, iii, 177.
"Duchy of Lane. Misc. Rec. xi, 37 a'. 69 a'.; FeuJ. Aids, i, 17 ; Chart. R. 8 Edw. I, No. 73, m. 7, No. 37.
'* Duchy of Lane. Misc. Rec. xi, 55.
139
A HISTORY OF DORSET
his wife Aveline,^ daughter of Isabella de Fortibus, Lady of the Isle of Wight.
But his father-in-law's death was so recent that his influence would no doubt
avail, for a time, to shelter Gaveston against the Earl of Lancaster. After
the execution of the latter, in 1322, his widow. Countess Alice, remarried
without the royal assent. Her estates were seized, and most of them were
given in 1323 to the younger Despenser,' who had married Eleanor, elder
daughter of Gilbert of Clare, and had livery of her purparty of his lordships
and lands.'
Edward II was for a time confined in Corfe Castle before he was taken
to Berkeley. One account even gave it as his place of execution.* Hence
probably arose one version of the story of his brother Edmund of Kent. It
was said that the earl, being anxious to restore his brother, was made the
victim of a plot by which a certain friar was persuaded of the truth of the
tale that the king was still alive and in Corfe Castle. To this end the friar
was smuggled into the castle, and was shown the supposed king. Reporting
to the earl, the latter was persuaded to incriminate himself by a letter to the
brother, whom he supposed still living, though captive : and this letter was
used by Isabella and Mortimer as an excuse to ruin and execute him. It is,
however, probable that Stow's account is much too detailed, and that the
details given result from a mixture of the two facts of the temporary im-
prisonment of the king at Corfe, and of the application by the Earl of Kent
to a certain friar to raise his brother's spirit for him.^
The Mortimers appear in 1285 as already holding lands in Dorset.
Edmund Mortimer earl of March had lands in Winterborne Steepleton,
and held Chilcombe, which, however, he subinfeudated to the prior of
St. John of Jerusalem, as did Roger Mortimer, lord of Chirk, his manor
of Stottingway in the hundred of Culliford Tree.* Simon de Montacute
{pb. 1 3 17), in return for services in Edward's Welsh campaign in 1277,
received additions to the Dorset lands which had descended to him from
the original Drogo de Montacute of Domesday Book, tenant of the count of
Mortain in Nyland and in Toller.' In 1299 he was made constable of Corfe
Castle. His grandson William, who helped Edward III to arrest Mortimer,
was rewarded by grants of land forfeited by him, including Sherborne Castle,
Corfe Castle, and Purbeck Chase.* Later, Simon obtained also the manor of
Canford,' which had passed from Henry de Lacy and Countess Margaret to
their daughter Alice. On the death of Thomas of Lancaster she remised it
to the crown, who granted it to the Earl of Surrey for life, and then to
Hugh le Despenser, and on his forfeiture to William de Montacute the
elder." Later again he obtained the manors of Marshwood, Wootton,
Worth, Frome Whitfield, and Poole. '^ In 1337 he was created earl of
' SeeDugdale, Baronage, ii, 114 ; Genealogist, May, 1905 ; Feud. Aids, \, 15, 17, 19, 22, &c.
'See Cat. Anct. Deeds, A. 214, 215, 4587, 249, 250. ' Dugdale, Baronage, i, 392.
* Ann. Bermondes. (Rolls Scr.), iii, 472 ; Vita Edtcardi Secundi (Rolls Ser.), 76.
'See Leland, Collectanea, \, 686 ; Stow, Chron. 129 ; article on 'Edmund of Kent' in Diet. Nat. Bicg.;
Bond, Corfe Castle, 23.
^ Feud. Aids, i, 3, 6, 20. See Hutchins, op. cit. ii, 845, where it is included in the hundred of
Ugscomb.
^ Dom. Bk. i, 79. 'Pari. R. ii, 606 ; Chart. R. 4 Edw. Ill, m. I, No. 2.
' Chart. R. 9 Edw. Ill, m. 6, No. 26 ; Close, 2 Ric. II, m. 23.
" Chart. R. 1 1 Edw. Ill, m. 26, No. 54.
"Ibid. 9 Edw. Ill, m. 3, No. 16 ; 10 Edw. Ill, m. 18, No. 36.
140
POLITICAL HISTORY
Salisbury, and his son William, the second earl, in 1356 came to an agree-
ment with the Bishop of Salisbury about the long-disputed custody of Sher-
borne Castle.^ On 31 July, i 381, he was appointed captain against the rebels
in Dorset and Somerset ; but the rebellion did not come to a head in
Dorset. His great-grand-daughter and heiress Alice, by her marriage to
Richard Neville (eldest son of the earl of Westmorland by his second wife,
Lady Joan Beaufort, daughter of John of Gaunt), took the inheritance to the
Nevilles. After the death of their son at the battle of Barnet it was granted
by Edward IV to his own brother George (whom he had made duke of
Clarence) on his marriage with Isabel Neville. The lands of the Duke of
Clarence included the manors of Todber, Iwerne Courtney, Ibberton,
Ranston, Wraxall, Chilfrome, Kentcombe, Mapperton, Puncknowle, Toller
Porcorum, and the castle and manor of Corfe.^ The Edmund Mortimer
of the reign of Richard II had married Philippa, daughter and heiress of
Lionel duke of Clarence, third son of Edward III, who had died seised
of the manors of Marshwood, Cranborne, Tarrant Gunville, Pimperne,
Steeple, Wyke, and Portland, and the boroughs of Wareham and Wey-
mouth.* On her mother's side (as grand-daughter of the coheiress of
Gilbert of Clare) she enjoyed also many Dorset manors.* The heir to their
grandson Edmund, who died in 1425, was declared to be Richard duke of
York, who accordingly had livery of his lands. ^
John of Gaunt had succeeded, in right of his wife Blanche (who was
sister and heiress of Maud, daughter of Henry duke of Lancaster, brother and
heir of Thomas, executed after Boroughbridge), to the manors of Kingston
Lacy, Shapwick, and Maiden Newton, the Chase of Wimborne Holt, and
the hundred of Badbury.' This formed the nucleus of the Beaufort connexion
with Dorset, the Yorkists, as has been said, being well represented also.
The two Beaufort sons of the Duke of Lancaster who were laymen en-
joyed the Dorset title. John, the eldest, was created marquis of Dorset in
1397, but degraded in 1399. In 1402 the Commons petitioned the king to
restore to him the name and rank of marquis, but he himself was opposed to ;
their request on the ground of the novelty and foreign sound of the title.'
His son Henry died, while yet a minor, seised of the castle and lordship of
Corfe. Thomas, third of the sons of John of Gaunt by Catherine Swinford,
was created earl of Dorset in 141 1 and duke of Exeter (for life only) in
1 41 6. He died without issue in 1426. Edmund Beaufort (his nephew
and heir, and son of John, first marquis) succeeded as earl of Dorset in 1441,
and was created marquis of Dorset in 1442, for his services at the relief of
Calais.* His elder brother John duke of Somerset had succeeded to the
lands of his grandfather John of Gaunt, and thus it came about that the Lady \
Margaret Beaufort, his daughter, and the mother of Henry VII, was born at •
Kingston Lacy. Edmund, the second marquis above mentioned, was killed
at the battle of St. Albans in 1455, and left three sons, Henry, Edmund, and
John, of whom the youngest, John, was killed at Tewkesbury. In 1452
Henry VI made a grant to Queen Margaret of lands in Dorset, mainly
' Close, 29 Edw. Ill, m. 36. 'Dugdalc, Baronage, ii, 164.
'Ibid. 168. Mbid. i, 150.
'Ibid. 1 5 1-2 ; Jc/s o/P.C. (ed. Nicholas), iii, 94-5.
* Dugdale, op. cit. ii, 1 14. ' Ibid. 122.
'Pari. R. 20 Hen. VI, No. 3 ; Jcti o/P.C. (ed. Nicholas), v, 209.
141
A HISTORY OF DORSET
in the neighbourhood of Weymouth.' She landed at Weymouth in 1471,
and was joined there by Somerset. It is said that many Dorset men took
part in the succeeding campaign of Tewkesbury. -
The title of marquis of Dorset was granted by Edward IV to Thomas
Grey of Ruthyn (son of his queen, Elizabeth Wydville) in 1475, and he
intrigued for the absent Henry Tudor.' On his accession Henry granted
Corfe Castle and manor to his mother ; on her death Henry VIII granted
them, together with the Isle of Purbeck, to the Duke of Richmond and
Somerset. On his death they once more reverted to the crown,* and later
were again granted to the Duke of Somerset, this time to the Protector. On
his attainder they again reverted to the crown, Elizabeth finally granting
them to Sir Christopher Hatton.'
Dorset was associated with the rebellion of Perkin Warbeck in two
different manners, answering to the two phases of that rebellion. The under-
lying motive of the first stage of the rising was protest against extortionate
taxation. This ended, in June (1497), with the defeat of the Cornishmen at
Blackheath. A purely personal sentiment for Warbeck began in the west
country with his landing in Cornwall that September. It crumbled
away on his flight.
The first rising found sympathizers all over the shire. The fines after-
wards levied extend pretty generally throughout it. But the names of the
more important families are absent from the Exchequer Roll of Accounts for
the twelfth year of the reign (ending 21 August, 1497, ^•^- before the
second rising began), which gives the list of fines levied. The Horseys,
Strangways, Binghams, Trenchards, Martins of Athelhampton, Delalyndes,
Mortons, and Rogers of Bryanston apparently held aloof.* The boroughs of
Dorchester and Bridport, and seven hundreds are implicated. The famous
merchant, John Williams of Dorchester, was among the fined. A Turberville
was fined in the hundred of Bere Regis. The monasteries sided generally
with the commonalty in their disloyalty. The inhabitants of Abbot's Fee
in Sherborne were fined nearly ;!^40, the abbot of Bindon ^^20, and the
tithings of Cerne Abbas and Milton Abbas respectively £1^ and >Ci°- John
Okey, 'chaplain' of Buckland Newton, paid £10, and John Mabbe, vicar of
Netherbury, £1. The king treated the rebels with great leniency,' pro-
claiming a general pardon in the western counties on their submission to
his mercy.* But the collection of the fine was accompanied by much
unfairness, extortion, and embezzlement ; Harry Uvedale, bailiff of Pur-
beck, was the chief offender, while the complaints were voiced by one
of the Claviles, and brought before Sir John Turberville (whose name
occurs in Warbeck's Northumberland Proclamation), one of the king's
council. The Dorset commissioners were Sir Amyas Paulet and Robert
Sherborne.*
' IVey mouth Chart, i, lo. 'Bankes, Corfe Castle, 29.
' Memorials of Hen. I'll (Rolls Ser. lo), xxxix, 24.
* Cal L. and P. Hen. Fill, i, 334, 563. ' Pat. 14 Eliz. pt. xii.
^MS. Reg. 14 B. vii, B.M. is a list of the fines exacted. L. and P. Ric. Ill and Hen. VII (Rolls Ser.),
App. B. vol. ii.
' Cal. Venet. State Papers, i 202-1 509, p. 260.
* Cal. of Pat. R. 24-25 July, 1497, m. 4 ; Pat. 13 Hen. VII, m. 6 d.
^Letters of Ric. Ill and Hen. VII (Rolls. Ser.), ii, 75-6. See also Notes and Queries for Som and
Dors. VII, Win, 102.
142
POLITICAL HISTORY
In the second rising also, the king had full confidence in the loyalty of
the landed classes. He wrote (September 20) to the Bishop of Bath and
Wells (Warbeck being then engaged in besieging Exeter) : 'The Perkin and his
company, if they come forward, shall find before them . . . the noblemen
of South Wales, and of our counties of Gloucester, Wiltshire, Hampshire,
Somerset, and Dorset.'^ The list of the fined was practically confined to the
Pretender's line of flight from Taunton, by way of Sherborne, Blackmoor,
and Cranborne Chase to Beaulieu. There was evidently no discontent with
the Tudor monarchy, but merely pity extended to a fugitive.
The loyalty of the country gentlemen showed itself a few years later
(1501) on the bridal progress of Catherine of Arragon. She was received
with much ceremonial, and escorted from stage to stage ; two or three miles
before she came to Sherborne (from Exeter and Crewkerne) she was met by
Sir Thomas de la Lynde, William Martin, Sir John Turberville, Sir Roger
Newburgh, Richard Willoughby, William Barket, and Henry Strangways.
These conveyed her to Shaftesbury, where she was met by another set of
important gentlemen, and accompanied to Amesbury.^
At the Field of the Cloth of Gold Dorset was represented by Sir Giles
Strangways, Sir Thomas Trenchard, and Sir Thomas Lynde. ^ And to the
suppression of the Northern Rebellion of 1536 the county contributed 1,0 £;o
men, viz. Sir Giles Strangways 300, Sir Thomas Arundel and Sir Edward
Willoughby 200 each. Sir Thomas More and John Rogers, esq. 100 each,
and Sir John Horsey 150.* In 1538 there was some slight disaffection,' but
on the whole the Tudor period is barren of any stirring events. It is con-
cerned mainly with questions of defence, and in it we get glimpses of
electoral procedure, following on the borough controversies whose roots lay
centuries deep. The county was fairly heavily charged for coat and conduct
money, besides having to furnish contingents at frequent intervals. Thus in
1546 the coat and conduct money of 100 men raised by the county was
£^K, 16s. 8^.,° while in 1600, ^19 16s. \d. was the coat and conduct money
charged for 50 men.'' Not so many men were apparently demanded for the
wars of Henry VIII as for those of Elizabeth. Henry wanted money and men
for his castles and garrisons. Sandsfoot Castle, built by him in 1540, was
carefully munitioned,* and gunners for the Isle of Purbeck and for Portland
were not reduced in number till 1552.'
The execution of Lady Jane Grey and reconciliation of England with
Rome seem to have produced slight disturbances in 1554, for a letter from
the Privy Council to the sheriff and justices of the peace mentions the late
false rumours of a ' commocion ' in Dorset, ' to the evil stirring of the
people.' Two days later (3 1 July) a second letter thanks them for their
diligence and prays them to continue the same ; and because they have a
commission of oyer and terminer they are to proceed against the spreaders of
these reports. In this connexion Edward Horsey was specially mentioned
as ' of evill demeanour.' ^^ In 1557 the county was still suffering disturbance
' Ellis, Original Letters, i, 35, ser. i. ' Letters of Ric. Ill and Hen. Vll (Rolls Ser.), i, 406, 407.
' L. and P. Hen. Fill, iii, pt. i, 241. * Ibid, xi, 232.
' Ibid, xiii, pt. ii, 473. * Jets of P. C. (ed. Dasent), 1542-7, p. 393.
' Ibid. 1600, pp. 102, 185. ' Ibid. 1550-2, p. 172 ; ibid. 1549-50, p. 393.
* Ibid. 184 ; ibid. I 5 52-4, pp. 32, 34. '" Ibid. I 5 54-6, pp. 1 68-9.
A HISTORY OF DORSET
from this cause, and ' the whole force of the shire ' was to be held ready ' in
case of rebellion.' ^
In spite of this strong though evidently suppressed Protestant feeling
there were a certain number of recusants in the reign of Elizabeth. No
notice was taken of them till 1582, when the apprehension was ordered of
one Slade, a very dangerous Papist, also of any Jesuit or seminary priest.* This
followed hard upon riots against the sheriff, instigated by Henry Howard,
son and heir of Lord Bindon.' A prosecution for witchcraft had taken place
in 1564.* On 7 February, 1585, a regular assessment of fines for recusancy
was enforced, under the lord-lieutenancy of the Marquis of Winchester.*
In 1590 there was some sympathy with the recusants displayed:* and in
1598 certain recusants were fined ^^15 each towards the Irish Light Horse.''
The names of the fined were Lady Sturton, Charles Sturton, esq., Mrs.
Martin of Athelhampton, Henry Cary of Hamworthy, and Mr. Slade of
Mawston.
The need of men for Irish service had been constantly brought home.
Three hundred Dorset men served in 1573, a hundred more were sent out in
1578, another hundred the next year, a further hundred in 1598, and
another hundred and fifty in 1600, with fifty more for the plantation of
Lough Foyle, reinforced later in the year by an additional twenty ; while in
the same year resort was had to the method of levying from each of the
principal gentlemen (viz. Sir George Trenchard, Sir Ralph Horsey, Thomas
Freake, and John Fitzjames) ' one light horse and equipment and man
and equipment.'*
The preparations to meet the Armada included the furnishing of Corfe
Castle, Portland Castle, and the Isle of Purbeck with ordnance,* a contribution
of ship-money from Weymouth, Shaftesbury, Wareham, Dorchester, Bland-
ford, Sherborne, and Cerne Abbas, for the ' two ships and one pinnace ' to be
set forth by Weymouth. The rest of the county, and Lyme and Chard,
were afterwards also forced to contribute. A thousand foot, but no horse, were
ordered to be sent to London by 6 August. This led to a lively but
unavailing protest from the rest of the inhabitants, who feared the Spanish
fleet and French attacks. ' Lances and light horse ' were commanded to
London by the 8th. The clergy also raised a troop. ^^ Next year the lord-
lieutenant received instructions as to the levies and military stores, and how
far they were to be kept on a war footing. A sale of powder in store at
Dorchester was also ordered ' awaie nowe, when there is occasion to use yt,
for yt is but bad powder, and the longer yt is kept the worse it wilbe.' "
The expenses of the repelling of the Armada were met by a loan borrowed
from 2,416 of the queen's subjects in the thirty-six counties, which amounted
to nearly ^75,000 ; it was impossible to meet them by ordinary subsidies,
and an extraordinary subsidy large enough to bring in the sum required
' AcU ofP.C. (ed. Dasent), 1556-8, p. 87. ' Ibid. 1 581-2, p. 446.
' Ibid. 1 580-1, p. 217. • Ibid. 1558-70, pp. 200-1. ' Ibid. 1586-7, p. 16.
* Ibid. 1590-1, p. 358. ' Ibid. 1598-9, p. 499 ; see also Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, 252J.
'Jets of P. C. 1571-5, pp. 125-6; 1577-8, P- 24°; 1598-9, P- 499; 1597-8. P- 329; '600,
pp. 102, 247, 416, 439, 790, 798. See also Dorch. Corp. MSS. and Weymouth Chart, v, 28.
^ Acts of P. C. 1588, p. 259.
'" Ibid. 133, 301, 353, 171, 192, 181, 267. See also Ellis, Hist. Weymouth, 15 ; Weymouth Charters,
V, 26, 32.
" Acts of P. C. i;88-o, p. 389.
144
POLITICAL HISTORY
would have ruined the country and caused widespread ill-feeUng. In the
spring of 1587 the loan was called for by circular letters, addressed under
sanction, or by command of the Privy Seal, to the wealthier inhabitants of each
county, whose names were furnished by the lords-lieutenant. In some cases
the names given were of those who really could not pay. But in Dorset no
remissions were allowed, and jri,g^o was paid by forty-seven of its gentry.
Robert Freke of Cerne, John Miller of Came, Henry Coker of Mappowder,
Robert Harley of Stalbridge, Thomas Chafyn, and James Hannam of Purse
Caundle paid >Ci°o each.^ Matthew Chubb of Dorchester, assessed at £S'^,
wrote to Secretary WoUy, saying that ' neither the Lord Lieutenant, nor the
Deputy Lieutenant, have certified the sufficiency of your suppliant to be able
to lend Her Majesty any sum of money.' There is no record of how he
fared.'
All this while the twin towns of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis had
been carrying on a bitter quarrel. The old competitors of Dorchester
(Lyme, Wareham, and Poole) had all withdrawn from the contest. Wey-
mouth and Melcombe, however, continued their strife with unabated vigour,
in spite of the so-called Act of Union of 1571, which united the two
boroughs ' in government, the peace, and entire jurisdiction,' also as to the
receipt of the petty customs of ' the haven and watercourse ; ' but for
' private actions, suits, etc. ... in leets and lawdays . . . they retained the
same divided in their several towns.' ' This apparent settlement had been
arrived at by a commission from the Privy Council, consisting of the Lords
Justices Jeffisry and Manwood. But the disturbances ran so high* that in
1586 a fresh commission was sent to settle them. The matter was not ended
till 1616, all the local lawyers being kept busy, on both sides, and ' Holand-
shed, a keeper of recordes in the Tower, delivered a ^0 Warranto to Best,
and Best thought it to be forged, because he had it so good cheape.'^
Interference with elections for Parliament is a common feature of this
period. The Earl of Pembroke (steward of Weymouth, Wyke, Portland,
and other royal manors) with 'E. Philippes gent.' selected the two representa-
tives for Weymouth in 1585.' Lord Warwick chose the opposing two for
Melcombe.^ Lord Bedford, in 1576, wrote to the bailiffs of the former
proposing that ' upon the return of your indentures you will send the same,
with a blank for the name,' as he wished to nominate one of the members.'
In 1 57 1 he had already selected one of the members for Poole ; in 1581 the
Earl of Leicester assumed this privilege, in 1584 the recorder, Giles Estcourt,
and in 1585 the Earl of Warwick. In Poole, at any rate, this state of affairs
continued till the Commonwealth.' So late as the county election of 1675
the Bishop of Bristol sent circulars to all his clergy instructing them which
way to vote : —
I have sent my secretary into Dorsetshire on purpose to disperse these letters amongst
you, and I hope you will be careful so to send these from one to another that the whole
diocese will be sensible of my desire to them.^"
' T. C. Noble : ' The names of those persons . . . who subscribed to the Armada.' Notes and Queries
fir Som. and Dors, i, 3 3 sqq.
' Cal. S.P. Dom. E/iz. 1581-90, p. 223 (114).
' Weymouth Chart, ii, 4. * j4cts of P. C. iSJ^-Jy P- 3^8. ' Weymouth Chart, ii, 70.
' Ibid, ii, 4; iii, 15. ' Ibid, i, 25. ' Ibid, iv, I J. " Hutchins, Dorset, i, 25-7.
'° Christie, Life of the First Lord Shaftesbury, ii, 2 1 8.
2 145 ^9
A HISTORY OF DORSET
In 1592 the grievance of purveyance, long felt, came to a head, owing
to the extra burden imposed on the rest of the county by the exemptions
claimed by the Isle of Purbeck, the liberties of Gillingham, Wyke Regis,
Stour Preaux, the hundred of Whitchurch, and the liberties of Sutton Pointz
and Sydling.^ In 1593, on inquiry, the exemptions were repealed, in spite
of the great efforts on behalf of the Isle of Purbeck made by William
Bond. Purbeck also had to contribute towards the provision for Her
Majesty's household.- This redressed the local exactions complained of in
the Blandford division in 1591/ which were heavier, from the exemptions of
the town of Poole, the island of Purbeck, and the hundred of Whiteway.
In 1566 the joint shrievalty of Dorset and Somerset was discontinued,
each county henceforth being administered by a separate sheriff.*
The chief place among the illegal exactions of Charles I is generally
accorded to the unauthorized collection of ship-money ; the first general
writ for this was dated 1634. The illegalities of billeting soldiers upon
private persons, and of enforcing service for the public works were, however,
more annoying in the years immediately preceding 1634. The justices of the
peace for the county complained in July 1632 that 'this little county ' was
taxed ' in equality with Hampshire and Wiltshire,' which was the more unjust,
that they have performed the service of many thousand loads of stones in the Isle of Port-
land, for building the banqueting house, and that service is still continued upon them
towards His Majest)''s buildings, besides that there is ^5,000 and upwards due to this
county for billeting soldiers.
They, therefore, begged to be spared the carriage of 1,290 loads of timber out
of the New Forest.' It appears that the county eventually tacitly declined the
service of this carriage. William Twyne, who did perform his share, could get
no money therefor.^ In 1626 a thousand soldiers from Devon and Corn-
wall, under martial law, had been quartered in Dorset.'' In 1629 the cor-
poration of Dorchester complained to the Council of the billeting of soldiers
' by along space, for which they have received no satisfaction,' viz. in particular
from 23 April to 3 August, 1628, 'amounting to £^jj i6j., whereof ^^b
only is paid and ^^51 i6j. reste unpaid.'* With other similar items the
sum soon mounted to ^^260 \C)s. But in 1632 the lord treasurer wrote to
the mayor of Dorchester to pay the ^(^260 odd, which was said to be 'in the
hands of three or four men who collected the loan-money of the county.' '
This ' loan-money ' was just possibly contributions, somewhat forced,
towards the Cadiz expedition of 1625,^° or the later recovery of the
Palatinate." But it is more probable that the reference was to an early
ship-money writ. The corporation of Bridport possesses such a writ dated
5 November, 1628.^^ It provides for the outfit of a man-of-war of 400 tons,
with equipment and provisions tor twenty-six weeks, and for an assessment to
cover the cost. It contains the clause : ' Should any person be found rebel-
lious, they shall be committed to prison until further order is made for their
delivery.'
' Acts oj P.C. 1592-3, pp. 354-6- ' Ibid. 452, 457-8, 468-9.
' Ibid. 1 591-2, p. 306. ' Slatutei at Large, 8 llliz. cip. i6.
^ Cal. S.P. Dom. 1631-3, p. 381. 'Ibid. 1633-4, p. "o.
' Weymouth Chart, iv, 71. * Dorch. Corp. MSS. C. 9.
' Ibid. '" Cal. S.P. Dm. 1635-6, p. 66. " Ibid. 163 1-3, p. 210, an. 1 631.
" Notes and Queries for Som. and Dors, viii, 14.
146
POLITICAL HISTORY
The nominal objects of the levy of ship-money were defence against inva-
sion and defence against the pirates who had troubled the Dorset coast
all through the preceding century, and whose raids were only ended by the
sea-power of the Protectorate. It is probable that the government honestly
believed in efforts then said to be making to invade England. A letter from
Lord Suffolk in 1626 to the mayor and corporation of Weymouth and Mel-
combe speaks of the preparations for an invasion by Spain from Flanders.^
It seems to have been caused by a letter to him from the Privy Council, to
order him to have the militia drilled, as the king had cause to expect an
invasion from Spain and Flanders.^ Yet, in spite of continued levies of ship-
money, Dorset had no help against the pirates — Turkish and Algerian
and often helped by the Dutch — whose attacks became worse, from 16 10 on.
Weymouth often joined Exeter and Dartmouth in attempts at repelling them,
and resort was had to petitions to the Council. In 1636 the corporation
endeavoured to enlist the favour of Laud, who
did protest (strikeing his hands upon his brest), that whilst hee had breath in his bodie, he
would doe his uttmost endeavor to advance so necessary and consequential! a business . . .
that within this twelve monethes, not a Turkish ship should be able to putt out.^
But nothing was done to help the county against this scourge. It was, there-
fore, all the more irritating to find that ship-money writs continued to be
issued, the sums demanded having increased in severity. By 2 i March, 1635,
the sum received from the Dorset maritime towns under the writ of the
preceding year was ^^1,400, Gloucestershire and Hampshire having paid only
^1,000 each.* The method of procedure was to assess the county in a
certain sum, and to make the sheriff responsible. He then divided this sum
among the various corporate towns, and the remaining parts of the county.
The corporate towns rated themselves and forwarded their contributions
through their mayors. The sheriff assessed the sums to be paid by the
various hundreds and parishes not included in the corporate towns, and
collected from these by his ' servants' or bailiffs. So early as 1635 the men
of Poole protested against the levy.° But about the same time Sir Thomas
Trenchard, sheriff (remonstrated with by the Council because he had not sent
in a note to say how the ship-money was assessed by him, and how much
to be paid by every hundred and corporate town), replied that he had already
paid to Sir William Russell ^^3,100, and to his own successor in office
(John Freke) jCgoS is. bd., with a memorial of the sum still owing,
>C99i i8j. dd. He had been delayed in returning his account by the daily
concourse of people to pay in their moneys to him.' A list, drawn up by
him in April, 1636, of those who had not paid, shows that Sir Walter Erie,
afterwards Parliamentary general, owed £^t^ 6s. Sd. for lands in Morden,
£^ 3J. for lands in Combe Aimer, and ^4 i is. for lands in Chelborough.
Sir William Strode would not pay, but suffered his goods to be distrained.''
This case is the first mention of distraint. But the method was necessarily
soon resorted to in the collection of so unpopular a tax, at a time of
peculiar hardship, when the county was suffering severely from plague
ravages. In the assessment of 1636 Shaftesbury paid nothing, so heavy was
' Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v, 581. » Weymouth Chart, iv, 56.
' Ibid, vi, 103. * Cal. S.P. Dom. 1633-4, P- 594
' C<7/. S.?. DuOT. 1635-6, p. 12. ' Ibid. 211, 356. ' Ibid. 395-6.
147
A HISTORY OF DORSET
the loss from the disease. Poole then paid ^(^30, Dorchester ^^45, Wareham
>r25, Corfe Castle £^0, Weymouth and Melcombe £2 5^ Lyme £^0, Brid-
port ^C^o, and Blandford £2^. This was the sheriffs own assessment, the
mayor of Dorchester having declined, with the other mayors of the county,
at a meeting held 23 November, 1636, to make any rate towards the ;^5,ooo
demanded.^ John Freke, the sheriff, wrote that autumn that the money was
paid ' like drops of blood, and some sell their only cow, which should feed
their children, and some come to the parish.' ' Next year Richard Rogers,
the new sheriff, took forty days ' expediting the agreements of the mayors of
the corporate towns, and at the expiration was put to make the assessments
himself.'' The assessment of 1637 was heavier on the towns than that of
1636. Shaftesbury now paid ^^5, Poole £24., Wareham £2^, Corfe Castle
^40, Weymouth and Melcombe £8^, Lyme jr4o, Bridport ^20, and
Dorchester >C45-* Sir Walter Erie was distrained, which with the similar
treatment of 'some great ones, reduced the rest to conformity ' for the time
being.' By i September only ^^200 of the whole >r^,ooo was wanting.
Arrears under the writ of 4 August, 1635, still came in, in driblets, and
the official return of the whole arrears of the county, in October, 1637, was
^1,200.^ But the old arrears were never all got in before new writs were
issued, and disputes as to rating became more and more common,'' occasioning
' more than ordinary pains and trouble.' Richard Bingham, the new sheriff,
who endeavoured to collect under a new writ of December, 1638, found that
the corporate towns could not agree upon their rating.' So late as 4 Feb-
ruary, 1640, Sir John Croke, sheriff in 1639, had received no money under
the writ of 1637, though he had 'sent throughout the whole county the
present sheriffs schedules and warrants.' He promised to 'do his best
endeavours to collect so much of these arrears as may be had,'' but evidently
was not optimistic. The 'present sheriff' of Sir John's letter was William
Churchill, who began office evidently meaning to collect all arrears." But in
spite of his most active measures, he was as unsuccessful as his predecessors
in collecting a tax which the county could not possibly pay, and against
which feeling was running very high. Even in 1631 there had been
serious rioting, and the Council wrote to the Justices of Assize to use extra-
ordinary diligence in finding and punishing ' the offenders and encouragers
of certain rebellions rather than riots lately committed on their circuit,' His
Majesty charging them to proceed against the delinquents with all severity."
Matters had not been improved by further vexatious illegalities, the tax of
6(/. per 1 2 lb. on all the hard soap made in the county,^' and the close
monopoly of this manufacture, the obligation imposed in 1636 on every
alehouse-keeper to become bound in _^2o not to dress any venison, red or
fallow, or any hares, pheasants, partridges, or heath pout,^' and the abuses in
the collection of the ship-money itself, the common report being that nearly
jTijOOO more was collected than was actually required.^*
' Dorch. Corp. MSS. C. 9. * Ca,. S.P. Dom. 1636-7, p. 151.
' Ibid. 419. * Ibid. 542. ' Ibid. 1637, p. 400.
* Ibid. 504. ' Ibid. 150-1, and ibid. 1637-8, p. 169.
'Ibid. 1639, p. 17. See also Dorch. Corp. MSS. 'Minute Book of Council Meetings,'
22 Jan. 1639.
' Cai.S.P. Dom. 1639-40, p. 426. '" Ibid. 454, 556. " Ibid. 1631-3, p. 107.
" Ibid. 1637-8, p. 292. " Ibid. 1635-6, p. 247. " Ibid. 1637, p. 419.
148
POLITICAL HISTORY
Resistance by 1640 had come to a head. The goods distrained yielded
no money, for want of buyers. When there came buyers, the sale was a
farce, and could not be proceeded with. Offers of 'jd. and (^d. were made
for an ox worth ^8.^ The people also rescued their goods when distrained,
beating off the bailiffs with bills and stones. Of ^6,000 the sheriff could,
in half a year, get but >r300 from the entire county.^ One specimen of
procedure will suffice : sending his servants to levy ^<^ i 2j. \d. on the goods
of Lady Anne Ashley, on her farm at Martinstown, William Churchill,
the sheriff, found that her servants, William and Roger Samways, came with
violence and rescued two of her horses which had been seized. Two days
later. Lady Anne having horses at Dorchester, the sheriffs servants en-
deavoured to distrain them, but William Samways again violently rescued
them, saying that Denzil Holies (M.P. for the shire, and son-in-law to the
lady) would bear them out in what they had done, ' The places and
parishes adjacent take notice of these attempts, and by this evil example,
many will be drawn away and presume to do the like.''
At length even the civil authorities openly set their faces against
the levy of the money. In 1 640 none of the mayors of corporate
towns had paid in anything at all five months after the issue of the
writ,* and the constables and bailiffs themselves refused, in many cases,
to distrain. The Dorset troop in Yorkshire broke into something very
like mutiny, and Sir Jacob Astley was obliged to court-martial and shoot one
of th
e men.
Poole has been called the head quarters of the Parliamentary cause in
Dorset,* but Clarendon says that there was no place in England more
zealously Presbyterian than Dorchester.'' The citizens of the latter were
stirred by the teaching and example of John White,* rector of Holy Trinity
parish, a man of powerful mind and personality. From having been a
moderate Puritan, he became an ardent Covenanter, probably in consequence
of the petty persecution to which he was subjected by the Court of High
Commission. In 1632 a high churchman wrote of him, 'Good men are
shy of this man in places where he is most and best known.'* In 1635
his letters and papers were seized, probably in his study,^" and on 10 No-
vember, he appeared before the Court and took the oath to answer the
articles against him." He was several times remanded for the ' insufficiency
of his answers,' and incurred a rebuke for his non-observance of Good
Friday." He had already shown the tendency of his mind by promoting
and organizing the settlement of New Dorchester, near Boston, Mass. The
Calvin of Dorchester, in November, 1640, he took the Covenant himself,
and induced many of his fellow-townsmen to follow his example. In his
zeal for the Puritan cause he was emulated by his friend and rival, Ezra
Benn, who became with him during the Commonwealth one of the ' Triers '
for examining^' the qualifications of candidates for the cure of souls. Sir Robert
' Cal. S.P. Dom. 1639-40, p. 241, and ibid. 1640, p. 599. ' Ibid. 1640, pp. 599, 551.
Mbid. p. 536. * Ibid. 'Ibid. p. 559.
' Hutchins, Dorset, i, 8-10. ' Hist, of the Rebellion, iv, 201.
' Hutchins, op. cit. ii, 375, 376 ; Athen. Oxon. ii, 1 14, 1 15.
' Cat. S.P. Dom. 1 63 1-3, p. 402. '" Ibid. 163 5-6, p. 79.
" Ibid. p. 108. " Ibid. pp. 1 16, 125, 470, 503, 512, 513.
" Minute Bks. Dorset Standing Committee (ed. Mayo), p. xi. Dorch. Corp. MSS.
149
A HISTORY OF DORSET
Foster, now the only Justice of Assize for the Western Circuit,' was warned
of the trend of local feeling by Lord Hertford : ' I find that many of the
gentlemen and others of this county that stand well affected to the king's
serv^ice . . . are very apprehensive what may pass at this your assizes, few
of them will adventure themselves into that town, being at present in such
a posture of war.' * The report of Sir Robert himself, when he came into
the west, was that ' the most appearance of arms was at Exeter and Dor-
chester.' ' The town * was the rendezvous for many volunteers of the
Parliament. In February, 1642—3, many came to Dorchester for the great
enrolment of that month, the townsmen supplementing any shortage in their
accoutrements.' The other Dorset towns did not thus' prepare themselves
from the very first to take an active part in hostilities. Nevertheless the
sympathies of Lyme, Poole, and Weymouth were always with the Parlia-
ment. And though each in turn was later occupied by the king's troops,
yet each made a more gallant show than the county town. In smaller
towns, where the influence of the territorial magnate was greater than the
development of self-government, the tendency was to take as little part as
possible in the war. Wareham alone, dominated by the influence of Corfe
Castle," firmly held out for the king.
The importance of Dorset in the Civil War arose from its geographical
position. It lay between the Royalist strongholds of the south-west and of
Oxford. While the towns of Somerset were Parliamentarian, the fortresses
of Sherborne and Corfe afforded keys respectively to the northern and
southern communications with the west. On the other hand the sea-board
towns, with their excellent harbours and proximity to the French coast, were
of untold importance in the Royalist communications with their continental
friends and helpers. Hence, while the county never saw any first-class
engagement, its importance, both military and naval, never ceased during the
whole war.
The first move in Dorset came from Lord Hertford, who threw
himself into Sherborne Castle immediately upon the outbreak of war.'' This
delayed the occupation of the towns by the local Parliamentary captains, Denzil
Holies (M.P. for Dorchester) and Sir Walter Erie (D.L. of the county).
Under the Earl of Bedford, they besieged the castle with 7,000 foot, but
were dispirited by the vigorous and constant sallies of Lord Hertford, and
the mutiny and desertion of the trained bands,' who were deliberately dis-
banded by the sheriff of Dorset,* Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, a man,
according to Lord Hertford, ' so loyal and affectionate for His Majesty's
service.' "^ Lord Bedford, unable to continue the siege, retired to Yeovil
' Cal. S.P. Dom. 1641-3, p. 364 ; Docquets of Letters Patent (Rec. Com.), lo.
• Cal. S.P. Dom. 1641-3, p. 371. ' Ibid. p. 375.
• 'The magazine from whence the other places were supplied with principles of rebellion,' Clarendon,
Hist, of the Rebellion, iv, 213.
' Dorch. Corp. MSS. printed, Hutchins, op. cit. ii, 242.
' On the death /. /. of William, nephew and heir of Sir Chris. Hatton, his widow married Sir Edw.
Coke. Their only child Frances married John Villiers, brother to the Duke of Buckingham, and created
Viscount Purbcck. Lords' Rep. on Dignity of a Peer, ^i- On Coke's death. Lady Coke and her daughter
sold the castle to Sir Jn. Bankes, of a Cumberland family, Attorney-General 1635, Chief Justice of Com.
Pleas, 1640.
' Docquets of Letters Patent (Rec. Com ), 27, 28.
' liist. MSS. Com. Rep. x, pt. i, vi, 147. Exceeding Joyful News, 6 Sept. 1642.
• Dorch. Corp. MSS. B. 28^. '" Cal. S.P. Dom. 1641-3, p. 369.
150
POLITICAL HISTORY
before a small force under Sir Ralph Hopton and Colonel Digby.^ Sherborne
however, soon fell into the hands* of the Parliament; for Lord Hertford,
who feared Lord Brook. ^ was about to join Lord Bedford, and learning of the
capitulation of Portsmouth (7 September), which gave all the south into the
hands of the Parliament, abandoned the castle, and crossed from Minehead
into Wales. The castle was not slighted, owing to the spirited conduct
of Lady Digby, Bedford's sister, who swore to him that if he destroyed it
she would die with it.*
All through that winter and spring (1642—3), when Hopton, from his
Cornish base, was gaining successes in Devon, Charles making headway
in the midlands, and the Parliament gradually garrisoning the towns of
Somerset, Dorset was still unattached to the national campaign. With
Stamford's defeat by Hopton in May at Stratton (co. Devon) Waller was
ordered to proceed against the Royalist army of the south-west. This he
attempted by way of Hereford. But as a counter move (19 May) Hert-
ford and Prince Maurice left Oxford for Salisbury to join hands with Hopton
in Devon. Early in June the two forces met at Chard. Waller was now
at Bath, and, after his defeat at Roundway Down, Bristol surrendered to the
victorious Royalist cavalry (26 July). This changed the fate of the Dorset
towns. Hitherto Dorchester, Lyme, Weymouth, Melcombe, and Poole
had been occupied by local Parliamentary troops, under Sir Walter Erie and
Sir Thomas Trenchard ; and Portland and Wareham " being now garrisoned
by the Parliament,* Corfe alone remained to the king. Two minor Parlia-
mentary successes in February were the defeat of Lord Inchiquin's Irish
regiment by the garrisons of Poole and Wareham,^ and the capture near
Dorchester of one of Rupert's convoys with ^^3,000 ' to be sent into his
own country.' * These had emboldened Erie and Trenchard to sit down
before Corfe, defended by Lady Bankes. In spite of the ingenious 'filling
their men with strong waters even to madnesse ' ' they failed to inspire in
them sufficient berserk courage to storm the castle. Erie (who had, on that
occasion, ' like Caesar been the only man that came sober to the assault, lest
he should be valiant against his will ') found the presence of Prince Maurice's
army in Blandford, in June, enough for his fears. He departed, leaving
Trenchard and Sydenham to continue the siege. The capitulation of Bristol,
however, meant the king's success in Dorset. Prince Maurice sent on Lord
Carnarvon to summon the Dorset towns ; Dorchester, Weymouth, and
Portland ^° surrendered at once, without a blow struck, Strode having told in
Dorchester horrid tales of the valour of the Royalist soldiers." Freedom from
plunder was one of the conditions of capitulation. But Maurice on his
arrival from Bristol with his foot and cannon, did not respect the agreement
entered into by Carnarvon. John White suffered severely by this cavalier
' Vicars, Pari. Chron. 146-9.
' It was not garrisoned by them till 20 April, 1643. Vicars, op. cit. ii, 302-4.
' See Docquets of Letters Patent (Rec. Com.), 395.
* Vicars, op. cit. 146-302.
'Which had been fortified for the Parliament in March, 1 642, but had soon fallen into the king's
hands. Vicars, op. cit. 81, 82 ; Whitelocke, Memorials, 74.
* Rushworth, Collections, iii (ii), 684. ' Whitelocke, op. cit. 79.
' Vicars, op. cit. 3. ' Mercurius Rusticus, 20 July, 1643.
'° 'A place not enough understood, but of wonderful importance.' Clarendon, Hist, of the Rebellion, \\, 213.
" Clarendon, op. cit. iv, 211-12 ; Tanner MSS. 62, fol. 218. Erie to Lenthall.
151
A HISTORY OF DORSET
looting, losing the whole of his library, as a revenge for his zeal in the
popular cause.^
All Dorset, except Lyme and Poole, was now in the king's hands ; and
• had not Lord Carnarvon, stung in his honourable pride, retired to the king,
the Prince would have been compelled to follow up these victories. But
' staying too long at Dorchester and Weymouth, he summoned Poole, which
returned so peremptory an answer, that he declined to attack it.' " Waller,
who had now been made general in the west to oppose Prince Maurice,
began to take measures for its defence." But the king's forces in the west
were affected by the unfortunate disputes of Rupert and Hertford over the
capitulation of Bristol, and of Maurice and Carnarvon over that of Dor-
chester. These, and the presence of the Parliamentary garrison at Plymouth,
caused the abandonment of the advance on London. Maurice, leaving
Poole untouched, was detailed to turn his attention to Exeter and Plymouth.
The capitulation of Exeter (4 September) and the surrender, a few days
previously, of Barnstaple and Bideford, had increased the importance of the
two Dorset garrisons remaining in Parliamentary hands. In the autumn
Poole Harbour was occupied by Lord Warwick, their admiral. But the
former losses, together with that of Dartmouth (October 16) and the con-
sequent danger to Plymouth, had the unlooked-for effect of forcing a
reconciliation between Essex and Waller, the latter of whom was charged,
at this crisis, with the raising of a western force.*
The outcome of the summer's negotiations in English troops from
Ireland landed at Minehead and Bristol, and the threatened landing of Irish
soldiers themselves, caused a danger of a Parliamentary reaction in the south-
west. Charles, with the double view of placating merchants and conveying
his own despatches, established in November a weekly passage between Wey-
mouth and Cherbourg.' Hopton's advance in December was checked by the
Royalist defeats of Alton (20 December, 1643) and Cheriton (29 March, 1644).*
On his advance Waller immediately overran Wiltshire, and occupied
Christchurch (Hants), threatening a move on Dorset. This calamity would
have more than offset the capture of Wareham by Hopton on his eastw^ard
march in January, which had ' gained the king all Dorset save a sea town
called Poole.' ^ But the city regiments declined to operate so far from their
homes, and he, unable to advance into Dorset, had to draw back to Farnham,
a reversion to the state of affairs before Cheriton.
In March (1644) Maurice, declining to join the king's main army (a
necessary step to the securing of Gloucester for the king),' blockaded Lyme
' He was appointed one of the Assembly of Divines, i July, 164.3 ; see list in Masson's Li/e of Milton,
* Vicars, op. cit. ii, 285 ; Clarendon, op. cit. iv, 213. ' Commons 'Journals, iii, 590 (15 Aug. 1643).
' Agostini to the Doge, -^r°', Venetian Transcripts, P.R.O.
' Lord Warwicli to Com'" of Both Kingdoms. 1644, 19 June. 'Weymouth has been most serviceable
to the enemy's designs and supplies of any port in England.' Cal. S. P. Dom. 1644, p. 252. See also
pp. 6 and 7.
* He had wished to secure his rear, before advancing, by the capture of the Parliamentary garrisons in
Dorset and Wilts, but was overruled by Charles, anxious for his old plan of a southern advance on Sussex and Kent.
' Cal. S. P. Dom. 1644, p. II. The surrender of Wareham w.is attributed to the treachery of the captain
of the watch, and was said to have been accompanied by 'divers rapes and cruelties.' Whitelocke, op. cit. 82.
But see S. R. Gardiner, Hist. Civ. War, \, vii. ' A reader has to be ... on his guard against stories of
cavalier outrages, specially upon women, which are probably . . . imaginary.'
' Walker, Historical Discourses, 7.
152
POLITICAL HISTORY
with 6,000 men. In April, by Rupert's counsel, he was formally entrusted
with the suppression ^ of the south-western resistance. Charles having
abandoned Reading and Abingdon to Essex went (3 June) to Worcester.
Instead of crushing him there, Essex decided to go himself to relieve Lyme,
while Waller was to pursue the king alone. ^ The Committee of Both
Kingdoms ordered Essex not to separate from Waller, but to send sufficient
cavalry to relieve Lyme, and then to hasten to Oxford with his main army.*
This letter overtook him at Blandford. He replied that, in going to relieve
Lyme, he was only carrying out their orders, which was true.* He also
pointed out that horse were no use in Lyme, and ' even if they could and
should succeed. ... I know not what my army should do without the horse
the whilst, or how the horse should ever return to my foot again.' ° A
day or two later, while still at Blandford with 1,300 horse and foot, he
detailed Sir William Balfour to go and occupy Weymouth. On its capture
by Lord Carnarvon the previous summer it had been commanded by
Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, then still a Royalist. He was high sheriff in
1643—4, and a commission from Charles to impress men in Dorset was
addressed to him and to Ashburnham, who succeeded him in the governorship
of Weymouth.* Cooper's change of side took place in the early spring of
1644 ; ^ on 6 March, information about him came before the Committee for
Compounding.' His reason for coming over was declared to be that ' he was
fully satisfied that there was no intention of that side for promoting or
preserving the Protestant religion and liberties of the kingdom.' He was
a valuable recruit, having well-stocked property at Wimborne St. Giles worth
>r8oo a year. He declared that he had not made known his intention to any,
and that, a month before he heard of the Declaration (which promised life
and liberty to all who should come in before 6 March), he delivered up his
commissions as sheriff of Dorset and governor of Weymouth, and was resolved
to return to the ParHament. One of the committee said that he was ' very
cordial for the ParHament, and able to do good service by discovery of the
enemy's designs and strength, and how to prepare against them, both at
Poole and Wareham.' '
Upon the approach of the Parliamentary force William Ashburnham,
now governor of Weymouth, garrisoned and retired into Portland Castle,
alleging orders from Prince Maurice contingent upon such circumstances.
Essex then himself advanced upon Weymouth, which at the request of the
inhabitants he occupied (16 June), the Royal garrison retiring to join the
Prince before Lyme." On the way Essex had ' delivered an elegant
speech ' at Dorchester, and Hugh Peters ' stirred up the town to see the
miseries of the war,' and ' that God now offered them an opportunity to
' He was made Lieut.-Gen. of the South — including Dorset — in February ; Docquets of Letters Patent, 163.
' A Dorset regiment (under Col. Sydenham) which Waller had with him was no more dependable, when
far from home, than other county levies. Cal. S.P. Dom. 1644, p. 220. See also S. R. Gardiner, Hht. Gt. Civ.
War, \, 340 ; ii, 4.
' Com. Both Kingdoms to Essex, 13 June, 1644 ; Cal. S.P. Dom. 1644, p. 228.
' See Committee's Letters, insisting on its relief by him ; Ap. 28, May 7, 30 ; June 3, 1 1 (bis) in Ca/.
S.P. Dm. 1644, pp. 182-3, 138, 150, 223, 226, 198.
' Ibid. 234. ' Docquets of Letters Patent (Rec. Com.), 75.
' Christie, Life of the First Lord Shaftesbury, i, 47.
' Cal. Com. Compounding, ii, 839. " Ibid.
'" Clarendon, op. cit. iv, 496-7 ; Mercurius Aulicus, 20 June, 1644 ; Cal.S. P. Dom. 1644, p. 270.
2 153 20
A HISTORY OF DORSET
free themselves from the barbarous invaders,' which opportunity they forth-
with embraced.^
Meanvvfhile the Royal cause was losing Lyme also. On 23 May
Warwick, had appeared off the town,' to whose defence Blake,' afterwards
admiral of the Commonwealth, was heroically contributing. A few days
later Warwick wrote : ' the assistance of the ships saved the town ; ' * yet the
Prince, whose operations had lately been much hampered by the bickerings
of his own officers,'' was not compelled to give up the siege till 15 June.
That morning about 2 a.m. the garrison made a splendid sally. The admiral,
writing to the Commissioners of the Navy about the men of Lyme, reported
' they have most valiantly defended themselves,' and the women behaved no
less gallantly.*
Wareham, in spite of an attempt made upon it by Essex in June,' held
out for the king until early in August. Then Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper '
and Colonel Sydenham ' with 1,200 horse and foot stormed the outworks,
whereupon the town surrendered upon articles. Most of the garrison were
sent into Ireland, Lord Inchiquin" having 'ordered his brother, Colonel
O'Brien," to come over to his assistance, which was the occasion of so easy a
surrender.'
Dorset enjoyed a temporary immunity from war in the late summer of
this year (1644), during the western march of Essex, prior to his defeat at
Lostwithiel (31 August). The occupation of Weymouth in June had been
followed by the presence of the admiral in Portland Roads frustrating the
original plans for the queen's escape. ^^ The town was not without secret
Royalist sympathizers,^' and the admiral laboured to make the fortifications
more secure, utilizing some beginnings made by the Royalists on the Nothe
peninsula. He also proposed to build a fort on ' another hill on the
Weymouth side' (Jordan Hill .?), and to add ' three small bastions' to Sands-
foot Castle.^* Melcombe, he thought, ' being separated from the main by a
causey only, will be sufficiently secured by a work already raised on the
beach.' ^* He estimated the cost at jT 1,200, and the requisite number of men
at 500, ' to which, if 200 horse be added, they will not only secure these
towns, but also keep the county of Dorset thereabouts in awe.' The Parlia-
ment allocated these resources for the defence of the town, the Committee of
the West adding to them on their own account. By 18 September, ' the
citadel is almost complete,' but ' there is still much to do.' "
' Cal. S.P. Dom. 1644, pp. 270-1.
'Ibid. pp. 365, 371. Hugh Peters accompanied him on this naval expedition. He preached a
thanksgiving sermon at Lyme on its relief.
' ' Journal of the Siege,' printed Roberts, Hist, of Lyme Re^s, 82-9.
* Cal. S.P. Dom. 1644, May 30, p. 554. ' Ibid. 160.
' Ibid. 535 ; Prince, lyortkia of Devon, 84. ' Rushworth, Collections, iii (ii), 7S4 ; Vicars, op. cit. 285.
' Commons fount. 10 July, 1644.
' Of Wynford Eagle, restored this month to the post of Governor of We}-mouth, which he had held before
the Royalist occupation. He was ' a gentleman of approved courage and industry, whose intention is to purge
the town of all malignants ' ; Cal. S.P. Dom. 1644.
'" Disappointed, Feb. 1644, in not obtaining the vacant Presidency of Munster, which was given to Lord
Portland, he changed sides on his return to Ireland, and fought for the Parliament.
" Made Governor on the Royalist occupation the previous January ; see Christie's Z,/;^ of Shaftesbury, \, 60.
" Cal. S.P. Dom. 1644, pp. 10, 133, 263, 278, 309, 555. " Ibid. 301.
" Built by Henry \'11I (1539), when fortifying the south coast.
" Cal. S. P. Dom. 1644, pp. 309, 310.
'* Ibid. pp. 461, 489, 516.
154
POLITICAL HISTORY
Charles's pursuit of Essex had been made by way of Somerset, but his
return, after Lostwithiel, was through Dorset. Early in August Rupert,
unable himself after Marston Moor and the surrender of York to leave his
post in the north, had sent down into the west Goring, ' that double traitor,,
drunken, and dissolute.' The securing of Dorset against the return of the
victorious Cavaliers became thus a necessity to the Parliament. Their horse,
under Sir William Balfour, had escaped at Lostwithiel, and Essex himself,
who had slipped away and gone by sea to Plymouth, had still some shreds of
credit with the Houses. He was assured that Manchester and Waller had
been ordered to march to Dorchester, to hold the ground till his own troops
could be re-equipped.^ Through the intervention of Prince Maurice they were
however unable immediately to effect the desired junction at Dorchester.^
But by 12 September they had joined forces. Their first step was to
strengthen the port towns and ' block up Corfe Castle ' by an addition of 500
men to the Wareham garrison.'* ' Then to Blandford, to endeavour the
gathering of the Dorset and Wilts horse into a body.' Their position in
Shaftesbury, the quarters chosen, was sufficiently insecure. The enemy were
already near the county, the king expected daily, and Waller ' knew of
nothing to hinder them from marching to London.'* He wrote from Poole
(15 September), 'I have not one horse come to me out of this county to
mount a musketeer, so that if the King advance, all I can do is to retire, before
I be forced to run.' ' He and his colleague, Sir Arthur Hazelrigg, had in
fact been misled by the lavish promises of troops made to them by the
frightened people. ' All the thousands we heard of . . . are now one troop
of horse.' * Among what troops he had disaffection was rife, and even
desertion to the Rovalists was in the air.'' This arose from the distress,
amounting to absolute want, among both officers and men, from long with-
holding of pay due.' A major of horse was fain to borrow sixpence of the
general to get his horse shod.' Waller, writing (14 November) to the
Committee of Both Kingdoms, begged for even a fortnight's pay for ' those
poor foot ... in Dorsetshire, which will be a great encouragement.' '"
Nevertheless the Royalists were not much better off than was the
Parliamentary army in East Dorset, watching their advance. So late as
29 September, Charles had got no further than Chard, and Waller reported
that ' though he calls in the county, yet we cannot learn that his army
increases.' ^^ The king's march eastward was hindered, and his forces
weakened, by the necessity of leaving men behind to block up the Parlia-
mentary garrisons of Plymouth, Taunton, and Lyme, in order to safeguard
his rear.'^ On 30 September he left Chard, and at South Perrott met Rupert,
who undertook to bring up 4,000 men from Bristol to join the army at
Sherborne.^* Charles was at Sherborne from 2 October to 8 October.^* Waller
' Lords Journ. vi, 699. ' Cal. S. P. Dom. 1644, pp. 477, 480, 482, 486.
' Ibid. 423, 502, 506. * Ibid. 489, 542.
' Ibid. p. 506. ^ Ibid. 502. ' Ibid. 1644-5, p. 114.
« Ibid. 124. Mbid. "Ibid. 135.
" Ibid. p. 542. He himself at this time made a short expedition to Bridport (which h.-<d been held con-
tinuously for the Parliament since the beginning of the war), ' raising the posse com.' SymoniTs Diary,
24 Sept. 1644 (Camd. Soc).
" Walker, Hist. Discoursa, 80-8.
" Walker, op. cit. 98. Digby to Rupert, 20 Oct. 1644. Add. MSS. 18781, fol. 297.
" Walker, op. cit. 165.
155
A HISTORY OF DORSET
was forced to fall back before him, and thus to abandon the idea of making
him fight at Shaftesbury, to cut him off from the garrison round Oxford.
Manchester ^ at Harefield (Hertfordshire) haggled incessantly, declining to
join Waller at Shaftesbury, but expressing his willingness to join Essex at
Newbury.
The second battle of Newbury (27 October, 1644) marks a fresh stage
in the development of the war. It impressed upon the Parliament the
unwisdom of trusting to local levies (which had failed as signally in Dorset
as elsewhere), and it revealed the existence of the peace-party under Man-
chester and Holies. The ultimate overthrow of the king, even in his
chosen stronghold the west, was involved in the determination to reorganize
the military forces, and in the demonstration of the impossibility of com-
promise. The former resulted in the new model army of the following
spring : the latter was the result of the private negotiations of Holies and
Whitelocke with the Royalists.
The situation in Dorset in November was marked by an even division
of forces. The king had Shaftesbury, Sherborne, Portland, and Corfe,
while his enemies held Lyme, Weymouth and Melcombe, Dorchester,
Wareham, Poole, and Bridport. Of these, Shaftesbury, dominating the vale
of Blackmoor from its hill fortress, Sherborne, the as yet impregnable castle,
Portland peninsula, whose guns commanded the harbours of Weymouth and
West Bay, and Corfe, strong naturally and artificially, were individually
the more valuable assets. Dorchester, a country town in a plain, and half
surrounded by water-meadows, was, in spite of the great sums spent upon it,*
unable to withstand serious attack. Lyme and Poole* had suffered so
grievously already that, as fortifications, their value was much depreciated.
But the possession of a series of coast towns, which included all the good
harbours in Dorset, was of more importance to the Parliament than the
maintenance of isolated fortresses, however strong. These, at best, could do
no more than furnish troops to harry the immediate neighbourhood, while
Lady Bankes at Corfe had no men to spare, even for this purpose, beyond
the bare maintenance of her hold upon the castle.* The possession of the
seaports hindered communication with the queen at St. Germains, and drove
a wedge between the Royalist districts of the south-west and of Hampshire.
Many gallant sallies were made this autumn (1644) by Sir Lewis Dives,
step-brother of Lord Digby, and step-son of Lord Bristol, to whom Sherborne
Castle belonged. In October he ^ had been appointed serjeant-major-general
of the king's army in Dorset, and made Sherborne his head quarters.*
In November the well-known Vandrusques was appointed to command the
Dorset Parliamentary Horse.'' Dorchester was more than once occupied
by each party in turn for a day or two at a time, in the course of the autumn
and winter : for after the fiasco of June, 1643, both sides had tacitly agreed
' The House voted (2 1 Sept.) that Manchester and Waller should join forces against the king. Holies,
M.P. for Dorchester, in vain urged that Essex should be included in this combination.
' / 1 9,000 was spent on the fortifications the year before ; Hutchins, Dorset, ii, 343.
' ' Poole was in great distress and scarcely tenable' ; Commons Journ. App. 17 (10 June, 1644).
* Sir John Bankes died 28 Dec. 1644.
' For the frequent omission of the final 's' in Dives or Dyves see note, Gardiner, Hist. Gi. Civil IVar,
' Walker, Hist. Discourses, 99. ' Cal. S.P. Dom. 1644-5, PP- 85> "3> 124.
156
POLITICAL HISTORY
not to waste further money on fortifying such a weak position. There was
however, no lack of valour in the inhabitants, and particularly in the
women. ^ The two Sydenhams were Dives's protagonists in these skir-
mishes : and after the governor of Poole (Major Sydenham) had defeated a
troop of the queen's regiment' near Blandford ' Sir Lewis Dives dislodged
the victors from Blandford, but returning with his own men to Dor-
chester, was set upon at night by the rest of the Poole garrison, and ' charged
through and through.' *
All this winter there was talk of a Royalist ' Associated Counties,' to
consist of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, and Dorset, which should balance
the Parliamentary eastern association. Prince Maurice and Lord Hopton
had for months been endeavouring to mature the scheme." But the diffi-
culties in the way were too great to allow of its being carried out. The
hilly character of the districts chosen, and their deep inlets of the sea *
hindered alike easy communication and the growth of a common principle
and sentiments. The two more eastern counties were not sufficiently stable
in their attachment to the royal cause to make up for the presence of Parlia-
mentary garrisons at Plymouth, Taunton, and Lyme. Yet Charles, reduced
to catch at straws, sent down the Prince of Wales to hold court at Bristol
in March.^
During the winter Goring* had been carrying on minor operations
based upon Devon and Dorset, and culminating in the siege of Taunton.
Waller was ordered to relieve the town (6 November, 1644) and Major-
General Holborne had orders to push through Dorset towards it. In
this relief column Cooper was in command of the Dorset contingent,
which consisted of men drawn from the garrisons of Weymouth, Wareham,
and Poole.'
News reached Westminster on 1 2 February, that a force under Dives and
Sir Walter Hastings, governor of Portland, had seized one of the Weymouth
forts,^" and on 9 February had taken the town itself." The rebels entrenched
themselves across the river in Melcombe. Goring then came up with 3,000
horse and 1,500 foot and artillery, and took over the command. Despite the
strategic disadvantage of their position, the mere handful of men whom he,
with characteristic insolence and carelessness, had neglected to crush, pro-
ceeded from Melcombe to retake the town of Weymouth, and force him
back on Dorchester (25 February) with heavy loss.^'' On the receipt of the
original ill news from Weymouth, Waller had been ordered to its relief ;^'
but owing to the mutiny of his cavalry at Leatherhead he was unable to go
further. A few days later, however. Parliamentary, and indeed national,
feeling was far more deeply stirred by the revelation of Glamorgan's schemes,
and on the 27th it was decided to send Cromwell himself into the west.
Pending the organization of the New Model, which could not be put into
' Rushworth, Coll. iii (ii), 685. Whitelocke, op. cit. 91. Vicars, iii, 286 ; Merc. Chicus, Ix, 579-80.
' See Gardiner, op. cit. i, 326. ^ Vicars, op. cit. i, 44 ; Whitelocke, op. cit. 103.
• Perfect Diumall, No. 71. ' Cal. S.P. Dom. 1644, p. 49 ; Clarendon, Hist, of the Rebellion, ix, 6, 7.
' See Gardiner, Hist. Gt. Civil War, i, 71. ' Clarendon, Hist, of the Rebellion, ix, 6, 7.
' Sent down into the west, Aug. 1 644, vide supra. ' Shaftesbury Papers (P.R.O.), ii, 46.
" Commons Joum. iv, 46 ; The True Informer, E. 269, zi. " Warburton, Prince Rupert, iii, 58.
" Clarendon, op. cit. ix, 7-9 ; Whitelocke, op. cit. 130 ; W. M. Harvey, Hist, of the Hundred of Vf'ilky,
91-94 ; Vicars, Burning Bush, 118.
" Cal. S.P. Dom. 1644-5, PP- 306-7.
157
A HISTORY OF DORSET
the field for a few weeks yet, he was ordered to join Waller, and both to
march to the capture of Bristol.
All this time Goring was before Taunton. Before Cromwell came, he
took the opportunity to make a dash for Waller at Shaftesbury and Gilling-
ham. He ' beat up his quarters ' twice in one week, thus costing the
Parliament the palpably exaggerated loss of a thousand men.^ A slight
success of Goring's over Cromwell the same month (March, 1645) was also
exaggerated by the Royalists till it became a defeat of some magnitude.*
Tradition of a Cromwellian skirmish lingers still at Fordington.* The
Royalists made it into a defeat of Cromwell, with all his own horse and the
united forces from Taunton, Poole, and Weymouth, 4,000 in all, Goring's
own numbers being put at 1,500.* But Goring was notoriously untrust-
worthy, particularly where his vanity was concerned, and even Clarendon
makes but little of it.^ It is true that Goring received congratulations on his
victory* from Sir Francis Mackworth ; but Mackworth had at this time
need of his help in procuring supplies. Cromwell himself, not needing the
support of exaggeration or falsehood, though he does not mention this
particular skirmish, tells a different tale of a few days later : ' General Goring
would not stand us, but marched away upon our appearance.'^
Waller gave up his command 17 April (1645), at his own earnest wish
and in obedience to the Second Self-Denying Ordinance, and took his seat
in the House. Early in May Goring left Somerset to join the king at
Oxford. Fairfax, in command of the New Model, arrived at Blandford on
the 7th, marching to the relief of Taunton.' Meanwhile Charles and Rupert
marched freely out of Oxford to go north ; Fairfax was sent back to besiege
Oxford, and Goring went back as supreme Royalist commander in the west.
Even there the king's star was waning. After Naseby (13 June) it was
a question how long he could continue to keep an army in the field. The
reorganization of the Parliamentary forces had been but the last link in a
chain which began with the resentment against plunderings of the royal
troops. And in the west the summer of 1645 was memorable for the
struggle between the representatives of these two forces. The New Model
Army, which expressed dependence upon the professional soldier, and not the
county levy, had to contend with the Clubmen, who originated in hostility
to the war as it affected non-combatants.' The movement known as that of
the Clubmen was strongest in the three south-western counties of Dorset,
Wilts, and Somerset. In Somerset it was not in line with the feeling in Dorset
' Clarendon, op. cit. ix.
^ Merc. Aulk. 29 March, App. 11, 12, 19 : ' Mercurius Aulicus, the Oxford organ, remains untrust-
worthy to the end ' ; Gardiner, His!. Gt. Civil fFar, i, p. vi.
* Moule, Old Dorset, 199. See Ludloiv Memoirs (ed. Firth), i, 471.
' Goring to Culpepper, 30 March, 1645, gives the same figures. Clarendon MSS. No. 1856. The
account in Mercurius Aulicus is taken in ioto from this letter.
* Hist, of the RebeKon, v, 143 (ed. 1826). ' Clarendon MSS. No. 1855.
^Cromwell's Letters (ed. 1888). Letter xix, 130. See also Carte, Ormonde Papers, i, 79; Commons Joum.
9 April, 1645 ; Whitelocke, op. cit. 411-12 ; Cal. S.P. Dom. 1644-5, PP- 376> 3^4, 393-
*' The state of Dorset when H.E. Sir Thomas Fairfax marched forth. The king had Portland Castle
and Island, Corfe Castle and Sherborne Castle. The Parliament had the port towns of Poole, Lyme, and
Weymouth.' S'pixggc, Anglia Rediviva, x\\, 16, 17.
* For the presence of foreign mercenaries in Dorset among the royal troops, see Clarendon MSS. 1738
(4); Whitelocke, Memoirs, 171 ; Cal. S.P. Dom. 1643, 24 Nov.; Merc. AuRc. 3 Oct. 1644. A Copie of the
King's Message, 1644 (printed by the Dorset Standing Committee, and obviously unfair). For similar evils
from the other side see the admissions of Essex in Cal. S.P. Dom. 1642, p. 402, and ibid. 1644, p. 335.
15S
POLITICAL HISTORY
and Wilts,^ In Dorset it was serious and widcsprcading ; although it had
seen no pitched battle of importance, the county had borne the brunt of the
war, being constantly occupied by both parties ' ; and many marches to or
from Devon were deflected into the county owing to the necessity of
attacking or preserving communication with its seaports. Determination to
declare neutrality and support it by force of arms was thus the original and
ostensible cause of the rise of this third party. One of their banners bore
the words :
If you offer to plunder, or take our cattel,
Be assured we will bid you battel.'
The regulations which they drew up to govern their own conduct* show
that the rank and file of the Clubmen were simple unlettered countrymen ; but
their leaders were not of the same stamp. They fall into two classes. The
typical ' younger brother out of means,' ^ with everything to win and nothing
to lose, was drawn for the most part from a social stratum between that of
the gentry, who were mainly Royalist, and the shop-keeping classes. The
latter, having a shrewd political judgement, and a financial stake in the
county, yet little sense of family, tended towards Parliamentarianism. There
were also present certain avowedly Royalist divines,' who, among an uneducated
rabble, would necessarily have some authority. But though the bona fides of
the mass of Clubmen was undoubted, their aim was higher than to enforce
the neutrality of certain districts. They wished to 'give a law to either
side,' ^ and desired that the garrisons of Dorset and Wiltshire should be
put into their hands 'till the King and Parliament agreed about their disposal.'
They further sent a petition to the king* begging him to ' lend his most
favourable ear ' to renewed peace proposals, when he should be invited
thereto by both Houses, ' for which Proposalls the Petitioners have made
their addresses unto them.'
Such a force was, however, bound to become the tool of one of the
existing parties. Circumstances contributed early to throw the Dorset and
Wiltshire Clubmen into the arms of the Royalists.
In Dorset there was no Royalist army under Goring to plunder the homesteads of the
people : and the garrisons, being commanded by the gentry of the county, . . . were not
likely to commit outrages, as long as the contributions for their support were regularly paid.'
The initial vague tolerance of the Parliament^" was outweighed by a disastrous
affray at Sturminster Newton (29 June, 1645) with Massey's men, and by
the encouragement of the immediate advisers of the king." In July the Club-
men made a hostile attack on the garrison of Lyme. ^^ On Fairfax's arrival at
Dorchester (3 July) with the New Model, after Naseby,^' he was met by a
' See Clarendon MSS. 1894, and Perfect Occurrences, 30 June, 164.5; also Gardiner, Hist. Gt. Civil ff^ar,
ii, 264-5.
'' 'The Humble Petition of the Inhabitants of Dorset ... 8 July, 1645.' Oxford, 1645.
^ Sprigge, Anglia Rediviva, 89.
* ' The Desires and Resolutions of the Clubmen of the Counties of Dorset and Wilts ' ; B.M. King's
Pamphlets, 102, 47.
' 'A List of the Country Gentlemen called the Leaders of the Clubmen for Dorset,' 1645.
^ Sprigge, jinglia Rediviva, 64. ' Ibid. 65.
' ' The Humble Petition,' &c. vide supra.
' G.irdiner, Hist. Gt. Civil War, ii, 305. '° Sprigge, Anglia Rediviva, 7.
" Clarendon, op. cit. v, 196-7, 199 ; Sprigge, op. cit. 63, 90.
" Whitelocke, Memorials, 131, and ii, 156. " Sprigge, op. cit. xi.
159
A HISTORY OF DORSET
menacing deputation of Clubmen, and also by Colonel Sydenham, governor of
Weymouth, with urgent accounts of the danger from 'these club risers.'*
Fairfax himself considered them, in spite of their ostensible neutrality, inclined
to Royalism.' Next day Fairfax, at Beaminster (burned ' by Prince Maurice,
by reason of a falling out between the French and Cornish'),' heard that
Goring had finally abandoned the siege of Taunton. On the loth Fairfax
routed him at Langport, and on the 23rd Bridgwater surrendered. The
Parliamentary forces in Dorset had now only to reduce Sherborne Castle
and disperse the Clubmen, for Corfe, now as ever, remained outside the general
campaign. Till this was done, however, the army could not with safety turn
to the conquest of the districts west of the Parret. At a council of war
(25 July) it was decided to begin both operations at once.* On Friday, i,
and Saturday, 2 August, Cromwell and Fairfax together viewed the castle and
its defences. At the second inspection they ' conceived the place might
shortly be reduced.' The siege was begun, but it was decided not to attempt
assault till after the reduction of the Clubmen. These, hearing of the strict
blockade of their ally, who had with him his own regiment, 150 veterans,
and some horse, assembled in force that Saturday, 2 August, at Shaftesbury,
intending to drive off Cromwell and Fairfax.^ Having information of their
meeting places, Cromwell sent Fleetwood with 1,000 horse to surround the
town. About fifty of the leaders were captured.* On the following Monday
Cromwell marched himself towards Shaftesbury, no doubt to intercept that
body of Clubmen whose appointed meeting at Sutton Waldron had been
accidentally revealed to him.^ His scouts discovered a party encamped on
Duncliff Hill, a place ' full of wood and almost inaccessible.'* Resolving not
to hazard men under such conditions, he sent word to parley. He went him-
self up the hill alone, and pointing out the error of their ways, ended by a
successful appeal to their pockets. They were either convinced by his argu-
ments or dismayed by his firmness, for they dispersed and went quietly to
their homes.' The next day he found a further and more formidable force of
about 4,000 entrenched in an ' old Romane work ' on Hambledon Hill, near
Shroton (Iwerne Courtney). Again he attempted parley, but through the
determined action of Mr. Bravell, minister of Compton,^" who said ' he would
pistoll them that gave back,' they refused a peaceful settlement. They
repulsed a direct charge ; but, Desborough taking them in the rear, some
fled, many were made prisoners. These were quartered that night in the
church at Shroton, and Cromwell, who tried his eloquence upon them, 'made
them confess they saw themselves misled.'"
* Sprigge, op. cit. 62. ' Ludlow, Memoirs, \, 473-4.
' Sprigge, op. cit. 66-7. Its rebuilding was ordered to be paid for out of the estate of George Penny, a
recusant of Toller, 9 Jan. 1646. Minute Bis. of Dorset Standing Com. 140, 271 (ed. Mayo). 'The
Dorset Committee is the only County Committee whose records are now available.' Gardiner, Hist.
Gt. Civil War, iii, 200. * Sprigge, Ang. Rediv. 83. ' Carlyle, Cromwell, i, 221.
' Sprigge, op. cit. 86. 'A List of the Country Gentlemen,' &c.
' See the letter to Col. Bingham, printed Hutchins, i, 13. * Warne, And. Dorset, 67.
' Sprigge, op. cit. 86-7 ; CromwelPs Letters (ed. 1846), p. 141 ; Whitelocke, Memorials, 159.
'" Whom Sprigge calls the leader of the movement, lable of the Motion of the Army. He was seques-
trated for joining the Clubmen, but was later restored (Triers : J. White, W. Benn, Symon Forde) on submission
to the ' discipline of the Church of England as it is established.' See Min. Bks. of Dorset Standing Committee,
II, 19, 45, 58, 220, 232.
" Sprigge, op. cit. 88 ; Carlyle, Cromwell's Letter, rot. 'Two Great Victories.' 'Two Letters.' 'The
Proceedings of the Army.'
160
POLITICAL HISTORY
Cannon from Portsmouth and miners from Mendip set to work on the
1 2th, and by the 15th forced Dives to surrender Sherborne Castle. It was an
irreparable loss to Charles, for with it he lost many officers, gentlemen, and
soldiers, valuable artillery and arms, and many important papers, which,
immediately published by the Parliament, did much harm to his cause.^ In
October the castle was utterly demolished.
The fall of Sherborne gave to the Parliamentary generals the command
of the North Dorset route to the west ; and with Bristol (surrendered
1 1 September) it completed the chain of fortresses from the Channel to the
Severn which hemmed in the king's Devon and Cornish forces, rendering
them valueless through inability to co-operate with those of the Oxfordshire
district. So far as the south-west was concerned, the strategy of the winter
of 1645—6 depended on this cordon drawn from Bristol to Lyme. The siege
and fall of Corfe Castle was no integral part of these operations. But the
grandeur of Lady Bankes's resistance and the pathos of her surrender have
given to the episode a prominence disproportionate with its historical setting.
In June (1645), after the receipt of the news of Naseby, Captain Butler,
governor of Wareham, had straitened the siege, A month earlier Cooper had
been ordered to ' sufficiently block it up ' with a force drawn from the
garrisons of Poole, Wareham, Lulworth, and Weymouth.^ Three of the
signatories of this document are Dorset men : Denis Bond, Denzil Holies,
and Thomas Erie. But Cooper's own opinion of the right method of dealing
with the fortress had been strongly expressed the previous November : ' A
few foot in Lulworth with a troop of horse will keep Corfe far better than
Wareham.'^ In September a party of horse from Oxford made an unsuccessful
attempt at relief.* In October, Bingham, governor of Poole, drew the
blockade closer, and in December he was reinforced by 400 men from Fairfax,^
now engaged in the subjugation of Devon and Cornwall. The garrison at
Chichester, commanded by Algernon Sidney, contributed 100 foot to the
siege in February,' and on the loth Pitman, one of the officers of the garrison
who had formerly served under Lord Inchiquin, offered to betray the castle
to the Parliament. The offisr was accepted, and the castle was taken, by this
treachery, 26 February .'^ Sprigge gives forty-eight days as the length of this
second siege, and puts Lady Bankes's losses at eleven killed.* The castle
was deliberately slighted on its capture.'
After the Battle of Worcester and the well-known episode in the oak
tree. Prince Charles came to Colonel Wyndham's house in South Somerset.
Here he remained some while in hiding, hoping to effisct an escape by one
of the Dorset ports. Sir John Strangways of Melbury and his son both
attempted, but in vain, to arrange for the escape of the royal fugitive. At
length Colonel Wyndham managed to prepare all for the Prince's departure
from Charmouth. The plan, however, miscarried through the aroused
' Sprigge, Table ef the Motion of the Army, and Ang. Rediv. 75-6 ; Whitelocke, op. cit. 1 5 2-3 ; Vicars,
iii, 255, 257-9 ; Rushworth, op. cit. iv, i, 59, 64, 77-8, 82, 88.
' Cal. S.P. Dom. 1645. ' Christie, Shaftabury, \, 70.
* Ludlow, Memoirs, i, 131 ; Sprigge, op. cit. 188, 194 ; Whitelocke, op. cit. i, 5 7 1, 580.
' Cal. S.P. Dom. 1645-7, PP- '^o, 281, 269, 319. ^ Ibid. 348.
' Vicars, op. cit. 4, 372-3. * Tab/e of the Motion of the Army.
" Engl. Towns and Districts, 149. Mr. Freeman apparently imagines the havoc wrought on the building
to have been entirely due to siege operations.
2 l6l 21
A HISTORY OF DORSET
suspicions of the wife of the sailing-master upon whom all depended. The
Prince and Wyndham spent an anxious night at Charmouth, and got safely
away in the morning, owing to the dilatoriness of the parson Bartholomew
Wesley,^ great-great-grandfather of John Wesley. From Charmouth they
rode to Bridport (a journey said to be commemorated in the local field-name
' Girtups ') and thence on to Broadwindsor. Here they took shelter with a
Royalist inn-keeper and his wife. Forty Parliamentarian troopers came to
quarter in the very inn where they were, but while these slept the fugitives
got away to Trent. Thence Charles went to Salisbury, and so after many
adventures to the continent.'
The Royalist rising in the west in 1655 was not joined by any very
large body of Dorset men. On the other hand, there can be no doubt
that an appreciable Royalist sentiment did exist at that time in north-east
Dorset, stimulated probably by dislike of existing militarism. On Sun-
day, II March, 1654—5, 100 men, under the leadership of Sir Joseph
WagstafFe, Colonel John Penruddock, and Mr. Hugh Grove, met at
Clarendon Park, 3 miles from Salisbury. The leaders were all Wiltshire
men, though Penruddock's mother was the daughter of John Frcke of
Iwerne Courtney and Melcombe, a well-known Dorset family. From
Clarendon Park they rode to Blandford, where they were joined by eighty
more men. Having vainly waited for further reinforcements, the whole
force, now numbering nearly two hundred, rode back to Salisbury, and early
on the Monday morning occupied the town, seizing the judges in their beds,
for the western assizes were then on. Penruddock proclaimed Charles II.
Again failing to attract recruits, they decided to make for Devon and
Cornwall, hoping to get shelter with their friends, or at the worst to escape
by sea. They took the road through Downton to Blandford, which they
reached on Monday afternoon. Here
Penruddocke forced the crier to go to the Market Cross, to proclaim Charles Stuart King,
who made 'Ho Yes' four times, but still when Penruddock (who dictated to him) said
Charles II King, he the crier stopped, and said he could not say that word, and he was every
time much beaten by them and yet told them they might kill him, but he could not say that
word, though they should call for faggots and burn him presently ; his constancy and faith-
fulness is taken notice of.'
From Blandford they rode to Sherborne, where they stayed two hours, and
then to Babylon Hill, east of Yeovil ; they entered Yeovil at i p.m. on Tues-
day. Going by Cullompton, 10 miles only from Exeter, they were attacked by
Crook at South Molton with a detachment of the Exeter garrison. Thinned
in numbers, and disheartened, after some stand they surrendered, late on the
Wednesday evening.*
By Friday, the i6th, the indefatigable Desborough, major-general of the
western counties, had arrived at Shaftesbury. He garrisoned Bridport to
prevent escape,^ and wrote at once to the sheriffs of the five counties to appre-
' Gentltmon's Mag. Ix, 427.
' See Hutchins, ii, 218. The Bcscobel Tracts, ed. J. Hughes {1857). W. Wilson, Life and Times of
Daniel Defoe, \, 1 12. Pulman, The Book of the Axe, 212 (4th. ed.). Pnc. Dors. Field Club, viii, 9-28.
l\otes and Queries for Som. and Dors., i, 80, 136-7 ; iii, 306 ; iv, 6 ; v, 150, 216.
' Perfect Proceedings, 29 March to 6 April, 1654-5.
' See the account in ff'ilts. Arch. Mag. 3utxviii, 135, sqq. W. W. Ravenhill. ' Thurloe Papers, iii, 263.
162
POLITICAL HISTORY
hend all suspicious persons, and to the justices of the peace to make diligent
inquiries what persons had been absent from their habitations within the
space of ten days past. He sent to Cromwell, a few days later, from Taunton,
a list of the prisoners.^ Out of a total of 109 names twenty-four came from
Dorset. Nineteen of these were imprisoned at Exeter, and five at Taunton.
Only three 'gentlemen' appear in the list, namely Thomas Fitzjames
of 'Henley' (Sixpenny Handley), James Huish of Kimmeridge, and Oxen-
bridge Fowell of Cerne Abbas. The rest are a very representative list of
tradesmen (two clothiers, a tailor, a tanner, two weavers, a tapster, a miller,
a cooper, two feltmakers, a baker, a chapman, and a currier), with a gardener,
three husbandmen, and a warrener.
The spring circuit had been interrupted at Salisbury. The assizes were
to have been held at Dorchester 15 March. It appears that they were
omitted altogether that spring; but the prisoners were proceeded against by a
regular commission of oyer and terminer, and by no extraordinary court.
The court was to sit at New Sarum i i April, at Exeter on the i8th, and at
Chard on the 2 3rd.^ Some of the commissioners and the Attorney-General
did go to Dorchester, but it was merely to rest over Sunday on their way to
Exeter. On the return journey they stopped at Chard, and returned thence
to London. Practically all the prisoners came from north-east Dorset,
mostly from the Blandford and Sherborne district. One, however, came from
Kimmeridge, and one from Cerne Abbas. St. Loe, though wrongly described
in the indictment as of Salisbury, was a Dorset man. He had been taken
up to London at once on his capture. On his examination' he implicated
also Captain Twyne, who lived near Blandford, and Captain Kirles of Wood-
yates. Arthur Collens of the Isle of Purbeck, who had been servant to
Sir Joseph Wagstaffe, was also examined in London.* The Attorney-General
was Edmund Prideaux, member for Lyme, and a friend of Ludlow's. The
first junior counsel for the Government was Roger, who had been member
for Bridport in 1645. ^^ ^he Dorset prisoners tried at Salisbury William
Willoughby was the most interesting.^ An old man, he had had no hand in
the plot, such as it was ; but friendship had caused him to try to rescue one
of the Royalists, and he was apprehended with the rest.
After the trials at Salisbury, the court, on its way to Exeter, stopped at
Dorchester, spending Sunday, 15 April, there. Prideaux wrote to Thurloe
that day : ' I will give you a little account of some passages this day at
church. Mr. Gower in his prayer after sermon blessed God for suppressing
these people, and prayed the Lord to direct the judges that justice might be
done. Mr. Bence (Benn ?) in his prayers in the afternoon said that a treason
was plotted, but blessed the Lord that nothing came to execution but the
traitors.' '
The Dorset prisoners tried at Exeter were Thomas Fitzjames of Handley,
and Robert Harris of Blandford, who were pronounced guilty by verdict ;
William Wake of Blandford, Charles Haviland of Langton, and Nicholas
(Richard .?) Broadgate of Blandford Forum all three confessed to the
' IVilts. Arch. Mag. xxxviii, 139. ' Cal. S.P. Dom. 1655, pp. 90, 91, 97, 112, 114.
' Thurhe Papers, iii, 314. IVilts. Arch. Mag. xxxviii, 147.
* Perfect Diurnall, 26 March to 2 April, 1654-5.
' Coker's Fisitation of Dorset (Harl. Soc), xx, 99, 100. ' Thurloe Papers, iii, 379
163
A HISTORY OF DORSET
fact upon their arraignment. All five were condemned to death.^ Various
persons sympathetic to the rebellion were examined at Maiden Newton in
July.* Apparently there had been some vague idea of seizing the town of
Poole, for in May the justices of the peace were ordered to take bail of such
as were taken upon this design.' The finances of the Monthly Assessment
Commissioner were thrown into confusion by the seizure, during the insurrec-
tion, of £i2 assessment money from Blandford, Sherborne, and other places.*
There is ample material for ascertaining the working of the civil
administration during this period, for the minute books of the Dorset
Standing Committee have now been printed.* They are the only records of
such a county committee now available. The committee grew out of the
ordinance of 31 May, 1643, for the appointment of county committees to
sequestrate the estates of delinquents. It was placed upon a working basis
and its powers defined 19 August, 1643. Since the preceding March it had
had a more or less informal existence, its sole object having then been to
raise money. ^ It consisted of seventeen members for the county, among
whom were the M.P.'s for Dorchester, Lyme, and Melcombe (Denis Bond,
Richard Rose, and William Sydenham), of eight members for the town and
county of Poole (the mayor and seven aldermen), and of three for the town
of Dorchester (the mayor and ex officio two aldermen). The committee
had assessed the county in a weekly sum on 3 August.'^ A month later the
powers of county committees were extended by the Commons to the exami-
nation of witnesses against ' scandalous ministers ' and those who had left
their cures and joined the king's troops.* The following year (i July,
1644) the committee was invested with comprehensive powers. It was now
empowered to administer the ordinances' for the taking of the covenant, for
the payment of fifths and twentieths, for sequestrations, for weekly assess-
ments, and for the general maintenance of order and of freedom from
plunder. Meanwhile the personnel was slightly different from that of the
former committee, the Earls of Gloucester and Elgin having been added, and,
while all the prominent members of the old committee had been retained,
the numbers had been increased, but a few aldermen had dropped out, and
Dorchester was no longer officially represented.
The Association Ordinance for the Five Western Counties was passed
19 August, 1644 ; by it, to the committee of i July were added the Earls of
Northumberland and Pembroke, John Lord Roberts, and Thomas Lord Bruce,
and the members of Parliament for the county and for each borough. The
county was assessed by the committee (18 October) for the relief of the
army in Ireland at a weekly sum of ^"ji 6s. %d., while the contribution of
Poole was fixed at i 6j. 8^. But by the following summer (26 August, 1645)
the committee decided to put in force a weekly assessment for six months of
only /43 js. lod'. from the county and £^ from Poole.'"
' An Act for the Better Ordering and Managing the Estates of Papists
and Delinquents' was passed 25 January, 1649—50, which" resulted in a
' If'Uts. Arch. Mag. xxx\iii, 25;, 299. ' Cal. S.P. Dom. 1655, p. 249. ' Ibid. 162.
' Ibid. 1655-6, 26 Sept. ' By Canon Mayo.
'' Scobell, Coll. of Jets and Ordinances, 1658, xriiii ; Lords Jcurn. v, 632 ; Husband, Coll. of PubRc Orders,
1646, p. 9. ' Husband, op. cit. App. 4. " Ibid. 311; Walker, bufferings of the Cler^, i, 74.
' Lords Jcurn. vi, 61 2 ; Husband, op. cit. 514.
'" Husband, op. cit. 563. " Scobell, op. cit. 101.
164
POLITICAL HISTORY
new sequestrating body for Dorset. This continued' till 14 March, 1653—4,
when, in consequence of an Act of the previous February,'' one of their
number. Dewy, was appointed sub-commissioner in the county.*
The functions of the committees had been varied. They included the
seizing and scheduling of the real and personal estates of delinquents, the
control over payments made by the treasurer of the county, the grant of
compensation for damages, assessment and rating of obligations, and the
alteration of such assessments. The committee also administered the
National Covenant, and gave probate of wills. It controlled the county
levies, and in 1647 (6 May) disbanded the county troop, raising two new
troops of horse in 1648 (6 July),* and disbanding them again in November.^
The committee had complete control of ecclesiastical affairs, administering
the directory, examining into the delinquency of incumbents (an office
delegated for convenience to certain unofficial sub-committees of 'Triers'),
filling the places of sequestered clergy, and administering * not only the
benefices and the schools, but concerning themselves with details of appoint-
ments of parish clerks, repair of the churches and parsonages, and storage of
the church keys.
In May, 1660, an address of congratulation to the king on his Restora-
tion, ' numerously signed,' was sent from Dorset.^ But almost immediately
signs of the old spirit began to come to light. These were invariably
connected with the religious question. In February, 1661, John Wesley
(great-grandfather of the famous Methodist), vicar of Winterborne Whit-
church, was informed against for ' diabolically railing against the late king
and his posterity, and praising Cromwell.' ' The three deputy lieutenants of
Dorset and Somerset had by this time ' just cause of suspicion of a general
disturbance,' and feared lest the disaffected should assist one another."
Walter Stone of Sherborne prophesied a rising before November, and said
that though only fifty of that town were in the plot the old soldiers would
join.^" Next year ' the sectaries boast that they shall have their day soon, a
rising in Somerset and Dorset is daily expected.' " The severities of the
Clarendon Code, however, reduced the malcontents to outward submission,
and it was reported in October, 1664, that all was again peaceable. The
Dissenters had indeed suffered greatly. The Quakers again fell victims,
two hundred of them being imprisoned in Dorset in 1662.'' In Decem-
ber, 1664, out of nine Nonconformist ministers at Dorchester five had
been imprisoned upon suspicion of being implicated in the ' plot ' above
mentioned. Six ministers and seventy other persons were then in prison for
Nonconformity. ' The town,' it was said, ' is most factious, and has daily
conventicles.' ^' Loyalty to the Stuarts, never very marked, was for the
moment strengthened by the issue of the Declaration of Indulgence
(15 March, 1672). A large number of nonconforming ministers instantly
availed themselves of it at Dorchester.'* Charles II was received with much
' Cal. CommUtei fir Compounding (1643), xiv ; C. H. Mayo, op. cit. xxii.
' Scobell, op. cit. 278. ^ Thurke Papers, iii, 263.
* Min. Bb. Dors. Com. fol. 205, 252;printedMayo, 208, 273. ' Fol. 125, 159; Mayo, 408, 471.
'^ Jt'ey mouth Chart, vii, 22-4. ' Cal. S.P. Dom. 1 660- 1, p. 4.
' Ibid. 504. = Ibid. 1661-2, p. 439. '° Ibid. 526.
" Ibid. 1663-4, P- 'SO- " ibid. 1661-2, p. 426. " Ibid. 1664-5, P- ^O-
" Dorch. Corp. MSS. c. 15, under dates 17 May, 4 April, 8 May, &c. 1672.
165
A HISTORY OF DORSET
loyalty when he came to Dorset during the plague-scare of 1665,^ and
in 1683 there were loyal rejoicings over his escape from the Rye House
Plot.' Yet there was much sore feeling about the tampering with borough
charters which marked the last years of his reign. In 1662 Charles had
caused a Quo Warranto to be brought against Dorchester, which seems,
however, to have been successfully resisted.' In i 677 Charles granted a new
charter to Shaftesbury, as the result of a Quo Warranto brought concerning
the privileges of the borough.* It is more precisely worded than that of
1604, and contains two clauses ensuring the taking of the oaths of obedience
and supremacy by all members of the corporation and their officers, and the
reservation to the crown of power to declare void the election of any recorder
or town clerk, in which case the mayor and burgesses are to proceed to the
election of another in his stead. In 1684 Charles attempted to set aside
this charter, and issued letters patent providing a process for removal of the
mayor, recorder, town clerk, or any of the capital burgesses, by Orders in
Council, in return for substantial trading privileges. But the charter was
never surrendered, and James II, in dealing with the town, did not grant it a
new charter, but only acted under one of the clauses of the letters patent
of 1684.*
Lyme had, at the Restoration, professed strong loyalist sentiments, but
shortly succumbed to nonconforming influences.* In 1684, warned by the
example of Shaftesbury, the corporation decided freely to surrender their
charter without waiting for a Quo Warranto. In December, only six weeks
before his death, Charles granted a new charter, but without calling in or
taking a surrender of any of the former charters.^ In 1687 James II brought
a Quo Warranto against Weymouth ; the town clerk was ordered to ride to
London and plead the charter, with apparent success."
The ancient strongly Protestant feeling was still alive, encouraged no
doubt by the presence of Holies, who lived near Dorchester still, and was
very popular.' Monmouth, who had accompanied Charles II on his
visit in 1665, had been very well received in Dorset. He landed at Lyme
(11 June, 1685), and lingered there a fortnight, 'training and animating his
men,' ^^ instead of pushing on at once to Exeter or Bristol. The men of
Lyme received him with great rejoicings, and recruits poured in from all
sides. In his grateful enthusiasm, he was moved to write —
Lyme, although a little place,
I think it wondrous pretty ;
If 'tis my fate to wear the crown,
I'll make of it a city.^^
The militia of Dorset and Somerset, hastily called out, assembled at Brid-
port, where on the 14th they were attacked by part of Monmouth's force.
This was defeated, and retired on Lyme. Meanwhile George Alford, mayor
of Lyme (who had been forward, as an ex-royalist, to avenge himself after
' Hutchins, Dorset, i, 14 ; Weymouth Chart, v, 61. ' Weymouth Chart, v, 64.
'Dorch. Corp. MSS. c. 15.
' Hutchins, op. cit. iii, 104-12 ; Mayo, Shaston Records, 10, II. ' Mayo, Shaston Records, 12, 13.
• Roberts, Hist. Lyme, 120-1. ' Ibid. 122.
' Weymouth Chart, iii, 141, and p. 122.
' Dorch. Corp. Minute Bk. 28 Oct. 1661 ; 19 June, 1668. '" Burnet, Hist. (ed. 1724), i, 641.
" Quoted Roberts, Hist. Lyme, 152.
166
POLITICAL HISTORY
the Restoration upon the Independents of the borough, and who had waited
upon Charles II in 1684 about the surrender of the charter^), had ridden to
Honiton and to London to raise the alarm.'' On the 18 th Monmouth marched
to Taunton.
After Sedgemoor, making his way towards Hampshire he was captured at
Woodyates, just within the Dorset boundary, the horses having failed in
Cranborne Chase.' Lord Lumley's scouts — sent out all over Dorset — had
done their work.
Kirke and his 'Lambs' did not, it is true, make Dorsetshire the scene of
their operations. But the vengeance of James, though delayed till Jeffreys
appeared, was not less certain. Early in September, the day after the
execution of Alice, styled Lady Lisle, Jeffreys came to Dorchester.* A copy
survives of the Presentment to the Court at these ' Bloody Assizes,' made for
one of the four judges, or for the Clerk of the Assize.' Two hundred and
fifty-one were sentenced at Dorchester ; they were drawn from each of the
coast towns, with twelve from Sherborne." A terrible ' Butchers' Bill,'
methodically calculated, in the manuscripts of the Weymouth Corporation,^
testifies to their sufferings. But in Dorset, as elsewhere, the rebels were
entirely confined to the middle and lower classes, none of the gentry supporting
Monmouth.'
Dorset was no better satisfied with the accession of William and Mary
than it had been with the return of the Stuarts. There was no active
sedition, but a certain amount of quiet non-juring, and one may suspect
much concealed dissatisfaction. Weymouth, which in 1662 had restored
certain Royalist aldermen displaced in 1 648,' suffered disqualification of no
less than seventeen aldermen and capital burgesses, through their not taking
the oaths under William and Mary." At the same time Howson, minister of
All Saints, Dorchester, wrote : ' Our little government of this borough is
composed of very ill members, who have been very backward in all public
demonstration of joy, either for His Majesty's glorious accession, or his success
against his enemies.' "
In 1705 Defoe was concerned in scheming for Harley, apparently of no
very dangerous or matured character, his correspondent and accomplice at
Weymouth being a certain Fenner, a dissenting minister. Jonathan Edwards
(the Anglican, not the American divine) was also concerned in it. The
bearer of letters between them, James Turner of the Diligence privateer,
turned queen's evidence, and they were all included in a warrant to bring
them to Dorchester, as having received traitorous letters.^' Defoe speaks of
the matter in his Review of the Affairs of France}^
' Roberts Hist. Lyme, 121, 122. ' Lords Joum. 13 June, 1685.
' 'Account of the Manner of Taking the late Duke of Monmouth.' -\^^ B.M. ; Burnet, Hist. \, 644.
* See 'A Relation of the Great Sufferings of H. Pitman,' reprinted in Arber's English Gamer, 337.
' B.M. Add. MS. 30077.
' Account of the Proceedings against the Rebels '^^-. A list of the names of the Rebels ~^.
' Weymouth Chart, (ed. Moule), p. 85.
' Broadsides illustrating the history of the rebellion in Dorset are printed in cxtenso in Somers. and Dors.
Notes and Queries, viii, 160 et seq. ; viii, 224 et seq. ; viii, 342 et scq.
' Weymouth Chart. 119. '" Ibid. 122. " Cal. S.P. Dom. 1689-90, p. 280.
" Weymouth Chart, iii, 142.
" Preface to vol. vi, reprinted G. A. Aitken, Later Stuart Tracts, 245 ; Etig. Hist. Rev. xv, 243 ; Hist.
MSS. Com. Rep. xv, 10.
167
A HISTORY OF DORSET
The eighteenth century was characterized by a number of disputed
elections, turning mainly on the struggle between the freeholders and the
mere householders as to the right to vote for members of Parliament. In
Lyme the charter of Charles II in 1684 had provided that 'the burgesses to
sit in Parliament for ever hereafter shall be elected by the mayor, capital
burgesses, or freemen, or greater part, as heretofore in times past has been
used and accustomed.' Ellis, writing of Weymouth in 1829, admits that ' the
inhabitants themselves have very little to do with the bona-fide election, as from
the numerous frauds and subterfuges resorted to . . . persons who are not at all
connected with the town are made, for a bounty averaging from 5/. to 30J.,
to profess themselves as bona-fide voters.' ^ The number of voters, normally
200, was in 1704 increased by malpractices to 648. After a severely con-
tested election in 1830 counsel on both sides agreed to the extension of
the franchise to persons seised of freeholds within the borough, not being
in receipt of alms. But almost immediately the old close system was re-
verted to.' Bribery was apparently as rife at Corfe as at Weymouth : in
1784 the election expenses of John Bond, junior, and Henry Banks of
Kingston Hall included the two items: 'To 45 voters at i 3J. each, ^2() 5J.,'
and 'To two Persons to protect the Beer, 2s. 6d.' ^ Poole, owing to the
acuteness of this question, constantly suffered from double returns. In
1654, in the first Parliament assembled under the Instrument of Govern-
ment, Cooper was returned for three constituencies — Poole, Wiltshire,
and Tewkesbury. He elected to sit as member for Wiltshire.* In
1 66 1 the election was impeded by the claims of certain non-resident
burgesses. The question was referred to the House of Commons, who
decided against the candidates returned by the votes of the non-residents.
There was another double return in 1688. In the disputed election of 1774
Sir Eyre Coote and Joshua Manger were nominated by the one party, and
were opposed by Charles James Fox and John Williams, as candidates for
the householders' party, which was now termed 'the commonalty interest.'
At the election on 1 1 October 1 30 householders voted for Fox and
Williams, but their claims were not allowed by the sheriff, who accepted
and returned only the votes of adm.itted burgesses, and returned Coote and
Manger. Fox and Williams protested, alleging not only partiality of the
sheriff towards the sitting members, but that by the law and custom of the
land, as well as by the particular constitution of that borough, the right to
exercise the franchise lay with 'the inhabitants and householders of the borough
paying scot and bearing lot.' A committee of the House of Commons sat
in 1775 to try the case, and decided that, down to the charter of Elizabeth,
'burgenses' in Poole charters meant inhabitants : that that year, by the new
charter, the inhabitants were formed into a commonalty, as distinct from the
burgesses. At the next two elections, in 1780 and 1790, the returns were
however again disputed, and were each again followed by the adjudication
of a parliamentary committee, in 1780 with the same result as in 1775, in
1790 ending in a compromise. The election of 1791 led to the final
victory of the right of election by select burgesses only. This continued
till the Reform Act of 1832.' By that Act Corfe Castle was deprived of
' Op. cit. 44. ' Ibid. 80. ' Somers. and Dors. Notes and Queries, vii, 65.
* Christie, Shaftesbury, i, 1 12. ' Sydenham, Hist. Poole, 256-66.
16S
POLITICAL HISTORY
representation, while Lyme, Wareham, and Shaftesbury were reduced to
returning one member each ; Weymouth and Melcombe (which had pre-
viously sent four between them, two for each) now returned two only, as
a united borough. The county members, on the other hand, were increased
from two to three, as some compensation for this decrease in borough
representation.^
An Act passed the following year settled the inconvenience of the out-
lying portions of the county. Stockland parish and Dalwood township,
lying geographically in Devon, but being hitherto part of Dorset, were now
united with Devon; Thorncombe parish, and Burhall Downs and Easthay (part
of the parish of Axminster), hitherto part of Devon, were made part of
Dorset. Holwell parish, including the tithing of Buckshaw, which lay in
Dorset geographically, was henceforth to be part of Dorset, instead of being
an outlying part of Somerset.'
By the Reform Bill of 1867 (Representation of the People Act) * Lyme
entirely ceased to be represented, not having a sufficient number of inhabited
houses (683 only). Dorchester, Bridport, and Poole were each reduced to
one member only. The Boundary Commissioners of 1867-8 did not see
their way to recommending an extension of any of the existing boundaries of
any of the Dorset boroughs. The population, stationary in the mid-Victorian
period, decreased between 1871 and 1881 from 143,478 to 137,146.*
Further reduction of representation was the natural outcome.
The Act of 1885 merged in the county the Dorset boroughs still
remaining ; thus Bridport, Dorchester, Poole, Shaftesbury (part of which lay
however in Wiltshire), Wareham, and Weymouth and Melcombe vote now
in the four divisions of the county.' The number of county members was
increased from three to four. The petty sessional divisions had only been
adopted to a limited extent in the Boundary Acts of 1832 and 1868, the
hundred being still in theory the basis of electoral divisions. But it was
growing obsolete, and the inconveniences of its often detached portions,
together with the increasing difficulty of ascertaining its exact boundaries,
led to the adoption, in the Act of 1885, of the petty sessional division. The
North Dorset division, under the new Act, accordingly includes the sessional
divisions of Blandford, Shaftesbury, Sturminster, and part of Sherborne. The
division of East Dorset includes the sessional division of Wimborne and part
of that of Wareham with the municipal borough of Poole. South Dorset
includes the municipal boroughs of Dorchester, and Weymouth and Mel-
combe, with part of the sessional divisions of Dorchester and of Wareham.
The West Dorset division comprises the municipal boroughs of Bridport and
Lyme Regis, the sessional divisions of Bridport and Cerne, and certain poor-
law parishes in the sessional division of Dorchester.
In 1685, after the rebellion of Monmouth, the Duke of Beaufort was
appointed colonel of a corps of musketeers and pikemen composed of men
of distinguished loyalty, from the disturbed districts of Dorset, Somerset, and
Devon. This, however, afterwards became known as the i ith North Devon
' 2 Will. IV, cap. 45.
' 2 and 3 Will. IV, c.ip. 64. For acreage and population involved see Notts and Queries for Somers. and
Dors. X, 86, 87. ' 30 & 31 Vict. cap. 102.
* Re/). 0/ Boundary Com. 1885, pt. i, c. 4287. ^ 48 & 49 Vict. cap. 23.
2 169 22
A HISTORY OF DORSET
Foot. A commission to raise troops for another regiment of dragoons,
issued inter alia to Thomas Maxwell at Shaftesbury, resulted in the form-
ation of a regiment in July, 1685, which was joined by many Dorset
loyalists who had fought against Monmouth, and which was afterwards
known as the Princess Anne of Denmark's Regiment of Dragoons (now 4th
Dragoons).'
The Dorset Regiment itself was not formed till 1702, during the
preparations for war with France and Spain. It was raised in Ireland in
1702, and was stationed there for five years. In 1707 it was sent to
Portugal, to reinforce the troops after the battle of Almanza, gaining con-
spicuous honour, from making a determined stand with the 5th and 20th
and Lord Paston's regiments, to cover the retreat of the Portuguese Army
at the passage of the Caya. On the conclusion of the Treaty of Utrecht
(11 April, 17 1 3), the 39th went to Gibraltar, but later in the year was
sent to form part of the garrison of Minorca, where it remained till 1719.
It then passed some years in Ireland.'' In 1727 it took part in the recovery
of Gibraltar, and in 1729, on the conclusion of peace, was sent to Jamaica,
where it arrived in 1730. In 1732 it returned to Ireland, and in 1737 the
Duke of Argyle was colonel. In 1744 the regiment was sent to England,
and was employed for two years as marines on board the fleet. In 1746 it
took part in the expedition to Brittany which attacked L'Orient, the head
quarters of the French East India Company's shipping and stores in Europe.
In 1747 and 1748 the 39th again served as marines.'
After the Peace of Aachen in 1748 the regiment spent five years in
Ireland, going in 1754 to the East Indies. It remained at Madras till 1756,
and being the first king's regiment employed in India earned the motto still
borne of ' Primus in Indis.' The gallant behaviour of the 39th at Plassy in
1757 earned it the royal authority to bear the word upon the regimental
colours. In 1758, on its return to Ireland, it was shipwrecked upon the Irish
coast. A large detachment joined Ferdinand of Brunswick in 1759. In
1769 the regiment was besieged in Gibraltar, a siege which, in spite of
three reliefs and reinforcements, was not finally abandoned till 1783. The
loss of the regiment during the whole siege was only five officers, ten sergeants,
two drummers, and one hundred and thirteen of the rank and file.*
On 31 August, 1782, the 39th became the East Middlesex regiment,
territorial denominations being then adopted. From 1783 to 1792 it con-
tinued in Ireland ; in February 1793 it was sent to the French West Indies,
and assisted at the captures of Martinique and Guadaloupe. The stay in
Guadaloupe proved very deleterious to the health of the men. In 1794 it was
in Ireland, in 1795 in Barbadoes. From Barbadoes in 1796, the 39th, together
with a detachment of the Royal Artillery, proceeded against the Dutch
colonies of Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice, which were taken in April.
They remained in Demerara till November, 1799. In October, 1800, they
went to Surinam, and spent 1801 there. On the conclusion of the Peace of
Amiens in 1802 they returned to Barbadoes, and went thence to Antigua,
reaching England in March, 1803. During the South American years they
lost 2,000 men from climatic diseases alone.
' Hist. Rec. of Brit. Army (ed. Cannon), i ith Foot, 1,2; 4th Dragoons, 10.
' Hist. Rec. of Brit. Amy, 39th Dorset Rcgt. 8. * Ibid. 12, 13. * Ibid.
170
POLITICAL HISTORY
On the renewal of hostilities in 1803, under the Army of Reserve Act,
a second battalion was added to the 39th,' composed of men from Cheshire,
Shropshire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire. In 1804, under the Addi-
tional Forces Act,* 548 additional men were raised in Dorset' for the
9th Regiment, and the 2nd battalion of the 39th was augmented by nien
from Shropshire. In 1804 the 2nd battalion was in Guernsey, the
ist guarded the Sussex shore against the feared invasion by the Boulogne
flotilla. The flank companies of the ist battalion took part in the Mediter-
ranean Expedition of 1805, and in January 1806 went to Sicily with the
King and Queen of Naples, returning to Malta in February. The 2nd bat-
talion remained in Guernsey till February 1806, when, after a short time at
Cork and Dublin, all its united service men were transferred to a garrison
battalion of the latter, and its disposable men were drafted into the ist bat-
talion at Malta. In 1807 the officers and non-commissioned officers of the
2nd battalion were recruiting in England. On 29 October, 1807, the
name of the regiment was changed from the East Middlesex to the
Dorset.
The 2nd battalion was largely recruited from the Militia, and spent
1808 in Guernsey. The flank companies of the ist battalion went that
year from Malta to Sicily, and in 1809 took from Murat, then king of
Naples, the two islands of Ischia and Procida. They spent 18 10 in Sicily.
The 2nd battalion went to Spain in 1809, and in 18 10 took part in the
operations of Busaco, and distinguished itself greatly at the battle of
Albuera (16 May). The ist battalion arrived at Lisbon in 181 1, and
was made up to full strength by all the effective men of the 2nd battalion,
the skeleton of which then embarked for England and arrived at Weymouth
2 March, 18 12. The ist battalion took part in the battle of Salamanca in
1812.* The 2nd battalion remained at Weymouth till October, when they
went to Exeter, but returned to Weymouth in December. The ist bat-
talion, which had lost heavily, but behaved with great gallantry at Vittoria
(21 June), was in all the operations against Soult in the Pyrenees, and on
the Nive that winter, and was at Orthes and Toulouse in the spring of
18 14. The 2nd battalion spent 18 13 at Weymouth.
After the end of the war in Europe the ist battalion went to North
America, and was at Plattsburg, and in the ineffisctive Lake Champlain
operations,' returning to Europe just after the battle of Waterloo, in time to
join the British Army at Paris. In the same year the effective men of the
2nd battalion were transferred to the ist, and the former was disbanded
24 December, 18 15.
The regiment remained in the Pas de Calais till 1818, in December of
which year it went to Ireland. In 1825 it was sent to New South
Wales to keep order among the convicts. A depot company was left in
England, but by 1830 all the rest of the regiment was in New South Wales.
It was at this time that Captain Charles Sturt, himself of a well-known
Dorset family, made his two journeys into the interior of the conti-
nent (1829, 1830) to assist Darling. In 1830 the 39th helped to put
' 43 Geo. Ill, cap. Ixxxii. ' 44 Geo. Ill, cap. Ivi.
' Somen, and Dors. N. and O. i, 1 54-5. ' Hist. Rec. of the Brit. Army, 39th Dors. Regt. 54.
Ibid. 63.
17X
A HISTORY OF DORSET
down convict disturbances in the Bathurst district. In 1833 they were at
Madras and Bangalore, in 1834 took part in a punitive expedition against
the Rajah of Coorg,^ and in 1837 quelled an insurrection in Malabar.
In 1843 ^^^ regiment formed part of the 5th brigade of the 'Army
of Exercise ' in Gwalior. It took, part in the succeeding operations,
and was distinguished at the battle of Maharajpore.* Part of the 39th
was with Sir Charles Napier's expedition in 1845 against the hill-tribes of
Baluchistan, the mountain desert robbers. In 1847 the regiment returned
to England.
The ist battalion of the Dorset Regiment is nicknamed ' the Green
Linnets,' from the old green facings, and from the habit of singing while on
the march. The 2nd battalion is nicknamed ' the Flamers.' This battalion
is the old 54th regiment, formerly called the West Norfolk. Cobbett served
in it as a sergeant-major. The 2nd battalion was sent out to Natal immedi-
ately on the outbreak of the South African War in 1899.^ It served with
distinction under General Buller, taking part in all the battles leading to the
relief of Ladysmith. At Alleman's Nek the heights were carried by the
Dorsets. In October, 1902, it returned to Portland,* and it embarked for
India 4 October, 1906. The ist battalion saw no active service during the
South African War, remaining in India, chiefly in the Punjab, during the
entire campaign. The 3rd battalion (the Dorset Militia) was embodied at
ShornclifFe, 14 December, 1899, and proceeded to Kinsale in March, 1900.'
It returned, however, to Dorchester in October, 1901.'
The earliest in date of the twelve Dorset volunteer corps raised
by June i860 was the Wareham Corps. It was formed by 28 January,
i860 ; one of its earliest supporters was His Majesty King Edward. There
is a Cadet Corps at Sherborne School.
Six troops of Dorset Yeomanry were raised in 1794, viz. Lieutenant-
Colonel Darner's (Dorchester) troop, Major Frampton's (Moreton) troop.
Captain Churchill's (Wimborne) troop. Captain Grosvenor's (Wareham and
Charborough) troop. Captain Weld's (Lulworth) troop, and Captain Browne's
(Maiden Newton) troop. The latter recruited as far south as Weymouth
and Abbotsbury. Later in the year a seventh troop, under Captain Travers,
was formed at Bridport.'' The troops met for the first time for exercise at
Dorchester, 8 May, 1794, under Colonel Lord Milton. After that they
met at different places once a week, as appointed by the captains. On
17 September the king reviewed them under Maiden Castle. Exercise was
continued till 22 October, when it ceased for the winter. The strength of
the force at this time was 250. They clothed and horsed themselves,
receiving from the Government only a sword, one pistol, and holsters. They
also requested the colonel to refuse any money offered by the county to assist
them in expenses. No exercise apparently took place during haymaking
and harvesting.* In 1795 the number of the troops was reduced to five,
since the king could not sign the commissions of Captain Weld and his
son (the cornet of the Lulworth troop) as they were Roman Catholics.
' Hist. Rec. of the Brit. Jrmy, 39th Dors. Regt. 73. ' Ibid. 90.
' Jrmy Lists, Sept. 1 899, Jan. 1 900. ' Ibid. Oct. 1 902, Jan. 1903.
' Ibid. J.in. 1900, March 1900. ' Ibid.
'Captain M. F. Gage, Rec. of the Dorset 1'eomanry, 173.
' C. W. Thompson, Dorset Teomanry, 12, 14-15.
173
POLITICAL HISTORY
In 1797, however, a fresh troop was raised in the vale of Blackmoor
under Captain Meggs. Under the fear of a French attack upon the Dorset
coast, not only the volunteers, but the whole posse comitatus, consisting of
20,857 able-bodied men over fifteen years old, excluding peers and
ecclesiastics, were ordered to be in readiness. This was done by the
authority of the sheriff, not of the lord-lieutenant.^ During the second
invasion-scare of 1798 three fresh troops were raised. Captain Tregonwell's
at Cranborne, Captain Clavell's in the Isle of Purbeck, and a second in the
vale of Blackmoor under Captain Bower at Shaftesbury. ° In 1801 there
were only nine troops, but as Captain Bower was now adjutant it is probable
that the Shaftesbury troop was the one disbanded. This first Dorset Corps
of Volunteer Rangers came to an end on the signature of peace between
England and France, in March, 1802. Frampton, in his Memoirs, gives
three reasons against the maintenance of a permanent yeomanry force in the
county. He says the poor disliked yeomen forces of armed farmers, who
could keep up the price of provisions, that the farmers themselves suffered
under the sense of being always obliged to belong, if they had once joined,
and that the attendance of yeomen diminished much as soon as the imme-
diate fear of invasion was withdrawn.'
On the rupture of the Peace of Amiens the yeomanry was again
raised, and consented to receive the allowance granted by Government for
accoutrements ; preparations made for removing stock were put under the
control of such deputy-lieutenants and other gentlemen as were not engaged
in any other military duty, thus relieving the Yeomanry officers. With the
increased fears of invasion the regiment became more efficient. Their
alertness was tested, in 1804, by a rumour that the French had landed at
Portland. Weymouth was thrown into confusion, till it was found that a
fishing-fleet had taken refuge in the Roads during a fog.*
Lieutenant-Colonel Damer's death in May, 1807, led to the command
of Frampton, under whom the numbers of the corps greatly increased, the
Secretary of State giving permission for the strength to be raised to twenty-
four officers and 450 non-commissioned officers and men.' The regiment
was disbanded in 18 14 on the conclusion of peace. Frampton, with
150 mounted men armed with constables' staves, dispersed the agrarian
rioters at Winfrith in 1830^ : and in December of that year the Dorset-
shire Yeomanry Cavalry was again raised. It now consisted of five troops,
recruited mainly from West Dorset. A scheme to raise a regiment in
East Dorset in 1831 came to nothing. Instead, four independent troops
were raised at Wimborne, Blandford, Wareham and the Isle of Purbeck,
and Charborough. These were, however, disbanded in 1838, with the
exception of the Charborough troop, which had been disbanded in 1835.^
The throwing out of the Reform Bill caused a serious riot at Sherborne in
October, 1831 ; the yeomanry were called out. The regiment assembled
for 'permanent duty ' for the first time in May, 1832, at Dorchester.* In
June, 1843, the title of ' Queen's Own ' was given to it.
' C. W. Thompson, Dorset Teomanry, 23, 25. ' Gage, Dorset Teomanry, 174.
' C. W. Thompson, Dorset Yeomanry, 49. ' Ibid. 69.
Mbid. 84, 86, 89. Mbid. 108-9.
' Gage, Dorset Yeomanry, 174. * C. W. Thompson, Dorset Yeomanry, 127.
A HISTORY OF DORSET
In 1879 the Yeomanry did not assemble for 'permanent duty' owing
to the depressed condition of agriculture. It then consisted of six troops,
viz. the Dorchester, Melbury, Blackmoor Vale, Sherborne, Blandford, and
Wimborne troops.^
In 1893 the regiment was formed in two squadrons, the field troops of
Melbury, Sherborne, and Dorchester having head quarters at Maiden Newton,
and those of Blandford, Wimborne, and the vale of Blackmoor having head-
quarters at Blandford.
In 1 90 1 the Queen's Own Dorsetshire Yeomanry was again reorganized
and formed in three squadrons, with head quarters at Dorchester, Sherborne,
and Blandford respectively. There is also a machine-gun section.*
A meeting was held at Dorchester on New Year's Day, 1900, in
response to the Government's demand for 10,000 Imperial Yeomanry. By
8 January 120 men had applied to join the company, 115 only being
required from each county. A machine-gun section was also formed, with
two Colt guns, mounted on galloping carriages.' The company was ordered
to form part of the seventh battalion of Imperial Yeomanry. They entrained
at Dorchester, 28 February, and reached the front 7 April. On 18 April a
reinforcing draft, consisting of one officer and fourteen non-commissioned
officers, was sent out. Altogether, there served in South Africa, of the
original Dorset Yeomanry, ten officers and 1 1 5 non-commissioned officers
and troopers, two non-commissioned officers and twelve men of the machine-
gun section, the above-mentioned draft of April, 1900, and a 1901 draft
consisting of one lieutenant and seventy-two men. The casualties were
twenty-four, including two killed in action. To the 26th Company of
Imperial Yeomanry Dorset contributed seven officers and their thirteen
servants, and seven non-commissioned officers and men, with a reinforcing
draft of one lieutenant, one corporal, and thirteen troopers.*
On arrival in South Africa the Dorset Yeomanry acted temporarily
under General Sir Leslie Rundle, and took part in the operations for the
relief of Wepener. In May, joining Lord Roberts's army at Kroonstad,
they advanced along the ruined railway lines on Vereeniging, across the
Vaal. The Dorsets were the first to cross into Transvaal territory at this
point. They participated in the advance on Johannesburg and Pretoria.
After the armistice of early June they took part in the Diamond Hill action,
and later some of the force formed part of the Pretoria garrison. Later
they joined in the chase of De Wet, and were thus constantly on the move.
They had the honour of protecting the retirement after Nooitgedacht,'
during which action they had been under fire fourteen hours, and in the
saddle twenty-six hours. In January, 1901, they were in the action at
Middlefontein. Much uneventful trekking followed, chiefly in the neigh-
bourhood of Naauwport. They then took part in the operations in the
Western Transvaal. New drafts of yeomanry, drawn from a somewhat
different class of men, were sent out in May, 1901, and the original Dorset
Yeomanry was then ordered home. The battalion left Cape Town on
3 June, 1 90 1, and arrived at Southampton 25 June.
'Gage, Dorset yeomanry, 175. 'Royal Warrant, Yeomanry Reorganization, 1901.
' Gage, Dorset Yeomanry, 75-9, * Ibid. Appendix C.
' Ibid. 127-30.
MARITIME HISTORY
IN considering accessibility to invasion the development of shipbuilding
in relation to harbours must, as well as other facts, be borne in mind.
In early centuries the minor Dorset ports and river mouths admitted
the vessels of small tonnage then in use, or in some places they could
be beached ; from the sixteenth century onwards a whole stretch of coast
such as the West Bay, extending from Portland to the border of Devon,
passed out of the sphere of possible operations because to be caught there in
a gale from the westward was certain destruction as the larger ships then
built could find no shelter except, in limited number, at Lyme. The eastern
half of the county offered, in recent centuries, equally few advantages to an
invader, Poole, at high tide, looks a capacious harbour, but its waterways
are narrow and its anchorage limited, while the contracted entrance is further
obstructed by a shifting bar which has not more than 14 ft. of water on
it at high water spring tides. Studland and Swanage bays are sheltered from
the westward ; but the former will not admit anything drawing more than
12 ft., and the latter gives but a shallow and indifferent anchorage. From
Durlstone Head to Weymouth Roads runs a line of lofty cliffs broken by a
few coves and landing-places which may have received the vessels of Saxon
and Danish marauders, and later coasters, but are of no avail for modern
shipping. As in the case of the West Bay it would be the object of an
invader to keep clear of this coast rather than to approach it. Thus of the
75 miles of Dorset coast at least three-fourths became a negligible quantity as
facilities of transport increased and the national risk of invasion grew greater
generally.
From the point of view of naval war, therefore, the interest strategically
is confined to the projecting point of Portland, with its accessories Portland
Roads and Weymouth Roads. The modern naval base is seldom a great com-
mercial port ; the mediaeval base, unless far outside the radius of action and
merely a feeder to supply the fleets, was invariably a place of commerce
because its offensive capacity in war grew out of its success in the paths of
peace. Thus Sandwich, Rye, Winchelsea, Weymouth, and Plymouth became
bases for offence as they increased in maritime strength, as commerce caused
the accumulation of ships, men, and materiel, all interchangeable for trade or
war, and as the area of maritime action widened. Melcombe, when ruined
by the French in the fourteenth century, was becoming an important naval
centre ; its harbour, suitable for the vessels of that age and probably deeper
than it is now, held the position relative to Cherbourg and St. Malo that
Plymouth, later, stood in towards Brest ; and Weymouth Roads, like Portland
Roads covered from all winds except those from east to south, was of equal
175
A HISTORY OF DORSET
value commercially. The forbidding bluiF of Portland guarded by its cliffs,
by the westerly gales that sweep over it, by the dangerous Race, and by the
Shambles, never allured a mediaeval invader to any attempt to secure a per-
manent foothold upon it ; the natural strength which daunted the enemy of
that period was the principal defence then of Portland Roads, but is still
more effective now when improved by engineering and military art. Torbay,
although not so safe an anchorage, was preferred in the eighteenth century
because nearer Brest ; when Cherbourg was suddenly enlarged into a great
naval base and arsenal, the development of Portland, nearly opposite, but to
windward, was the natural answer. The use of steam has greatly increased
the strategical value of Portland. Although not a primary base, because it
lacks appliances for docking and repairs, it holds a first place among those of
its class, for, as it flanks Portsmouth and Plymouth,^ no enemy could venture
to attack either of those places while an English fleet, even of inferior strength
but able to fight, lay in the naval harbour. He must therefore deal with the
Portland fleet first and either mask it with sufficient force while he carried
out his main purpose or await its pleasure as to the time of action. Except as
following a series of disasters which would, by their direct and indirect effects,
render a further struggle here useless, no enemy or combination of enemies is
likely to possess sufficient strength simultaneously to hold quiescent a fighting
fleet at Portland and to attack one of the great naval arsenals. For his fleet there
would be far more risk of disaster than probability of success about a serious
bombardment at any useful range ; and if he succeeded the English loss would
not be so great as would be involved in the destruction of a huge dockyard,
with the private property around it. The methods of attack in modern naval
war are likely to enforce the use of Portland as a centre for ships delayed in
sailing or awaiting admission to Portsmouth, for Spithead can never be used
again with the confidence permissible before the era of torpedoes and drifting
mines.
The name of the British tribe inhabiting Dorset, the Durotriges, or
' water dwellers,' seems to imply some especial relation with the sea ; but a
recent suggestion that the water in question was that of the marshes of Poole
Harbour, and of the rivers emptying themselves into it, is a far more probable
one than the supposition that the natives possessed any particular maritime
aptitude. Unlike some of the other counties whose coast-line is broken by
long beaches or stretches of salt-water marshes, that of Dorset offers little
encouragement to beginners in navigation. If the Celtic appellation referred
to the sea it involves the inference that the Durotriges were far more advanced
in maritime affairs than any of the other races in Britain, for which there is
no evidence either in history or in the numerous Celtic remains which have
been found in the county. We may safely assume that such sea life as existed
was confined to fishing close inshore from coves and sheltered bays, and that
the Durotriges had made even less progress in navigation than their neigh-
bours east and west.
Omitting the Roman era, considered elsewhere, we find that the principal
Saxon advance north-westward was by land from their favourite place of
debarkation in Southampton Water. It is both possible and probable that
' Portland to Plymouth, 75 miles ; to Portsmouth, 60 miles ; to Guernsey, 60 miles ; to Alderney,
48 miles ; to Cherbourg, 62 miles.
176
MARITIME HISTORY
their failure at first to reach the coast from the centre of the county was re-
trieved, later, by a flank attack by way of Poole Harbour, thus turning the
strong position of the marshes and forests of the Frome, although no evidence
of such a movement has survived. If it did occur it is the only maritime
incident connected with the West Saxon conquest of Dorset.
In 787, if the date given in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle be correct, came
the first appearance of the Northmen in England, and the experience fell upon
Dorset. According to one writer the landing-place was Portland ^ ; and the
king's reeve, ignorant of the character of the strangers, riding from Dorchester
to inquire the cause of their coming, was killed, together with his attendants.
Portland seems a less likely place of landing than either Poole or Weymouth
Harbours, and, if they came from the eastward, it is difficult to understand
why their first appearance should have been in Dorset when, to reach the
county, they must have passed much more tempting coasts on their way. We
read, however, that in the year 800 the northern shores of France were
harassed by the Northmen ^ ; that condition of things had existed for years
previously, so that it is likely that the marauders of 787 had come across the
Channel, especially as they were said to be from ' Haeretha-land,' now held to
be Jutland, which was also the home of the pirates of 800. Nearly half a
century elapsed before their next appearance in Dorset, and by that time the
lines of advance from the Baltic — eastward by way of the Frisian and French
coasts, westward by way of the Orkneys and Ireland — were closing round
England. In 833 a fleet appeared at Charmouth, where the Vikings were
met by Egbert in person, who was overthrown, and in 837 another force,
perhaps one which had just been repulsed in Southampton Water, landed at
Portland ; there the ealdorman Ethelhelm was defeated and killed by the
enemy who remained in possession of the island. Again, in 840, they came
to Charmouth and routed Ethelwulf, if the entry in the Chronicle is not a
repetition of the event of 837. The first landing may have been due to
chance, but assuming both entries to be correct it is not clear what attraction
Charmouth or its neighbourhood can have had sufficient to account for two
onslaughts in seven years. On the other hand the second landing may have
happened but have been unintentional, in the sense that bad weather forced a
roving party to seek a port.
Whatever temptation Dorset may have offered at first to invite attacks,
in force they soon faded ; the county is not mentioned again until towards the
end of the long struggle of nearly fifteen years during which the Danes were
fighting for the conquest of England. In 876 Guthrum, with his division,
which had wintered in the Midlands, ' stole away ' from Cambridge to
Wareham. Probably he embarked in Orwell Haven and went by sea. That
Guthrum, or some of those with him, knew the strength of the Wareham
position affords reasonable presumption that they must have learned the
topography of the district as the result of small raids not noticed by the
chroniclers. Notwithstanding a solemn undertaking to leave the kingdom,
part of the Danish army escaped and occupied Exeter ; the remainder held
Wareham until the spring of 877,* when they left by sea to raise the blockade
' Leland, Collect, iii, Z14 (Chron. St. Neot).
' Pairohgiae, ed. J. P. Migne, civ, 458 {Jnn. Lauriosertses).
' Traditions of Danish slaughter still linger in the neighbourhood of Wool (Moule, OIJ Donef, 139).
2 177 23
A HISTORY OF DORSET
instituted by Alfred and relieve their beleaguered comrades in the western
capital. The relieving fleet was caught by a storm and driven into Swanage
Bay where 120 ships were wrecked. The Danes in Exeter thereupon
surrendered, one more illustration of the effects — if not of sea-power — of sea
affairs.
The supreme tactical advantage possessed by the Danes, in being able to
seize a base wherever the sea broke upon a beach round England, was one
that the Saxons had themselves used centuries previously although they had
t'orgotten the lesson and lost their maritime aptitude. Even after the fifteen
years' war which ended with the peace of Wedmore, a war only possible for
the Danes because they held the sea, the fierce five years' fight between 893
and 897 was needed to make Alfred decide upon building ships in sufficient
number to have some chance of meeting the enemy with success afloat. These
ships, when in service, were manned largely by foreign mercenaries, which
shows that the counties contained but a small seafaring population. However,
the existence of a fleet ensured eventually the collection of a body of trained
seamen to man it or it could hardly have continued. Incidental references
indicate that Alfred's successors possessed fleets of some strength, while there
was a law in force during the reign of Edgar (959—75) that every three
hundreds, probably along the coast line, should provide a ship. This law
may have fallen into desuetude or have been found insufficient, for in 1008,
under the pressure of renewed Danish incursions, it was ordered that every
310 hides of land throughout the country should build and equip a ship.
Dorset was not among the leading maritime shires of early centuries, but
these laws, with the consequent necessity for serving at sea, must have tended
to bring the backward counties into line with those more advanced ; among
the former Dorset would have been helped forward in this way in the absence
of the stimulus of maritime commerce.
After a long interval of comparative peace the Danish ravages recom-
menced towards the end of the tenth century. The beginning of the next
century showed signs of their preparation for the complete conquest of
England. Nearly the first breath of the storm swept over Dorset where a
pirate squadron appeared in 982 and ravaged Portland. It may be inferred
that they were new to their work or weak in numbers, for otherwise they
would surely have chosen some wealthier region. An invasion by Sweyn,
king of Denmark, took place in 994 ; he was repulsed from London, and
then ravaged the east and south coasts, but did not go further westward than
Southampton Water. The turn of Dorset came again in 998, when a force,
probably from Ireland, after harrying the west coast during the preceding
year, came soutli and sailed up Poole Harbour, from which ' they went up as
far as they would' into the interior of the county. Between 1003 and
I o 1 1 the Danes overran the eastern half of England from Norfolk to Wiltshire
and Hampshire, but Dorset seems to have escaped the main bodies of the enemy.
In 10 1 3 came another great invasion under Sweyn, and King Ethelred and
his family fled to Normandy. Sweyn died in 1014 ; Ethelred returned but had
to contend with Svv'eyn's son, Cnut, who arrived with a great fleet in loi 5 with
which he laid waste the coast from Kent westwards, finally harbouring in
the favourite covert of Poole from which he marched over Dorset, Wiltshire,
and Somerset. Cnut is said to have occupied Brownsea Island ; no doubt
MARITIME HISTORY
several earlier generations of Danes had also used it. Years of hard fightin >■
followed until the death of Edmund Ironside in 1017 left Cnut king of all
England, but the area of struggle was outside Dorset, and a long period of
peace succeeded the new settlement of the throne. Only one other maritime
event of any importance is associated with the county previous to the
Conquest. In 1051 Godwin and his sons had been banished ; Godwin went
to Flanders, Harold and his brother Leofwin to Ireland. Both father and
sons returned with fleets in 1052, and that of Harold plundered along the
coast of Dorset before he met his father at Portland. Godwin's men landed
there ' and did whatever harm they were able to do.'
In connexion with some of the counties a coasting and foreign trade can
be inferred, thus correlating a certain amount of shipping at the date of the
Conquest, but there is no evidence concerning Dorset. Bridport and Ware-
ham seem rather large places in Domesday, and must have been the principal
ports. There was a fishery carried on from Lyme. As Bridport was famous
for its cordage by the reign of John there is every probability that the trade
was older than the Conquest, and if so it was one which must have especially
aided the shipping development of the town until its harbour failed. The
events of 1069 show that William had then no fleet available, but he was the
last man likely to underrate the importance of maritime power, so that in
1 07 1 and the following years his ships were acting in conjunction with his
land forces. Between the last threat of a Danish invasion in 1083 and the
loss of Normandy in 1204 there were few occasions for naval levies on a large
scale, seeing that the Channel was not then a disputed tract but only the sea
road connecting dominions under the same sovereign. In 1 171, at Milford
Haven, there were collected 400 vessels to carry Henry II and his army to
Ireland. From geographical situation and administrative arrangement,^ it is
probable that Dorset furnished a quota to the expedition. A fleet conveying
the main body of the Crusaders left Dartmouth in 1190, but most of the
vessels were obtained from the continental possessions of the crown. For up-
wards of a century only small fleets for transport purposes were required in
the desultory dynastic wars occurring, and for these it was sufficient to call
upon the Cinque Ports, London, and the adjacent districts. Wareham is the
only Dorset port from which the combatants sailed, or at which they arrived,
during the civil wars of Stephen's reign.
In March, 1208, the authorities in the principal coast counties were
ordered to cause all vessels to return to England before the ensuing Easter to
be ready for the king's service. Lists of the ships and the names of the
owners were also to be sent to London.* Under 1205 we have the first
station list of the king's ships, but as none was placed between Southampton
and Exeter the Dorset ports were evidently not yet among the leading ones.
A similar order to that of 1208 issued again in 12 14, but in the latter
year the Hsts were to be confined to ships of 80 tons and upwards.'' If the
inclusion of Dorset among the other counties was not a mere matter of
routine, and there was a real expectation of finding vessels of 80 or 100 tons
in its ports, it implies a considerable growth of trade and shipping during the
' With the exception of a few years Dorset and Somerset were under one sheriff, until 8 Eiiz. ; writs
usually applied to both counties.
* Pat. 9 John, ra. 2. ' Ibid. 16 John, m. 16.
179
A HISTORY OF DORSET
previous century. No doubt a contingent of Dorset ships and seamen was
present in the fleet, made up from the ports generally, which won the great
victory at Damme in 12 13.
In the reigns of John and Henry III we find notices of the Bridport
cordage manufacture. In 121 3 John ordered cables for his ships to be made
there in such haste that the work was to be carried on night and day.* In
1225 Henry directed the sheriff to buy two cables in the town and send them
to Fowey for the use of the royal ships.' In 1224 there was a general arrest
of shipping in view of war with France ; in Dorset the bailiffs of Poole were
called upon to prepare all its ships for service and to detain any foreign vessels
coming there. ^^ This is the first notice of the town in relation to shipping.
Weymouth occurs in 1226, as well as Poole, when an order issued to stop
any merchantmen sailing for French ports. Lyme is added to a similar writ
in 1234.'^ Arrests of shipping were frequent during the reign of Henry, but
they were seldom followed by any events requiring notice. In 1254 there
was a levy of ships large enough to carry sixteen horses, and writs were
directed to Poole, Weymouth, and Lyme.'- The last was becoming strong
enough to carry on a war of its own ; in 1265 the king ordered inquiry into
the mutual injuries inflicted upon each other at sea by the men of Lyme and
Dartmouth, which had led to ' enormous transgressions and homicides ' by
both parties. '^ As this was the period of the Barons' Wars, the anarchy
existing in the state was reproduced on a smaller scale round the coast. But
Dartmouth had long been a great and wealthy port ; if Lyme could now
fight it on terms of equality at sea it signifies a remarkable growth of pros-
perity in the Dorset town.
A distinctive feature of the maritime history of the thirteenth century
is the appointment of one or more persons, sometimes for one county and
sometimes for a group of counties, as keepers of the coast, a step towards the
organization of systematic defence. John Marshal was keeper of the ports
of Somerset and Dorset in 121 5, although this appointment was probably
not altogether one of the later type.'* In 1224 Ralph Germun was keeper
of the Dorset coast ; in 1235 Hamo de Crevecoeur and Walerand Teutonicus
had charge from Hastings to Poole.'' The office was not continuous, and
most often comes under notice in time of war when the enemy happened to
have the upper hand and be in command of the Channel. Thus in the reign
of Edward III we find many nominations in the years immediately preceding
the battle of Sluys in 1340. The functions of the keeper were chiefly
military, but were also judicial in matters relating to the sea and coast ; he was
in military command both at sea and on land, and was given somewhat large
powers. Practically, he was expected to crush piracy, to beat off raiders, to
enable coasters and fishermen to sail in peace, and to summon the county to
arms upon invasion. The office did not endure for long because, during the
second half of the fourteenth century, the growth of the Admiralty Court,
the increased power of the admirals, and, finally, the creation of the post of
High Admiral lessened its importance. Historically, however, the keeper may
* Close, 1 5 John, m. 6.
' Ibid. 9 Hen. Ill, m. 13. Fishing nets were also made there (ibid. 7 Hen. Ill, m. 22).
'" Pat. 8 Hen. Ill, m. 8 J. " Close, 10 Hen. Ill, m. 27./. ; ibid. 18 Hen. Ill, m. 25^
" Ibid. 38 Hen. Ill, m. 5. " Pat 49 Hen. Ill, m. 17.
" Pat. 17 John, m. 17. '^ Ibid. 19 Hen. Ill, m. 14.
180
MARITIME HISTORY
be considered the ancestor of the conservators of truces instituted locally by
Henry V, and of the later vice-admirals of the coast whom we find acting
from the middle of the sixteenth century. A part of the system of defence
under the care of the keeper was the line of fire beacons, corresponding to
the modern coastguard stations, usually placed on a hill near the shore and
guarded in war time by a watch from the neighbouring parishes.'" The
Poole men were responsible for the beacon on Worbarrow Down.'^
The Welsh wars of 1277 and 1282-3 were mainly fought by the feudal
armies. The Cinque Ports furnished most of the squadrons — not large
ones — required for the Welsh wars, but the later Scotch campaigns stirred
the coasts to greater activity. The advance of Poole is manifested by its
being the recipient, in 1291, with the chief ports, of a mandate to execute
a truce with France. '^ At the time when Edward was founding the new
Winchelsea he apparently designed creating a town in Dorset on a similar
plan, for a writ of 1286 recites that he was trying to settle a town and har-
bour ' at Gotowre in Studland parish,' at which the people were to enjoy
the same liberties as those of the burgesses of Lyme and Melcombe." This
seems to have been at Ower, on the south side of Poole Harbour, but as the
new port must have been projected with a view to maritime action, it is not
easy to see, however busy it may have been then,"" what advantages for the
king's fleets it was expected to present greater than those afforded by Poole.
War with France followed a battle in the Channel in 1293 between the
Cinque Ports and their allies and the French and their allies. The preparations
in England included the construction of 1 1 galleys at the king's cost, at various
places ; one, of i 20 oars, was ordered at Lyme, which was to be assisted by
Weymouth.^* The town is here therefore classed among the great ports. ^^ The
Scotch war of 1295 was the cause of levies round the south coast in the shape
of a selection from among ships of 40 tons and upwards. °' There was an
attempt to keep the intended place of concentration secret, the persons
choosing the ships in Dorset and elsewhere being directed to ' bring them on
a certain day to a certain place as instructed by word of mouth.' A large
fleet was raised in 1297 ^° transport an army to Flanders ; Edward, in call-
ing upon the ports, including the three of Dorset, explained that the matter
was among ' the greatest and most arduous that he has had to deal with in
any times past.'^* In March, 1301, the ports all round the coast were re-
quired to send ships by midsummer for the Scotch campaign ; Poole, Lyme,
and Weymouth were assessed at one vessel each." Again, in November,
1302, the ports were warned for service to be ready by the following spring,
Weymouth and Lyme being rated at one ship each while Wareham and
Brownsea were joined with Poole for the third." This time security was
'* Cf. Southey, Livts ef the Admirals, i, 360 (quoting Froissart), as to the. method of constructing tlie
beacons. See also Stubbs, Const. Hist. \\, 285 (2nd ed.), on mediaeval coast defence.
" Sydenham, Hist, of Poole, 99, who refers to a corporation MS. giving the n.imes of those who were to
find the hobelers to keep the watch. " Pat. 19 Edvv. I, m. 17. " Ibid. 14 Edw. I, m. 24.
" Hutchins {Hist, of Dorset, i, 463, 3rd ed.) notices that Purbeck stone was formerly exported from Ower,
and th.it in ancient times it was much frequented, as is shown by the deep tracks across the he.itli.
" K. R. Memo. R. 69, No. 77. The account of the expenses incurred still exists (Exch. Accts. K. R.
bdle. 5, No. 21).
" The seal of Lyme Regis, with a ship which presents some peculiarities, is of this reign.
" Pat. 23 Edw. I, m. 7, m. 6. " Close, 25 Edw. I, m. \-] d.
'"" Pat. 29 Edw. I, m. 20. '"^ Ibid. 30 Edw. I, m. 2.
181
A HISTORY OF DORSET
required from the shipowners that their vessels would appear because some of
the ports, amongst them Lyme and Poole, had neglected the orders of the
previous year. Two of the king's clerks were sent round the coast to punish
the defaulters at their discretion,"
Probably both shipowners and seamen found piracy or privateering more
attractive than the royal service, but notwithstanding occasional disobedience
there was no general disinclination to respond to the demands of the crown.
The yearly levies of ships and men would seem to be destructive of commerce,
but in reality were not nearly so injurious to it as they appear, for it was
only during the summer months that the king's fleets were large in the
number of ships. Moreover a trading voyage involved great risk of loss from
' wreck, piracy, and privateers, or in the sale of the cargo ; the king's service
meant certain pay for the fitting and hire of the ship, besides sixpence a day
for the officers, and threepence a day for the men — very liberal wages allow-
ing for the greater value of money. Thus both owner and sailor were on a
safer footing in serving the king than in trading for themselves. The
incessant embargoes that harassed commerce — then much increased — under
Edward III were not yet common, and the alacrity with which most of the
ports answered the demands made upon them shows that the assistance
required was not oppressive, nor even unwelcome, especially as those who
contributed to the sea service were freed from any aid towards that by land.
There was no permanent naval organization at this time. The king possessed
some ships of his own, and the commanders were usually charged with their
maintenance. When a fleet was to be raised from the merchant navy a
certain extent of coast was allotted to one of the king's clerks, or to a serjeant-
at-arms, who acted with the bailiffs of the port towns in selecting ships and
men and seeing them dispatched to the place of meeting. If a ship did not
appear, or the men deserted, they or the owner might be required to find
security to come before the king ; and although there was as yet no statute ■*
dealing with the offence they might, as we see, be punished at the discretion
of the king or his representatives.
Wrecking and piracy were recognized, it illegal, industries, and the
Dorset men were no better than their neighbours in practising them. The
character and conformation of the coast must have provided much material
for wreckers, for the clumsy mediaeval ship was doomed if caught
either side of Portland in a gale from an unfavourable quarter. In the
human factor appetite grew with what it fed upon until the deeds of the
Dorset wreckers were notorious even in the nineteenth century. In 1305 a
Spanish ship was wrecked near Portland ; the crew escaped, but a commission
of oyer and terminer names 235 persons known to have plundered the ship
and broken it up.-' In the following year a Bordeaux vessel was lost under
Corfe, and although some of the crew and two dogs escaped alive the people
thereabouts carried away the cargo and destroyed the ship.^° Piracy became
so prevalent that in 131 1 the county had a commission of inquiry to itself
in order to ascertain why so many foreign merchantmen were plundered in
" Pat. 30 Edw. I, m. 14.
" The first statute was 2 Ric. II, st. 1, cap. 4, by which deserters were fined double their wages and
imprisoned for a year.
" Pat. 33 Edw. I, pt. i, m. 13 d'. '" Ibid. 3+ Edw. I, m. 28 </.
182
MARITIME HISTORY
Dorset waters." But in many instances the so-called piracies were merely
cases of seizing enemy's goods in neutral ships and would, later, have merely
provided suits in the Admiralty Court. Others can have had no such
explanation. In 1322 a Plymouth ship was attacked for a whole day by
crews hailing from Weymouth and Portland who, having at last driven her
to Lyme, there boarded, ransacked, and scuttled her.
The constant warfare of the reign of Edward II caused continual
demands to be made upon the ports. In 1308 Poole, Weymouth, and Lyme
were each ordered to send one ship manned by 42 men for the Scotch war;'-
in the following year Wareham is named among the passage ports of the
south coast.'^ A large fleet was required in 13 10, so that Poole, Wareham,
Weymouth, Melcombe, and Lyme were assessed for one vessel each.^* A
still greater effort was necessary in i 3 1 1 ; Poole was linked with Lymington
for three vessels, Wareham was again asked for one, Lyme for two, and
Weymouth, no doubt with Melcombe, for two.'^ In this case Southampton
and Dartmouth were the only towns on the south coast, exclusive of the
Cinque Ports whose organization does not admit of comparison, which sent
three vessels each, so that we have here a measure of the relative importance
of the ports. In i 3 i 3 thirty of the best ships between Plymouth and Shore-
ham were selected for service, for which Dorset may have supplied one or
more ; in 13 14 there was another heavy levy for the Scotch war, for which
Poole and Wareham sent one ship each, Lyme two, and Weymouth and
Melcombe two."* The exhaustion of the exchequer now forced the king to
obtain vessels from the ports at their own cost, a demand in such contrast to
the methods of Edward I that it must have brought home to shipowners the
possible disagreeables of the crown service. In this way John de Norton
was sent to the towns between Southampton and Falmouth in 13 16 to
persuade them to set out as much shipping as they could at their own
expense 'for better keeping of the English sea.'" This was a request ; the
next year came a command for ships to serve one month at the charge of the
towns, and afterwards at the king's cost ; Wareham was coupled with
Beaulieu Abbey for a vessel, the other Dorset ports being set down for one
each.'' In 13 19 the period of service at the expense of the towns was extended
to three or four months,"' and the coast, generally, must have welcomed a two
years' truce in 1320 with Scotland.
Besides their warfare in the service of the state several of the counties
found themselves strong enough to carry on private wars of their own. In
August, I 32 1, the king issued inhibitions to the men of the Cinque Ports on
the one side, and on the other to those of Poole, Lyme, Weymouth, and
Melcombe in Dorset, ordering them to desist from the mutual homicides,
robberies, and ship-burnings which they had been perpetrating.*" The
Dorset ports were not fighting alone, for Hampshire, Cornwall, and probably
Devon, were their allies in this county war, but that they should have
been sufficiently strong and wealthy to contend with the Cinque Ports at this
time shows their rise into importance.
=' Pat. 5 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 24. =" Close, 2 Ediv. II, m. 22 a'.
" Ibid. 3 Edw. II, m. I9«'. " Rot. Scot. 3 Edw. II, m. I.
" Pat. 4 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 7. '= Rot. Scot. 7 Edw. II, m. 6.
" Close, 9 Edw. II, m. i 3 </. '* Rot. Scot. 1 1 Edw. II, m. 17.
" Ibid. 12 Edw. II, m. 3. "Close, 15 Edw. II, m. 32^., 31^.
183
A HISTORY OF DORSET
The Scotch war was renewed in 1322 ; the ports were asked for naval
aid to serve at their own expense as long as they could, and afterwards at that
of the king. A thirteen years' truce with Scotland was arranged in 1323,
but war with France then threatened, and in May, 1324, the preparation of
a large fleet was ordered ; Weymouth was put down for ten ships, Poole,
with its members, for four, and Lyme for two.*^ Apparently this levy v/as
considered a nuisance by those immediately concerned in satisfying it, for we
find by a writ of June that some of the masters and mariners of Lyme, Poole,
Weymouth, and Wareham had ' eloigned ' themselves and their ships when
the order was received, for which the king expressed his intention of punish-
ing them.*' From the account of wages paid to those who obeyed we glean
remarkable information concerning the size of ships of this period. From
Weymouth came two of 200 tons each, one of 140, and one of 120 tons ;
from Melcombe one of 120 and one of iio tons; from Poole two
of 160 tons; and from Lyme one of 160, and one of 140 tons. For
the moment there was a possibility that the Dorset ports would move
into the first rank.** Isabella proceeded to France in 1325 to nego-
tiate a peace between her husband and her brother, but it soon became
evident that she was going to sacrifice the former in favour of her son.
In 1326 invasion was seen to be imminent, and in August officials were
nominated to survey and take up all ships of 50 tons and upwards.** For
the southern fleet the place of concentration was Portsmouth. Early in
September it was decided to strengthen the royal fleets still further by calling
upon those who had not been affected by the first levy to contribute to the
equipment of more ships. Melcombe was charged with three ships and 76
men, Weymouth two ships and 82 men, Poole six ships and 163 men,
and Lyme five ships and 164 men.*' It will be noticed that Bridport is
absent from all these lists, and the fact that it does not appear in the minute
survey of 1326 shows that it was known not to possess any sea-going craft.**
There was no harbour,*' but some sort of shallow river exit, unfit for ship-
ping of any size, must have existed and this had gradually deteriorated since
the Saxon era. Such aid as it could give probably went to assist Lyme.
A short war with Scotland marked the accession of Edward III, but
there were no naval operations on a large scale. The Cobb of Lyme, which
probably dates from the reign of Edward I, when the town was making such
progress,*' is the subject of a writ in 1328 ; it was then much decayed, and a
toll for five years on all merchandise was granted for its repair.*' It was said
to be built of timber and stone, no doubt in the same way as is shown plainly
in a map of the reign of Henry VIII. '" Another Scotch war commenced
in 1332, and for some years general arrests of shipping followed each
other in quick succession. At last the towns were becoming impatient
of the injury to commerce, due rather to the embargoes which preceded
the actual taking up of ships than to the levies themselves ; moreover the
Scots had the unofficial assistance of France and Flanders, and for the
first time carried on an effective maritime war. There were signs of
♦' Close, 17 Edw. II, m. 1 1 </., 9 </. " Ibid. m. b d. " Add. MSS. 26891, fol. 50.
" Close, 20 Edw. II, m. I I rf'. *Mbid. m. 8. " Pat. 20 Edw. II, m. 21. "Po/Ap. 189.
*' Ante; p. 181. Lyme \v.is incorporated in 1284, but the prosperity of the town must have followed the
construction of the Cobb, which must, therefore, be early Edward I, if not of the reign of Henry III.
" Pat. 2 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m 15. '» Post, p. 197.
184
MARITIME HISTORY
restiveness in several parts of the kingdom. Edward met the difficulty by,
in appearance at least, taking his subjects into his confidence, and in Decem-
ber, 1336, sent a representative round the coast to explain ' certain things
near the king's heart.' " Also, he summoned delegates from the ports to
meet him at Westminster and discuss matters when, we may be sure, social
and other influences were brought to bear on them ; Weymouth, Melcombe,
Poole, Wareham, and Lyme, were all invited to send their burgesses. ^-
France declared war formally in 1337, and expectation of invasion grew
acute in Dorset and Hampshire, where beacons were held ready and keepers of
the coast appointed. The anticipated blow fell upon Portsmouth in i 337, and
on Southampton in 1338 ; but nothing is known to have happened in Dorset
in either year. The statement in the Inquisitiones Nonarian of 1340" that
Portland had been burnt and devastated probably relates to 1339, because
there is a writ of that year discharging the men of Studland, Swanage,
WhiteclifF, and Herston of certain liabilities in consideration of the injuries
suffered in a recent maritime raid." The landing here and at Portland is
likely to have been the work of the same squadron. Edward went to
Flanders with an army in 1338, and the usual demands for shipping were
made, Wareham sending one vessel, Melcombe three, Weymouth and Poole
six each, and Lyme five.*" The French fought chiefly with hired Italian
vessels, and although they were unable to win any striking success they were
in superiority at sea until the great victory of Sluys, in 1340, restored our
supremacy for many years. By that time the strain of a period of more or
less unsuccessful maritime war, and of commercial losses, was telling upon the
English reserve of shipping therefore the sheriffs of the coast shires were
ordered to prevent any sale of ships to foreigners.'* In consequence of the
losses suffered by the ports it was necessary for the crown to come to their
assistance, so that when those of the south and west promised, in 1340, to
equip seventy ships of 100 tons and upwards as far as possible at their own
cost, the Council undertook to help them with money ' as an especial grace.'"
No doubt some of the Dorset ports obtained a share of the royal favour. To
deal with the difficulties of the situation another advisory council of ship-
owners and shipmen was summoned to meet at Westminster in 1341 ; '** to
this Weymouth and Poole each sent a single representative, whereas the
great ports sent two each. The plan of holding what was a subsidiary
maritime Parliament must have been found to have its advantages, for it was
repeated in 1342, 1344, and 1347. In 1342 and 1344 Poole, Lyme,
Weymouth, and Melcombe sent delegates; in 1347 Weymouth was omitted.
Complications arose in Brittany in 1342 through the death of the duke
without direct heirs, leading to the dispatch of a large fleet and army under
Sir Walter de Mauny, in March, while Edward himself crossed later in the
year. In one fleet alone there were 357 vessels, of which Poole sent four,
Weymouth and Melcombe four, and Lyme one."" An undated list, probably
" Close, 10 Edw. Ill, in. 4 </. " Rot. Scot. 10 Edw. Ill, m. 3 d.
■" Op. cit. (Rec. Com.) 50. " Close, 13 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 7.
^■' Misc. Bks. of Exch. Tr. of Rec. 203, fol. 2881^. We h.ive here an opportunity of testing the accuracy
of the chroniclers. Stow (Chnn. [ed. 161 5], p. 235) sa}S that Edward crossed with 500 ships; the pay sheets
show that, altogether, 338 were in commission from July to November, I 3 38.
^ Rymer, Foed. v, 210. " Rot. Pari. (Rec. Com.) ii, 108. " Rymcr, Focd v, 231.
"' Chan. Misc. •^. The Inq. Nonarum of 1340 notes that a great part of L)'me was then destroyed by
the sea.
2 185 24
A HISTORY OF DORSET
relating to another fleet prepared for this expedition, gives a total of 119
vessels, of which Poole sent three barges and Weymouth four.*" "When Edward
returned from Brittany in March, 1343, he landed at Weymouth,'^ but there
were reasons why his visit was not likely to be very welcome. After his
arrival at Brest in the previous October, many of the transports had deserted,
' leaving him and his army in very great peril.' There could have been no
secret about the fact that he intended to make an example of the transgressors,
although the first writs relating to the matter did not issue until May. Two
Weymouth vessels had left him, and if the owners or others concerned were
present at his arrival in the town they probably lived through some un-
pleasant minutes ; the men of three Poole ships and one of Lyme had also
committed the same offence.*- Altogether, from all the counties, 293 ships
and their masters were scheduled, and it is certain that, at least in some cases,
the owners were severely punished by fine or confiscation. The sum of
upwards of ^(^3,000 was levied in fines varying in amount from 6s. Sd. to
j^i8o ; the owners of a Poole ship paid ^^35, and those of another of Wey-
mouth £4.0.^^ Usually, although threats were frequent and the possible
penalties heavy, owners escaped lightly, the shipping interest being too
powerful and important to be offended without serious consideration.
There was a truce with France from January, 1343, which lasted, except
for small violations on either side, until the campaign of Crecy opened. For
Edward's passage, a great fleet — from 1,000 to 1,600 sail, say the chroniclers
— was collected, and another attended the siege of Calais. The original
record, said to be a Wardrobe Account, containing a list of the fleet at Calais,
appears to have perished ; the existing copies, which offer internal evidence
that the original MS. was in some places nearly or quite illegible when it was
transcribed, are of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. There
are discrepancies in these MSS. in the details relating to many of the ports,
but in Dorset the figures are in agreement except in the case of Weymouth.
Lyme sent 4 ships and 62 men ; Poole, 4 ships and 94 men ; Wareham,
3 ships and 59 men ; of the six MS. copies available, five assign Wey-
mouth 15 ships and 264 men," but the sixth gives it 20 ships with the same
number of men." Melcombe, and the whole district around, must be in-
cluded in Weymouth ; with Melcombe it was evidently growing a big place.
Its great neighbour to the east, Southampton, sent 21 ships to Calais ; Ply-
mouth, to the west, rapidly growing into a powerful naval port, sent 26 ; with
both it compares favourably, in view of a late start and some obvious dis-
advantages, but both without doubt possessed bigger ships than Weymouth
and Melcombe although they do not appear in these lists. The mercantile
and maritime importance of the towns is indicated by an order of 1 347 directing
the bailiffs to treat Venetian ships in a friendly manner;''^ this associates them
" Chan. Misc. ^'j. The great ports sent ships as well as barges, e.g. Southampton five ships and one barge.
*' Close, 17 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 23 J. " Ibid. m. 4.2'. ; P.it. 17 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. i 7 «'.
" Pipe R. 21 Edw. Ill, m. 29.
''' Stowe MSS. 570, fol. 23 ; ibid. 574, fol. 28 ; Harl. MSS. 3968, fol. 130 ; ibid. 246 ; Ravvlinson
MSS. (Bodleian) C. 846, fol. 17.
" Cott. MSS. Titus, F. iii, fol. 262. The ships belonging to the eighty-three ports enumerated are nearly
all small ones. Large vessels would only have gone aground oft' Calais at that time ; small coasters of light
draught were required. The Calais Roll is often quoted as a measure of the maritime strength of England
in 1346, but, even if it were reliable, it is plainly nothing of the sort. It may, however, be a guide to the
.imount of shipping engaged in the coasting trade. ^ Close, 21 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 8.
186
MARITIME HISTORY
with only six other ports in England, and we may therefore infer the
occasional arrival of a Venetian galley either for trade or for shelter. In
1352 Weymouth and Melcombe were the only ports in Dorset to which a
writ was sent, repeating the inhibition on the sale of English vessels to
foreigners, which is further evidence of their strength in shipping/^ Mel-
combe is frequently mentioned during this reign in relation to the export of
wheat and as a passage port to France ; in 1371 the town authorities were
directed to allow Portuguese merchants to trade there peaceably.***
The naval history of Edward III is an illustration of the fact that the
uniform result of the destruction of an enemy's military fleets, formerly, was an
increase of raids and privateering. Although naval victories were won and
no resistance was, or could be, made to the transport of Edward's armies, the
coasts were continually harassed by French incursions or the fear of them,
while the sense of weakness was increased by the loss due to privateers and
the exhaustion of the shipowning classes. In 1348 Bindon Abbey was
practically in the hands of receivers, and the misfortune was attributed, among
other causes, to the losses caused by the enemy's raids."" The reference may
be to the events of 1339, but if, on the other hand, they were recent — and
Budleigh, in Devonshire, had suffered considerably in i 347 — it shows that while
the English fleets were in absolute command of the Channel, they were still
unable to prevent those injuries which even the victor suffers in all wars.
An unstable peace endured between 1360 and 1369 ; the recommencement
of hostilities in the latter year was followed by a meeting of another council
of maritime experts at Westminster, to which Weymouth, Poole, and Lyme
sent representatives.™ The renewal of the war was attended by the complete
loss of English supremacy in the Channel. Levy followed levy without
result or with calamity, for while France was displaying an unexpected
strength at sea England was suffering from the weariness of a long war and a
weakening government. The Commons laid before the king the causes to
which they attributed the decay of shipping, and in June, 1372, after the
defeat of the earl of Pembroke before Rochelle, the crown was reduced to
collecting troops along the coasts of the maritime counties to repel invasion
instead of defending them by fleets at sea. The ordinary rate of hire for ships
taken up by the crown was 3J. 4^. a ton for every three months, but now
both that and wages were left unpaid in contrast to the liberality Edward had
shown thirty years earlier, when he could afford to make extra and unusual
payments to help the equipment of the fleets. The year 1375 was marked
by another maritime disaster in the shape of the capture or destruction in
Bourneuf Bay of 39 merchantmen, ranging from 300 tons downwards. Three
Weymouth ships, of which one was of 100 tons, were lost there.''
Edward III died 21 June, 1377, and within a week of his death the
French were raiding the south coast from Kent to Cornwall. Several towns
were more or less wasted, and Melcombe is ranged among them by one
chronicler; it must have suffered severely, for in December, 1378, the
burgesses petitioned to be allowed delay in paying the tenths and fifteenths,
because lately ' burnt and destroyed.' '^ In another petition of 1379 they asked
"' Close, 25 Edw. Ill, m. 4 a'.
'■' Pat. 22 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 9.
" Chan. Dipl. Doc. P. 324.
Rymer, Foei^. (ed. 18 16), iii, 929.
' Rymer, Foc</. (ed. 1816), iii, 880.
Close, 2 Ric. II, m. 22<2'.
187
A HISTORY OF DORSET
tor allowances to pay for walling the town." In 1388 the farm, as well as
the tenths and fifteenths, was remitted for seven years, because ' often ' burnt
and destroyed by the enemy, the inhabitants having thereby been driven
away." From this it may be guessed that it suffered again when the Con-
stable, Oliver de Clisson, harried the coast in 1380. These attempts at
alleviation were fruitless, for in 1394 a further remission for twelve years was
necessary." When this term expired the town was still ' poor and desolate,'
whereas of old the customs and subsidies were wont to amount to jf 1,000 a
year.''* In 1410 there was further reason for petition, but here the customs
and subsidies were stated as being at least 1,000 marks.'*^ In this a definite
assertion is made that the town was burnt in the reigns of both Edward III
and Richard II ; the exact date of the first attack must remain unknown, but
it may have occurred a few days before Edward's death.
These petitions and allowances can be traced as late as 1433, when
having consideration of its feebleness and non-sufficiency, nought inhabited nor of strength
... as it well seemed by the loss that John Roger and other had there late for lack and
scarcity of help and people to withstand . . . your enemies,
SO that traders feared to send or receive merchandise there, Melcombe was
discontinued as a customs port, the collection being removed to Poole." The
story of the ruin of Melcombe, due to two French attacks and acknowledged
after half a century of struggle and decline, is of general as well as of local
interest. It has been held"" that ' cross-ravaging,' i.e. raids for destruction and
plunder such as French and English inflicted on each other in the mediaeval
period, were of no value in helping towards the decision of a war. It is
altogether questionable whether such raids were merely for plunder,'* but it
is obvious that any permanent injury done to an element of national strength,
such as a commercial town, reduces by that much the power of the state in
the immediate war and in the endless national rivalry which is the cause and
sequel of wars. Here, Melcombe, which had been climbing gradually to a
place among the leading ports, soon ceased to be a revenue-producing portion
of the body politic ; its shipping must have nearly disappeared, and with its
shipping its trade and seamen, for in 1407 there were only eight burgesses,
and therefore few employers. By all this the nation was so much the poorer
in its future contests with France. Locally, the effect of the disaster must
have been widespread in the district to which it had been the seaport, for it
was practically the only outlet between Poole and Lyme ; the difficulty and
cost of transit in transporting merchandise between the interior it had served
and the eastern and western borders of the county must, for a time, have
extinguished the nascent commercial spirit growing up inland. By this,
again, the nation as a whole was the poorer. But for its association with
Weymouth in the Newfoundland fishery, which gave it a term of renewed
life for two centuries, it would at once have sunk to the condition of coast
village from which it was rescued by the favour of George III. Moreover,
it is not unlikely that had it continued to grow in the especial attributes of
■' Rot. Pari. (Rec. Com.), iii, 70. " Pat. 2 Rlc. II, pt. ii, m. 12.
■' Ibid. 17 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. ^o.
'^ Rot. Pari. (Rec. Com.), iii, 6 1 6. Before the assault of 1 377 there were 24 sea-going vessels and 40 fishing
boats belonging to the town. Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset (3rd ed.), ii, 450.
"' Rot. Pari. (Rec. Com.), iii, 639. " Ibid, iv, 445.
"" Colomb, tiaval Warfare, 3. "' Cf V.C.H. Sussex, 'Maritime Histor}-,' ii, 140.
188
MARITIME HISTORY
a seaport, and, therefore, been able to supply naval necessaries, its position
might have caused Henry VIII to select it as a fleet-base under the altered
condition of naval operations against France in his reign.
It will be noticed that there is no reference to Weymouth in the
foregoing petitions to king and Parliament. The town may have shared the
fate of Melcombe or it may have escaped as poorer and less tempting than
its neighbour ; in any case it was more difficult to attack and more easily
defended than Melcombe.
The burgesses of Lyme petitioned in February, 1378, that the town
was being wasted by the sea and that the Cobb, large enough to shelter two
or three barges — from which we get an idea of its size — had been destroyed
in the gales of the previous November.^*' In this nothing was said of any
French descent, but in one of their numerous appeals for help — that of 1410
— they stated that the place had been burnt by the French in the reigns of
both Edward III and Richard II." It is probable, too, that Poole was
partly burnt in 1377.'^'^ The misfortunes of their neighbours may have
aroused the energy of the men of Bridport and tempted them to an effort
to take the lead of Lyme. In 1385 there was grant of a toll for three years
to John de Hudresfeld who had begun to make a harbour, there having been
none previously. The toll was continued for another year from 1388, and
again for three years from 1393, to enable the bailiffs of Bridport, who then
claimed to have begun the construction of the harbour, to finish it.*" The
fact, however, that the toll was on goods exported or imported by water
shows that there must have been some small shipping trade before the
improvement was effected.
That the events of 1377 could have occurred proves that the English
fleet was practically non-existent ; in November of that year Parliament
decided that the country generally, including inland towns, should be
required to build ships by the following March, which is evidence of the
known exhaustion of the ports. No town in Dorset was called upon, and
that omission is almost conclusive that the county had suffered severely in
the summer. For years the coast was more or less in a state of blockade ;
alarms of invasion were frequent and the local levies were continually under
arms. The marine of Weymouth was not entirely destroyed, for we find
two ships, of which one was of 120 tons, taken up about 1383.^°^ When
John of Ghent sailed for Spain in 1386 to obtain the crown of Castile his
fleet of 57 ships included the James, 80 tons, of Poole. This ship was also
engaged in the passenger trade, now developing, in the carriage of pilgrims
direct from England to perform their devotions at the shrine of St. James of
Compostella."* Another such vessel was the Katherine, of Lyme, newly
built in 1395.*^^
Formal hostilities with France ceased in 1389, but although no declara-
tion of war came from either side during the remainder of Richard's reign
and that of Henry IV, the truce was only nominal. English and French
royal fleets did not meet as declared enemies after a ceremonial rupture, but
short of that the conditions differed nothing from open war. French and
"■" Pat. I Ric. II, pt. iii, m. 3 d. " Rot. Pari, iii, 640. "•■ Froissart, Chron. cap. 378.
'" Pat. 9 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 20 ; ibid. 12 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 3 ; ibid. 16 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 10.
*" Exch. Accts. K.R. bdle. 42, No. 22. " P.it. 19 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 29.
""'' Ibid. 18 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 15.
189
A HISTORY OF DORSET
English raided each other's coasts, and each made captures at sea. War was
considered so certain in 1401 that in January not only the ports but many ot
the inland towns were ordered, singly or in combination, to build and equip
ships at their own cost by the following April "*- ; Weymouth was grouped
with Seaton and Sidmouth for a balinger between them, Lyme with Exmouth
for one barge, and Poole, Wareham, and Melcombe together for another. It
is difficult to say which town takes the lead as being considered the wealthiest
in the county, but Melcombe is shown to have fallen from its former place.
Parliament met on 23 January and protested against this call upon the
country. Henry's position was too uncertain to permit him to insist, as he
might have done, on the strict legality of his action, therefore he was com-
pelled to content himself with a general arrest of shipping, in May, of the
usual type, by which the same ports were affected.*^' English merchants
were reckoning up French spoliations to the amount of ^100,000, done
under cover of the Scotch war, and the French chroniclers were recording
the ravaging of their coasts by whole fleets of English pirates. The famous
Henry Pay, of Poole, appears in 1402 as charged with piracy in company
with other sailors belonging to towns of the south coast. *^ By 1404 the
political vane had veered and Pay was then empowered to fit out privateers,
perhaps because the French had fallen upon Portland in the spring and swept
it with fire and sword. They did not, however, escape scathless ; probably
their strength was very small, and when the inhabitants, reinforced from the
main land, attacked them many were killed or taken prisoners.*'' In 1405
an English fleet burnt 40 Norman towns and villages, and the French took
some small revenge along the south coast. It had been intended that three
galleys and 40 ships belonging to Castile should have joined a French
squadron ; but in the result only the three Spanish and two French galleys,
under Don Pedro Nino and Charles de Savoisi, sailed in August. After
operations in Cornwall and Devon they made Portland, where they met
with little resistance. ''*' Then the writer of La Victoria! digresses at length
on the misdeeds of Henry Pay (' Arripay '), and as they were under the
impression that Poole belonged to him it was no wonder that the com-
manders seized the opportunity to pay some old debts. They went into the
harbour one morning towards the end of September and found the town
unfortified but looking defensible and populous — so much so that Savoisi,
whose feelings were perhaps less embittered, refused to allow his men to
land. The Spaniards went ashore, and there was a sharp fight ; their object
being revenge they tried to fire the place rather than to plunder it, and they
did burn some buildings, including a large storehouse full of naval stores.
Eventually the Spaniards were so hard pressed that the French had to come
to their assistance ; and although the Spanish writer says that the English
were forced to give way it seems more likely, as the town was not burnt,
that the French only succeeded in bringing ofF their allies. One of Henry
Pay's brothers was killed in the defence. The redoubtable Pay was himself
at sea in 1407, and took a fleet of 120 French merchantmen, but it is
uncertain whether he had any Dorset ships with him.
" Rymer, Foedera, viii, 172.
*»^ Pat. 2 Hen. IV, pt. ii, m. 16. '' Close, 4 Hen. IV, m. 30.
'^' '9^j-aitx,Focdira, viii, 356. The ' Raase' of Portland is noticed in 1408 (Roll of For. Accts. 10 Hen. W,
m. A.) *"" La Vktorial {^A. Circourt et Puigaigre), Paris, 1867.
190
MARITIME HISTORY
The closing years of the reign of Henry IV were somewhat more
peaceful at sea than had been the earlier ones. Henry V had perhaps formed
his own opinion of the anarchy that had existed, for in 141 4 he instituted
officials, called conservators of truces, in every port who, assisted by two
legal assessors, and holding their authority from the High Admiral, were to
have powers of inquiry and punishment in relation to all illegal proceedings
at sea/* They were to keep a register of the ships and seamen belonging
to each port and acted as adjudicators in such cases as did not go before the
Admiralty Court. They seem, so far as related to judicial functions, to have
been a link on the civil side between the earlier keepers of the coast and the
vice-admirals of the coast created in the sixteenth century. That the statute
was strictly enforced and helped to produce quieter conditions at sea is shown
by the fact that two years later the king consented to some modification of
its stringency by promising to issue letters of reprisal when equitable. In
1435 it was entirely suspended, being found ' so rigorous and grievous,' said
the Commons ; in that year Burgundy broke away from the English alliance,
and the shipowners foresaw hostilities and profits. In 145 1 it was brought
into force again for a short time, and once more renewed by Edward IV.
Henry V began his reign with the intention of having a great fleet of
his own. The custom of general impressment was now expensive, both to
the shipowner and to the crown ; moreover, it was slow in operation, while
in the mind of a great soldier like Henry speed in concentration and in
striking was a necessary element of his combinations. There were also
political reasons for not disturbing trade, now beginning to take a wider
flight. The system could not be, and was not, at once abolished, but it
became much less frequent during the fifteenth century ; a definite note of
change is sounded in the establishment of cruisers round the coast in 141 5,
five vessels being stationed between Plymouth and the Isle of Wight.*^ The
great fleet of upwards of 1,400 vessels required for the campaign of Agin-
court included a contingent from Dorset, but very many were hired in
Holland and Zealand, either because the resources of the kingdom were
insufficient or Henry resolved not to tax them unduly. In 141 6 the French
had a fleet at sea which contained some hired Spanish and Genoese vessels of
large size ; they were off Portland in May, and did some damage in the
island, but as a whole their cruise was not very successful, and in August
many of the ships of their fleet joined the Royal Navy by right of capture.
For Henry's passage to France in 1417 another large fleet was collected, but
out of one list of 238 vessels 117 belonged to Holland and Zealand. Many
of the English ports were unrepresented, and it seems clear that Henry had
determined from the first to make war with as little economic disturbance as
possible — to do with his own ships the fighting which cleared the road and to
use foreign ones to transport his troops. There were, however, six Dorset
ships in the fleet of 1417, three from Poole, two from Wareham, and one
from Weymouth."' It has been noticed that the oversea transport of pilgrims
to the shrine of St. James was springing up during the reign of Richard II.
The business grew rapidly during the first half of the fifteenth century, and
merchants and nobles seem to have been equally eager to obtain a share in
what must have been a lucrative traffic. Most of the ships so employed
" 2 Hen. V, cap. 6. " Proc. ofP.C. (ist sen), ii, 145. ^ Rot. Norman, (ed. Hardy, 1835), 320-9.
191
A HISTORY OF DORSET
belonged to the southern ports, but any taken up for the purpose must
necessarily have been of considerable size judged by the standard of that age.
Ships of Weymouth and Poole were running frequently, and occasionally one
from Wareham."
After the death of Henry V one of the first proceedings of the Regency
was to sell off the Royal Navy by auction, but the loss was not felt at once,
because there was no French force capable of contesting the dominion of the
sea. There were arrests of shipping during the early years of the new reign,
but there was now a general feeling that in this method ' the long coming
together of the ships is the destruction of the country.'** Vessels were still
impressed for the transport of troops, but the cruising service was handed
over to contractors who undertook to keep the sea with a certain number of
ships and men for a specified time. Or course, the contractors desired to
obtain as much money and go to as little expense as possible ; their guardian-
ship was quite ineffective, and as early as 1429 the Commons petitioned
about the pirates who were again becoming numerous in the Channel.*'
Perhaps among the rovers referred to were the crews of the 'James of
Studland and Welfare of Swanage, who drove ashore a foreign ship and
then plundered her.'" Parliament, in 1442, expressed the general dissatis-
faction with the contract system, and prepared a scheme by which a
squadron was to be made up of selected ships from various ports. None
of the large ships came from Dorset, but a barge and a pinnace, belonging
to Harvey Russell of Weymouth, were chosen.'' All the vessels of this
squadron seem to have been picked ships with a reputation. Poole replaced
Melcombe as a customs port in 1433, and in view of its promotion obtained
a licence to fortify, but it seems to have been little, if at all, in advance of
Weymouth in maritime importance ; in 1454 the two places were joined for
a contribution of _^50 when certain nobles undertook to keep a fleet at sea.'*
The Bridport Harbour of 1385-95 can never have been a great success ; by
1447 it was in a ruinous condition, and the burgesses were too poor to restore
it. From the two archbishops and from thirteen bishops they procured
indulgences by the sale of which they hoped to gain sufficient money to pay
for the repairs. At the time politics were exciting more urgent interest
and there was no great demand for indulgences ; one of the collectors wrote
that to his ' great shame and anger ' he was not making enough to pay
his expenses ; another disappeared with all that he had received.'^ There
may also have been French raids checking coastal traffic and growth
generally. According to one writer Bexington, near Abbotsbury, was
burnt in such a descent in 1439 or 1440, after which it was deserted.'*
If this is true Bexington could hardly have been the only place in the
county which suffered, and it is certain that in other counties there were
similar attacks not recorded by the chroniclers.
There are extant several hsts of ships taken up for the transport of troops
in 1439, 1440, 1443, 1447, and 1452 ; '' of these expeditions those of 1439
" Rot. Franc. /<?//. *' Prcc. of P.C. (ist scr.), v. 102. ^ Rot. Pari. (Re-. Com.), iv, 350.
" Pat. 7 Hen. VI, pt. i, m. \6 d. ' S.indwich ' in the writ, but .is late as the eighteenth century
Svvan.igc was often called Sandwich. " Rot. Pari. (Rec. Com.), v, 59.
'"' Ibid. 244. Only sixteen towns were assessed, including London, Bristol, Southampton, &:c.
" Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, App. +95. " Coker, Surz\ of Dorset (cd. 1732), 29.
" Exch. Accts. K. R. bdle. 53, Nos. 23, 24, 25, 39 ; bdle. 54, Nos. 10, 14.
192
MARITIME HISTORY
and 1440 sailed from Poole. Seeing that the lists represent only a portion,
large or small, of the merchant marine, they show that notwithstanding war
and weak government it was still flourishing, a few of the vessels being of
300 and 400 tons. None of this size came from Dorset ; the largest, of 180
tons, belonged to Weymouth, and four others were also owned there, including
one of 100 and one of 120 tons. There were six Poole ships, of which the
largest was of 160 tons and the next of 120 tons ; Swanage sent one vessel of
26 tons.
Sea-power played no great part in the wars of the Roses, both parties
enjoying freedom of water transit. As a whole the ports were Yorkist in
their sympathies, and the Weymouth people had so far impressed Edward IV
with their affection for him that in 1461 he made them a grant of jTioo in
recompense of the losses they had sustained in supporting him.°' Almost
simultaneously there was a pardon to Lyme — which, as usual, was pleading
devastation by the sea — of arrears due to the crown, therefore that town also
may be assumed to have been Yorkist in inclination." Margaret, with the
Prince of Wales, landed at Weymouth, driven in by weather, on 14 April,
1 47 1, the day the battle of Barnet was fought, but she probably received
scant welcome for Weymouth was still in favour with Edward and receiving
benefits from him in 1467.'' There were several arrests of ships in 1475 for
the French war ; one of them, from Newcastle to Bristol, must be almost, if
not quite, the last example of a general arrest affecting the whole country.
In October, 1484, Henry Tudor sailed from Brittany to join the duke of
Buckingham, who had revolted against Richard III. Henry's fleet was
scattered by storm ; he made Poole in his own ship, but was too wary to be
enticed ashore among the enemies waiting for him. Neither Dorset nor any
other county has much maritime history during the reign of Henry VII.
The king was not ignorant of the value of sea-power, and he increased the
crown navy, but his reign was peaceful and he preferred, for political reasons,
to hire Spanish ships to act with his own where his predecessors would have
used English ones. In relation to Dorset the most important event of the
reign, although unrecognized at the time, was Cabot's Newfoundland voyage
which, as the first cause of the fishery, was to have a far-reaching influence
on the fortunes of Weymouth and Poole.
During these centuries there must have been many wrecks on the deadly
Chesil beach, on Portland, and in the scarcely less dangerous bay between
Portland and Durlstone Head. They do not appear in the records for, unless
a cargo was of more than ordinary value, the time and money necessary to set
in motion the cumbrous processes of the crown must have been prohibitive of
appeal when survivors had seen their property shared among the landowners
in the vicinity of the wreck. The right of wreck was coveted by manorial
lords and corporations, both for profit and as evidence of exemption from the
inquisition of the High Admiral. Legally, if man, dog, or cat escaped alive
from a ship it was no wreck, but if the cargo once came into the hands of
those ashore there was small chance of recovery. Every corporation used such
influence as it possessed to obtain local jurisdiction in admiralty matters, not
only as a question of dignity and profit but even more in order to escape the
arbitrary and expensive proceedings of the Lord Admiral's deputies, who
** Pat. I EJw. IV, pt. iv, m. 20. *' Ibid. pt. iii, m. 10. '' Ibid. 6 Edw. IV, pt. ii, m. 13.
2 193 25
A HISTORY OF DORSET
brought much odium upon their master. In Dorset the crown had, from
very early times, granted away much of its right of wreck ; we find from the
Hundred Rolls that in 1275 the abbey of St. Edward had such rights in the
manor of Studland, the abbey of Cerne at Bridport, the abbey of Bindon at
Waddon, the priory of Christchurch at Fleet, and, besides other private
owners, the earl of Gloucester in the manors of Wyke, Weymouth, Portland,
and Holwell.
In the reign of Edward II the abbey of Milton took wreck at ' Frome-
mouth,' Osmington, Holworth, and Ower." The reference to Fromemouth
is interesting because the corporation of Poole claimed to have enjoyed
admiralty rights, in a wide form, from time immemorial, although the legal
recognition of them was comparatively late. Wreck on Brownsea Island was
granted to the abbey of Cerne in 1 1 54,"° and at the dissolution this passed
to the earl of Oxford. In 1364 the Poole burgesses obtained a certificate
from the mayor and barons of Winchelsea on which they pretended to rely
in support of their claims, but the certificate only defines the extent of Poole
harbour, and in any case would have no more value as evidence about
admiralty rights than one from the town crier. The real recognition of
their freedom from the Lord Admiral's inquisition is contained in an in-
speximus of 4 September, 1526, by Viscount Lisle, on behalf of the Lord
Admiral, which placed their claim on a firm basis by confirming their
exemptions. This inspeximus does refer to early exemptions which may
have been exercised by prescription, and if such exercise had been tacitly
allowed it is evidence of the maritime importance of Poole, for the crown
only granted such rights by way of reward, or permitted them to be practised
when the ports were able to render services of value to the state. But the
Lord Admiral's deputies continued to act in Brownsea, possibly by succession
from the earl of Oxford, and the conflict of authority gave rise to much
friction."^ The Weymouth people insisted at one time that their admiralty
rights were held in virtue of a grant from King Ethelred,"' but it is more
likely that, as in the case of Poole, they had been permitted when Weymouth
and Melcombe seemed growing into first-rate ports. The Ethelred basis was
never admitted by the Lord Admiral, and there were frequent disputes between
his officers and those of the town during the reign of Elizabeth ; "' the
charter of i July, 161 6, at last gave Weymouth and Melcombe freedom from
the Lord Admiral's visitations.
With the reign of Henry VIII the era of arrests and impressment of
shipping may be said to have terminated. The port towns were still some-
times to be called upon to provide ships, but such towns were usually
associated in order to lessen the expense and, eventually, the county as a
whole contributed to the cost. Improvements in building and armament
were now differentiating the man-of-war from the merchantman ; the latter
was of little use in fleets except, as an Elizabethan seaman said, ' to make a
show,' and to have required the ports to furnish real men-of-war would have
ruined them. It was one of the purposes of Henry's life to create a national
navy, and there was not a year of his reign that did not witness some accre-
tion to its strength. Such merchantmen as he required were hired without
" Pat. 5 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 17. '" Sydenham, Hist, of Poole, 385.
"' Post, p. 198. "" Add. MSS. 12505, fol. 392. "» See tost, p. 198.
194
MARITIME HISTORY
the exercise of the prerogative, but the more effective the royal navy became
the less reason there w^as for the employment of armed merchantmen except
under especial circumstances. It is not until the reign of Elizabeth that we
find in force the further development of the right of impressment, the
demand for fully-armed ships at the cost of the ports, which was the imme-
diate legal precedent for the ship-money levies. The first war with France, of
I 5 12— 13, was fought almost entirely by men-of-war ; there were some hired
ships, as tenders and victuallers, with the fleets but none is known to have come
from Dorset. It need hardly be said that although impressment of ships had
practically ceased the impressment of men continued, and among the crews
of the 15 12— 13 fleets 126 men came from the Chideock district.^"* Ship-
wrights and caulkers were impressed at Poole at the same period to come to
the new dockyard at Woolwich to help in the building of the Henry Grace
de Dieu}^^ Bridport was encouraged in the conduct of its particular industry,
cables and cordage being bought there by the government; in 1530 a
statute was enacted intended to benefit the town by preventing local compe-
tition."' Melcombe was still impoverished, and even towards the end of the
reign obtained reductions in the farm and in taxation on account of the
destruction wrought so long ago by the French.
War with France and Scotland broke out again in 1522 but the ports
play little direct part in the naval warfare of Henry VIII nor, if they had
been called upon, were those of Dorset likely to have added any material
strength to the national armaments. Lyme obtained a grant, in 1535, of
_^2o yearly for ten years in consideration of the ruinous condition of the
Cobb, and petitioned again in the following year that the town was decay-
ing."' In 1543 a return of shipping, generally, was called for in view of
approaching war, from which we find that there were six vessels sailing from
Lyme, of which the largest was of 72 tons ; one of the owners lived at
Bridport and another at Chard."* Only 1 3 seamen were named, probably
those at home at the moment of registration. There were 19 men and one
vessel of 14 tons at Charmouth, 14 men and one vessel of 18 tons at Bridport,
two ships, of which the largest was of 60 tons, and 18 men at Weymouth
and Melcombe, and three vessels, of which the largest was of 70 tons, at
Poole, The biggest vessel owned in the county was the Mary and John, of
120 tons, belonging to Thomas Wade of Burton Bradstock ; upwards of 170
seafaring men lived in the villages along the coast.
About 1539 Henry feared that an alliance of the continental states would
be formed against the kingdom. The new navy, although a mightier
offensive weapon than any that England had hitherto possessed, was as yet an
untried weapon. The preceding centuries were fraught with the lesson that
the enemies of England were best met on the English seas, but there was a
natural inclination, especially in an age which was tending towards formalism
in military science, to fall back upon the orthodox defences of castles, sconces,
and bulwarks to prevent a landing or to support a defending force. As early
as 1535 the idea of fortifying the weak points round the coast was in the air,
for Cromwell then noted in his ' Remembrances ' that a small tax formerly
paid to Rome might well be diverted to such a purpose. However at that
'« Chap. Ho. Bks. ii, fol. 7. '"' Ibid, v, fol. 179. ""^ 21 Hen. VIII, cap. 12.
'»' L. and P. Hen. Fill, viii, 149 (12) ; ibiJ. x, 179. "" Ibid, xviii, 547.
A HISTORY OF DORSET
time Calais and Dover were the only places upon which money was being
spent lavishly, and the fortifications elsewhere were not commenced until
1539. It appears that, at first, Lyme was the only Dorset port set down for
defence,^"' but when commissioners to ' search and defend the coasts ' were
shortly afterwards appointed their recommendations caused a larger plan to
be framed."" Sir John Russell became a peer in the spring of 1539 ; in
April he surveyed the coast of Dorset and sent ' a plat ' of it to Cromwell.'"
This map is no doubt the one now in the British Museum Library,'" which
shows proposed works at Bournemouth, Brownsea, Poole, Portland, Sandsfoot,
the base of the Nothe at Weymouth, and at the end of Lyme Cobb. Fire
beacons are shown on the downs along the coast and at North Haven Point.
If the scheme was ever accepted in its entirety it was not carried out ; the
Bournemouth, Poole, and Lyme forts were dropped, and that at Brownsea
was built by the Poole burgesses for it is never, at any time, found among
the list of royal forts ; it was garrisoned by the Poole men, and the earliest
reference to it in 1545 shows that it was then under construction at their
expense."'
The French ambassador was closely watching the progress of Henry's
new defences and writing frequent reports about them to his sovereign.
Those intended to close the Solent and cover Portsmouth he went to see for
himself, for to know their strength or weakness was of vital importance to
the French government. He did not proceed to Dorset, which was of
secondary value militarily, and where the works were proceeding more slowly.
There is a reference, in the shape of a payment to the master gunner there,
to a block-house at Weymouth in 1543, presumably the one at the foot of
the Nothe."* Portland and Sandsfoot were of the same type, architecturally,
as the other large castles erected to the eastward, and were placed to cross
their fire over Portland Roads. The local seamen must have been consulted
about the position selected for Sandsfoot because, as it was placed, it leads in
line with the north-east point of the isle of Portland, over the Shambles in
four fathoms, thus affording a sailing mark for the navigation into the Roads
and to Weymouth. At first all the coast defences, except those within the
Cinque Ports, were placed under the control of the Lord Admiral, and regula-
tions were drawn up for their government,'" but they soon passed out of his
hands. Probably it was not considered advisable to entrust a subject with
so much power.
War with France and Scotland recommenced in i 543, but the contribu-
tion of Dorset to it lay in the supply of men rather than ships. In 1545 it
was calculated that 5,000 sailors would be required for the royal fleet in
the summer, 'in which there will be some difficulty.' The men preferred
privateering to the royal service, so that in August a circular letter was
addressed to the mayors and others of the western counties intimating that if
the seamen did not join the king's ships they would indulge their preference
'•" L. and P. Hin. Vlll, xiv (i), 655.
"" Ibid. 398. Among the commissioners were Sir John Russell, Sir Giles Strangeways, and Sir John
Horsey, for Dorset.
'" Ibid. 685. "• Cott. MSB. Aug. I, i, 31, 33.
'" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset (3rd ed.), i, 649. In 1558 the Privy Council, in writing to the corponition
of Poole, speak of it as belonging to the town (ibid, i, 8).
'" Pat. 34 Hen. VIII, pt. iii, m. 26. "' Lansd. MSS. 170, fol. 303.
196
MARITIME HISTORY
at the risk of their lives. The west country was swept bare of men ; on
2 2 August Lord Russell wrote to the Privy Council that in Dorset and
Devon the fishing boats were ' manned ' by women ' which I think hath not
been seen.' West-country privateering was so successful, and so dangerous
to our relations with neutrals, that in April, 1546, Henry ordered that no
privateers should sail from Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall, and that all at
sea should be recalled."* Poole had its share of this success, judging from a
question relating to the payment of prize money which came before the
Council."^ In 1545 a French fleet was outside Portsmouth and the opera-
tions there are recorded in all local and general histories ; but it appears that
they were also on the Dorset coast in 1544, although that fact has escaped
notice. A witness giving evidence in 1580 mentioned that the French
attacked Lyme in 1544 but were beaten off;"' possibly the new defences
saved Weymouth a similar experience. It has been observed that the
burgesses of Lyme obtained a grant in 1535 to enable them to repair the
Cobb, which was then described as made ' with great timber pight and pyled
very deep in the ground, filled in with great rocks and stones between the
said timber.'"' Melcombe, in 1543, was again pardoned nearly the whole
of the money due for its tenths and fifteenths, and therefore was evidently
in no flourishing condition.
The occurrence of piracy and wrecking becomes more noticeable
during the reign of Henry VIII, not because the offences were more preva-
lent— there were probably fewer cases than during preceding centuries — but
because documentary evidence is more plentiful and because suppression was
attempted more seriously. Henry was no more likely to allow his authority
to be contemned at sea than on land ; and to make it felt at sea, even in time
of peace, was one way of enforcing the maritime supremacy of England he
had always in view. No single life could have been long enough to see
complete success, but the steps he took mark a great advance in the organiza-
tion of repressive measures, and only the application or extension of them
was left to his successors. It had been found that the existing system of
trial for piracy was nearly useless, the offender having to confess before he
could be sentenced, or his guilt having to be proved by disinterested witnesses
who, naturally, could seldom be present at sea. By two statutes, 27 Hen.
VIII, cap. 4, and 28 Hen. VIII, cap. 15, such crimes were in future to be
tried according to the forms of the common and not, as hitherto, the civil
law. Probably for the better administration of these statutes and for other
reasons — the execution of a treaty with France concerning depredations at
sea, the strict protection of the king's and Lord Admiral's rights in wreck and
other matters, the registration of the ships and men available and the levy of
seamen, the examination of ships going to sea touching their armed strength
and the peaceful nature of the voyage, the exaction of bonds from captains
and owners as security for good conduct, and the safe keeping of prizes and
prize goods — it was deemed advisable to have round the coast permanent
representatives of the Lord Admiral who should be of higher social rank and
armed with greater authority than the deputies who had hitherto visited each
'" Acts ofP.C. 13 April, 1546. '" Ibid. 14 Oct. 1546.
'" Exch. Spec. Com. 715.
'" Exch. Misc. ■^. This construction is shown in the Cottonian map of 1539.
197
A HISTORY OF DORSET
county or district collecting the Lord Admiral's profits or maintaining his
rights. The officers in question, the vice-admirals of the counties, were, in
their civil functions, the descendants historically of the keepers of the coast
and the conservators of truces of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and
there is not one of the duties of the vice-admirals which cannot be paralleled
among those performed by their predecessors. Now, instead of acting
temporarily, or subject to the hostile influence in Parliament of the mercantile
classes, they became a band of crown officials stationed round the whole
coast, supported by the power of the Tudor despotism and continued without
any interruption during which their authority might diminish by discon-
tinuance of action.^'" It was practically a new police measure and, on the
whole and under normal conditions, attained its object by rendering the
difficulties of preparation, the chances of detection, and the probabilities of
punishment greater so far as shipping set out with a criminal intent was con-
cerned ; while the vice-admirals' officers kept a close watch on the more
evilly-disposed inhabitants of the coast who had hitherto helped pirates or
indulged in wrecking with impunity.
The scheme did not come into operation simultaneously over all
England but developed out of necessity and according to opportunity. The
first nomination known by precise date is that for Norfolk and Suffolk in
1536; within a few years other vice-admirals were acting in most of the
counties. Sir Hugh Paulet holding the appointment for Somerset and Dorset.
The two counties were soon separated, and during the remainder of the
century the Ashleys, the Howards of Bindon, Sir Christopher Hatton, and
Carew Ralegh held the office. Hatton obtained wreck rights in the
Isle of Purbeck for himself ; "^ Carew Ralegh filled the office between
1592 and 1603, when his appointment was revoked on account of some
arrangement he had made with his deputy, John Randall. This man,
Randall, was a thorn in the flesh for Poole ; the exemptions of the town
were too firmly based on the patent of 1526 to be really questioned, but
Randall was in control at Brownsea, and in many ways, there and ashore,
annoyed the corporation. The troubles of Weymouth have already been
referred to. In 1 570 the bailiffs withdrew all claim to admiralty jurisdic-
tion except in relation to such disputes as originated in the town between
burgesses ; "' subsequently the union of Weymouth and Melcombe under
charter may have infused fresh courage, for between 1590 and 1600 the
tension between the two towns and the Lord Admiral was acute. In 1593
the mayor and others were cited before the Admiralty Court in London ;
what they had to expect there may be inferred from the Lord Admiral's order
to the judge to arrest them as soon as they appeared on a charge of receiving
pirates' plunder.^*' In 1597, again, the town officers were in trouble for
neglecting press warrants ; in the same year 23 of the principal inhabitants
signed a protest complaining of the action of the previously mentioned
John Randall.^'* The Weymouth claim, if exercised, was never admitted
by the Lord Admiral or the Privy Council,"' but the attitude of the
"" The patents of appointment were from the Lord Admiral, sometimes for life and sometimes during
pleasure. I am indebted to Mr. R. G. Marsden, who has made a special study of the history of the evolution
of the vlce-admiralship (see Engl. Hist. Rev. July, 1907), for much information on this subject.
'■■ Pat. 14 Eliz. m. 9. '" Add. MSS. 12505, fol. 173. '" Ibid. fol. 392. '» Ibid. fol. 423, 441.
Cott. MSS. Vesp. F. ix, fol. 247 ; Jcls ofP.C. xvi, 406 ; 26 July, 26 Aug. 1565.
198
III
MARITIME HISTORY
latter body was largely due to the influence of the Lord Admiral, himself
a member of it. There is no doubt that the privileges of the exempted
towns were distinctly prejudicial to good government ; in the case of
Weymouth the notoriety attained by the joint towns in the matter of their
dealings with pirates may be ascribed, in great measure, to a civic execu-
tive always weak and often not disinterested.
In the reign of Charles I the earl of Suffolk, another Howard, was
vice-admiral both for Dorset and for the town and county of Poole ; there-
after the two districts were often under the same head. Stricter legislation,
the decline of piracy, and the increase of the navy, changed for the better
after the Civil War and the Restoration the conditions that had made the
vice-admirals useful, and their positions tended to become more and more
honorary. During the eighteenth century the Paulets, either as marquises of
Winchester or dukes of Bolton, with an occasional Trenchard or Strangeways,
held the titular rank of vice-admiral of Dorset.
There is a reference in 1550 to certain ' bulwarks in Purbeck,' probably
earthworks thrown up at Swanage and Studland to meet a temporary neces-
sity. By 1552 the Privy Council had decided to reduce or disestablish a
number of the permanent fortifications ' which stood the king's majesty in
very great charges and in no service at all ; ' among them were Sandsfoot
and Portland, of which the garrisons were reduced."' The uneasy political
conditions at home and abroad soon forced the important Dorset fortresses
into prominence again. In May, 1557, information was obtained that the
French were meditating an attack on Portland ; the care of the county
was entrusted to Lord St. John, who was told to watch especially Poole,
Weymouth, and Portland, soldiers being sent to the latter and the inhabitants
mustered and organized."^ Philip II had dragged England into war with
France, and it was necessary to reinforce the queen's fleets by hired merchant-
men. There was none from Dorset with the Lord Admiral in the Channel,
but there were two from Poole and Weymouth under Sir John Clere in the
North Sea."^ In 1558 many of the ports, encouraged by advantages offered
by the crown, sent privateers to sea, six sailing from Dorset as compared
with 22 from Devon."'
The reign of Mary sent many of the outlawed and the discontented to
the refuge of the sea, and the political unrest tempted others who were
criminals by opportunity to seek fortune there. Both classes were called
pirates, and after the failure of Wyatt's rising in February, 1554, the former
are frequently in evidence in the Council minutes. In August the lords of
the Council ordered the execution of certain pirates in Dorset, but there is
little doubt that they were rebels."" Henry Strangeways, belonging to the
well-known Dorset family, seems to have begun his career as a pirate without
such excuse of conscience, for in February, 1552-3, he was plying his trade
in Irish waters with such success that two men-of-war were prepared at
Portsmouth to seek him."^ Strangeways worked with the Cornish Killi-
grews, arch-pirates themselves,"^ and was on sufficiently good terms with
'" Acts ofP.C. 26 Feb., 4 May, 1552.
'" S.P. Foreign, II May, 1557 ; ibid. Dom. Mary, x, Nos. 61, 62.
•'' Ibid, xi, No. 38. "» Admir. Ct. Exemp. v, 288.
"» Act! ofP.C. 9, 13 Aug. 1554. •" Ibid. 21 Feb. 6 March, 1552-3.
"' See V.C.H. Cornwall, i, 488 et seq.
199
A HISTORY OF DORSET
officials to use Portland Castle as a storehouse for his plunder."' He is next
heard of on the coast of Suffolk, but in November, 1555, was in the Tower.
No harm came to him of this, and it is quite certain that many of these
adventurers, including Strangeways, were in secret communication with
dignitaries of State, who, sitting in council, offered rewards for their bodies."*
In one state paper or another Strangeways' name is seldom missing for a
month during these years. In September, 1559, he was taken with eighty
of his crew, tried in London and condemned to death, but reprieved
at the last moment."*^ After the accession of Elizabeth he seems to
have determined to go further afield, and, with a partner, planned to sail
from Plymouth ' to take an island of the king of Spain's.' "' A declaration
that they were only sailing as merchants brought permission to leave, but as.
he was in prison in December, 1560, we may suppose that Spanish merchant-
men were found easier to reach than one of Philip's islands."' That, after
his career, he was then liberated on promise of good conduct points to some
powerful protection and former political services. It is an interesting
example of heredity or family tendency to find, from 1587 onwards, a
Melchior Strangeways continually proclaimed for piracy, although he
was probably more of a privateersman. While Melchior was ' wanted,'
John Strangeways was a deputy-lieutenant for Dorset.
The plague of piracy was bad enough during the reign of Elizabeth,
but many of the cases which the sufferers so regarded were really seizures,
of enemy's goods in neutral ships and were questions for the judge of the
Admiralty Court. In 1561 general directions to watch the coast were
issued to the vice-admirals, for the great difficulty in extirpating the pirates
lay in the help and sympathy extended to them everywhere."^ The peace
of 1564 and the protests of the continental states forced Elizabeth to more
energetic action ; a circular letter to the vice-admirals called their attention
to the suggestive fact that although many pirates had been taken not one
had been executed."' A year later, recognizing that stronger measures were
necessary — ' the inconvenience not yet being removed,' in the placid language
of the commission — especial piracy commissioners with large powers were
nominated for each county, and they were to appoint deputies at every creek
and landing-place."' As the pirates had friends and receivers in nearly every
port these proceedings were not of much avail ; the business became still
more difficult to handle when the Prince of Orange issued letters of marque,
many of which were taken out by Englishmen, while many Dutch ships had
Englishmen on board. The Orange privateers were an element of high state
policy, and Elizabeth did not hold it advisable entirely to crush them even if
it had been in her power to do so. Subsequently the Spanish Netherlands
followed the example of the Dutch and sent out privateers, the beginning
of the affliction of ' Dunkirkers ' which plagued the coast for more than a
century, while Englishmen also obtained letters of marque from the Huguenot
leaders in France.
%
'^ Marsden, Selict Pleas of the Court of AJmiralfj, ii, 85. George Strangeways was captain of Port'and.
'» Ced/MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), i, 489. '"' Machyn's Diary (Camd. Soc), 206. 212, 213.
"» jicls of B.C. 28 April, 1559. "« Ibid. 2 May, 1559 ; S.P. Dom. Eliz. xiv. No. 60.
'" S.P. Dom. Eliz. xviii, No. 23. "» Jcti ofP.C. 23 Dec. 1564.
'" Ibid. 8 Nov. 1565 ; S.P. Dom. Eliz. xxxviii. No. 9. For Dorset, Sir Wm. Paulet, Sir Hen. Ashley,
Geo. Rogers, and Robert Coker.
200
MARITIME HISTORY
Although foreign courts protested loudly it must not be supposed that
England alone produced pirates. In June, 1574, the vice-admiral of Dorset
wrote that ' there lies at this present so many pirates upon this coast, being
Frenchmen, that no English ship is able to pass to any place without great
danger.'^*" However, the English were undeniably the worst ; in 1577 new
commissioners were appointed, and still more stringent methods of repression
adopted, an attempt being made to strike at the root of the evil by reaching
the aiders and abettors ashore. Persons who helped pirates, or dealt with
them, were now to be prosecuted and fined, and the fines were to go towards
compensating the victims ; the takers of pirates were to have a proportion of
the goods found on board, and commissions were to be granted to private
persons to set out ships pirate-hunting.^" The new commissioners made
many interesting discoveries in Dorset, not the least being the difficulty in
obtaining disinterested jurymen ; in one case a member of a Weymouth
jury confessed himself a dealer with pirates, and there were no doubt many
others from whom no avowal was forced."" Three notorious pirates,
Robert Hicks,'** Court, and John Callis, haunted the Dorset coast, and the
reason for their preference is to be found in the long list of receivers with
whom they did business. Their 'chief boatmen,' i.e. carriers, were 21 in
number divided between Weymouth, Melcombe, and the villages along the
coast east of Weymouth. There were six carriers with carts going inland
and 75 other persons were named as buying from them or supplying them.'**
One of the obstacles the government had to surmount lay in the fact that
the pirates were often helped by men of higher social rank than those who
consorted with them merely for a profit. When Court's ship was driven
ashore Sir Richard Rogers of West Lulworth got her afloat again for the
man he should have arrested. Callis, this same year, proposed to Walsingham
to clear the Channel of pirates ; he said that he knew enough about their
habits to do more by himself than Elizabeth could if she spent ;r20,ooo, and
he inclosed a list of receivers.'*"
Notwithstanding the energetic proceedings of the commissioners con-
ditions remained much the same. In 1580 a proclamation declared that the
pirates ' at this day commit more spoils and robberies on all sides than have
been heard of in former times.' '*^ There must have been still many receivers
left in Dorset, for in the same year the plunderers of two vessels off Orford-
ness brought their spoil round to Swanage and Studland for sale.'*^ In fact,
after their first blow, the commissioners of 1577 seem quite to have failed, for
in 1582 an official in the Isle of Purbeck complained that pirates swarmed
there, ' the common infamy of this poor island and me . . . the place of their
repair is here where in truth they are my masters . . . and when they choose
to come on land, they are so strong and well-appointed as they cannot be on
the sudden repulsed.' '*' At the same time the burgesses of Poole petitioned
'*» S.P. Dom. Eliz. xcvii, No. 7.
'" Add. MSS. 34150, fol. 61, 64. In 1559 the judge of the Admiralty Court held th.it all goods
must be restored to the owners (S.P. Dom. Eliz. vi. No. 1*9) ; therefore the new regulation must have referred
to property belonging to the pirates or uncl.iimed. There had been some doubt whether accessories ashore
could legally be prosecuted {^cts of P.C. 6 June, 1577), and the opinion of the law officers of the crown
was obtained (Harl. MSS. 168, fol. 1 14). '" S.P. Dom. Eliz. cxiii. No. 9.
'" For more about Hicks, see F.C.H. Cornwall, i, 489. '" S.P. Dom. Eliz. cxiii. No. 24.
'" Ibid. Add. XXV, No. 60. '« Ibid, cxlvi, No. II.
'«■ Acts oj P.C. 15 July, 1580. "» S.P. Dom. Eliz. clvi. No. I (Fr. Hawley to W.alsingham).
2 201 26
A HISTORY OF DORSET
for protection against the same gangs who haunted Studland Bay ' to the
utter undoing ' of their trade, and who threatened to pull down the prisons
and burn the town.^*^ Another noted pirate, Thomas Purser, was simul-
taneously threatening to burn Weymouth.'^" In 1582 the jurisdiction of the
privileged towns in matters of piracy was suspended for three years, in order
to avoid the conflict of authority with the piracy commissioners which
occurred in such places ; and also, perhaps, because in some cases private
interests interfered with the execution of justice. The latter cause was not
likely to be an impediment at Poole. The outbreak of formal war with Spain
in 1585 legalized much of the mischievous activity of the sea-rovers; and
thenceforward, although there were many complaints from neutrals, there were
fewer domestic outcries about piracy. Towards the end of the reign the
* Dunkirkers,' which name included the privateers from all the ports of
Flanders, took the place of the English pirates.
The bounty system, inaugurated by Henry VII, by which an occasional
tonnage allowance was made to the builders of new ships suitable for service in
war, had under Elizabeth settled into a grant of 5J. a ton on all vessels of 100
tons and upwards. The expansion of trade and the attractions of privateering
stimulated shipbuilding in all places where there was any maritime commerce,
while the bounty conduced to an increase of size in new vessels. Dorset was
never one of the leading maritime counties, but towards the end of the six-
teenth century there began a new era of prosperity for it based on its share in
the great Newfoundland fishery, and that prosperity was reflected in the capital
sunk in shipping, and the number of seamen the shipping employed. We
have seen that from at least the reign of John it had been usual to call upon
the officials of the ports for returns of the ships and men available for service ;
most of the earlier ones are lost, but several, complete or fragmentary, remain
for the Elizabethan period. Usually the details only deal with vessels of
100 tons and upwards, as smaller ones were not considered useful for fighting
purposes, but there is evidence that Dorset was fairly supplied with ships of
under 100 tons of a size sufficient for the sea traffic particular to the county.
War with France and Scotland existed in 1560, which was the cause of the
first Elizabethan list of that year. It was a return of vessels of 100 tons and
upwards, but there is none for Dorset ; of ' mariners and sailors ' there were
255, but this is evidently only the number of men at home at the moment. '°^
The piracy commissioners of 1565 remarked, in their report on Dorset, that
there was no harbour at Charmouth, but that, ' as at Bridport,' vessels were
drawn up on the shore.^^'' Part of this paper is missing ; but belonging to
Charmouth, Chideock, and the neighbourhood there were only ten vessels,
used for fishing and coasting, of which the largest was of 18 tons. Poole
possessed two vessels of 50 tons each and other smaller ones ; at Wey-
mouth and Melcombe one of 80 tons was the largest, and at Lyme one of
24 tons. By 1568 there was an improvement, for Poole then possessed two
ships of 100 tons and Lyme one.'^°^
"' C(d/ MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), ii, 538. They found the existence of gallows at Studland in bad
taste, and cut them down no doubt amid much good fellowship (Moule, Charters ofH'eymoutk, 154).
'^° Moule, op. cit. 154.
'" S.P. Dom. Eliz. xi, No. 27. The distinction between mariners and sailors is obscure and unnecessary
to discuss here.
'" Ibid, xxxviii, 9, 9 (i). Leland notices that the harbour at Bridport had ceased to exist when he visited
the county {Itin. iii, 60). '"" Harl. MSS. 1 68, fol. 248.
202
MARITIME HISTORY
In July, 1570,3 general embargo was ordered, and the vice-admiral
reported that he had stayed nine ships of 30 tons and upwards, and 435 ship-
masters and men ; many others, he said, were abroad. Here, three vessels
of Lyme Regis, of which one was of 50 tons, are scheduled, one of 100 tons
belonging to Melcombe, and one of 90 tons owned at Poole ; interesting
details of the number of seamen and fishermen living in the villages along the
coast are also given/" In 1572 Thomas Colshill, surveyor of customs at
London, compiled a register of coasting traders belonging to the ports.^^* The
Dorset section may be thus arranged : —
Poole
Weymouth
Melcombe
100 tons
From
From
20 tons
and
50 to 100
20 to 50
and
upwards
tons
tons
under
I
2
9
'5
—
—
2
8
—
3
Charmouth
Lyme
Chideock
From
20 to 50
tons
20 tons
and
under
+
10
2
In 1576 a list was prepared of ships of 100 tons and upwards built since
1 57 1, in which no Dorset port appears. A year later there was another
survey of 100-ton ships, from which we find that Poole possessed two and
Weymouth one, just reaching the limit ; they must, therefore, have been
older than 1571.'^^ The agents here of Philip II reported, almost with
alarm, the rapid increase of shipbuilding in England, and the next return of
1582 supports the information they sent to Spain. ^'^ Poole possessed six
vessels of 100 tons and upwards, of which one was of 140 tons and another of
130 tons, and Weymouth and Melcombe three, of which one was of 150
tons. Of between 80 and 100 tons there was one at Poole ; of between 20
and 80 tons there were ten at Poole, 15 at Weymouth and Melcombe, and
14 at Lyme. Those belonging to other places in the county were of
under 20 tons. Of men there were 85 shipmasters and 560 seamen, com-
paring with 150 and 1,913, respectively, in Devon. Allowing for the smaller
craft omitted in this enumeration, the number for Lyme is in substantial
correspondence with a return of 1586, which gives it 23 vessels of all kinds,
while 18 masters and 108 men lived in the town, and 80 others dwelling
within a radius of four miles were employed in Lyme ships. ^" The last
Elizabethan list is for Poole in 1591 ; there were then 21 vessels, of which
the largest was of 70 tons, but this is probably only of ships then at home.'^^
The recovery of Weymouth and Melcombe, and the continued progress
of Poole, were mainly due to their share of the Newfoundland fishery, which
for many of the western coast towns was replacing the mediaeval over-sea
trade soon to be engrossed by London and other of the great ports. It would
be impossible to overrate the national value of this new school for the pro-
duction and training of seamen which, with the previously existent North
Sea and Iceland fisheries, largely created the marine which overwhelmed Spain
in the sixteenth and the Dutch in the seventeenth centuries, thus clearing the
way for trans-oceanic expansion. The Newfoundland trade not only employed
"' S.P. Dom. Eliz. Ixxi, Nos. 56, 56 (i).
'" Ihid. AJd. xxii. He excluded fishing craft, and, inferentially, vessels engaged in over-sea trade.
'" S.P. Dom. Ellz. xcvi, fol. 267. '=« Ibid, clvi, No. 45.
'" Harl. MSS. 368, fol. 124. "» S.P. Dom. Eliz. cxxxviii,No. 142.
203
A HISTORY OF DORSET
sailors, but necessarily required a certain number of ' green ' hands, or lands-
men, of whom a proportion became seamen by profession. There are no
statistics for the early years of the fishery, but there are occasional indications
of its increasing importance. During the first half of the sixteenth century it
grew at the expense of the Iceland trade, and by 1542 was of sufficient size
to be the subject of a section in an Act of Parliament ; in 1548 there was a
' great ' Newfoundland fishing fleet causing anxiety for its safety, and the statute
2 and 3 Edward VI, cap. 6, forbids exactions from owners in the Newfound-
land as well as in other fisheries. In i 578 there is for the first time a state-
ment of the number of vessels actually present in Newfoundland waters, and
a note of their increase ; the municipal archives of Poole show that in 1583
there were ten or twelve Newfoundland ships sailing thence. ^^' The Eliza-
bethan war put an end to the Spanish and Portuguese fishery, and greatly
diminished that from France ; the indirect result was to the advantage of
English merchants from whom neutrals had to buy to supply the Catholic
powers. The fishing fleet of 1585 was large enough to make it worth while
to send out a warning that Philip had seized all the English ships in Spanish
ports, and by 1592 Englishmen enjoyed so much reputation as experts that
the Dutch were offisring high pay for their services. The business had grown
big enough to have rules and regulations drawn up for its management ; in
1583 a Poole owner was fined for sailing without the consent of the mayor
and burgesses.'^" In 1588 the Primrose, 120 tons, of Poole, sailed notwith-
standing the embargo of 3 i March ; the Council ordered the imprisonment
of Peter Cox, a part owner, and promised to deal with the master and others
when the vessel returned.'" In 1594 there were 100 sail due home in
August ; to join this fleet six Poole and five Weymouth ships had been
released from embargo earlier in the year.""
In the reign of James I Lyme is included among the ports interested in
the trade,"' but under that king England soon lost the unstable maritime
superiority won under Elizabeth, and the western fishery was one branch of
sea traffic which felt the effiscts. In 1622 the mayor of Weymouth wrote to
the Council that in that year only 1 1 ships had been sent to the fishery instead
of 39 as before.'" If 39 was the high-water mark of one year, and the
average was much less, it still shows of what vast importance to the prosperity
of the Dorset ports the trade had become. Again, in 1627, the Poole men
wrote that two years previously they had had 22 Newfoundland ships work-
ing, but that the number had fallen to four ; "^ a year later they stated that
their average had been 20 ships each season."^ Dorset was by no means
the leading county in the Newfoundland trade ; allowing a crew of only
25 men to a ship we may get some idea of the supreme influence the fishery
must have had in the evolution of a new sea-faring population in the
crucial years when the future of England depended on its success at sea. No
other towns in Dorset than the four here mentioned seem ever to have sent
out fishing ships, but no doubt men came, as in Devon and Cornwall, not
only from along the coast but from inland. A paper, assigned to 1634, gives
'" Svdenham, Hist. ofPcok, 395-6. "■•" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset (3rd cd.), i, +0.
'" ActsofP.C. 12 May, 15S8. '"-' S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxlviii, No. i.
'" Hist. MSS Com. Rep. ix, App. i, 271. '" S.P. Dom. Jas. I, c.xxx, No. 22.
'" S.P. Dom. Ch.is. I, li, No. 56. "' Ibid, ciii, No. 43.
204
MARITIME HISTORY
the recent yearly average from the western ports at 26,700 tons of shipping
and 10,680 men, which was the highest point of prosperity the trade reached
for the time. In 1640 Weymouth had 1,000 tons of shipping engaged in
the fishery, but in 1670 the amount had fallen to 350 tons ; "' probably the
deterioration of the harbour had much to do with this decline.
In the spring of 1585 Philip II, breaking a promise of safe conduct,
ordered the seizure of all English ships then in the Spanish ports. This
act was answered here by the issue of letters of reprisal, which were only to
be given to persons who could prove that they had suffered by the seizure ;
this event, with Drake's expedition of the same year, marks the commence-
ment of the Spanish War. Merchants of Lyme had suffered loss to the
amount of _^2,ooo, and those of Melcombe to )ri,ooo ; Poole is in the list
but the amount is destroyed.^^' One of the vessels thus set out was the
Susan of Lyme of 100 tons.
The strained relations that had long existed between England and Spain
had led to the exercise of precautions, in the years preceding 1585, in the
way of training the county levies and the repair of the coast fortifications.
From the accession of Edward VI the latter had been neglected everywhere ;
a report of 1574 described Sandsfoot Castle as going to ruin, the walls
cracked by frost and in some places nearly falling into the sea.^'' There were
five dismounted guns, but the wooden platforms were too rotten to bear them
if mounted, and there was no ammunition. Portland Castle was found to be in
as bad a condition, and Brownsea, it was said, had never been really completed.
A silence of nine years follows; then there was another survey in 1583
from which it appears that both castles were in a much worse state, and
that the sea was undermining Portland.'™ In this paper the batteries at
Handfast Point and Peverel Point are again referred to,'" but they of course
were in a very dilapidated condition. In 1582 the corporation of Poole had
lamented the weakness of Brownsea Castle, and the report of 1583 empha-
sized this ; it seems never quite to have been decided whether the town or
the government was responsible for its upkeep."^ What was certain was
that in none of these fortifications had there been any repairs done, or any
necessaries and ammunition provided, for many years except at the expense
of their commandants. In October, 1583, the question was at last dealt
with, >Ci93 lO-f- being issued for works at Portland, £1^'^ ^^- ^^- ^^^ Sands-
foot, jC202 lis. Sd. for Brownsea, j^20 for Peverel Point, and ^^1° ^o^"
Handfast Point."' In 1586 the deputy lieutenants of the county informed
the Council that Portland Roads were quite unprotected by either of the
castles, and that an enemy's fleet could ride there altogether out of range."*
This, taken literally, is untrue, but they probably included Weymouth Roads
in the anchorage. They recommended the erection at Weymouth, which
was defenceless, of two forts; the town, they said, was too poor to build
them, but would maintain them if the queen bore the first expense. The
Weymouth people had made a previous attempt to obtain ' a small bulwark '
in 1583 when the pirate, Purser, had threatened to burn the town ; the
'" S.P. Dom. Chas. II, ccxcv. No. 76. "^ Admlr. Ct. Exemp. xiii, Nos. 211-13. Imperfect.
"' S.P. Dom. Eliz. xcvii, No. 8. "" Ibid, clxili, No. 41. '" ^«''', p- i99-
'" S.ixton's map of Dorset of 1575 (Harl. MSS. 3324) shows .1 block-house at North Haven Point ;
it is not mentioned in any document iinown to the writer.
'" S.P. Dom. Eliz. clxx, No. 91. "* Ibid, cxciii, No. 43.
205
A HISTORY OF DORSET
Privy Council then agreed that it would be advisable, but that the inhabitants
must contribute to the charge."' The proposal therefore fell through, as
did that of 1586, for Elizabeth did nothing for her subjects that they could
possibly be made to do for themselves. In a narrow sense the queen's policy
was shrewd, for the probability of invasion was obvious in 1587 and the
Weymouth and Melcombe people were so alarmed by their helpless position
that they were considering whether they would leave the town or bear the
cost of defence themselves.'^* They chose the latter course, and in a paper
of 1588 refer to the fact that they had built ' a platform' at their own
charge.'" From a contemporary plan it seems to have been placed on what
is now the esplanade at Melcombe, but it remained without guns.'" The
' block-house ' at Melcombe, often referred to in the municipal records, dates
from 1567, and a gunner was appointed in 1568.'"
There was preparation for war in 1574, when the zeal shown by the
leading gentlemen of Dorset caused Elizabeth to send them letters of thanks
assurino; them that their ' diligence and forwardness shall be holden in remem-
brance to their comfort.''*" No Dorset ship is known to have sailed in
Drake's fleets of 1585 and 1587, although men from the county are very
likely to have been among the crews. In December, 1587, when the
political horizon was very black, military officers were sent into most of the
coast counties to advise upon measures of defence ; "' Nicholas Dawtrey went
to Dorset, but if he made any report no action was taken upon it. By the
following April even Elizabeth was beginning to doubt the success of her
diplomacy, and it was thought time to take fresh precautions. Sir John
Norreys, a soldier of reputation, was sent round Kent, Sussex, Hampshire,
and Dorset to inspect them, and his report on Dorset is dated 24 April.'*'
It is not a very illuminating document ; no sufficient distinction is drawn
between the small possibilities of landing at such places as Bridport and
Charmouth, and the shelter offered by Portland Roads. The Armada carried
no invading force of its own ; its purpose was to ensure the crossing of
Parma's army by destroying the English fleet, but if it had carried an
adequate force Elizabeth and the Council might well have looked on Port-
land with anxious eyes. There is no trace in the deliberations of the Council
and the soldiers that they ever recognized until the last moment that the
junction with Parma was the key to the Spanish plans, and that the strate-
gical centre, if attack was awaited, was therefore the eastern Channel, yet
Norreys was quite content with garrisons of a few scores of men at Portland
and Sandsfoot and a concentration of, nominally, 1,500 men at Weymouth.
It was argued that the Armada, riding in Portland Roads, would be exposed
to south-east gales, and would therefore not dare to take up the anchorage ;
but such gales are rare in summer, and something must inevitably be risked
in war. Ralegh, the greatest English strategist of his generation, saw the
importance of Portland, and in 1587 urged upon Burghley the necessity for
'■' Moule, Charters of Weymouth, 154. '" Ibid. 157.
'" S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccix, No. 94.
'■« Ibid, ccxiv, No. II ; Cott. MSS. Aug. I, i, 32.
'" Pat. 10 Eliz. pt. viii, m. 28. It is called Weymouth in the patent.
'* Acts of P.C. 24 Oct. 1574. To Lord Howard of Bindon, Sir Henry Ashley, Sir John Yonge, and
Nicholas Turbervile.
'" Ibid. 26 Dec. 1587. '«> Hirl. MSS. 3324, fol. 42.
206
MARITIME HISTORY
more powerful defences there."' The admirals desired to go to meet the
Armada on the Portuguese coast, a course of action which, if they had
fought successfully, would have secured the safety of Portland and every
other English roadstead.
The experience of 1587 and of later years showed that the brunt of the
fighting had always to be borne by men-of-war, and that the chief value of
armed merchantmen was to inspire the confidence given by number. This
was understood in 1588, however, only by a few seamen ; therefore in that
year the whole of the English coast was called upon to help, not by a
general impressment but by sending ships according to order to join the
royal fleet. On 31 March a general embargo on shipping was proclaimed, the
object being to retain not so much the vessels as the men. This was followed
the next day by orders to the port towns to furnish ships at their own
expense, all to be more than 60 tons."* Weymouth and Melcombe were
set down for two ships and a pinnace, Poole for one ship and a pinnace, and
Lyme was linked with Chard and Axminster for two ships and a pinnace,
the two inland towns having of course only to contribute towards the
expense. There was an auxiliary order that most of the cost was to be
borne by those persons who had profited by privateering. Both now and on
subsequent occasions many of the ports sought excuses either to obtain a
reduction in the demands made upon them or to have the county and adjacent
towns joined with them towards the charges. Within a fortnight all the
Dorset ports protested to the Council that there were various reasons why
they were too hardly treated. The mayor and aldermen of Poole were
the first to enlarge, within forty-eight hours of the receipt of the order,
on their disabilities. They said that there was, at the moment, only one
ship of above 60 tons in port, and that she was about sailing for New-
foundland,"' and that the Council were quite wrong in supposing that any of
the Poole owners had made a profit by privateering, or, indeed, that any one
of them had indulged in any speculation of the kind. The Council were
besought ' to consider of the great decay and disability of this poor town '
due to several causes, including pirates at Studland Bay, ' whereby we are
utterly unable to perform your Lordships' commandment.' "° The corpora-
tion of Lyme followed on 9 April ; '" they had no ships at home of the
required tonnage, but offered one of 40 tons, and complained that certain
inhabitants of Axminster had already refused any payments in aid. They
suggested that any future levies of the kind should be based on a wider
assessment among more towns. The mayor and corporation of Weymouth
did not answer until the i6th ; "* they did not deny that prize goods had
been brought, to some extent, into the two towns, but said that the owners
mostly dwelt elsewhere, and that Weymouth and Melcombe were ' of small
ability and in part decayed.' They added that notwithstanding their dis-
abilities they would provide the assistance required, but requested the Council
to add some other towns as contributories. There was no immediate answer
to this, but in June the Council ordered that Dorchester was to help Wey-
mouth."' The question of revictualling these ships came up again in July,
"' Lansd. MSS. 52, fol. 66. '8' Jets ofP.C. 31 March, I April, 1588.
'" She sailed in defiance of the embargo {atite, p. 204). ""' S.P. Dom. Ellz. ccix, No. 70.
"' Ibid. No. 81. '" Ibid. No. 94. '™ Jets ofP.C. 23 June, 1588.
207
A HISTORY OF DORSET
when Axminster and Chard were again refractory in bearing their share of
the expense. ''" The Dorset ports were not singular in their reluctance ; the
same unwillingness was being displayed nearly everywhere round the coast
and was, in a great measure, due to the decadence of towns which had been
relatively wealthy in mediaeval times.
From Lyme came the 'Jacobs 90 tons, and the Revef?ge, 60 tons, Captain
Richard Bedford ; from Weymouth the Galleon, 100 tons, Captain Richard
Millard, and the Katherine, 66 tons ; Poole was unrepresented. When the
Spaniards were off Portland four more Weymouth ships, with 300 men on
board, put off to share the danger and the honour ; three of these were the
Golden Rial, 120 tons, the Heath Hen, 60 tons, and the Bark Sutton, 70
tons ; "' the fourth was probably the Bark Bond. They perhaps helped by
their presence to comfort the men-of-war who were really fighting the action
off Portland on 23 July. A Spanish flagship was brought into Torbay on
26 July, and Carew Ralegh, elder brother of Sir Walter, at once asked that
six of her guns might be sent to Portland Castle. *'" It was late in the day
to think of coast defences, but the Weymouth people, taking advantage of
the arrival of another captured Spanish flagship, the San Salvador, in Portland
Roads, petitioned for some guns out of her for their platform which was
built but not armed."* The Council acceded to this request and ordered
eight brass and six iron guns to be given to them."* The San Salvador
remained at Portland for some months ; she was lost in Studland Bay, on
her way to Portsmouth, in November."^ Her crew stayed, as prisoners, in
Weymouth, and in December were behaving in a very disorderly manner
perhaps because, as in Devon, they were left to starve or to depend on the
charity of the country-side ; the Council ordered them to prison and a diet
of bread and water."*
The armed merchantmen were of little or no use during the Armada
campaign, and the government must have regretted the vast expense entailed.
In many cases the ships had been equipped by means of advances obtained
from private individuals, and sent to sea long before the money necessary was
collected. After the crisis it became still more difficult to collect the assess-
ments, many of the corporations squabbling about their shares or attempting
to evade payment altogether. In September, 1588, Axminster and Chard
were still arguing with Lyme about their responsibilities ; at Weymouth
Captain Richard Millard had expended ^(^45 i about his ship, the Galleon, and
was still unpaid.'" In the latter case the Council, believing that Weymouth
was really poor, directed that Blandford, Cerne Abbas, Shaftesbury, and
Wareham should be rated in aid. There must have been reasons, satisfac-
tory to the Council, for the absence of any assistance from Poole, but there
are indications that no great desire was felt in the town to render service to
the state. In 1591 troops for France were under orders to embark there ;
the mayor did his best to get ships but the owners unrigged them, where-
upon the mayor committed the contumacious proprietors to prison, leading
"" S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxii, No. 43.
'" Ibid, ccxiv. No. 11. They are called volunteers, but the bill sent in to the government for the
Golden Rial exists (ibid, ccxv, No. 20 (i)).
"■ Ibid, ccxiii. No. 43. "^ Ibid, ccxiv, No. 1 1.
"' Ibid. No. 55. "^ Ibid, ccxviii. No. 24.
"" Jat o/P.C. 31 Dec. 1588. '" Ibid, xvi, 301 ; S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxvi. No. 27.
208
MARITIME HISTORY
them to use ' very bad language ' and to threaten revenge."^ The Council
called their language ' lewd and undutiful ' and ordered the principal mis-
demeanants to be sent up to London.
The 1589 voyage to Portugal was a joint-stock affair under Norreys and
Drake who hired their ships. Although nearly 80 were taken up Dorset
does not appear to have supplied any. The ports were not again called upon
by the queen for ships until the Cadiz voyage of 1596 was under considera-
tion ; but in the interval those of Dorset were carrying on what must have
been a successful privateering war on their own account. Between 1587
and 1598 we find 23 ships of Weymouth, six of Lyme, and three of Poole
engaged in prize-hunting, and that the business was followed so long points
to good fortune.'^' One of these vessels, the Bark Bond (owners John Bond
and Wm. and Ric. Pitt) made an especial haul in 1592, when she met
the Grace of Dover which had on board the passengers and crew of the
great carrack, the Madre de Dios, just taken by an English squadron and
the richest capture of the reign. They were supposed to have been plundered
before being put on board the Grace, but Captain Aire of the Bark Bond
brought her to and managed to extract 50,000 ducats and many precious
stones from them. A warrant to arrest Captain Aire issued later."""
The failure of the 1589 expedition had made Elizabeth avoid enter-
prises on a large scale ; it was not, therefore, until the close of 1595 that an
undertaking, of which the destination was then uncertain, was decided upon
for the following year. On 2 i December a circular letter was addressed to
the ports, generally, requiring ships to be ready by the next spring, armed,
manned, and victualled at local charge for five months ; Dorset was
called upon for two.^"^ All the port ships were used as transports or for
other subsidiary purposes in the Cadiz voyage ; the Expedition and Catherine,
which carried soldiers, and both of Weymouth, were the Dorset ones,
and 130 seamen as well came from Weymouth and Melcombe.""^ The
attempts at evasion of payment were even more marked now than in 1588 ;
towns and individuals everywhere shirked their assessments. Weymouth and
Melcombe were charged with >C4°°» towards which the other Dorset
ports were required to contribute _;^ 160, but there was great difficulty in
obtaining it as well as the ratings in Weymouth itself. The only remedy
the Council could apply was to order that refractory individuals should be
sent to London to appear before them, a punishment which might obviously
be made a very heavy one in view of the direct and indirect expense involved.
By December, 1596, the mayor of Weymouth had written six times to the
Council complaining that the corporation could not obtain payment of the
jri6o ; in the following February it was still owing, and their lordships
wrote to the deputy-lieutenants of Dorset that 'a great contempt' was
being committed, and that if the money was not at once collected one of
them was to appear in London.^"'' This threat proved unsuccessful, so that
in May it was resolved that personal application should be made by a Council
"* S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxiiii, No. 43 ; ^cts ofP.C. 20 Oct. 1592.
''' Harl. MSS. 598. The year gi\en in the text does not mean that the business ceased in 1598, but
only that there are no accounts for any later date.
'°° Cecil MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), iv, 237 ; Lansd. MSS. 67, fol. 116. "" Acls of P.C. 21 Dec. 1595.
*" Moule, Charters of Weymouth, 134 ; Cecil MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), vi, 293.
Acts oj P.C. 7 Sept. 7 Dec. 1596, 27 Feb. 1597.
2 209 27
203
A HISTORY OF DORSET
messenger to every one in Dorset who was still recalcitrant, and that on
further refusal such should be brought before the Council.^"* However, the
debts incurred in relation to the Catherine were still unsettled in 1602.""'
The revolt against these Cadiz assessments was so widespread, and so many
awkward constitutional questions were being raised in some of the counties,
that there was no further attempt to levy ships in the same way during the
remainder of the reign.
Throughout these years of war Elizabeth, partly as the result of her
own ignorance and nervousness and partly perhaps as a matter of policy, kept
her subjects on tenterhooks of expectation of invasion. Recurrent panics
followed year after year, and she did nothing to quiet them even when
information in the hands of the government must have shown their baseless-
ness. In 1598, when Philip was dying and Spain exhausted, ruined, and
helpless, the usual fear recurred, and a new survey of the Dorset coast was
ordered.^''^ Who undertook it is not known, but their conclusions, that
500 sail of 1,000 tons each might ride in Worbarrow Bay and Shipman's
Pool, and that 600 or 700 sail of 1,000 tons could ride in Swanage and
Studland Bays, do not inspire faith in their knowledge or capacity."" They
thought that in Poole Harbour 500 sail of 120 tons could find shelter ; as
there had been only 12 ft. on Poole Bar in 1539,^°^ and as the depth was no
doubt the same in 1598, it was practically prohibited to an enemy's fleet.
They said, what everyone knew, that Portland Roads was a tempting objec-
tive for an invader, and a Spanish spy in 1599 made the same report with
the addition that it was nearly defenceless ; this man also remarked that
Poole was unfortified because only 50 or 60-ton vessels could enter the
harbour.""^ One of the worst, because one of the most groundless, panics of
the reign occurred in 1599 when preparations more befitting such a year
as 1588 were made. No Spanish squadron was ever nearer England than
Coruna, but a powerful fleet was mobilized in the Downs and thousands of
the county levies called under arms. Naturally the towns took alarm ; in
August a petition came from Weymouth representing its weak state, and the
inhabitants, in terror, were sending away the women and children and
removing their property; a garrison of 1,000 men was requested.^'" On
1 1 August they wrote, ' we have armed all sorts of our people that are able
to make a stand at a street corner,' but all this desperate preparation to die
in the last ditch was quite needless. However, they can scarcely be blamed
for keeping step with the Council, who, on i 8 August, wrote to the deputy-
lieutenants of Dorset that they were sorry to hear of the little regard
which was being paid to the safety of Weymouth 'in this time of great
danger.'"'^ As on 14 August they had themselves suspended further military
levies, it was scarcely reasonable to write on the i8th blaming their sub-
ordinates for neglecting to collect men. The other Dorset towns were
less nervous, and only stood ready without troubling the government ; on
7 August the Council ordered the mayor of Lyme to hire a pinnace to scout
on the Portuguese coast.''^
•»• Acts ofP.C. 30 May, 1597. "^ Moule, op. cit. 138. *» Harl. MSS. 3324, fol. 6z.
'"' Worb.irrow Bay is rather more than a mile long and half a mile wide, but with no anchorage within
400 yards of the shore ; Shipman's (or Chapman's) Pool is less than half the size of Worbarrow Kay.
"^ Cott. MSS. Aug. I. i. 31. =>»' S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccl.xx, No. 77. -"' Ibid, cclxxii, Nos. 19, 25.
»" Coke MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), i, 22. '" S.P. Dom. Eliz. cclxxii, No. 21.
210
MARITIME HISTORY
As piracy died down, the scourge of Dunkirk privateering, which was
little different, became more and more virulent. Philip II had always hesi-
tated to issue letters of marque, not for humanitarian reasons but because
there were so few seamen in Spain, and permission several times given to his
subjects had been in each instance speedily withdrawn. Philip III reversed
this policy for Spain, and the governors of the Low Countries had never
known any reasons for hesitation ; therefore, as Dunkirk, Sluys, Nieuport,
and Ostend fell into their hands, they became privateer bases which inflicted
terrible injury on English commerce. As early as 1590 the Weymouth
burgesses were asked to set out two vessels at their own expense, to help to
clear the Channel, with a promise that they might keep all they captured. -^■' In
1600 the masters of storeships, taken up for Ireland at Poole and Weymouth,
were refusing to sail because they regarded their capture by Dunkirkers as
certain.-'* The accession of James I brought peace with Spain, but the
Dutch and Flemish privateers now inflicted on the English the same miseries
the latter had imposed on neutrals a generation earlier. What was far worse,
because it added the horrors of slavery to material loss, was the appearance
in the Channel of Mohammedan pirates, usually Algerines or Saleemen,
from the Mediterranean. They came under the guidance of English and
Dutch renegades, the former being mostly seamen thrown out of employment
by the peace; and before long, aided by the rapid degeneration of the English
navy, they established a reign of terror on the south coast. Like the pirates
of the preceding reign, they found Swanage and Studland Bays convenient
haunts, which caused a petition to be sent to the Privy Council that the
block-house at Peverel Point might be repaired and armed as a protection
against them.-'°
The first naval armament for foreign service of the reign of James was
due, nominally, to the necessity for chastising these Moorish pirates by
attacking them in their lair at Algiers. The fleet, under Sir Robert Mansel,
was really sent to the Mediterranean to give weight to the king's foreign
policy at the moment, but it was a good excuse to make the ports, as chiefly
interested in the ostensible object, bear most of the expense. A circular
letter from the Privy Council in February, 161 8-19, recited that 300 ships
and many hundreds of men had been taken by the Algerines within a few
years, and that the king was resolved to extirpate them. To help towards
this laudable purpose Weymouth and Lyme were each assessed at £4.^0,
and Poole at ^^loo.-'* The towns writhed as usual. The mayor of Poole
lost no time in replying that their only trade, with one exception, was the
Newfoundland fishery, and that they could not raise jTioo but would try to
send £s°-~^^ C)n 10 March the mayor of Weymouth and Melcombe wrote
to the judge of the Admiralty Court to ask his intercession ; he said that on
account of their heavy losses by the Algerines only £100 had been raised ;
that the Council had judged of the wealth of the town by the customs
returns, but that three-fourths of the customs were paid by inland merchants
and that the townspeople were not interested in it."'' The Weymouth cor-
poration volunteered a contribution of ^loo in settlement, or offered to
*" Jets o/P.C. 4 March, 1589-90. =" Ibid. 10 Oct. 1600.
"' S.P. Dom. Jas. I, civ, No. 63. "' Ibid, cv, No. 89.
'" Ibid, cvii, No. 39. ^'» Add. MSS. 36J67, fol. 377.
211
A HISTORY OF DORSET
advance ^400 if allowed to repay themselves by levying i per cent, on all
goods inw^ards and outwards. This last course was adopted, but the result
was that the inland shippers transferred their trade to Poole.°" The mayor
of Lyme answered so quickly that little time could have been devoted
to inquiry ; "" the town, he wrote, could not provide j^450, which should
be raised from the merchants of Bristol and Exeter who were the principal
shippers through Lyme. In May, 1620, in response to further pressure
from the Council, the mayor of Weymouth replied that shipowners in the
town had lost ^3,000 at sea since April, 1619.^^^
Mansel sailed in October, 1620, and returned in August, 1621, having
done nothing. A commentary on his utility was supplied by the mayor of
Weymouth, who wrote in 1622 that nearly every vessel sent to the Mediter-
ranean from the town in 1621 had been taken by the Algerines or other
Moorish pirates.""' Purely English piracy, although diminished, was by no
means extinct. A general piracy commission had issued for all the counties
in 1608; several pirates are mentioned as frequenting Dorset waters, and
in 1623 an official expressed his opinion that the reason they flocked to
Weymouth was that the people there traded with them and that the Admiralty
Court officers connived at their presence."^
The plea of poverty constantly put forward by the ports, although
relatively true, must not be taken too literally. For the reign of James we
are able to measure, roughly, the amount of shipping belonging to most of
them, and shipping is necessarily the gauge of their prosperity. Mr. R. G.
Marsden has compiled a list of ships' names occurring in legal and historical
documents of this period, and also in various printed sources;^''* he has found
17 Lyme vessels mentioned, 19 of Poole, 20 of Weymouth, and one of
Purbeck.''" There must have been many others that sailed through an
uneventful career without attracting the attention of the law, the Admiralty
officials, or the customs. There was also a certain amount of shipbuilding.
A list exists of some 380 ships built between 1625 and 1638, the certificate
of building being necessary to obtain a licence to buy ordnance."' Four were
constructed at Weymouth, one, launched by Nicholas Awdney, being of
240 tons ; the others were of under 100 tons. Only one, of 80 tons, came
from Lyme. Weymouth must have had something more than a local repu-
tation in shipbuilding for in 1636 two officials came there to press ship-
wrights for the Sovereign of the Seas, then under construction at Woolwich.
It was necessary to conceal their purpose so they brought the shipwrights
together for a drinking bout, pretending to have a ship of their own in
hand. But the officials got drunk themselves and revealed the secret, where-
upon the shipwrights fled from the town, and one of the press-masters
knocked up the mayor at 4 a.m. for assistance while the other one roused
the constables an hour earlier to feed his horse. "^
Mansel's abortive expedition of 1 620-1 served only to encourage the
Algerines. Often the south-western coast was practically blockaded by them
»"S.P. Dom. Jas. I, cix, No. 81. =™ Ibid, cv. No. 141 ; 27 Feb. 1618-19.
"' Ibid, cxv, No. 57. "*' Ibid, cxxx, No. 22.
"' S.P. Dom. Jas. I, cli, No. 21. '•'* Tram. Roy. Hist. Soc. xix, 311.
-" Qy. Swanage. ™ S.P. Dom. Chas. I, xvi, xvil.
''^^ Ibid, cccxxxvii, No. 18 ; cccxliii, No. 4 ; ctcxlviii, No. 90. The story, as told in the State Papers,
is amusing but rather involved.
212
MARITIME HISTORY
so that the coasting and cross-Channel trade was stopped, and fishermen dared
not go out. In 1636 the western ports, including Poole, Weymouth, and
Lyme, petitioned that the coast was ' infested ' with Turks, and that they had
lost, within the last few years, 87 ships worth nearly jT 100,000 and 1,160
men."' Wrought up to more active measures than writing petitions, the three
Dorset joined with five Devon ports to send John Crewkerne, who had been
town clerk of Lyme but was then living at Exeter, to London to see the
principal members of the Privy Council individually ; of the expenses inci-
dental to the mission the three Dorset towns bore three-twenty-fourths. "'
Crewkerne saw several members of the Council and found them all sympathetic,
but Archbishop Laud was especially earnest ; he ' gave this answer, striking
his hands upon his breast, that while he had breath in his body he would
to the uttermost of his power advance a business so necessary.' ^"' The king
promised, vaguely, such measures as would sweep the Algerines and Saleemen
off the seas, but we find that in 1638 Poole and Weymouth were still suffer-
ing, and that 27 Algiersmen were then known to be in the Channel or bound
for it.^" The inability to deal with these human vermin was only one indica-
tion of the general rottenness of administration which, during the reign of
Charles I, consumed the resources of the country without result.
Under the stimulus of expected invasion some attention had been given
to the coast defences, but after 1588 they were again neglected. In 1593
Portland was disarmed and left ' wholly unprovided,' all the brass guns having
been taken away for use in the Navy."'' The ruinous condition of Brownsea,
where there was not a gun mounted, was reported to Burghley in 1596, but
it was in much the same state when the panic of 1599 brought it again under
notice ; there was then only a caretaker in it."'' At the same time Portland
and Sandsfoot Castles were said to be ' unfurnished,' which may mean much
or little."* As regards Sandsfoot it certainly meant much, for from another
paper of the same date it is clear that part of the ramparts had fallen down
and that the place was going to destruction from neglect."^ In 1610 there
was a grant of £2^0 for the repair of Sandsfoot,"* and then the fortifications
everywhere were forgotten until 1623, when relations with Spain were
becoming strained. In July the Ordnance Office officials were ordered to
survey the fortifications from the Thames to Cornwall ; at Portland there were
13 guns and at Sandsfoot 10, but the sea there was undermining the front. "^
To put both castles in good condition it was estimated that ^1,000 would
be required. At Weymouth, in 1622, there were guns at the Nothe and in
the Bulwark ; in 1625 the corporation resolved that the block-house at Mel-
combe should be built up with stone."^ When it appeared probable that war
with France was approaching the ports grew fearful of cross-Channel raids,
and in 1626 estimates were prepared for two more batteries, one at Weymouth
and one at Melcombe ; towards this the corporation offisred jr20 of the cost."'
In 1628 there was no fort at the Nothe ; in petitioning for one the corporation
•■* S.P. Dom. Chas. I, dxxxvi, No. 97. -' Moule, op. cit. 179.
-■■" Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. iii, App. 346. ™ Coke MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), ii, 191, 192.
*" Jas o/P.C. 7 Aug. 1593.
''^ S.P. Dom. Eliz. cclvii, No. 77 ; Cecil MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), viii, 152 ; Harl. MSS. 3324, fol. 62.
"* S.P. Dom. Eliz. cclxxii, No. 25. '" Cecil MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), viii, 148.
"'■ S.P. Dom. Jas. I, Ivii, 1 1 Aug. 1610. "^^ Ibid, cxlix, No. 104 ; Harl. MSS. 1326, fol. 70, 72.
"' Moule, op. cit. 171. ^' Ibid. 174.
213
A HISTORY OF DORSET
said that 200 sail of any burthen could ride in the harbour.'-^" When the
war had commenced 16 guns were sent to Weymouth and five to Lyme; "" to
receive these the burgesses of Lyme built a sconce at a cost of ;r2oo, but the
mayor complained that many of the inhabitants refused to contribute.^*- The
last notice of the county fortifications before the Civil War is of about 1636,
when the annual cost of Portland Castle was ^T 1,481 14J. zd. \^^ Sandsfoot
is not in the list.
The war with Spain gave occasion for the Cadiz expedition of 1625.
The fleet was made up of men-of-war and hired transports, the counties not
being required to find any armed ships. No Dorset vessel appears in the
fleet list but the port of origin is not always given. In 1626 Charles, on the
brink, of war with France, resolved to follow the precedent of Elizabeth's
reign and called upon the maritime shires for 56 ships to join the royal fleet.
On 21 June there was an order to press 250 seamen in the county ; "" this
was followed on the 30th by a demand for two ships from Weymouth and
Poole, ' with the other sea ports and towns of that part,' and for one from
Lyme.'** Each vessel was to be of 200 tons and 12 guns, and to be victualled
and stored for three months. The government, anticipating that there would
be no ship of sufficient size belonging to Weymouth, offered to send one from
London for the corporation to hire, promised that the service should be con-
fined to the Enghsh coast, and directed that the proportion of crew to tonnage
was to be two men for every three tons. The Dorset justices, who made
themselves the spokesmen of the general discontent, were sharply reprimanded
by the Council, but the contingent was reduced to two ships.
Originally the levies had been intended to meet at Portsmouth by 3 i July,
1626, but that had been found to be quite impracticable and the preparations
lingered until the following year. In the meanwhile the ports bombarded
the Council with protests. The Poole men asseverated their inability ;
they said that they had lost (^^-.'^oo by the embargoes in France and Spain,
and that the town had 400 widows and children to support. -^'^ Lyme pro-
fessed itself too poor and also dwelt upon the embargoes, while the inhabitants
of Weymouth declared themselves to be quite unable to meet the requirements
of the Council."^ In April, 1627, the Weymouth corporation stated the town
losses at jr2,6oo, besides the drain on their resources in the support of the
wives and children of seamen taken by the Algerines ; they had seven ships
embargoed at Rouen and five at Bordeaux.-''' No doubt those ports whose
principal business relations were with France felt the effects of war acutely ;
in September the mayor of Lyme wrote that there would be no trade again
until there was peace with France, and that the customs receipts for the whole
quarter were under ^120.'-*' Many of the Poole and Weymouth vessels
embargoed abroad were probably Newfoundland ships bringing their catches
straight from the Banks ; it was no wonder that these southern ports reeled
under the effects of such losses and a direct and heavy taxation, to which they
in particular were subjected, when the same circumstances that caused it
rendered them especially unable to meet it. Matters did not improve for
'*» S.P. Dom. Chas. I, ci, No. 15. "' Ibid, ccxiv, No. 49.
"- Ibid, xxxi. No. 107 ; xxxii. No. 106. "" Ibid, cccxl, No. 39.
'" H\st. MSS. Com. Rep. v, App. 581. "" Ibid. 584 ; S.P. Dom. Chas. I, xxx. No. 81.
"^ S.P. Dom. Chas. I, 1, No. 57. One of the ships thus lost or detained was of 190 tons.
-" Ibid. 1, No. 58 ; liii. No. 27 (i). =■" Ibid. Ixi, No. 7. "' Ibid. Ixxviii, No. 74.
214
MARITIME HISTORY
them ; in 1628 the Poole townsmen returned their losses within four years
as 20 ships of 1,465 tons, there being only 16, of 838 tons, left to work
with.^^°
A condition of war led to returns of ships and men being again required.
That of 1629^°^ assigned 20 vessels to Poole, including 2 of 150 tons, with
82 shipmasters and men. At Lyme there were 18 ships, 2 being of
80 tons, and 1 1 1 men ; at Weymouth and Melcombe 26 ships, the largest
being of 100 tons, and 301 men. The totals for the county were 68 ships,
135 masters and masters' mates, and 950 seamen and fishermen; of the
smaller places there were 37 men living at Wareham, 36 at Swanage, 25 at
Studland, 86 at Chideock, 35 at Charmouth, 49 at Bridport, 64 at Burton
Bradstock, 64 at Abbotsbury, 35 at Wyke Regis, and 36 in the isle of Port-
land. At Ower, which Edward I had intended to make a flourishing port,-"
there were only two. So far as the ships are concerned the foregoing can
only refer to those at home at the date of examination, when the largest must
have been at sea, for another return of 1634"'' gives Dorset six of from 100
to 250 tons. Notwithstanding their war losses the ports had sufficient capital
and enterprise to follow privateering speculation vigorously. Between 1625
and 1628 the Leopard, 240 tons, Abigail, 120 tons. Pilgrim, 200 tons, Elizabeth,
100 tons, Sarah Bonaventure, 100 tons, and Stephen, 100 tons, of Weymouth,
the Garland, 160 tons, of Poole, and the Bonaventure, 100 tons, of Lyme,
were among the large ships for which the owners obtained letters of marque.^"
But not improbably some of these were hired and really belonged to other
ports ; the Leopard, however, was a Weymouth owned ship. In the year
ending with February, 1629, letters of marque were taken out for eleven Wey-
mouth ships, three of Lyme, and one of Poole. ^" Here the largest Weymouth
vessel was of 140 tons.
Charles had issued ship-money writs in 1628, but, alarmed at the feeling
aroused, he withdrew them at once. Forced at last to choose between facing
a Parliament and raising money by this method the writs of 20 October, 1634,
were sent out directed to Poole, Weymouth and Melcombe, Wareham, Lyme,
and Bridport for a 400-ton ship armed, manned, stored, and victualled for
twenty-six weeks' service. "^^ As the ships required were larger than those
possessed by any port except London an equivalent in money might be paid
to the Treasury, to be applied to the preparation of a king's ship, and the
Dorset ports were therefore given the option of paying f^2,zo\. H.M.S.
Adventure was allotted to Dorset, but it was found subsequently that a mistake
had been made and the county rated too low in money.*" The second ship-
money writ was of 4 August, 1635, ^""^ ^^^ general to the inland shires as well
as to those of the coast ; Dorset was required to find a 500-ton ship or
^^5,000.-^' The first assessments were £bo on Poole, >C^°° o" Dorchester,
i^-jo on Lyme, ^^30 on Bridport, ^20 on Wareham, and f^\o on Corfe, but
these assessments were afterwards altered, f^\o being then placed on Wey-
mouth."' In April, 1636, money was coming in freely, the county being
^'° S.P. Dom. Chas. I, ciii. No. 43. =^> Ibid, cxxxviii, No. 11. ''' Ante, p. 181.
""' S.P. Dom. Chas. I, cclxx, No. 64. Or perhaps the return ofpeace had encouraged ship-building on .1
comparatively large scale.
''■' Ibid. cxv. «* Ibid, cxxxvi. No. 79.
'■' Ibid, cclxxvi. No. 64. '°' S.P. Dom. Chas. I, cclxxxiv. No. 15 ; cclxxxvi, No. 7.
'^' Ibid, ccxcvi, No. 69. »^^ Ibid, cccii, No. 78 ; Harl. MSS. 6843, fol. 93.
215
A HISTORY OF DORSET
only ^^99 1 in arrear,"" but in October there was a new ship-money writ, a
new sheriff,^" and a different story. Freke may have been less persuasive
than Trenchard or, more probably, the tide of resistance was rising ; at any
rate he found much more trouble, and began by distraining on his son to set
a good example. He reported that the poorer people paid their money ' like
drops of blood,' for to do it some were compelled to sell their only cow and
come on the parish. ^^^ In the latest assessments Weymouth and Melcombe
were rated for £S^, Dorchester >C45, Lyme and Corfe ^^40 each, Poole £2/\.,
and Bridport ;C2o.-'*
The difficultv of collection grew greater with every month ; in Septem-
ber, 1637, the sheriff, Richard Rogers, distrained on Sir Walter Erie and
others of the county gentry in order to frighten those lower in the social scale,
but Dorset was still j^i,200 in arrear on the last writ."" The fourth writ was
not issued until January, 1639, and then the assessments were much reduced,
Weymouth and Melcombe being put down for ^(^15, Poole >r 12, Wareham
jTio, Lyme £17, and Bridport £S.^^^ By this time it was too late for any
modifications to soften the universal spirit of opposition ; the sheriff of 1640,
William Churchill, wrote to the Council in April that he had distrained on
Lady Ann Ashley, but that her servants had rescued the horses, and that when
an attempt was again made in Dorchester to seize them the same result
followed ; this, he thought, would be a bad example."' A month later he
wrote that he was still levying under distress warrants but that there were no
buyers for anything taken ; "'^ by August he reported that he had levied ;^200
at a cost of_^50 to himself, that the country people rescued by force the
cattle seized, and that the constables were refusing to make returns or to assist
the bailiffs. ^^^ Only half the assessments had been collected, and he sent up
the names both of those who refused payment and of those who were active
in the rescues. But now the Long Parliament was sitting and sheriffs were
to count for little in the immediate future.
Along the south coast the resistance to ship-money must have been
intensified by the fact that while it was being paid, and while the pretentious
lieets equipped with it were cruising uselessly, the Algerines and Saleemen
were, as has been noticed, almost stopping Channel trade. Thus all the more
considerable English ports, the worst sufferers from Charles's inefScient naval
administration, stood by the Parliament even in Royalist counties. Poole and
Lyme were ardently Parliamentarian, as were also Dorchester, Portland, and
Wareham ; Weymouth and Melcombe were of a more divided allegiance,
but with a majority adverse to the king. Early in the Civil War the county
came under the control of the Royalists, only Poole and Lyme remaining
throughout in the hands of Parliamentary garrisons. The siege of Lyme is
famous in local and national annals. As in the case of Plymouth, the Parlia-
ment was only able to keep its hold on the town in virtue of having the com-
mand of the sea, a supreme advantage to which, in its momentous influence in
bringing about the final issue of the Civil War, no historian has yet done full
justice. The siege commenced on 20 April, 1644; on 27 April the Ad-
'" S.P. Dom. Chas. I, cccxviii, No. 29. **' John Freke, vke Sir Thomas Trenchard.
"" S.P. Dom. Chas. I, cccxxxiii, No. 4. '" Ibid, cccli, No. 81.
'*' Ibid, ccclxvii, No. 2 ; ccclxx, No. 74. '" Ibid, cccci, No. 38.
''' Ibid, ccccli. No. 13. **' Ibid, cccclv. No. 7.
'^ Ibid, cclxiii, No. 26.
216
MARITIME HISTORY
miralty Committee of Parliament ordered their admiral, the earl of Warwick,
to Lyme with his squadron, ' You well know what consequence the town is to
shipping in the west. '^^' Supplies by sea began to come in by 26 April, which
was ' a great encouragement ' ; and on 29 April and i i May reinforcements
of seamen were put ashore. The admiral was off Lyme on 23 May, and
found four vessels already in the anchorage from which powder and provisions
had been landed. When Warwick arrived the garrison was in sore need, but
corn and powder were sent ashore and the sailors of the squadron added fish
and bread saved out of their rations, with shoes and clothes from their kits for
the ragged and bare-footed men at the front."" The squadron took part in
the operations by sending the ships' boats along the coast towards Bridport,
landing in the enemy's rear and thus diverting his attention. "^^ In the town
men and women — the latter filled the soldiers' bandoliers while they fought — •
were equally undaunted ; but when Prince Maurice drew off on i 5 June it
was because the fleet had enabled them to hold out for the coming of the
army of relief under the earl of Essex.
Nothing exciting happened at Poole. Parliamentary ships appeared
there off and on, and an occasional Parliamentary privateer set sail from the
harbour. In 1644 the House ordered four guns to be sent to the town and
four to Brownsea."" Weymouth changed hands more than once, although
Melcombe remained in the possession of the Parliament. But here again the
retention of Melcombe and the recapture of Weymouth were largely due
to aid brought by sea. When Warwick was there, in 1644, he dwelt on its
importance, 'and the relation that its safety has to H.M. navy,' whereupon
the Parliamentary committee authorized the governor to put in hand the
defences recommended by the earl, and this probably accounts for the appear-
ance of a fort at the Nothe, where hitherto only guns behind a breastwork
had been in position ; "^ another, the New or Jetty Fort, ordered to be pulled
down in 1663, may date from this period."* Several other forts were erected
in the two towns during the war, but on the landward side. An order of
29 August, 1653,"^ ^'^^ ^^^ disarmament of Weymouth and Melcombe must
have caused the abolition of these. The Council of State directed an engineer
to go to Weymouth in 1649 '° build a 'citadel' there, but no record of his
proceedings, if any followed, has come down to us."° Sandsfoot Castle, of
little importance, mainly followed the fortunes of Weymouth, and Portland
surrendered to the Parliament 6 April, 1646. When it yielded there were
twenty-one guns in it and plenty of ammunition ; the terms of surrender
were designed to ' save the face' of the garrison who were to march out with
drums beating and colours flying but who possessed neither drums nor
colours."'" Many of them enlisted with the besieging force. Under the
Commonwealth one company of foot was divided between Portland and
Sandsfoot as garrison.
The first Dutch war of 1652-4 was very pleasing to the seamen, and at
first volunteers flocked in to man the State's ships. But after the volunteers
"*' S.P. Dom. Chas. I, di, 27 April, 1644. Warwick was also to have regard to the safety of Poole.
"' Jn Exacl and True Relation in Relieving Lyme, 1644; A Letter from the Rt. Hon. Robert, Earl of
Warwirk, . . . 1644. "' Hist. MSS. Com. Ref>. x, App. vi, 152. "' Commons' Journ 28 Sept. 1644.
'"S.P. Dom. Chas. I, div, No. 58, July, 1644; Brief Relation of the Surprise of the Forts at ll'ey-
mouth, . . . 1644. "• S.P. Dom. Chas. II, xc, No. 6. '" Ibid. Interreg. xxxix.
"« Ibid, iii, 20 Oct. 1649. "''^ Add. MSS. 9299, fol. 220.
2 217 28
A HISTORY OF DORSET
there was always a residuum who could only be reached by the press system,
therefore in Mav, 1652, a circular letter to all the counties directed the im-
pressment of all seamen between fifteen and fifty years of age. Armed mer-
chantmen were still used with the fleets but such ships were now never under
200 tons ; it is doubtful whether there were any ot sufficient size in Dorset
therefore the county took little part in the war beyond finding men.
The officials of both Poole and Weymouth were ordered, however, in March,
1652, to report if there were any suitable vessels within their jurisdiction.
Besides the fact that the number of seamen in England was insufficient to
man the merchant navy as well as the much larger fighting fleets now com-
missioned, the difficulty in obtaining men was intensified by the counter-
attractions offered by privateers with their slacker discipline and greater
chances of prize-money. In December, 1652, wages were raised in the State's
ships, and other advantages promised. The men came in more willingly,
but there was always a large deficiency. In the same month the mayor
of Poole, having been ordered to press 66 men, wrote that he had been
able to obtain only 30, and found ' much difficulty ' in the business."' This
happened before the publication of the advance in wages, &c. ; a week later
the mayor wrote that the notice had been received and proclaimed by beat of
drum through the town with the result that men were going ' with more
readiness.' "* The improvement was only temporary ; six months later the
press-master for the county was directed not to take more than one or two
men out of each fishing boat, a severe enough measure in its modified form."'
The losses of Weymouth during the Civil War were estimated at
j^20,ooo,*"' which must indicate injury to the Newfoundland trade, but in
1657 both Poole and Weymouth were busily at work again. ^'' In this year
we find, for the first time, notices of the deterioration of Weymouth Harbour
from shoaling, so that ships were obliged to unlade in the Roads for want of
quays at the entrance.""' As there had been no marked increase during the
seventeenth century in the size of ships trading to and from the third-rate
and fourth-rate ports, this seems to point to some comparatively sudden im-
pairment. Another hindrance to trade was the presence of the Ostend and
Dunkirk privateers, to whom there are numerous references at this period, off
the ports. ' Weymouth is infested with these rogues more than any other
place,' wrote an official,^*' but that they should come there was at least evidence
of its maritime trade. After the Dutch war sailors were wanted for service
in the West Indies, an employment regarded with terror by them on account
of the death-rate from disease. Although a much smaller number of men
than in the Dutch war was required for the war with Spain it was relatively
more difficult to obtain them. In 1656 the Navy Commissioners were in-
formed that there were plenty of seamen in Lyme, Weymouth, and Poole,
but that as soon as a man-of-war appeared at one port the men ran off inland and
notice was sent to the other places.^'* Both in Dorset and in other counties
the mayors and constables were believed to warn the men and assist them to
disappear temporarily. Many of the officials were themselves shipowners,
"' S.P. Dom. Interreg. xxvi, No. 55.
*■' Ibid, xxii, 3 June, 1653.
"' S.P. Dom. Interreg. cliv. No. 50.
•" Ibid, cxxvi, No. 4.7.
"' Ibid. XXX, No. 100.
'" Ellis, Hist, of Weymouth, 22.
"^ Ibid, clviii, No. 17.
'*« Ibid, cxxxii, No. 67.
218
MARITIME HISTORY
and it was contrary to their interests to have their towns cleared of men with
a consequent rise of wages and difficulty in getting merchantmen to sea.
During the Commonwealth, Weymouth developed a large trade in the
manufacture of canvas for the Navy, mainly under the auspices of the Pley
family.
At the Restoration Portland was armed with i6 guns, but Sandsfoot is
not included in the survey of i66i;^*^ the office of keeper of the castle was,
however, granted in 1660.^*^ At Portland there was a garrison of 36 men,
two matrosses (artillerymen) at Sandsfoot, and one master gunner was attached
to Weymouth.^" Dorset was not within the area of actual operations
during the second Dutch war but the ports suffered severely from the
enemy's privateers. A levy of men in December, 1664, shows the county
as then having 300 available, as compared with 700 in Devon, 300 in
Hampshire, and 150 in Somerset."*'* These numbers probably indicate
the relative ability of each county although no guide to the gross totals.
Shipwrights, also, were impressed for the royal dockyards, the mayor of Lyme
writing in January, 1666, that he had sent up all in the town except two ;
others were obtained from Poole.^'" Early in 1666 Louis XIV joined the
Dutch, and, as it was not known that he did not intend to give any real help
to his ally, fears of raids or invasion were acute in the Dorset ports where
their trade relations with France seem to have made them especially nervous.
Portland and Sandsfoot Castles were of little use for protection ; in Decem-
ber, 1664, the duke of Albemarle had proposed that Sandsfoot should be
demolished, ■"" and, taught by experience, there was a general feeling locally
that ships were a better safeguard than forts. In July, 1666, they were ' very
apprehensive ' at Weymouth of a French landing ; a year later, after the
events in the Thames and Medway, they had still more reason to fear what
might happen. The people of Lyme were ' much startled ' when they heard
of Ruiter's deeds in the Medway ; then he came down Channel with his
fleet and the whole coast was alive with preparation. Additional guns were
mounted at Lyme, and a night watch set, while militia were brought to
Dorchester and Weymouth.^" In the latter town they thought, on 6 July,
that the moment had come when a fleet was seen bearing into the Roads but
it proved to be composed of English merchantmen. The moment did come
on 7 August, when 50 sail were in sight, really Dutch, and then drums beat
and men mustered in the town.-'- But peace had been proclaimed and
Ruiter was sailing homewards, ignoring Weymouth.
For nearly two centuries Bridport is not mentioned among the ports ; in
1670 the inhabitants had in view another attempt to make a harbour, and
obtained a grant giving them powers to undertake the work.^"^ In 1673,
however, nothing had been done,^'* and in fact nearly another century elapsed
before there was shelter even for small coasters. Some improvements had
been effected at Weymouth remedying the defects noticed in 1657, but in
1 67 1 a bad south-east gale breached the 'Grand Pier' and destroyed 300ft.
of another one under the Nothe Hill, besides injuring the quays.""" The third
■" W. O. Ord. Stores, Ixxviii. ^*' Docquet Bk. Chas. II, Sept. 1 660.
"' S.P. Dom Chas. II, xxxviii, 47.
'«' Add. MSS. 9316, fol. 79. =»» S.P. Dom. Chas. II, cxliv, Nos. 28, 90.
™ Ibid, cvi. No. 76. ^" Ibid, ccx, No. 6. « Ibid, ccxii, No. 97.
™ Ibid, cclxxxiv, Aug. 1670. *" Blome, BritMiiw. '''^ S.P. Dom. Chas. II, cclxxxviii, No. 33.
219
A HISTORY OF DORSET
Dutch war caused the usual drain of men to man the fleets, and the customary
troubles from the spoil made by privateers, but no incident of any interest
affecting Dorset occurred. The landing of the duke of Monmouth at
Lyme in June, 1685, brought the county into prominence temporarily, but
not in connexion with naval affairs, nor did the passage down Channel of
William of Orange affect the coast. After Torrington's defeat off Beachy
Head in 1690 there was certain expectation of invasion, and the county
levies crowded to the ports, but Tourville stood westward to Torbay. His
fleet was seen off Portland, much to the fear of Weymouth, and guns were
mounted at Poole. Later in the war, in 1694, the Ordnance Office sent
three guns to Lyme,"* but in 1690 it was remarked that the result of hos-
tilities with France was to destroy the trade of Poole, Lyme, and Weymouth,
which was chiefly with that country, and that the principal business remaining
was smuggling.'" Two Poole seamen, Peter Jolliffe and Wm. Thompson,
were awarded gold medals and chains in 1694 and 1695 for heroic conduct
in action against French privateers.
The war occasioned a great increase in the Navy, and, as a necessary con-
sequence, more dockyards were required. Plymouth yard was founded in
1694, but the Admiralty desired another, which would undoubtedly have
been established had the national finances permitted the expenditure. In
1698 several officials travelled round the south coast examining the harbours
with a view to selecting one for the purpose, but their condemnation of
Dorset was unhesitating."' At Poole they found a depth of 16 ft. on the
bar at high water spring tides, and, saying that very few vessels ventured into
the harbour unless forced there, added that ' it affords nothing in our opinion
proper or improvable for the service of the Navy.' At Weymouth there was
sometimes only 3 ft. of water on the bar, which ' to add no more precludes
entirely.'
There is a belief, unlikely to be well founded, that in the mediaeval
period lights were shown from the chapels at St. Aldhelm's Head and
St. Catherine, Abbotsbury. The seventeenth century saw the beginning of
the modern lighthouse system, in which East Anglia led the way, probably
by reason of the very large collier and other traffic coasting to and from
London. As shipping trade increased and the profits from lights became
greater, courtiers and others used what influence they possessed to obtain
patents authorizing them to put up lighthouses and collect tolls. After the
Restoration the competition for patents became very keen. The first appli-
cant for Portland, in May, 1664, was Sir John Coryton, a large speculator in
the business, who included it with six other stations he was anxious to light
for his own and the public benefit."" His petition was referred to the
Trinity House Corporation to report upon, and as they were jealous trade
rivals their answer was adverse. Coryton depended upon the influence of
the duke of York, who, he boasted, never denied him anything ; here he
overrated his own or the duke's influence and no patent was granted. The
matter was dropped for nearly half a century, and then Captain William
Holman petitioned in 1700 for a licence. This, as usual, was submitted to
the Trinity House, who reported that a lighthouse was needless and that if
^' H. O. Mil. Entry Bk. iii, 216. *" Treas. Papers, 14 April, 1690 (Rep. of Customs Com.).
'■"' S'oane MSS. 3233. "*" Hist. MUS. Com. Rep. viii, App. i, 252.
220
MARITIME HISTORY
it ever became necessary they would erect one.^"" Holman was a successful
Weymouth privateersman, whose name often occurs in official papers of the
period. The Weymouth Corporation took up the question — indeed, Holman
was probably their mouthpiece all through — and eventually, in order to pre-
vent the privilege falling into private hands, the Trinity House obtained a
patent for themselves dated 26 May, 1716.^°' They built two lighthouses,
an upper and lower, on the west side of Portland, and intended to lead
between the Race and the Shambles ; these were sublet on a lease which
expired in 1777.'°^
The lights were coal fires and, besides being feeble, were badly attended
to ; in 1752 two Elder Brethren of the Trinity House happened to be passing
Portland on a journey westward and noticed that the fires were not lit until
two hours after sunset, that the lower light then glimmered faintly for an
hour and ceased, and that the upper light burnt fitfully for a long time
before it gave a steady brightness.'"^ When they commented on the matter
they were told that often the lights did not show all night. In 1789 a new
tower, built by William Johns of Weymouth, was erected further to the
eastward for the lower light ; it was then lit with oil, the upper one having
been altered for oil in 1788.'°* In 1822 these lights were producing
a net revenue of some ;r2,300 a year.'"'" Both lighthouses have been
abandoned recently in favour of a new one erected 130 yards from the eastern
extremity of Portland Bill, standing 141 feet above high-water mark and
fitted with all the latest improvements. This, which shows an upper and
lower light in the one tower, was lit in January, 1906.
A lightship was placed on the east end of the Shambles Shoal from
I September, 1859. The other shore lights are Weymouth north pier, 1867,
south stone pier, 1896 ; Anvil Point, 1881 ; Swanage pier, 1897 ; Bourne-
mouth pier, 1880 ; Boscombe pier, 1894 ; Poole, North Haven Point, 1848,
Sandbanks pier, 1898 ; and Lyme Regis, 1853. The first Portland
breakwater light was shown in 1851, and afterwards from the fort at the
end of the breakwater as then completed in 1876 ; the number and position
of the lights have been continually changing recently as extensions have
progressed.
The earliest sea marks used in navigation were prominent objects, such as
church towers and natural heights. Of the latter there is no lack along the
Dorset coast, and their existence has obviated the necessity for artificial
beacons of which there is only one, that put up by the Trinity House
on Portland Bill. The date of this is 1844 ; it probably succeeded an older
beacon but one of no great antiquity. Wyke Regis church, in conjunction
with the north-east end of Portland, has long been a leading mark to clear
the Shambles, and St. Aldhelm's and St. Catherine's chapels, especially the
latter, were old sea marks.
During the eighteenth century Great Britain, having won the command
of home waters, was fighting for the mastery of the oceans therefore local
maritime history ceased, for the most part, to have any intimate connexion
with naval events. The chief anxiety on the coast now related not to the
"'° Hardy, British Lighthouses, 104. '"' Pat. 2 Geo. I, pt. iv.
'"' Pari. Papers, 1861, xxv, 420. '"' Hardy, British Lighthouses, 10;.
'"' Pari Papers, 1861, xxv, 420 ; Kay Collection, B.M. Nos. 164, 165, 169.
""^ Pari. Papers, 1822, xxi, 497.
221
A HISTORY OF DORSET
enemy's fleets but to his privateers ; against these local armaments still had
their use. A survey of 1714-17 '*''* tells us that Portland Castle had saved
many ships from being taken by them during the recent wars ; it had ten
guns when surveyed but was in a dilapidated condition. There had been
twenty guns at Sandsfoot in 1691, but in 1717 there were only three, of
which one was old and rusty and two had been washed into the sea. In 1701
the Ordnance Office had seen no objection in allowing the corporation of
Weymouth to pull down so much of the walls of the castle as might
be sufficient to supply them with stones to repair their bridge, and the
Treasury had sanctioned the proceeding.'"' This, therefore, marks the
definite abandonment of Sandsfoot. On the Isle of Portland there were
batteries at the Bill, at Blacknor Point on the west side, at the pier and at
Rufus Castle on the east side, and at the village of Chesil, but the guns were
all honeycombed and useless. At Weymouth there was a five-gun battery on
the Nothe and two others below, one being at the jetty -'"^ and one between
the Nothe and Sandsfoot. Here, also, the guns were in a condition which
proves that there could have been little fear of attack during the preceding
wars. At Melcombe there were four guns in the Blockhouse, eight in the
Mountjoy battery, and two at the jetty. There were nine guns at Lyme, and
from a notice of 1724 we learn that they were in two batteries or forts.""
In 1708 Weymouth petitioned for assistance from the Customs for the
repair of the bridge, quays, and piers, as the harbour was ' choked up with
sand occasioned by the ruins of the said quays and bridge,' so that only the
smallest vessels could enter instead of those of 200 or 300 tons as formerly."*
It was no doubt in consequence of the deterioration of the harbour that the
Newfoundland trade deserted Weymouth in favour of Poole during this
century. From a statement of the grievances of the Poole men against the
French we find that the town sent forty ships to Newfoundland in 1725.*"
Defoe notices Poole in 1724 as 'the most considerable sea port in all this
part of England . . particularly successful for many years past ' in the
fishery."- The Poole trade grew steadily until between 1769 and 1774
there were from sixty-two to seventy-four ships a year, and between 1787
and 1792 from sixty-five to eighty-four."^ The highest number from
Weymouth was eight ships in 1773, and Lyme seems to have given up the
fishery. The American War of Independence inflicted great injury on Poole
not only in the captures made on the Banks by privateers but also by the
destruction of a trade with the colonies which had been increasing largely
during the century. Some of the capital thus unemployed was transferred to
the southern whale fishery to which Poole sent two ships in 178 i and four in
1783."* The importance of the Newfoundland fishery in breeding seamen
is shown markedly in the assessments of men on the ports in 1795,"* where
those places engaged in the traffic stand out in contrast to the others. The
same influence had acted through three centuries, and had been of priceless
value in filling the cadres of the Navy, but direct proofs such as that of 1795
are naturally infrequent.
^ King's MSS. 45. '"■ Trea. Papers, Ixxiv, 32.
** This is shoun in the Survey of 1698, ante, p. 220. '■"' Stukely, It'm. Curiosum, 152.
"° Ttcas. Pti/xrs, cviii, 17. "' Ibid, cclv, 54.
'" Tour Through Gt. Britnlti, i, Letter ii, 70. '" Pari. Papers, 1793, xlii, App. No. 6.
'" Pari. Papers, 17S6, Ixxiv, 274. '" Post, p. 224.
222
MARITIME HISTORY
The state of war which, with the exception of one interval of peace,
existed between 1739 and 1763 led again to local fears of attack from
privateers. Guns were supplied by the Ordnance Office on condition that
the towns built batteries and provided ammunition ; ten were sent to Poole,
seven to Studland Bay, seven to Swanage, and six to Lyme, where there were
already five in position/^* Taylor's map of Dorset of 1765 "' shows batteries
on Peverel and Handfast Points, at North and South Haven Points (each
four guns), and at Poole Head. At Weymouth only the Dock Fort under
the Nothe is shown ; neither Portland nor Sandsfoot is included in an official
survey of 1766. There was not so much fear of invasion in Dorset as in
some other counties during the Seven Years' War, but the vexations of war,
especially impressment, bore heavily on both owners and men. In 1759,
Captain Fortescue of H.M.S. Prince Edward was sued for taking so many
men out of a Poole Newfoundland ship that she was lost ; '^'^^ he was
cast in jri,ooo and costs, and no doubt got inscribed as well on the Admiralty
Black Book for Boards of all political parties were equally desirous of
preventing any case coming into court in which the question of legality of
impressment might be raised.
Notices of wrecking, which must always have been common on the
Dorset coast, become more frequent in the era of journals and newspapers.
In January, 1762, a French man-of-war, the Zenobie, was lost on the Chesil ;
seventy-one of the crew saved themselves, but were robbed and stripped by
the natives. The survivors were clothed and sent back to France by order
of the king instead of being treated as prisoners of war. That the treatment
these men received locally was no exceptional incident is proved by the fact
that in 1754 the Rev. Thomas Francklyn of Fleet preached a sermon on the
subject, occasioned by what he had seen, in which he said that he had repeatedly
expostulated with his neighbours and 'tried to stir up principles of compassion
as well as honesty in their hearts.'^'' He then dwelt on the Wreck Act of
26 George II, cap. 19, just passed, which made plundering, destroying, and
wrecking generally, felony punishable with death. The worst instance,
within historic knowledge, both of wreck and wrecking on the Dorset coast
occurred in 1795. Rear-Admiral Christian with a squadron of men-of-war
and upwards of 200 transports with 16,000 troops on board left St. Helens
for the West Indies on 16 November ; on the 17th they were caught west
of Portland in a terrible gale, and on the i8th six transports went to pieces
on the Chesil beach where 234 dead bodies were immediately thrown up, a
number increased to 1,600 by the 26th. The worst part of the story was
the behaviour of the people ashore, mostly Portlanders, ' who are always
praying for wrecks on their coast and whose whole attention was devoted to
plunder ' instead of the rescue of the drowning. They were soon reinforced
by ' a considerable mob from different parts solely intent on plunder,' until
soldiers brought on the scene dispersed them with volleys of musketry. '''° On
6 February, 1805, the Abergavenny, an East Indiaman, struck on the
Shambles ; she slipped off and the captain headed for Weymouth Roads
where she sank in sight of the town, upwards of 300 of the passengers
"' H.O. Ord. V, 29. '" King's Prints and M.ips (B.M.), 2 Tab. 12 (3).
^^^ Ann. Register. '^^ Ft3nck\yn, Serious Jr^viee anJ Fair If'arning . . . 1 752.
"° Jnn. Register, 'Account of an Eyewitness' ; Smith (Charlotte), Narrative of the Loss, &c. Lend. 1796.
223
A HISTORY OF DORSET
and crew being drowned. Operations with the diving bell to recover the
specie she carried were continued off and on until i8 12, when the wreck, was
partly blown up.
A catalogue of wrecks is unnecessary, but the loss of a French ship off
Weymouth in October, 1839, may be mentioned because John Mantle, a
coastguardsman, saved the people by swimming off to her with a rope, for
which he received the Royal Humane Society's Gold Medal and other
rewards. There was, however, no improvement in the habits of the local
population. In the previous year three vessels were lost on the Chesil in
November ; the coastguard officers reported that the shore was ' completely
lined with men, women, and children whose only object was plunder , . .
the people from Portland, who completely covered the beach, committed the
most bare-faced plunder.' One officer describes them to his superior as ' the
lawless barn-door savages of the coast. '^-' As recently as 1872, when the
Royal Adelaide broke up on the Chesil, scores of people were seen lying about
the beach dead drunk as the barrels of spirits which formed part of her cargo
came ashore. In September, 1859, the Great Eastern, while on her first trip,
anchored in Portland Roads after an explosion on board; and in January, 1879,
the Constitution, the American frigate which took four British men-of-war
during the war of 18 12, was ashore in Swanage Bay but got off uninjured.
During the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars there was no great
apprehension in official circles of a descent on Dorset whatever fears may
have been felt in the county. Such a descent could only have been in the
nature of a diversion to assist a real attack on Portsmouth or Plymouth and
was only possible in the absence of the fleets, a contingency which was not
allowed to occur. In 1798 the Weymouth Corporation petitioned for a
guardship to lie in Portland Roads but the Admiralty did not think it
necessary to place one there. When the war commenced the supply of
seamen was altogether insufficient to man the royal and merchant navies,
although years of ever-widening commerce and of naval success had their
effect, eventually, in attracting thousands of men to the sea. Therefore,
besides the impress system, always working, and a suspension of certain
sections of the Navigation Acts, Parliament sanctioned in 1795 and 1796 an
experiment analogous to the ship-money project of Charles I by requiring
the counties each to obtain a certain number of men, not necessarily all
seamen, for the Navy, who were to be attracted by a bounty to be raised by
an assessment charged in every parish like other local rates.'" In 1795 the
county was called upon for 142, and in 1796 for 184 men, comparing with
393 and 509, respectively, for Devon and 236 and 306 for Hampshire.
The ports, also, were required to procure sailors by the same means, an
embargo being placed upon all British shipping until they were obtained ;
Lyme was rated for 23, Weymouth for 139, and Poole for 279 men.
Dartmouth and Poole, the two great Newfoundland ports, show the highest
numbers on the south coast, and Poole ranks twelfth in a list of 104 towns.
In 1798 men were needed more than ever, and the French government
was known to be considering the possibility of raids, or a descent in force, in
gunboats, fishing boats, barges, and the like. Therefore, to afford local
'■' Pari. Papers, 1839, ^"''' ^'■/<"* o" t^" Constabulary Force, 1 19.
'-' 35 Geo. Ill, cap. 5 ; 37 Geo. Ill, cap. 4.
224
MARITIME HISTORY
security and to get the services or more men a new defensive body, the Sea
Fencibles, was created by an Order in Council of 14 May, 1798, It was
raised with the intention of meeting an invading flotilla with another of the
same character, and for the purpose of manning the coast defences ; it was
to be composed of boatmen and fishermen, as well as the semi-seafaring
dwellers of the shore who were not liable to impressment. The men were
to be volunteers, and the principal inducement offered was that, while
enrolled, the sea-faring members were not subject to impressment ; they
were under the command of naval officers and were paid one shilling a day
while on service. In Dorset there was one complete district and parts of
two others ; the first extended from Calshot, in Hampshire, to St. Aldhelm's
Head, with one captain, four lieutenants, and 482 men; the second from
St. Aldhelm's to Puncknowle, with seven officers and 284 men, and the third
from Puncknowle to Teignmouth, with eight officers and 331 men.'*"* The Sea
Fencibles were disbanded in 1802, but reconstituted in 1803 to satisfy
popular feeling although no confidence was placed in them by experts.
The outer ring of fleets, with a great volunteer army at home, were relied
upon for security until Trafalgar extinguished any possibility of invasion.
The establishment of signal stations round the coast was commenced
after the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. Those at Ballard Hill, Round
Down, St. Aldhelm's Head, Hamborough Hill, the Verne, Portland, Punc-
knowle, and Whitelands date from 1794, and Golden Cap from 1796.*^* In
1803 a return was made to the mediaeval system of fire beacons which were
prepared for use in suitable positions. ^^' In 1752 there were eight guns at
Portland Castle ; *'" during the Great War the number was reduced to five,
but there were two detached batteries erected mounting seven guns.'" At
Swanage there was a powder magazine and a temporary three-gun battery
dismantled at the peace. The Nothe Fort at Weymouth consisted of a central
circular building of brick for two traversing guns, with platforms on either
flank carrying two guns each ; '^* the artillery was removed in 1821 and the
battery used as a coastguard station.'^' Bridport possessed two batteries, of
two guns each, for which the emplacements had been built by the county.
A magazine was constructed at Dorchester in 1809.
It will be noticed'"" that a man-of-war sloop of 270 tons was built at
Poole in 1746, the first war ship launched in the county for the Admiralty.
Her builder was Mr. Tito Durell, but she had no successor, for reasons which
can only be guessed at, for many years. An Act for the restoration of
Bridport Harbour had passed in 1722, but no steps were taken under it until
nearly the middle of the century. In 175 1 the new harbour was said to be
large enough to contain 40 sail,''' and thenceforward shipping trade came to
the town, and shipbuilding was commenced. The increase of the sloop class
and the introduction of gunbrigs, at the close of the eighteenth century,
brought government work to many small builders, and those of Bridport had
a share of the contracts which included some large sloops. In 1804
Messrs. Bools and Good were the Bridport builders, and they constructed all
™ Pari. Papers, 1857-8, xxxix, 337. "* Acct. Gen. Misc. Var. no.
''' See W. Jennings, map of Dorset, 1803.
"^ Add. MSS. 22875. "' W. O. Ord. Engineers, cxlvii.
'-" Ibid. "' Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset (3rd ed), ii, 441.
"" App. of Ships. "' Whatley, England's Gazetteer, Lond. 175 i.
2 225 29
A HISTORY OF DORSET
the men-of-war which came from there from that year onwards. Other
Dorset shipbuilders of the same date were Henry Chard at Lyme ; Thos.
Burt, Sam. Esther, Ric. Penny, Cherret and Wills, and Medowes & Co.,
at Poole ; Thos. Ayles, at Portland ; Barnes & Co., at Swanage ; and Thos.
Wallis, John deed, Simon Jenkens, and Thos. Brick, at Weymouth.^'' The
number of the Poole builders, and the fact that they did not care to tender for
Admiralty contracts, shows that the Newfoundland trade there, then reaching
its zenith, gave plenty of employment, but probably much of the work
overflowed to Weymouth. Messrs. Cherret and Wills seem to have been
the biggest firm in the county. The establishment of a packet service in
1794 between Weymouth and the Channel Islands must also have brought
employment to the Weymouth builders. At first the packets were hired
vessels, three, of 50 tons each, being in the service in 1807,''' but, later,
government ships were used. In 1837 the establishment was transferred to
the Admiralty and steamers put on the station ; in 1845 there were four
running but none of them had been built at Weymouth.
The first Dorset lifeboat was stationed at Portland in 1825, followed by
another at Studland in 1826 ; both were supplied and maintained by local
subscriptions and there were no others for many years. Manby's rocket
apparatus was placed at Portland and Bridport in 181 5.
The principal naval event of the nineteenth century relating to Dorset
IS the construction of Portland Breakwater. It has been noticed that it was
intended as a reply to Cherbourg when that port was enlarged and fortified
to an extent that suggested that the French government hoped to make it
another Brest. But, while Portland has grown in strength and importance,
the developments of modern warfare have reduced the value of Cherbourg to
such a degree that many French officers now regard it as worse than worth-
less— a trap, indefensible in itself, attracting an enemy to a weak part of the
coast, and unable to protect the war ships sheltering within it. Certainly
the Cotentin peninsula is very vulnerable to a power having the command
of the sea, and it is significant that Cherbourg itself, although strongly
fortified in the middle ages, was never able to resist English or French attack
when held by either power during the Hundred Years' War. As late as
1758, although then recently fortified in the most scientific manner, it fell
easily into the hands of Bligh and Howe. The Portland Breakwater had
been proposed towards the end of the eighteenth century when there were
sometimes from 100 to 150 merchantmen taking refuge in the Roads. The
government of that day had no reason from a military point of view to
undertake the work, therefore nothing was done until Cherbourg seemed to
be growing into a great naval base. The construction was commenced in
August, 1847, under the superintendence of Mr. J. M. Rendel and Mr. John
Coode, the latter succeeding Rendel, and after two years of preliminary work
the first stone was placed on 25 July, 1849. The estimated cost was to be
^^589, 000, but the plans were subsequently altered and down to 1875
upwards of ^^i, 000, 000 had been expended."^'
As finished originally the Breakwater, containing nearly 5,750,000 tons
of stone, consisted of inner and outer arms, with an opening between them,
"' Pari. Papers, 1805, viii, 485. '^ Ibid. 1809, x, 388.
'" Ibid. 1852-3, xcviii, 609 ; 1876, Ixv, 546 ; j^nn. Register, 1849.
226
Portland Harbour
PLAN SHEWING
New Breakwater.
Scale ofYards.
1500 aooo Tos
R 'H SHIP CHANN EL
O^ SHIP CM^NNt'-
MARITIME HISTORY
protecting the Roads between east and south, the opinion of expert witnesses
in 1 845 being that a war fleet could not lie there in all weathers without such
shelter. The inner arm is 1,700 and the outer arm 6,400 ft. long, the
opening between them being 400 ft. wide ; there are forts at the extremi-
ties of both inner and outer arms. As well as these forts other defences
were planned in i860 ; the Verne Citadel, high up on the northern bluff of
Portland, in a position commanding a wide sweep of water towards the
Dorset coast and out to sea, and a new Nothe Fort on modern lines, were
added. Below the Verne, on the east side of the hill and some 200 ft.
above the sea level, are the East Weir batteries ; the position of the Verne,
the Nothe, and the Weir, gives them a plunging fire while necessitating a
high angle fire from the enemy's battleships, thus placing the latter under the
most unfavourable conditions possible. The inner Breakwater Fort is con-
sidered a weak one, but that at the extremity of the outer arm is strong.
From the Nothe at Weymouth to the extremity of the outer arm there were
two miles of open water, and as the Breakwater approached completion the
era of the torpedo began. As the torpedo and the torpedo boat improved
in offensive capacity year by year the value of Portland, open to a more
deadly form of attack than was possible in the old navy, decreased, but it
was not until 1895 that additional works were commenced. The dangerous
opening has been closed by the construction of two more breakwaters ; one,
1,550 yards long, from the mainland at Bincleaves, and another, 1,455 y^fds
long, called the New Breakwater. Between the Bincleaves and the New
Breakwater, and between the latter and the old outer breakwater, are two
openings, each 700 ft. wide. An area, of which 1,500 acres have not less
than thirty feet at low water, is now inclosed, forming, in the opinion of
naval men, one of the finest artificial harbours in the world.
In 1855 Poole Harbour, as a retired spot, was the scene of an experi-
mental trial of a submarine boat intended for use against the boom at
Cronstadt. The six men who went down in her were nearly drowned and
the invention was not adopted by the Admiralty.
APPENDIX
List (Chronologically Arranged) of Men-of-War Built in Dorset with their
Services to the Close of the Napoleonic War
[Abbreviations used : — Ch. = Channel Station ; Med. = Mediterranean ; W.I. = West Indies ;
N.S. = North Sea; N. A. = North America; C. and C. = Convoy and cruising duties; A.O. =
Admiralty Order ; P.O. = Paid out of Commission ; R.S. = Receiving ship.]
Names of captains or of officers subsequently distinguished are within brackets (c. = captain).
It should be remembered that only the chief movements of vessels are given. A ship may have
been for some years in the Mediterranean, but have returned for short periods for repairs ; such
intervals are not noticed in the list of services, nor, if occupied in more than one employment in a
year, is any other than the principal one usually named.
Viper (sloop), 270 tons, 14 guns ; built at Poole 1746. Services : C. and C. 1746-8
(c. Robt. Roddam) ; in June, 1747, silenced and dismantled a battery and took or burnt 33 coasters
at Cedeyra, near Cape Ortegal ; W.I. 1749-52 (c. Corn. Smelt) and P.O. Made fireship and
name changed to Lightning by A.O. 22 July, 1755. N.A. 1757-8 (c. H. M. Goostrey) ;
C. and C. 1759-61 (c. Jos. Norwood). Sold 1762.
Attentive (gunbrig), 178 tons, 12 guns ; built at Bridport 1804. Services: W.I. 1805-10
(Lieuts. John Harris and Robt. Carr). Broken up 181 2.
227
A HISTORY OF DORSET
Cheerly (gunbrig), 177 tons, 12 guns; built at Bridport 1804. Services: N.S. 1805
(Lieut. G. Huish) ; Ch. (Plymouth) 1 806-8 (Lieut. G. Fullerton) ; Brazil 1809-10 ; Ch. (Downs)
1811-12; Baltic 1813; N.S. 1814. Sold 1815.
Fly (sloop), 286 tons, 16 guns ; built at Bridport 1805. Services ; Ch. i8o6(c. W. H. Dobbie) ;
Cape 1807 (c. John Thompson) ; Ch. (Downs) 1808-9 5 ^* ^"'^ ^* 1810 (c M. H. Dixon) ;
Baltic i8ii— 12 (c. Hen. Hyman). Wrecked 29 Feb. 181 2, on the Isle of Anholt.
Indignant (gunbrig), 182 tons, 12 guns; built at Bridport 1805. Services: Ch. 1805-6 ;
Baltic 1807. Downs, 1808-9. Broken up 1812.
Intelligent (gunbrig), 179 tons, 12 guns; built at Bridport 1805. Services: Ch. 1805—6
(Lieut. Nich. Tucker); Baltic 1807; Ch. 1808-9; off Cherbourg 1810-14. Sold 1815.
Inveterate (gunbrig), 182 tons, 12 guns; built at Bridport 1805. Services: Ch. 1806-7
(Lieuts. Horace Petley and Geo. Norton). Wrecked near St. Valery en Caux, 18 Feb. 1807.
Carrier (cutter), 54 tons, 6 guns; built at Bridport 1805. Services: Ch. (Lieuts. L. R.
Ramsey and Wm. Milne) took La Ragoten^ 8, on 20 Feb. 1807, and UActif, 2, on 14 Nov.
Wrecked near Etaples, 5 Feb. 1809.
Frolic (sloop), 384 tons, 18 guns; built at Bridport 1806. Services: W.l. 1808-13
(c. Thos. Whinyates). Taken 18 Oct. l8i2 by the American sloop fVasp (56 k. and w.). Re-
captured the same day by the Poictiers, 74, which also took the Wasp. Broken up by A.O.
21 Oct. 1813.
Laurel (6th rate), 520 tons, 22 guns; built at Bridport 1806. Services: C. and C. 1807
(c. J. C. Woolcombe) ; Cape of Good Hope 1808, taken 15 Sept. 1808 by La Cannoniere, 36, off
Isle of France (28 k. and w.). Retaken 12 April 1810 by H.M.S. Unicorn, and renamed
Laurestinus. Cape 1811 (c. the Hon. Wm. Gordon) ; Ch. 1812 ; N.A. 1813 (c. Thos. Graham.
Wrecked near Halifax, 21 Aug. 1813.
Philomel (sloop), 384 tons, 18 guns; built at Bridport 1806. Services: Med. 1807-14
(c. Geo. Crawley and Chas. Shaw). Sold 181 7.
Egeria (sloop), 424 tons, 18 guns; built at Bridport 1807. Services: N.S. 1808-12
(c. Lewis Hole). Took Ncesois, 10, 21 Dec. 1808, and Aalhorg, 6, 2 March, 1809. R.S. Devon-
port 1825-60 ; Police ship, Devonport, 1860-4.
Minstrel (sloop), 423 tons, 18 guns; built at Bridport 1807. Services: Med. 1807-14
(c. John HoUinworth and Robt. Mitford). Took Ortenzia, 10, 16 July, 1808. Sold 1817.
Curlew (sloop), 382 tons, 18 guns; built at Bridport 1811. Services: N.A. 1813-14
(c. Mich. Head). Sold in East Indies 1822.
Saracen (sloop), 382 tons, 18 guns; built at Bridport 1812. Services: Ch. 1812
(c. K. L. A. Harper), took Le Courier, 14, on 23 Sept. 1812 ; Med. 1813-14, landing parties took
the islands of Zupano and Mezzo (Adriatic) with their garrisons in June 1813. Sold 1819.
Conflict (gunbrig), 180 tons, 12 guns; built at Bridport 1812. Services: Newfoundland
(Lieut. H. L. Baker) 1813 ; C. and C. (A. M. Hawkins) 1814. R.S. Sierra Leone 1832-40.
Sold 1841.
Contest (gunbrig), 180 tons, 12 guns; built at Bridport 1812. Services: N.A. 1813— 14
(Lieut. Jas. Rattray), cutters of Contest and Alohawk cut out an American privateer 14 July,
1814. Wrecked near Halifax 14 April, 1828 ; all drowned.
Snap (gunbrig), 180 tons, 12 guns; built at Lyme 1812. Services: C. and C. 1813-14
(Lieut. W. B. Dashwood), took Le Lion, 16, 6 Nov. 1813.
Plumper (gunbrig), 180 tons, 12 guns; built at Bridport 1813.
Swinger (gunbrig), 180 tons, 12 guns; built at Bridport 18 13. Services: C. and C. 1814
(Lieut. A. B. Branch).
Fury (bombship), 325 tons, 8 guns; built at Bridport 1814. Services: Arctic Discovery
1821-3 (c. Sir W. E. Parry); second voyage 1824-5 C*^- H- ?• Hoppner). Wrecked in the
Arctic, 1825.
228
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC
HISTORY
DORSET is, and always has been, primarily an agricultural and
pastoral county, although owing to its varied soil and to its
coast line and harbours, its interests and economic features have
been many. At two periods the life of its towns may almost
be considered to have equalled in importance that of the country districts —
namely, in the early days of their maritime importance, and later in the
eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, when they rose to be fashionable
watering-places. But for the most part, both socially and from the point of
view of its economic history, interest centres in the status and welfare of
the people of its villages and country districts, and in the forces which
regulated their lives.
The county was from an early date one of large landowners and
extensive private franchises. In the north-west the bishop of Salisbury held
the three hundreds of Sherborne, Yetminster, and Beaminster in the thirteenth
century ; in the north-east the earl of Gloucester was lord of the great
hundred of Cranborne, while between the two Shaftesbury Abbey held the
two hundreds of Sixpenny and Handley.^ The free manors of Fordington,
Dewlish, Broadwinsor, and Chilcombe, and the liberties of Owermoigne
Powerstock, and Sutton Poyntz were but a few of the franchises held by over-
lords sufficiently powerful to refuse suit to the hundred courts.*"
Several of the chief landowners of the county held by serjeanty, some
of the services due being of an unusual kind. Thus John Godwyne held
half a hide in Purse Caundle in the thirteenth century by the serjeanty of
keeping such of the king's dogs as were injured while he was hunting in
Blackmoor Forest, and a contribution of id. 2. year towards the closing of
Gillingham Park,* while the house of Russel had to count out the king's
chessmen in the royal chamber on Christmas Day, and to replace them
in their bag at the end of the game.* The lord of Winfrith was bound to
hold a basin of water for the king to wash his hands on his birthday and at
Whitsuntide ; for this service he was entitled to the silver basins unless the
earl of Oxford were present, in which circumstances the earl appropriated the
basins and compensated de Newburgh by giving him his own robe.'
The lord of Wimborne was usher of the king's household, the le Moines
' FeuJ. Aids, ii ; cf. Assize R. 204. ' Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), ii ; Feud. Aids, ii.
' Feud. Aids, ii, 5. * Abbrev. Rot. Orig. (Rec. Com.), ii, 29 ; Feud. Aids, ii, 6.
' Assize R. 201 ; cf. Red Bk. of Exch. (Roll, S.r.), 546 ; Feud Aids, ii, 9.
229
A HISTORY OF DORSET
were keepers of the royal larder, William de Welles was the king's baker, and
the Windsors of Broadwinsor were weighers of money in the Exchequer
of Receipt at Windsor,* while Bryanston was held by the serjeanty of
finding one man with a bow without a bowstring, and an arrow without
feathers, for the king's army.'
Below the ranks of the tenants in chief there seems to be no sufficient
evidence upon which to base any calculation as to the relative strength of the
free and villein classes. In 1244, indeed, it was said that all the tenants of
Mayne Hospital were freemen,* but in most places the villeins would appear
to have been in the majority in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
Thus on the manor of Coombe Keynes there were no free tenants, while there
were at least seven villeins and seven cottars, and probably others not
mentioned in detail.' Again at Stottingway and Way Bayeux in 1288 there
were only five free tenants as compared with thirteen customary tenants and
three cottars, and at Ranston (in Iwerne Courtney) in 1274 there were five
freemen and ten villeins,^" while at Steeple in 13 14 the customary tenants and
cottars together numbered forty-four, only two freemen being mentioned."
Later in the reign of Edward II there were at Hillfield four freemen and
nineteen customary tenants of various ranks, and at Milton Abbas nineteen
freemen and as many as 156 villeins and cottars." Apart, however, from
the fact that this evidence has been collected at haphazard from different
parts of the county its ultimate value is small ; for even were it possible to
give an exhaustive list of the extents for every manor throughout the county,
the fact that in many cases there is no mention of freemen ^' would still
remain a stumbling block. It is, of course, quite possible that in these
cases the whole of the manor was occupied by unfree tenants, the more
so as had there been freemen it would have been natural to find at
least some mention of their rents, but from the point of view of the lord
of the manor the villein, with his customary works and his rightless con-
dition, was so much more important and valuable a factor in the manorial
economy that it would be dangerous to draw too rigid an inference from the
omission.
However this may be, it cannot be doubted that the villein population of
the county was considerable, and a certain amount of information can be
gathered as to its condition during the thirteenth and early fourteenth
centuries. That the Dorset magnates occasionally availed themselves of
their utmost rights with regard to their unfree tenants is clear. Nothing
could be more illustrative of this fact than three records, unfortunately undated,
in a Shaftesbury Abbey register, in which the abbess in full court quitclaims
A.B. ' a nativitate cum omne sequela magistro C.D.'^* The form of these
deeds of sale shows the mediaeval conception of villein status in its most
crude form. Not only is the degrading term ' sequela ' applied to the man's
children, but he himself seems to be barely credited with an individual
' Asiiz- R. 201, m. 2, 2 </. ; Red Bk. of Exch. (Rolls Ser.), 546-7 ; Feud. Aids, ii, 9.
' Feud. Aids, ii, 1. ' Assize R. 201, m. \d.
• Chin. Inq. p.m. Ecw. I, file 14, No. I. '° Ibid, file 51, No. 9 ; file 8, No. I.
" Ibid. 8 Edw. II, file 43, No. 25. A simi'ar preponderance of customary tenants is noticeable
at Cranborne, Pimperne, and Tarrant Gunville. But contrast Po tland and Wyke ; ibid. No. z6.
" Hi.tchins, Hist, of Dorset (3rd ed.), iv, 383, 501, quoting Milton Abbey Custumal.
" e.g. Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, file 51, No. 9 ; Little Piddle and Edmondsham.
" Harl. MS. 61, fol. 89^.
230
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY
existence ; he is merely a member of the villeinage, as a sheep might be a
member of the flock.
That the villein was rightless as against his lord is one of the first
axioms of the thirteenth-century law^yers, but in the ordinary course of
manorial history a good tenant, even though unfree, seems to have possessed
a de facto if not a legal security of tenure. An instance, however, upon a
Dorset manor about the year i 240 shows how utterly defenceless his position
might be if his lord chose to exercise his full rights. On the feast of
St. Luke in that year Thomas Cusin, Hugh de Aula, and James de Ludinton
came to the house of Gunilda de Stokes, carried her out into the fields, and
took away all her goods. Whether Gunilda appealed to the manorial or
local courts does not appear, but four years elapsed without her obtaining
any redress. In the summer of 1 244 the justices of assize came to Sher-
borne. What hope the unfortunate woman cherished of obtaining abstract
justice at their hands is open to question. She brought her case before them,
however, and Thomas was summoned. He acknowledged all her charges,
and did not even seek to prove that he had any moral justification on account
of her bad tenancy or default in rent, merely replying that he certainly ' took
her goods as of his villein, and could eject her from her tenement as from
his villeinage.' The case being put to the jurors they acknowledged that it
was as Thomas said, and Gunilda was apparently dismissed without redress. '^
In a society regulated by a code of justice of which this is an instance, it is
hardly surprising to find an innocent man flying from his lord for fear ; ^^ it
would be interesting to know more of the case of Walter Middewynter, who
was presented by the jurors at the same eyre for having done so. It is at
least satisfactory to know that the justices merely decided that as he had done
no ill he might return if he would, but imposed no fine upon him, and gave
his master no assistance towards forcing him to come back.
That there was probably very little real distinction in economic rank
between the smaller freeman and the more wealthy villein is obvious ; but
any freedom of intercourse must have been strained by the risk of degrada-
tion to the free tenant. A case is recorded which occurred in the year
1232, when Isabella de Frome brought a suit against Gregory de Turri and
Emma his wife for half of two parts of a knight's fee in Frome. Emma
and Isabel were at least half-sisters, if they were not more nearly related,
yet Emma and Gregory declared that they were not bound to answer the
plea as Isabel was a villein, and that she certainly could lay no claim to the
free inheritance. The land in dispute they stated should have passed from
William le Fitzsamere their uncle to his sister and coheiress Christina,
who, however, married a villein William Muc, and thus forfeited her claim
to her moiety of her brother's inheritance. Isabel was the daughter of this
villein marriage, and sister to Hugh Muc, a villein, still hving. After the
death of her first husband Christina married ' a certain knight,' and con-
sequently received her inheritance, which had now descended to Emma the
issue of the free marriage. Isabel, however, successfully repudiated all
relationship with Hugh Muc and was awarded half the land in dispute with
the exception of the capital messuage ^^ — probably a wise provision in view
of the relations between the half-sisters.
" Assize R. 201, m. 4. '" Ibid. m. 5 d. " Maitland, Bracton's Note Bk. Case 70Z.
231
A HISTORY OF DORSET
There was, however, another side to the question — a plea of villeinage
might occasionally prove a convenient escape from an awkward suit, and it
was perhaps as well that a man who had once acknowledged himself to be
a villein before the justices could not subsequently repudiate the confession.
The policy of a certain Hamlin son of Ralph well illustrates this point.
In or before the year 1220 he won his case in an assize of novel disseisin
against Hugh de Gundeville, who had apparently ejected him from his
tenement. Hugh thereupon brought a counter-plea that Hamlin had no
power to sue him, as being his villein. He stated that in the reign of
King John, before the justices in eyre, Hamlin had confessed himself to be
a villein and to hold in villeinage. This assertion Hamlin denied, but when
the records of the eyre were examined it was found that one Osbert Crede
had brought an assize of mort (f ancestor against him, touching a carucate
of land in Pimperne [Pimpre], and that he had refused to answer on the plea
that he was a villein, and as such could neither acquire nor lose land.
Hamlin, apparently finding that the suit was likely to go against him,
absented himself, and after several vain attempts had been made to find
him, it was decreed that Hugh should have him sicut inllanum suum con-
victum, that the assize of novel disseisin which he had instituted should be
quashed, and that Hugh should be quit of the fine which had been
imposed upon him on the finding of the first assize.^*
Hamlin's case further illustrates the fact that it was no impossible
thing for a Dorset villein to be quite a substantial landowner ; whether
Hamlin himself was really a villein, or had only used the plea in the first
instance as a subterfuge, neither the justices nor the jurors seem to have
found any difficulty in the fact that he held as much as a carucate of land.
Further evidence in the same direction can be obtained from the Shaftesbury
Register where, in a survey of Cheselbourne, presumably of the reign of
Edward I, or at least early in the fourteenth century, one of the villeins
held an entire hide, and four others held half a hide each.^' There was a
marked tendency in the county to indulge in minute classifications of the
villein population, however ; at Kingston Lacy they were known as carters,
daywyns, forehors, akermen, and smalemen respectively. It seems clear that
the carter held normally one virgate of land, and the daywyn, owing very
similar services, may be supposed to have held nearly as much ; the forehors
and akermen appear to be classed together, but there is no definite statement
as to the size of any of their holdings.'" Elsewhere the distinctions are
somewhat different ; thus at Spettisbury in 1324—5 there were sixteen virga-
tarii, three holders of half a virgate, four fardelli holding 8 acres each, and
eleven cottars." At Sydling St. Nicholas and Hillfield the classification was
similar,^' but at Hinton (St. Mary) a distinction was made between cotsetti
'* Maitland, Bracton's Note Bk. Case 1 4 1 1 .
" Harl. MS. 61, fol. 44 'j'. It is most unfortunate that these surveys are only preserved in a poor
fifteenth-century transcript, with no reliable indication of their date. From the fact that thev reler frequently
to King Henrv as the predecessor of the present king, and show evident signs of unsuccessful administration,
it is tempting to refer them to the close of the thirteenth or early years of the fourteenth rentur\-. Cf.
' Religious Houses.' Cf. also the 2 virgate holdings at Broadwinsor in Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, file 34,
No. 3.
*" Mins. Accts. (Duchy of Lane), 11040 and 11 192, and ibid. (Gen. Ser.), bdle. 832, No. 13.
•' Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iii, 517, quoting a survey.
" Ibid, iv, 497, 501, quoting Milton Abbey Custumal.
232
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY
and cotariv — the cotset's holding was 4 acres, that of the cottar consisted
only of a house and curtilage/'*
The real distinction between the various ranks of customary tenants,
however, was probably between the comparatively substantial holder of
from 1 5 to 30 acres of land and the variously classified tenants of 8 acres
or less. The virgatarii and semi-virgatarii were probably very near the
borderland of freedom and practically on the same footing as the village
priest — he indeed was free by virtue of his orders, but in the Shaftesbury
Abbey Custumal, quoted above, he occurs certainly once among the list of
virgate-holders, who owed three days' work a week in winter, and heavy
August work.''*
The virgatarii and semi-virgatarii^ moreover, were probably in some
cases at least employers of labour, for at Wyke, Kingston Lacy, and Shap-
wick, though their holdings were larger than those of thefardelli, akermen, or
coterells, and must have employed more labour, they nevertheless were bound
to do more work on the lord's demesne, so that they must have required to
hire men either for the cultivation of their own holdings, or to perform
their customary services. Thus at Shapwick, while the larger tenants owed
three works a week from Michaelmas to the Feast of the Nativity of
St. John the Baptist, the coterells were only required to do six winter
works in the year,^^ the summer works being alike for all the tenants on
this manor as elsewhere in the county. ^° Similarly at Kingston Lacy the
carters and daywyns owed one work each week throughout the autumn and
winter, whereas the forehors, akermen, and smalemen apparently owed summer
works only," and at Wyke the virgate-holders had to send four men each,
the half-virgate holders two men each, and the fardelli one man each to
the three annual ' Bedereppes.' ^'
The very small holders on the other hand were probably themselves
labourers, their own land being cultivated in their spare time much as the
modern labourer may cultivate his allotment. On the Shaftesbury manors
it was certainly from the ranks of the cottars and cotsets that the shepherd,
cowherds, dairyman, and blacksmith were drawn." At Cheselbourne each
of these servants had 5 acres quit of all dues except the royal geld, and was
entitled to keep one animal in the pasture. Both here and at Iwerne Minster
they appear to have been allowed a whole holiday on Saturday '° in the
ploughing season until their own land was ploughed, and at Handley the
" Harl. MS. 61, fol. 651^., Sd. A distinction between the cotset and cottar seems to be made also
in the Domesday Survey of the county — the former being of higher rank than the latter ; cf. Maitland,
Domesday Bk. and Beyond, 39.
" Harl. MS. 61, fol. \\d. " Mins. Accts. (Duchy of Lane), 1 1045, 1 1049.
"> Cf. ibid. 1 1040 and Harl. MS. 61, fol. 44.3'.
" Mins. Accts. (Duchy of Lane), 1 1040. " Ibid. (Gen. Ser.), bdle. 834, No. 31.
" Harl. MS. 61, fol. 44a'., 46, 56.
'° From one point of view Sunday would appear to have been regarded as a holiday in mediaeval
Dorset, that is to say, it is evidently reckoned amongst the festivals, which together with Saturdays were
not regarded as working days on those manors where the customary tenants were bound to work every
day in the week from Midsummer Day or i August (as the case might be) until Michaelmas Day [e.g. Mins.
Accts. (Gen. Ser.), bdle. 834, No. 31 ; and ibid. (Duchy of Lane), Nos. 1 1040, I 1045, I 1049].
Apparently, however, it was a popular day for the holding of markets and fairs (cf. Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset,
iii, 233, 256; and Assize R. 201, m. 5 </., 06, m. \\d^, though these may very probably have been
regarded as occasions of festivity. This can hardly have been the case with the sessions of the justices in
eyre (cf Assize R. 206, m. lo,/.), but possibly the jurors did not object to sacrificing their holiday in order
to bring the seneschal of the earl of Lincoln to justice.
2 233 30
A HISTORY OF DORSET
shepherd had the use of the lord's plough.'^ This being the case with the
demesne servants, it seems probable that the 5-acre tenant also served as
farm labourer on the 30-acre villein holding, or had some trade such as
carpentering or thatching in addition to farming his own land.
Wages in Dorset prior to the Black Death appear to have been
rather low. For while in Oxfordshire in the early years of the fourteenth
century the ploughman received 5J. bd. and in Buckinghamshire from 5J.
to 6j.,^* in this county he appears to have received only 4^. bd}^ Similarly
in Dorset between 1320 and 1327 carters, drivers Q'ugatores), and shep-
herds received 4^. 6d. or 5J. a year each, while at about the same time in
both Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire the first shepherd earned 6s. and in
Sussex he received 5J. 6d., 4J-. being the wage of his junior ; in Buckingham-
shire the carter received 5J. 6d. or 6^. 8^., in Sussex he received 6^. 6d., and
in Oxfordshire \.he. fugator received 6j.^* The Dorset cowherd in 1327
apparently received 3J. as compared with 4J. in Oxfordshire, and the dairy-
man 3^. as compared with a possible 4;-. in Buckinghamshire.'' At Cran-
borne the more responsible servants, such as the park keeper and messor,
on the other hand, were paid at the rate of \id. or 2d. a day, which
compares favourably with Sussex.'^
On the Shaftesbury Abbey lands the manorial servants seem to have
been paid in kind. The shepherd of Handley held 5 acres for keeping the
sheep, and had a lamb and a fleece and one sheep at Martinmas, and the milk
of sixteen sheep until lambing season, together with a measure of corn and
another of oats ; the ploughmen had one sheaf of ' rengo ' during the reaping
season and two sheaves when the corn was carried ; the smith was bound
to do certain repairs, in return for which he held 2 acres of land at a rent of
bd. and was entitled to the old iron and 'a cheese on a Sunday.'" At
Iwerne Minster the men who led the ploughs had 3d', and a cheese, while the
herdsman was entitled to have two animals freely in the pasture and a sheaf
in August, the swineherd had a pig, and the shepherd a sheep, a fleece, and
the milk of one sheep.'' At Cheselbourne the payments were chiefly in corn —
2 acres in August — and flour — one bushel (ambrd) for six weeks, or in the case
of Elietis qui servit in aula, one bushel for four weeks. In addition the
herdsmen all received milk from the demesne from Hockday to Michaelmas,"
and the oxherd, according to another survey, was entitled to have two
animals freely in the pasture and twenty sheep in the sheep-fold, together
with the ploughing of 4 acres with the demesne plough.*"
With these may be compared the ' liveries of seven servants ' accounted
for at Spettisbury in 1324, when each had a quarter of barley for twelve
weeks, while the dairyman, ' hogherd, and porter ' had a bushel for two
weeks." A similar system was also pursued at Steeple in the thirteenth
'' Harl. MS. 61, fol. 56; cf. also fol. 59.
" I'.C.H. Oxon. ii, 182, note i ; ibid. Bucks, ii, ' Soc. and Econ. Hist.'
" Mins. Accts. (Gen. Ser.), bdle. 832, No. 26, and bdle. 834, No. 28.
^ Ibid. bJle. 832, Nos. 3, 5, 26 ; bdle. 834, No. 28 ; y.C.H. Oxon. ii, 182 note ; Bucks, ii, 'Soc. and
Econ. Hist.' ; and Sussex, ii, 83, note 95.
'^ Mins. Accts. (Gen. Ser.), bdle. 833, No. 5. There seems to have been some doubt as to what
was really due to them ; it was, however, certainly not more than 3/. ; F.C.H. Oxon and Bucks, loc. cit.
' Mins. Accts. (Gen. Ser.), bdle. 832, No. 3 ; cf. bdle. 1027, No. 22, and bdle. 1 147, No. 14.
" Harl. MS. 61, fol. 56. '" ILid. iol. 45 d. &c. " Ibid. fol. 44 d. &c. *" Ibid. fol. 59.
*' A deed quoted by Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iii, 517. Pcrhap'i this should be shepherd and swineherd.
234
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY
or early fourteenth century, the allowance being very much the same in
amount as at Spettisbury.*^
But in addition to these regularly employed servants on the Dorset
manors, a large amount of day labour was required, both for harvest work,
such as threshing, mowing, reaping, and tossing, and for repairs about the
farm buildings and houses. Upon these occasions a carpenter usually
received id. a day, though for elaborate building works, such as the repairs
of Corfe Castle in 1 280-1, as much as dd. might be paid,*^ while work could
be found for less skilled workmen who only received z\dy' A thatcher
{coopterius) as a rule received 3^. a day between himself and his boy, though oc-
casionally an extra \d. or \d. was allowed for the lad." Mowing was paid at
5(/. or 51^. an acre, and tossing at '2.\d. or 3^. the day.*' In 1282 a sawyer at
Corfe received ^d. a day, an unskilled labourer carrying stones, &c., id. or
21^., and a woman making mortar \d. ; the overseers of the works themselves
only received \s. a week each.*^ These wages were apparently in addition to
food, for when the carpenters and sawyers were employed in the woods, Ralph
received \d. for going to the wood with fish and a pennyworth of bread.*'
It is difficult to form any very clear idea of prices in Dorset at this
period. At Wyke in 1327 — apparently a year of plenty — wheat was
sold at \s. the quarter, barley at 5^. the bushel, pulse at 6^., vetch at 6^.,
and oats at 4^^.;*^ and in 1321— 2 wheat was at (^d. a bushel, barley at 6^., and
oats at \d. the bushel.'" The following year, however, wheat rose to about
I OJ-. the quarter and barley was bought for yj. \d. or even 8j. 'id. the quarter ;
while at Cranborne in 1325-6 the price of wheat was but little less," though
other kinds of grain had fallen considerably. In 1325—6 cheese was sold at
I5J-. the wey, and butter at %d. the stone," and in 1327 the reeve of
Steeple sold a rennet cheese for ioj., and other cheese at \\s. lod. the
wey, and received is. the stone for butter." Of the live-stock on a Dorset
farm at this period oxen were the most expensive, ranging from 6^. to
i8j. bd. each, but usually being sold for over loj." ; cows were worth from
3 J-, to 5 J-., sheep about lod. or is. or even is. ^d. a head, hoggerels %d., and
lambs bd. ; pigs varied from 6s. to 2^., and geese from 2d. to 4^. each."
All this would seem to imply a rather low economic standard in Dorset
up to about the middle of the fourteenth century. There can, moreover, be
" Mins. Accts. (Gen. Ser.), bdle. 833, No. 1.
" Ibid. bdle. 834, No. 26 ; bdle. 833, No. 16 ; Exch. Accts. Works, bdle. 460, No. 27.
" Exch. Accts. Works, bdle. 460, No. 27.
" Mins. Accts. (Gen. Ser.), bdle. 833, Nos. I, 5 ; 832, Nos. 3, 26, 28 ; 834, No. 28.
"^ Ibid. bdle. 832, Nos. 3, 28 ; 833, No. 4 ; 834, No. 28 (mowing) ; 832, No. 26 ; and 833, No. 5
(tossing).
" Exch. Accts. Works, bdle. 460, No. 27. " Ibid.
" Mins. Accts. (Gen. Ser.), bdle. 834, No. 28.
'"Ibid. bdle. 832, No. 26.
" Wheat, 8/. ?,ii. and 9/. ^J. the quarter ; barley, 4/. and 4/. \d. the quarter ; pulse, vetch, and
dragget, 40/. the quarter (pulse at midsummer, 6s. 8a'.) ; oats, is. 6d. the quarter ; Mins. Accts (Gen. Ser.),
bdle. 832, No. 3.
" Mins. Accts. (Gen. Ser.), bdle. 832, No. 3 ; Assize R. 206, m. 20, values cheeses at Ss. 'per pond'—
eight cheeses making one ' pond.'
" Ibid, bdle 833, No. 5.
" Ibid. (Duchy of Lane), No. 1 125, and (Gen. Ser.), bdle. 833, No. 17, &c.
" Ibid. No. 5 ; ibid. (Duchy of Lane), No. 1 125, and (Gen. Ser.), bdle. 832, No. 3 ; bdle. 834,
No. 28 ; bdle. 833, Nos. I, 5. The fact that the customary allowance for the workers in the harvest field
at Wyke was two bushels of corn or l6i/., one sheep or 12/, and one cheese or 5<2'., would seem to point to
these as being average prices about the year 1314 (Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Edw. II, file 43, No. 26).
235
A HISTORY OF DORSET
little doubt that there was a considerable poor and potentially criminal class
throughout the county. These were, in part, strangers who had wan-
dered from other counties, and were beyond the reach of that local police
organization which should normally have kept them in check." But out
of a total of some seventy criminals presented and convicted before thejustices
in eyre at Sherborne in 1244, about sixty were Dorset men, of whom
twenty-one owned chattels of under 10s. in value, and twenty-four others
had no chattels at all." Out of these forty-five, thirty were convicted of
theft, and the other fifteen of manslaughter, usually arising from a quarrel.
These figures, together with the fact that in all only five freemen of
independent position were convicted at this eyre, and of these only one, whose
chattels were valued at i 3J. 4^. and a house, was charged with theft,"* suggest
that crime of this nature was generally the outcome of poverty, and that the
criminal class was chiefly recruited from the lower ranks of the villeins, on
whom hard times would naturally press with the greatest severity. That
the 5-acre tenant lived at no great distance from the verge of destitution is
implied in an entry in the survey of the Shaftesbury Abbey manor of Chesel-
bourne, to the effect that the cottars used to owe service in the brew-house,
but had been excused for some time on account of their poverty."
Theft, burglary, cattle stealing, murder, and manslaughter seem alike to have
been punishable with outlawry or hanging,^" and as the former either implied
exile or the liability to pursuit and death at the hands of the first comer, the
death rate must have been considerably raised by this means. The prevalence
of epilepsy, constantly ending fatally," must also have tended to check the
increase in population, while death by drowning under a mill-wheel, by being
burnt alive, or by other accident seems to have been of common occurrence.**
The presentment of all these offences and accidents before the justices
itinerant implies a degree of common action which it is difficult to realize;**
but the whole of the local government and police administration of an English
county in the Middle Ages was based upon a system of joint responsibility,
starting at the narrow apex of the tithing or mainpast, and broadening down
through the vill and the hundred to the wide basis of the county, which
appeared collectively in the monthly county court, or at rare intervals in yet
more representative form before the justices in eyre.**
The tithing was sometimes a unit within the vill, and sometimes was
commensurate with the vill itself, as in the case of Hooke, where the reaper '°
was attached by the tithingman, and the whole tithing for breach of the
" E.g. Assize R. 201, m. I, &c. " Ihid. passim.
** Ibid. m. 7. Possibly some of the criminals who were in mainpast were free, but from the context
in most case.s this seems doubtful. They were, however, for the most part charged with brawling rather
than theft, and do not affect the argument.
"Harl. MS. 61, fol. 59.
^ Assize R. 201 m. 1, l d. ; 206, m. 3, 7, 8, 14.
" Ibid. 206, m. 8, 9</. &c. ; 212 m. 7, &c.
" Ibid. 201, m. 2 /, 51/., 212 passim.
^ It extended beyond the sphere of mere police duties ; upon one occasion the * community of the vill '
of Fordington went so far in collective action as to sue a m.in who had offended it, by attorney, in the
manorial court [P.R.O Ct. R. (Gen. Ser.), bdle. 169, No. 26, m. 6, 7].
" Cf. Pollock and Maitland, Hist, of Engl. Law, i, 202, 529, &c.
" The Dorset reaper, messor, was apparently sometimes a person of considerable importance. At
Cranborne he was highly paid (see above), and elsewhere he acted as rent collector [Mins. Accts. (Gen. Sen),
bdle. 834, No. 31] and keeper of the manor [Mins. Accts. (Duchy of Lane), 11 192]. Possibly in this instance
his position had afforded an excuse for extortion and violence.
236
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY
peace and robbery/' The vills were responsible for the pursuit of malefactors,
and were constantly amerced for default in this duty." When a suspected
criminal was captured and placed in custody, pending the institution of
proceedings against him before the sheriff, it was again the vill that was fined
if he escaped** from the prison to which he had been assigned. Thus when
Nicholas Bird was imprisoned in Kingston Lacy prison on suspicion of theft,
and escaped, the men of the vill of Barnsley [Bernardsleigh] were charged
with his flight, because he was in their custody. Moreover, if a prisoner
escaped, and the jurors attempted to conceal the fact, they were liable to
another fine.*^
Returned outlaws were the cause of considerable trouble both to the
vills collectively and to individuals. It happened occasionally that after a
man had been outlawed he returned to the county, either with a view to
revenge, as apparently in the case of one John Furet who, after having been
outlawed on account of a murder which he had committed, returned to
Swyre, and was about to burn the parson's house, when he was fortunately
discovered by Reginald Dylle, the parson's servant,^" or because he had
found someone who was willing to harbour him," or apparently from sheer
bravado, as did William le Curt, who returned to Milton and Blandford and
wandered begging from town to town without molestation." When this was
the case it was the duty of the first person who discovered the returned criminal
to raise the hue and cry and to pursue and kill him summarily.''^ As a
matter of fact this seems generally to have been accomplished fairly speedily,
but in one case an outlaw returned to Wareham by night, and betook himself
to sanctuary in the church of St. Mary, whence he subsequently escaped, for
which escape the borough was fined by the justices at the next eyre.''*
On more than one occasion, however, such pursuit ended disastrously for
the pursuer. In one instance an outlaw, who had been harboured for three
weeks by the bailiff of Hyde, attempted to return to his house at ' Whit-
clyve ' (in Rowbarrow Hundred) and was met by William son of Thomas,
who raised the hue and cry, and in company with Helyas le Bercher pur-
sued him and cut off his head. Thereupon Helyas, for some reason un-
specified— possibly for fear of the bailiff, who had befriended his victim — took
fright and iied. It was probably well for him that he did so, for the coroner
came and viewed the body of the dead man and gave William son of Thomas
over to the sheriff as a felon, whereupon he was detained in prison nearly a
year," and it was not until the justices in eyre visited the county again that
full justice was done upon the bailiff, and Helyas was given leave to return
from his voluntary exile if he chose. On another occasion several men lay in
wait for an outlaw whom they knew to be concealed in the house of a
certain Robert le Melliere of Stafford, but their victim showed fight and
slew one of his would-be captors. Subsequently he was captured elsewhere
and hanged, and Robert fled because he had concealed him."
The presentment of crimes and accidents at the county court lay with
the vills," but before the justices presentments were made by the jurors of the
'* Assize R. 201, m. 4. " Ibid. 201, m. i, &c.
^ Ibid. 206, m. 3, 4. " Ibid. 201, m. I.
™ Ibid. 212 m. 7. " Ibid. m. I. " Ibid. m. 10 d-. " Ibid. m. 7.
■* Ibid. 201, m. 5 </.; cf. R. 206, m. 7, where the vill of Shaftesbury was fined for receiving outlaws.
" Ibid. 212, m. I. " Ibid. 206, m. 14. " Ibid. 201, m. i, 5.
237
A HISTORY OF DORSET
hundred. Any neglect in this respect was punished by a fine," but on one
occasion when the jurors concealed a theft before the justices they were
actually committed to gaol." On the other hand if the jurors of a hundred
presented pleas that were not within their competence they were again sub-
jected to a fine. They were probably not often sufficiently zealous to incur
this penalty, but in 1244 the justices amerced the hundred of Halstock on
this account, and again for having taken and detained without warrant a
chaplain who had been guilty of house-breaking.*"
The verdict of the jurors at the eyre was checked by the presence of the
coroner. When the jurors presented the death of a woman whom they called
Isabel de Blandford, the coroner bore witness that her name was really Sibil, and a
general fine was exacted for a false presentment," and upon the same occasion
an amercement was levied because the jurors declared that the vill of Poor-
ton had presented a certain case in the county court, and the coroner denied
that it was so.*^ It was the coroner's duty also to view the body of anyone
who had met with a violent or accidental death, and all the vills of the neigh-
bourhood were expected to be present at the view on pain of a fine, which
was very frequently incurred.*' Upon one occasion the prior of Wareham
was charged with having buried Nicholas Miller who had been drowned in
the mill-stream at Westholme without this view. He was sentenced to
amercement, but denied the charge and put himself on the county, where-
upon the jurors found that he was not guilty, and proceedings were taken
against the original jury for concealing the truth in their presentment." At
the same eyre the vill of Winterborne Steeple was charged with having
buried a suicide before the coroner had arrived.*'
The coroner himself was occasionally fined for default in his duty. It
was incumbent upon him when any accident occurred to attach the person,
and value the chattels of everyone who was even remotely connected with
the scene or instrument of the disaster. Thus, when Walter le Frere left his
cart outside the door of a house while he went inside, and in his absence the
mare which drew it ran over Matilda the daughter of John Forke, Walter
ought to have been arrested, instead of which he ran away, and the coroner,
who apparently made no attempt to recover him, was fined in consequence.*'
In view of all these possibilities of amercement it is hardly surprising
that the profits of justice were a valuable source of crown revenue in the
Middle Ages. The sum, moreover, was swelled by the fact that suit of court
was a burden of which the more wealthy citizen was glad to rid himself by a
fine. Two instances of this occurred in 1 244. The first was the case of
the manor of Mayne Hospital, which did not appear by itself or in any
hundred before the justices in eyre ; it was subsequently testified that the
men of the manor were all freemen, and one Nicholas de Mayne appeared
and compounded for their collective default *' with a fine of i mark. The
second case was the yet more important one of the knights and Serjeants of
" Assize R. 201, m. i, 5.
" Ibid. 212, m. 1. Cf. also the ominous order to the sheriff in the case of Hamlin son of Ralph,
quoted above, to inquire diligently who were the jurors in the first assize, ' and to have them on such
a day ' &c.
"Ibid. 201, m. 3. »' Ibid. 201, m. 6</. *'Ibid. m. 5.
"' Ibid. 2 1 2, m. 1 , 2, 4. " Ibid. 212, m. 6. " Ibid. m. 7 .
'* Ibid. 212, m. 2 ; cf. m. 5 ; R. 206, m. 4. " Ibid. 201, m. 4</.
238
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY
the county, who all failed to appear before the justices and were consequently
fined/'
At the same time there were certain limitations which hampered even
the king's justice. The first of these was the benefit of clergy. Curtailed
to a large extent by the Constitutions of Clarendon, it yet played an important
part in the administration of the law. In Dorset it was used as a refuge by
a variety of criminals such as poachers, murderers, and counterfeiters of the
king's seal *' — in the last case apparently without avail, as no one claimed the
so-called clerk for the church, and he was consequently committed to gaol,
whence he escaped, only to be outlawed by command of the justices in eyre.
The second and more serious limitation was created by the existence of
numerous private franchises, such as the broad liberty of Cranborne to which
the sheriff had no entry,'" and where the right to hang thieves taken in the
act was occasionally construed to cover thieves taken on suspicion only, and
without formal indictment." Yet the very presentment of these facts before
the justices is, from one point of view, additional evidence of the strength of
the central government, and of the alliance between it and the ' commonalty
of the realm.' Vills might be subtracted from the hundred court by some
powerful overlord, courts might be unjustly multiplied in Eggerton Hundred,
the sherifFs tourn might be neglected in the hundred of Hasilor,'^ pleas of
vert and venison might be wrongfully held by the earl of Gloucester in the
hundred of Pimperne beyond the borders of the forest, poor men might be
distrained for debt by their wainage,'^ foresters, bailiffs, and seneschals might
make false exactions and purveyances,'* but when the justices arrived in the
county upon their eyre, the jurors of the hundreds set forth all their
grievances and all encroachments on the royal justice, which were thereupon
examined, and, where necessary, fines were imposed upon the culprits'* or re-
dress was ordered. '° Upon one occasion the jurors were fined for not having
mentioned a wrongful exaction which had been made by the constable of
Corfe Castle."
What event or series of events really marks the transition from the early
to the later Middle Ages in Dorset it seems impossible to determine. There
is but little evidence of the extent of the ravages of the plague in the middle
of the fourteenth century,'' and although there can be no doubt that Dorset
and its neighbour counties were involved in the disturbances of 1381," there
appears to be no evidence to show that the rising had any economic effect,
though socially no doubt the presence in the county of ' homicides, robbers,
and insurgents ' in unusual numbers was a real evil. Nevertheless, here as
elsewhere, the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries certainly saw the transi-
tion from a feudal to a commercial basis of society. The process was, how-
ever, in some respects a slow one ; for instance, in the matter of commuta-
tion, while the virgate-holding customary tenants of Tarrant Gunville paid
" Assize R. 201, m. (> d. "' Ibid. 206, m. 6, 9 ; R. 212, m. 7, 13.
"" Ibid. 206, m. 4. " Ibid. m. 3.
" Ibid. 201, m. 3</. ; R. 206, m. 16 a'., 20. '' Ibid. 206, m. 4, 5.
" Ibid. 201, in. 5 d.; R. 206, m. 4, 6, 8, 18, 20 ; R. 212, m. 3, 4, 1 1.
" e.g. Ibid. 206, m. 4, 5, 6, 8. '' Ibid. m. iS d., 20. " Ibid. m. 20.
" See, however, Hist. MSS. Com. Refi. vi, App. 475 ; Rot. Purl. (Rec. Com.), iii, 129(7. A complaint
of the abbess and convent of Shaftesbury dated 1 38 1-2 stating that nearly all their tenants were dead of the
plague.
" Cal. of Pat. 1381-S, pp. 73, 136.
A HISTORY OF DORSET
14;'. for all services in 13 14, the half-virgate holders yj., and the yet smaller
tenants 4^.,'°" and the tenants of Wyke occasionally commuted some few of their
works as early as the year 1327,^°' yet on the latter manor services were still
only in part commuted as late as 1458—9,"* customary tenants still worked at
Waterson in 1446-7,"' and at Kingston Lacy as late as 1485 the tenants still
performed their winter works according to custom ; and out of a total of
seventy-eight villeins of all classes owing daily services from 24 June until
Michaelmas, the only commutations recorded are those of three carters, one
daywyn, one forehors, eleven akermen, and one smaleman, and these only date
from the year 1408-9."*
In the same way the rise of wages seems to have been a gradual process.
In 1360— I a carpenter at Tarrant still received 3^. a day, as also a thatcher,
though the wage for threshing (which was piece-work) showed a tendency
to rise, in spite of the fact that in one instance it was obviously kept down
by competition."^ In 1369—70 on the other hand, a carpenter, a sawyer,
and men cleaning gutters, mending roads, and making fords at Cranborne,
were all alike paid at the rate of \d. a day,"* a rate which had been attained
by carpenters, sawyers, and masons working at the Corfe Castle repairs as early as
1356,"' though day labour there was still only paid at the rate of 2\d. or ^d.
even in autumn when wages were at their highest. There is unfortunately
not very much evidence as to the variations in the wages of the regular farm
servants in the county after the Black Death. At Kingston Lacy, however,
the swineherd received 3J. a year, the carter, plough-drivers, shepherds, and
cowherds, 5J-. each, and the dairyman 4J-. as late as 1 374-5, although the
wages of day labour had risen to 3d', and 4^."* By the middle of the fifteenth
century, however, the plough-driver {fugator) of Waterson received xis. a
year, the carter i6j., and the two shepherds ioj. each."'
This should imply a real, if slow, improvement in the status of the
Dorset labourer, for while wages rose prices remained fairly stationary.
Thus in 1374—5 barley was at 6^., oats at 5^'., vetch at 5*3',, and pulse at bd.
a bushel, a pig was sold for 3J. bd. and a ewe for I5</., while as late as 1446—7
wheat was at 8^., oats at 3^., and barley at bd. or b\d. a bushel, and four
sheep were bought for 4J.'"
Another sign of the growth of the commercial spirit in the county
at this period is the rise of a class of small traders setting the rigid rules of
the mercantile system at defiance wherever possible, and the consequent
development of the towns with their communal life. The first of these
points is best illustrated by the history of the wool trade. Dorset was not
"" Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. II, file 43, No. 25 ; cf. also Pimperne and Steeple.
"" Mins. Accts. (Gen. Ser.), bdle. 834, No. 28.
™ Ibid. No. 31. "» Ibid. bdle. 833, No. 36.
"" Ibid. (Duchy of Lane), 11192.
"* Thus at Tarrant in 1 360-1 threshing of corn ■i,d. a quarter, barley 2/ a quarter (and not more
because J. D. threshed for iW.), vetches z\d. and cits \\d. a quarter [Mins. Accts. (Gen. Ser.), bdle. 833,
No. 18], and at Steeple in 1327 corn at z\d. a quarter, barley and vetches \\d. for nine bushels, and oats
at \\d. for nine bushels [Mins. Accts. (Gen. Ser.), bdle. 833, No. 5 ; cf bdle. 832, No. 3].
'°* Mins. Accts. (Gen. Ser.), bdle. 832, No. 4.
'" Exch. Accts. Works, bdle. 460, No. 30. "^ Mins. Accts. (Duchy of Lane), 1 1040.
"" Ibid. (Gen. Ser.), bdle. 833, No. 24. No. 36 in the same series, which gives ' i ploughman 16/.,
I carter being a driver {fugator) 20s., 2 shepherds 20/.' looks \ery like a scribal error for the same rate.
"° Ibid. No. 36, and ibid. (Duchy ot Lane), 1 1040, but contrast bdle. 833, No. 7, where ewes were
worth 2s. and cows 10/. in 1377-8.
240
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY
in the Middle Ages famous for the quality of its wool, though there was a
cocket of wools at Melcombe before the reign of Edward I, and subsequently
in 1364 a staple was established.'" In 1343 the enhanced price was only
8 marks, one of the lowest rates in the kingdom,"' and the religious houses
though they certainly kept considerable flocks in the sixteenth century,"^ do
not appear to have exported very largely in the fourteenth century."* More-
over the value of Dorset wool was so small, and the cost of export to the
staple at Calais so great, that the wool merchants joined with those of Wilt-
shire, Somerset, and Berkshire in 1393-4, in petitioning for the establishment
of a more convenient staple in Normandy."' But the disadvantages under
which the county laboured seem only to have proved an incentive to the
invention of underhand means of obtaining a return for their wool-growing.
In 1376 it was stated that the people of Wiltshire, Bristol, Gloucestershire,
and Dorset were exporting ' Wolyn-yerne ' in ' tonelx pipes sakes et fardelx '
to Normandy and Lombardy, thus defrauding the customs and injuring the
knights and merchants of the counties who were ' dissivez en Drap pur cause
du diversite le dit zern,' and that the trade was so flourishing that no servants
could be got to work in the harvest-fields, but all made excuse ' en fesant le
dit zern et par eel causes les Servantz sont le plus fols du corps.' "' Steps
were taken to remedy this evasion of the customs and deception of the con-
sumer, but in 1389 fresh complaints were made that cloth was being sold in
Somerset, Dorset, Bristol, and Gloucester, folded and rolled together, large
parts of which inside were damaged and not like the part shown outside, so
that merchants who bought the cloth and exported it for sale beyond the seas
were often ' at death's door, and imprisoned and put to fine and ransom by
the foreigners on account of the cloth.' "^
The records of Bridport admirably illustrate civic development in the
county between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The view of arms in 1 3 1 9
shows that the burgesses of Bridport only possessed a stick and a knife, or dagger ;
just a few plutocrats had a sword, but no one had bow and arrows."* Of the i 80
burgesses only sixty-seven were taxed ; the richest man owned one cow, two
hogs, two brass platters, some hides, and a little furniture, the total value of
his possessions amounting to £i\. 8/. A respectable innkeeper was assessed
for two hogs, two beds, two table-cloths, two hand-napkins, one horse, one
brass pot, and one platter, a few wooden vessels and a little malt."' In 1323
Bridport had made some progress. The taxation for one-sixth mentions eighty
persons assessed, even if some of these only had property amounting to 6s.
The tax-payer who was valued in 13 19 at ^'4 8j-. now owned property to
the extent of ^^6, whilst the possessions of the most wealthy man were rated
at ;^8.'''' A century and a quarter later Bridport was scarcely the same
place. Numerous fraternities, those of St. Nicholas, St. James, and St. Mary
the Virgin, the ' Brotherhood of the Torches,' of ' St. Katharine,' and ' of the
Light of the Holy Cross in St. Andrews Church,' prove the existence of a
flourishing middle-class population."' ' The expenses of the cofferers of the
'" Rot. Pari. (Rec. Com.), i, 317* ; ii, 288^, 304-1. '" Ibid, ii, 138^.
'" Fahr Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 228, &c.
'" Cunningham, Growth of Engl. Industry (ed. 1905), 1,632.
"• Rot. Pari (Rec. Com.), iii, 322^. '" Ibid, ii, 353/;.
'" Ibid, iii, 272^7 ; cf. also Cunningham, Growth of Engl. Industry (ed. 1905), i, 434-5.
'" Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, App. 491. '" Ibid. "° Ibid. 492. '" Ibid. 478.
2 241 31
A HISTORY OF DORSET
vill of Bridport ' show that a new causeway was being constructed,
and other accounts mention considerable sums spent on the church."' The
inhabitants were sufficiently prosperous to repair and improve their own houses.
If further proof were needed the 'view of arms' in 1458 is conclusive
evidence of the increase of wealth and prosperity. Swords, bows and arrows
were the order of the day, as well as daggers, bills, poleaxes, and spears : ' the
defensive ' consisted of jacks, salets, bucklers, habergeons, and gauntlets. One
inhabitant possessed a gun in addition to a bow, twelve arrows, a sword, and
a buckler ; and he was ordered to provide twelve more arrows by the next
muster."'
Nothing is more striking at first sight than the complete autonomy of
these towns, not unmixed with a feeling of rivalry in accordance with the
mercantile theory that the advantage of one town must necessarily be to the
detriment of another. This theory coincided with fact when both Weymouth
and Melcombe Regis coveted the harbour which lay between them,
or when the wool staple was removed from Melcombe Regis to Poole. In
both these instances the matter was decided by Act of Parliament, but in
general the relations between towns were settled by treaties between the
governing bodies. Probably the existence of common property in the
borough, the pasturage, fisheries, or reclaimed land,"* helped to foster the
sense of unity among the burgesses even if it only existed for the purpose of
maintaining those rights. Thus each town had its own miniature army, the
burgesses headed by the mayor or someone appointed by him."' To secure
peace within the borough the burgesses watched by turns ; if they failed to
perform this duty or did not watch for the whole time they had ' to make
answer to the Mayor and Commonalty.'"' In Shaftesbury there is some
account of this primitive police system : the ' Belman ' and three inhabitants
of the borough were ' to watch in p'son or finde sufficient p'sons in their
roomes to watch with the Belman eu'y night from nyne of the clock att
night until ffive in the morning.' "^ Each town also was responsible for its
own public works : the merchants of Lyme Regis built the Cobb for the
security of their ships soon after they rented the town of the king."*
At Wareham a ' Constitution of the Borough ' enacted ' that every
inhabitant endeavour his labour to amend and repair the key, in taking
and carrying away the dirt, stones, and rubbish thereabouts.' "' At Bridport,
where the burgesses were too poor to complete the repairs of the harbour,
they gained the assistance of ' the Church,' not that of 'the State.' Collec-
tors from the town went all over the country producing indulgences from the
Primates of England, the Papal Legates, numerous bishops, and the rector of
the parish church, to contributors towards the expenses of the harbour."'
Only in a very indirect sense did the towns seek help from ' the State ' ; sea-
"' Hilt. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, App. 492-3. '*' Ibid. 493-
'" There were reclaimed lands in Poole ; see Sydenham, Hist, of Poole, 63.
'" Foolscap sheet in the Corporation Archives of Lyme ; also Roberts, Soc. Hist, of Southern Cos. 10 1.
A mayor who did not wish to be troubled with the office turned the matter over to the lieutenants of the county.
"° Case of John Rogger of Weymouth ; see Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v, 578.
'" Though this document belongs to the latter half of the seventeenth century it doubtless describes the
early police system of Shaftesbury. C. H. Mayo, Rec. of Shaftesbury, 68.
"• G. Roberts, Hist, of Lyme Regis, 15.
'^ Hutchlns, Hist, of Dorset,! (Wareham), App. 126; 145 I, 'Constitutions of the Borough' (29 Hen. VI).
"• Hilt. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, App. 495.
242
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY
ports which were devastated by pirates or French inroads or suffered from a
great storm, inland towns which had been laid waste by fires, petition for a
reduction of the fee-farm."*
But the chief proof of this civic autonomy is to be found in the posses-
sion of a mint, so that the coinage of one town was foreign in another.
Dorchester and other ' walled towns ' of the county had a mint ; Wareham
and Shaftesbury possessed two mints each,*'' a great source of wealth to the
community.
The inhabitants of the towns were united not only by common responsi-
bilities but by common pleasures. The ' Cobb Ale ' of Lyme Regis, dating
probably from the destruction of the harbour in 1376, became an annual
feast and fancy fair."' Then the custom existed at Shaftesbury of the mayor
carrying the ' Bezant ' to Motcombe each year in recognition of its good
water supply."* Garland-day was the annual festivity at Abbotsbury ; after
a procession through the town the fishermen deposited garlands of flowers on
the waves to bring luck to the mackerel fishing."' All these customs belonged
individually to the towns, and represented some characteristic of their civic
life ; the custom of one town would have been foreign and meaningless in
another. The centre of life in each town was the parish church, and in its man-
agement, both financial and ecclesiastical, the popular voice made itself heard.
The ' commonalty ' of Bridport did not hesitate to criticize the chaplain of
St. Andrew's, ' a stranger from Bretagnc who was drunk every day, not fit
for divine service,' and ' who sometimes celebrated it twice in the week,
sometimes not at all.' "'
As to the people of the towns, ' the commonalty,' they were a distinct
class whose rise made the growth of these independent towns possible.
Hitherto the only ' considerable ' men were the owners of land. Trade
brought with it another criterion of importance, commercial wealth ; burgage
tenure lost its old simplicity and uniformity."' The position of the burgess
was one of great importance : he was the pivot upon which the whole
machinery of town government turned. He had to contribute towards the
maintenance of public buildings, to defend the town from invasions, to give
watch and ward, to serve on juries; in return for these obligations he had the
privileges of a taxpayer, in those days the exclusive right of trading in the
borough. That aliens attempted to get trading privileges without paying for
them is only natural ; equally natural is it that the burgesses should have
resisted these attempts. In Lyme Regis any stranger who came to reside and
trade in the borough without becoming a freeman was obliged to pay 3J. bd.
a week to the corporation, which sum was applied to the repairs of the Cobb
and the sea-walls."' In Wareham the ' Constitutions of the borough '
declared that any stranger ' using his trade or occupation in the said borough,
unless he was born or had served an apprenticeship in the said town,' was to
pay 3^. \d. to the use of the mayor for opening ' his windows of his shop.*
At the same time there was no attempt made to keep out aliens who had
been burgesses in another town and were likely to become freemen again.
'" Rot. Pari. (Rec. Com.), iii, 7o3, 5I5<J, &c. '" Hutchins, H'tst. of Dorset, i, 79.
'" Roberts, Sioctal Hist. 335. '" 'Notes and Queries of Somerset and Dorset, iii, 235-6.
'" Ibid. 231. "• Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, App. 495.
'" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, i, 77 (diff. size of burgages in Wareham).
'" G. Roberts, Hist, of Lyme Regis, 22.
243
A HISTORY OF DORSET
The only thing was that aliens had to bring some recommendation with them,
and the usual custom was a letter from the bailiffs and commonalty of the old
town to those of the new. Thus a letter from Sherborne to the mayor and
bailiffs of Bridport declares ' that Henry the Brewer bearer of these letters
is a lawful man and of good fame for so long a time as he has been conversant
and dwelling in our parts of Shirburne.' "' But a community did more than
this for its emigrant burgesses ; it vigorously took up the cudgels on their
behalf if they were 'falsely defamed' in 'foreign parts.' A letter from the
bailiffs and community of Dorchester put somewhat forcibly to the com-
monalty of Bridport that ' they had heard that a certain devilish spirit had
falsely defamed one of our nation, and wrongly, that is to say Pires Cokeraul,'
' that he had been indicted in the vill of Dorcestre for divers things.' They
write to certify that he is ' good and lawful and that no default has been
found in him for falsity, and at the writers' peril they are requested to hold
him as such.' ^*° But if letters could protect they could also pursue a delin-
quent from one town to another. The bailiffs and community of Dorchester
proceeded to state ' that neither John the Taylor of Wynterborne nor his
wife was ever held as good or lawful in their company ; nor yet Adam (the
Fiddler ?) nor his wife.' ' And for this we are glad at their departing out of
our franchise ; and we pray that you will hold them such in your parts as we
hold them in our parts.' ^" In some cases a new freeman would rely upon
his position as holding a tenement or receiving a fixed annual income to
secure the goodwill of the borough. In Wareham a certain standard of
wealth, and that a low one, was considered sufficient. A ' constitution '
declared that no inhabitant should take any stranger into the borough ' to
dwell and inhabit, but shall first give sufficient surety to the mayor for
the discharge of the town or parish wherein they shall soe be taken to
dwell.' '*' Probably it was under the circumstances of his entry being less
public that the mayor stood surety for a new burgess in deeds of sale by affix-
ing his official seal. Whether this was the case or not, at least the frequency
of these official signatures proves the comparative fluidity of the burgess
population between the Dorset towns.^*' The position of the mayor, with its
immense powers, military, judicial, and financial, was not always desirable.
Responsibility for the fee-farm was no light matter with the frequent risk of
the town being devastated by fire or pestilence ; also the continual expense of
the entertainment of great officials could become a burden. This was so much
the view of the burgesses of Shaftesbury that a penalty oi £io followed the
refusal to be mayor ; at the same time the stipulation that no burgess could
be compelled to undertake the office a second time within three years of the
expiration of his former term saved the individual from ruin.^" Possibly it
was partly for the benefit of the town treasury, as well as for the protection
of the consumer, that trade was regulated in the towns. Markets and fairs,
with the court of piepowder, were lucrative possessions ; presentations for
brewing contrary to the assize, selling ale in cups or other false measures,
and tapping without due supervision, were among the most common of the
'" Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, App. 489. "» Ibid. "' Ibid.
'" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, i, 125.
'" Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vi (Bridport) ; ibid, v (Weymouth and Melcombe Regis) ; also Mayo, Ret.
»f Shaftesbury, 35.
'" C. H. Mayo, Rec. of Shaftesbury, 7.
244
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY
petty law cases.^" At the same time the system must have been as costly as it
was detailed : no manufacture was left unsupervised. If the jury at Lyme
presented a shoemaker as ' faulty ' for not causing the leather to be well
curried, and the curriers were fined/*' it went still further into the matter
and decreed how long the tanners should keep their hides in the tan-pit.
Ale was tested to see that it was ' mighty of the corn ' and sold in proper
measures; each loaf had to be classified and stamped 'bene' or 'full weight.'*"
Neither luxuries nor the staple commodities of food and absolute necessaries
of clothing but were regulated, both in their manufacture and sale, throughout
the Middle Ages.
In the civic fight for freedom much depended on the lord of the manor
who owned the borough ; also on the distant overlord, the king. Hence an
intricate network of bribery of all royal or private officials who could in any
way advance the interests of the community, Robert of Farendon, evidently
a man of influence, was presented by the bailiffs of Bridport on different
occasions with chickens, fish, beef, and veal ; and at another time with a
' potell of wine.' '" Articles of horse-trapping were also popular gifts in
Bridport, where they were manufactured locally. Some ' horse-nets ' were
given to the collector of the royal tallage, and the still more typical gift of a
cord to the sheriff of the county.'" Bridport spent lavishly, but it belonged
to the ' successful order ' of towns, being a royal borough. It was generally
the policy of the king to strengthen the power of the towns, so that the
growth of Bridport was developed rather than checked by the overlord. Not
that this was universally the case in later times, when the royal power was
supreme ; in Shaftesbury Queen Elizabeth appropriated as of royal right lands
belonging to the borough, on the plea that they had been wrongfully con-
cealed from Her Majesty. Only in 1704, after passing through private
hands, did they again revert to the borough. ''" On the other hand, towns
such as Sherborne never attained to much independence ; the bishop and
abbot kept too tight a hold upon their lay dependants.'" Religious corpora-
tions never die, and never have a minority, nor could the individual members
go away to the wars. Near Sherborne all the manors belonged either to the
bishop or the abbot : '" the religious rivalled the lay population of the
borough. The ecclesiastical were distinct from the secular courts, whilst
the right of sanctuary caused interference with lay justice. The bishop
was lord of the fairs and markets,"' and owner of the corn-mills ; "* the
religious community throve on the town's wealth without ever being absorbed
in its life. Frequent disputes arose between the monks and the townsmen,
and the feud even extended into the abbey church.'" The nearest approach
to popular independence in Sherborne was the committee of twenty-four
townsmen to regulate the breweries, the number of retail houses, and the
character of the ale. But although this committee represented all the trades
in Sherborne the individual members were the nominees of the bishop.'" So
"• Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v (Weymouth and Melcombe Regis) ; vi (Bridport) ; also Rec. of Shaftesburf.
"* Roberts, Social Hist. 185, 453 ; MS. in archives of Lyme Regis.
"' Hist. MSS. Com. Rip. vi, 494. '" Ibid. 490. '" Ibid.
"» C. H. Mayo, Rec. of Shaftesbury, 6-7.
"' W. B. Wildman, Hist, of Sherborne (ed. 1896), 30. '" Ibid. 51. '" Ibid.
'" Ibid. 54. No man was to build any malt-mill within the manor or town of Sherborne whereby the corn-
mills 'should be hyndered.' '*' Sec ' Religious Houses.' "' W. B. Wildman, Hist, of Sherborne (ed. 1896), 33.
245
A HISTORY OF DORSET
completely did the bishop and abbot dominate the town and check, its
municipal growth that after the dissolution of the monasteries Sherborne sank
into insignificance after being the most populous and frequented town of the
county."^ Cerne Abbas shared the same fate ; the life of the town was
centred in the abbey, and with its suppression the town lost its chief sub-
sistence."' Sherborne is the town of Dorset most typical of English eccle-
siastical towns, if generalizations are permissible ; but the other monastic
towns of the county have a different history. Shaftesbury never fared better
than when under the sway of the lady abbess, who from before the Norman
Conquest owned one and by degrees obtained possession of the other
manor."' It was only after the Dissolution, when the new lords or their
bailiffs regarded the manor as a source of revenue, when tenants were rack-
rented, and the manorial court looked upon as an instrument of fiscal extor-
tion, that the town became involved in endless quarrels and litigation.^'"
An accumulation of causes, some of which dated back a considerable
number of years, prepared the way for the distress of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. Comparatively early in the fifteenth centurv the arm
of justice seems to have been relaxed. The Gaol Delivery Rolls'" for the
period are full of charges of murder, robbery, and house-breaking, but offenders
seem rarely to have been brought to justice : either no one was found to
prosecute, or the jury returned a verdict of not guiltv, or the accused was
released under the terms of a general pardon. The inroads of the sea and
foreign attacks had caused havoc to Melcombe and Lyme Regis, so that
their fee-farm rents had had to be reduced and their contributions to taxes
relaxed ; "' and finally, in 1433, 'for lakke and scarcete of helpe of peuplc
to withstand and resiste the malice ' of the king's enemies the port of
Melcombe was closed and the staple and other privileges of the port trans-
ferred to Poole.'" A century later Poole, Lyme, Shaftesbury, Sherborne,
Bridport, Dorchester, and Weymouth were among the decayed towns upon
which Henry VIII urged the necessity of effecting restorations."*
Nor was the distress confined to the towns. In 1435—6 the county was
found to be utterly incapable of bearing its normal share of the burden of
taxation, and a schedule was issued of ' vills and boroughs desolated wasted
destructed and depopulated ' to which allowances must be made. The
remittances to the boroughs included 50J. to Dorchester, 6oj. to Shaftesbury,
13J. to Portland, 13J. 4/ to Wareham, and 20J-. 5^. to Bridport."' A similar
list was issued in 1449-50. Unfortunately, both documents are in such a.
state of decay that comparison is difficult ; but although at the later date in
some cases the allowance is not so great, in other cases it is greater, and several
places are included which were omitted in the earlier list."' The distress,
though it was perhaps most prevalent in the centre, does not seem to have
been confined to any particular quarter of the county ; thus, while Cranbornc
was apparently able to bear the full burden of its tax, the neighbouring parish
of Wimborne St. Giles had to be pardoned i8j. \d. in 1435 and 26/. 8^. in
'" Camden, Brit.{ ed. Gough), i, 45. '" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iv, 15.
'" Mayo, Rec. of Shaftesbury, 16.
"" Ibid. '" Nos. 194, 202.
'" Rot. Pari. (Rec. Com.), iii, yob, \\lb, 616a, 6$^a. 5I5<», 6iSa, 640J ; iv, 468*.
'" Ibid, iv, 444^. '" Cunningham, Grou-th of Engl. Industry (ed. 1905), i, 507.
'" Lay Subs. R. Dorset, bdle. 103, No. 79. '" Ibid. No. 91.
246
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY
1449 : and in the western extremity of the county Beaminster and Broad-
winsor were apparently immune, while Stoke Abbott was excused i8j. id.
on the first assessment and los. on the second. About this time the commons
of Dorset complained to the king that they, with the inhabitants of
other sea-coast counties, had sustained many ' injuries oppressions and extor-
tions ' from soldiers who had come amongst them, and they prayed that the
said soldiers might be ' put under restraint for such offences that the said
counties may not be desolated or otherwise destroyed.' "'
Whether the decaying prosperity of the county had anything to do with
the diminishing number of foreigners settled within its borders it is impossible
to say, but between the years 1440 and 1468 the number of aliens — house-
holders and others — fell from several hundreds to five, the greatest fall occur-
ring between 1440 and 1450, at which date there were only five householders
and eleven other foreigners."'
It seems probable that the existing distress was not enhanced by
any great movement towards the inclosure of common fields or the con-
version of arable into pasture land in the sixteenth century. Though there
were undoubtedly some few common fields in the county at this period,"*
they were probably not of very great extent, and Dr. Slater considers it likely
that the land passed, at least in the south and west, directly from the condition
of forest or moor into separate cultivation, though the cultivated patches were
not as yet inclosed, and that where arable common fields existed they were
small in area and surrounded by severally cultivated assart."" There seems to
be absolutely no evidence of rioting caused by inclosures, but in the reign
of Henry VIII two separate suits in the Court of Star Chamber were
brought against Sir William Fyloll, kt., lord of Winterborne Belet and
Winterborne Herringstone, by the tenants of Bincombe and Winterborne
Came respectively. These were obviously not ordinary cases of inclosure,
but an attempt on the part of a great landowner to convert the arable
fields of a neighbouring township into pasture for his own sheep, to pasture
his sheep upon a common where he had no legal right, and to hinder those
who had rights of common from availing themselves of them."*
In other cases inclosure seems to have been effected by a peaceable agree-
ment with the tenants of the manor, as in the case of Long Bredy, where the
lessee of the site of the manor some time before February, 1597, by agree-
ment with the lord and the tenants, inclosed ' not only the land demised to
him but also a good part of the commons and waste grounds of the manor
which were assigned to him by such assent as aforesaid, in lieu of all the said
sheep leaze common and common of pasture to him demised.'"^ A yet more
interesting case is recorded at Shroton (in Iwerne Courtney), which lay open
till 1548, when many of the tenants whose holdings were so small that they
could not pay their rents, ' departed the town and surrendered their copies to
the lord.' The rest requested that they might continue to hold their lands,
provided they paid their rents to the lord, ' and they his tenants to maintain
"' Rol. Pari. (Rec. Com.), v, 6i*.
'" Lay Subsidy R. Dorset, bdle. 103, Noj. 83, 92, 96, 105.
'" cf. Hutchins, Hist, of Dcrstt, iii, 569 ; iv, 41, 501.
"" Engl. Peasantry and the Enclosure of Common Fields, 238, 240.
'" Star Chamber Proc. Hen. VIII, lix, 35, 369.
"• Chan. Enr. Dec. R. 97-6.
247
A HISTORY OF DORSET
their living and hospitality.' It was accordingly arranged that six tenants
' chosen and sworn should tread out the lands of the manor and allot how
much each tenant should have and so every one enclosed his land and so held
it till to-day.' The 'more tenants' were allowed 12 acres each, at a rent of
8s., and 'the lesser' 8 acres at 6s. %d. The 'horde lands' — 17 acres in ex-
tent— remained undivided, and were granted to several tenants at a rent of
lod. an acre. Iwerne Common in the north-west of the manor remained
open from i May until Christmas for cattle, and from Christmas to the middle
of March for sheep.'"
But if the increase of sheep-farming was not an important factor in the
economic situation of the county in the sixteenth century, the dissolution of
the monasteries probably was, for though ' the myght power and strenght ' of
the Dorset religious houses occasionally made them harsh as landlords,"*
the extent of the charities and hospitalities of which they were the source
was enormous. The various doles from Cerne Abbey alone amounted to
nearly ,^35 a year,"' and at Milton the distributions in money and kind were
worth nearly ^(^55 in all, and included the daily maintenance of thirteen poor
men of Milton, each of whom received a dish of flesh or fish worth id. every
day, and seven loaves worth 3^., and three measures of beer worth i^d. every
Saturday."' In these circumstances it is scarcely surprising that the county
objected to the religious changes of the sixteenth century, and joined in part
in the western rising of 1549,"' for apart from the innovations in dogma and
ritual which are usually supposed to have been at the root of the trouble in
Devon and Cornwall, for Dorset men the Reformation created a real econo-
mic problem. Already overburdened with taxation, and threatened with the decay
of its towns and the depopulation of its country districts, its entire system of
charity was suddenly swept away, and some fresh scheme of poor relief became
necessary. The natural arrangement was a compulsory assessment for the
poor, and this was established by Act of Parliament in 1572. In consequence
of this Act the first poor rate was raised, each parish being made responsible
for its paupers. This was resented as an innovation, and parishes tried to save
themselves from a pauper population which they would have to support ;
hence a regular persecution of needy persons set in, which greatly accentuated
their misery, and was an extraordinary interference with the liberty of the
individual, dealing even with family ties. Andrew Ham of Lyme was
ordered to remove his own sister from his house under a penalty of 40^."**
Later, the jury presented Edward Borough, who
keepeth a young child in his house, which is not to be harboured, and Poynter doth the like ;
and William Crewe keepeth his mother in his house, which is not to be harboured, and
Poynter doth the like ; and that John Donnet likewise harboureth his wife's sister : and
Mary, Mrs. Barret's servant is not removed, being often warned and commanded to depart
the town.'"
In one instance a parson was called upon to give security to the overseers
that he would provide for a poor man, with seven children, and three
apprentices, should it be necessary, merely because he had allowed them to
come into the parish. If he refused to guarantee their support he was to
'" Harl. MS. 71, fol. 34-9 ; also quoted in Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iv, 89.
"* e.g. Star Chamber Proc. Hei. VIII, i, 28-3C and Ct. of Requests, bdle. 6, No. 92.
'" falor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), 281. "• Ibid. 249-52. '" Cal. S. P. Dom. 1547-80, p. 19.
"' Roberts, Soda/ Hist, of tie SoutiernCos. iSo. '" Ibid. 1 80-1.
248
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY
give 2J. or zs. bd. a week more to the poor rate until they left the parish.""
No one at Lyme could enter the town without the consent of the mayor,
and no person could take any under-tenant into his house without the
same permission."^ There was a two-fold barrier against immigration into
the town. It was, no doubt, with the object of securing the artisan class
already in the town from becoming chargeable that 'no artificer or trader was
to take any apprentice from out of the town, if there be anyone fit in the town
to serve him,' without, as usual, the consent of the mayor and chief burgesses."*
Again, Henry Webb, the new tailor, had a day given him by which he was
to depart the town. Taken in connexion with a document at Weymouth,
giving the names of such tradesmen ' as have liberty to use their trade,' not
being freemen of the town, it would appear that even the number of tradesmen
was regulated, for fear, presumably, that some should fail and so become
chargeable to the town."'
Side by side with this severity, and in accordance with the Elizabethan
Act of 1 60 1, local means of a more charitable nature were taken to prevent
persons eventually becoming chargeable to their parish. In 16 16 a 'Hospital'
was founded in Dorchester "* ' for the harbouring and setting to work of the
children of the poor,' who were to be taught ' to spin and burle,' "^ and
received wages every Saturday for the work which they had done during the
week. The overseer of the ' Hospital ' was to give a list, every three months,
of what each boy and girl had earned, so that the town authorities might have
some check upon its management. That the Elizabethan idea of providing
work for the poor still prevailed in the early part of the eighteenth century is
shown by the will of a certain Sir Samuel Mico of Weymouth, who left
property to enable three poor children to be apprenticed every year."'
Apart from this provision of work for the poor, it was during the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, with the increased distress, that many of the charitable
institutions were founded by private bequests. In 1559 Elizabeth gave a
licence for the erection of almshouses at Wimborne, in pursuit of the will of
the marchioness of Exeter. The almshouses were duly erected shortly after-
wards by Lord Mountjoy, to whom the charge was entrusted, and endowed
with a fixed rent."^ An almshouse was also established at Corfe Castle in
1 62 I, through a fund bequeathed by Sir Edmund Uvedale for that purpose."'
There was a large almshouse at Sherborne ' for twelve poor men and four poor
women ' ; it was governed by twenty of the most substantial inhabitants, but
when it was founded and whether by private or municipal enterprise is un-
certain."'
Sometimes bequests, especially smaller ones, were funded and the pro-
ceeds distributed in annual doles. 'John Mathewe of Mynterne ' left /^2o in
trust to his wife, to pay 40J. yearly to the poor of Minterne."" John Browne
of Frampton, who died in 1670, left jr5o to the poor of Frampton."'
In one instance the minute capital of 40J. was bequeathed by a carpenter
of Buckland Newton for the poor of his parish. Eighteen years afterwards
the churchwardens of Buckland Newton received the comparatively large
■»« Roberts, Social Hist, of the Southern Cos. 183. '" Ibid. 180-1. '«» Ibid. 187.
'S' Ibid. 180, 183. "• Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 397. '" Ibid. 399.
'** Petty Bag : Proceedings of Commissioners for Charitable Uses, bdle. 48, No. 1.
"' Ibid. bdle. 10, No. 2. '»» Ibid. "' Ibid. bdle. I, No. 5.
'«' Ibid. bdle. 10, No. 2. '" Ibid. bdle. 36, No. 26.
2 249 32
A HISTORY OF DORSET
legacy of ^Tio from a husbandman for the same purpose.^^^ In the case of
Lady Dorothy Gorges, who died in 1649, the large sum of ^^150 was be-
queathed to the poor of Gussage/" Sometimes a certain class of poor person
was favoured, as when Sir Samuel Mico left the interest on ;C500 ' partly to a
sermon, partly to poor decayed seamen of Weymouth ' who possessed the
qualifications of sixty years of age or upwards, and having been present ' at the
hearing of the sermon.' ^"
If these bequests had been duly carried out there would probably have
been no record of their existence. But it was easy enough for the heirs and
executors to appropriate such bequests when the judicial system was not so
good as it is at the present day, and, above all, the means of communication
between different parts of the country slow and very expensive. Lawsuits
were the luxury of the rich man who had both time and money at his disposal.
It was probably counting upon these advantages that the son of that Lord
Mountjoy who built the almshouses at Wimborne thought it worth while to
retain ^12 out of the interest of the endowment.^" Sir Edmund Uvedale's
brother and heir probably thought that he was safe in appropriating the pro-
perty bequeathed for the maintenance of the almshouse at Corfe Castle."'
Government did take measures to protect the poor by means of com-
missioners, the scope of whose inquiries shows the different classes of persons
who benefited by charitable bequests. There was to be an examination into
all moneys, &c., left in trust for the relief of aged, impotent, and poor people, maintenance of
sick and maimed soldiers or mariners, of schools, &c., repair of bridges, ports, havens, cause-
ways, churches, seabanks, or highways, education or preferment of orphans, relief, stock, or
maintenance of houses of correction, marriages of poor maids, supportation, aid, or help of
young tradesmen, handicraftsmen, or persons decayed, relief or redemption of prisoners
or captives, or aid or ease of other poor inhabitants concerning payment of fifteenths, setting
out of soldiers, or other taxes, in any parish, town, or place in the county of Dorset, and any
breaches of trust, &c.'''
But these inquisitions were not too frequent. The first on record was held at
Blandford in 1623, and it was only then shown up that the 'John Mathewe
legacy had not been paid for the last twenty-four years.' "* There was
an inquest taken at Dorchester in 1677, when it was discovered that the
'John Browne ' bequest to the poor had been appropriated by the executors.
The next recorded inquest at Dorchester was in 1709, when it was proved that
the poor of Buckland Newton had been deprived of their funds for the last
seventeen years. As to the poor of Gussage they had never received any money
on the death of Lady Dorothy Gorges, and no inquiry appears to have been made
until 1676, twenty-seven years after her death. The court made an order
that it should be paid to the churchwardens. But still this was no guarantee
that the poor of Gussage received the bequest. If the heirs and executors
honestly fulfilled a charitable trust the poor still ran the chance of being de-
frauded by the churchwardens or corporation on whom the trust eventually
devolved. In the case of the ' Buckland Newton ' charity the churchwarden
trustees embraced the opportunity to repair the church. The corporation of
Weymouth behaved no better with the legacy of Sir Samuel Mico. They
ouo;ht to have put out thirty-three apprentices in eleven years, but they only
'" Petty Bag : Proceedings of Commissioners for Charitable Uses, bdlc. 51, No. 7.
'" Ibid. bdle. 28, No. 19. '" Ibid. bdle. 48, No. I. '" Ibid. bdle. 10, No. 2.
'^ Ibid. '" Ibid. bdle. 27, No. 5. "» Ibid. bdle. 10, No. 2.
2SO
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY
put out five, and appropriated a balance of ^loi js. As to the >C5oo left to
the sermon and seamen an unsuitable individual received a pension upon the
strength of which he migrated to Cornwall, and part went in the satisfaction
of a debt to one of the aldermen.'" In short, corporations were scarcely more
scrupulous than individuals : if they were capable of showing such cruelty as
they did towards pauper immigrants, it was only one step further to appro-
priate private charitable bequests. Charity had been left for so many centuries
in the hands of religious corporations that its necessity was little understood
by political bodies, in whose eyes it was often an unwelcome innovation.
A more popular method of dealing with distress in the seventeenth
century was by attempting to regulate the price and supply of the corn,
apprenticing of children and the settlement of vagrants. In the distress of the
years 1630— i, justices of the peace throughout the country acting as Poor
Law officers for their counties were under the strictest orders from the Privy
Council to prevent all artificial enhancing of the price of grain, to see that the
poor were supplied at as low a price as might be, and to suppress unnecessary
ale-houses, to apprentice all poor children of a suitable age, and to deal
stringently with vagrants and rogues. The system of apprenticing and the
suppression of vagrancy and other disorders were probably beneficial, but the
attempt to interfere with prices was of doubtful expediency. In Dorset,
at any rate, there seems to have been no combination on the part of corn
merchants to raise prices unduly.'™ The justices, indeed, considered that the
interference of the state pressed over-hard upon the farmer ; they stated that
when wheat was under 5J. the bushel and barley under ^s. bd. ' the husband-
man cannot well maintain his tillage at the present prices of all other
necessaries,' "" and this representation was probably correct, for from the
neighbourhood of Bridport, in the same year, came the complaint that the
cost of living was dearer ' almost by half than in former times, all foreign
commodities, salt especially, being at such extraordinary prices,' while rents
were high, and a considerable amount of barren land had been brought into
cultivation at great cost by the use of marl and lime, ' which is gotten at
excessive charge.'"'"'
In the ordinary administration of their duties the Poor Law officers of
the county could look to other sources of revenue beyond the money raised by
the rates in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Of these, one of the
most important must have been the forfeitures of dishonest tradesmen. Several
cases recorded in the archives of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis illustrate
this point. In 16 17 J. Benville of Buckland was convicted of having brought
to market 8 lb. of butter of short weight, for which default he was condemned
to forfeit the butter, which was given to the poor; a similar fate befell William
Bythywood whom the constables found in possession of a leg and shoulder of
a calf killed ' sethence the time of Lent.' '°' Fines for drunkenness were also
applied to 'thuse of the poore ' at Melcombe,'"* and as this was a common
"' Petty Bag: Proceedings of Commissioners for Charitable Uses, bdle. 48, No. i.
*"■ Cal. S.P. Dom. 1631-3, pp. 183, 185, 186, 188.
'"' Ibid. 185. In March, 1631, wheat was at 7/. or 7/. 6d. the bushel in the Dorchester division, but
by the following November it had fallen to 5/., while barley was at 3/. and a further fall was expected (ibid.
1629-31, p. 547,and 1631-3, p. 185). '"' Cal. S.P. Dom. 1631-3, p. 186.
"• H. J. Moule, Descriptive Catalogue of the Charters, etc. of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis, 56, 58.
'" Ibid. 57.
251
A HISTORY OF DORSET
offence and the fine of each case amounted to 5/., the total income from this
source must have been considerable. An alternative punishment was to sit in
the stocks, E. Bouzer in 1652 being allowed to choose whether he would 'pay
5J. or sitt vi houres by the heeles.' ^"
A variety of other offences came before the local authorities at this period,
such as ' abusing the watch,' ' suffering on the Sabbaoth day to drincke sundry
persons,' making armed assaults upon the house of the mayor, ' making com-
parisons with him . . . swering many fearful! oathes and using divers unfitt
bragges,' disturbing the peace and setting the neighbours by the ears, allowing
Frenchmen to drink at the time of evening prayer, and carrying on business
without licence.'"' The punishments allotted were as various as the offences.
The man who insulted the mayor had to come and make public submission
on the following day, abusing the watch was punished in the stocks, the five
women who had disturbed the king's peace were found guilty by a jury, and
it was ordered by the court ' quod praedicte Temperantia, K., Gratia, Alicia
et Thomasina laventur, Anglice ducked ' — the cucking-stool being also the
punishment proposed for the wife of a certain ' poore impotent man ' who was
in the habit of troubUng her neighbours."" Swearing was punishable with a
fine, Nicholas Marriner having to pay 3/. 4^. for one oath in 1652.*"^ Witches
also came within the cognizance of the local authority, a deposition being
made in the borough court of Melcombe and Weymouth by Edith Bull in
1647, to the effect that she had heard Damaris Harvey say 'that A vice Miles
is a witch,' and that Amy Gotten ' never prospered after shee was cursed by
the said Avice Miles.'*"' A similar case of presentment for witchcraft
occurred at Lyme at a somewhat earlier date."" Rogues and vagrants — a class
whose existence always constituted one of the problems of English rural life "'^
— were liable under the Vagrants Act to be returned to their birth-
place or last habitation. An entry in the Melcombe borough archives for
1 617 records that a vagrant person had been 'whipped and sent away by a
passe,' but they were always liable to congregate at fairs and other popular
gatherings, and appear to have caused considerable anxiety to the Dorset
justices ; for in 163 i they paid 40J. to their marshal 'for the great pains and
care ' he had given ' in the searching out and apprehending rogues and
vagrants at fairs and other great places of meeting within this county.' "' This
may have been the outcome of the stringent orders under which the justices
were placed at this time to return reports to the Privy Council of their activity
in dealing with vagabonds."^'
But while the new Poor Law system was struggling somewhat in-
effectually with the distress caused by the dissolution of the monasteries,
inclosures of land, and low wages, the whole country was plunged into far
greater misery by the civil wars of the seventeenth century.
It would be mere speculation to say which of the towns fared worse ;
probably the decision would rest between those which were occupied by both
parties alternately and the staunch Royalist centres which offered a stout resist-
ance. Weymouth illustrates the former, and Clarendon tells us that the
pillage committed by the soldiers of Prince Maurice was so great that
*» H. J. Mode, Deicriptive Catalogue, 81. "* Ibid. 57, 58, 63, 65, 77. «" Ibid. 73.
^ Ibid. 81. "' Ibid. 78. "» G. Roberts, ?,ocial His/, of the Southern Cos. 523.
»" See above. "' Webb, Engl. Local Govt, i, 522-3. '" See above.
252
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY
the earl of Carnarvon went to the king at Gloucester and laid down his
commission.^'*
To take an instance of a town which held out gallantly for the king,
Corfe ; the destruction of property and individual ruination were terrible.
Those tradesmen who favoured the Parliamentary cause were pillaged by the
garrison. To illustrate this, the petition survives of a certain Henry Browne
that satisfaction may be granted him out of the estate of Lady Bankes for the
^200 worth of goods which the garrison had taken from him, and for two
houses which had been pulled down to furnish stones to discharge upon the
besiegers.''" On the other hand those tradesmen who survived the extensive
requirements of their own garrison, being Royalists, were ruined when the
town fell into the hands of Parliament. Writing to Sir Ralph Bankes in
1660, Edward Harvey, a Corfe tradesman, adds —
What Colonel Bingham had of yours I know not ; but lam sure that his soldiers had all
my shop goods. I did write to Mr. Culliford whilst in London to advise me whether I should
not have any satisfaction, and he advised me in the negative, that the Act would quit all
men of all such actions.''^
This apparently was the case : the Act of Indemnity and Oblivion required
that Mr. Harvey should forget his shop goods.
Even Lyme, which held out successfully, expended jT 17,45 8 in keeping
up the garrison. ^'^ Afterwards a sum of ^200 per annum was allotted them
out of Lord Paulet's estate ; "' with the curious addition of 2,000 oaks from
his woods to rebuild their houses,^'' a fact which explains the frequent and
devastating fires of those times. Considering the total destruction of the
shipping and the general blow to trade, such inadequate remuneration was
scarcely calculated to restore Lyme to the rank of a prosperous town. At the
same time individuals were most conscientiously considered, even if it amounted
to nothing beyond theory. A merchant named Alford had expended jr4,200
on the garrison, either in money or provisions ; the ' Dorset Standing Com-
mittee ' engaged the public faith of the kingdom to repay the sum, with 8 per
cent, interest. ^^° In short one of the principal functions of this committee was to
apportion sequestered estates among the towns which had been devastated in,
and the individuals who had suffered for, the Parliamentary cause. A definite
sum, generally one-fifth of the property, was settled upon the wife and children
of the culprit, but in the case of great wealth a smaller proportion was held
sufficient.'"
The Puritan spirit in local government was by no means confined to the
immediate years of the Puritan revolution, but at Melcombe there seems to have
been an access of zeal to enforce industry and sobriety between the years
1642 and 1658. An ale-house licence issued in 1642 adds to the usual
restrictions placed on licensed victuallers a clause forbidding the landlord to
allow ' haunting of the Alehouse on the Sabath Dale or festivall dales,' and
four years later all the late town officers were presented for neglect in making
presentments and considering abuses. In i 647 it was asserted that Constable
"* Clarendon, Hist, of the Rebellion, y\\, 192. "' Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, App. 84.
'" Bankes, Hist, of Corfe Castle, 249. "' Roberts, Hist, of Lyme Regis, 69.
'" Ibid, but Rushworth, Collections (abridged ed.), v, 339, says j^ 1,000 per annum, which alters the
question somewhat. '" Rushworth, Collections, v, 339.
•" Mayo, Minutes of the Dorset Standing Com. 165. "' Ibid. 48.
253
A HISTORY OF DORSET
Edwards was unable 'to go or stand' on the last fast day, and in 1658
Mary Wood was presented for ' living an idle course of life out of service,
therefore it is ordered that she be sent to Bridewell if taken at home again ' ;
and a similar order was issued with regard to Susan Welman's daughter, 'a
masterless person.' '"
Another outcome of the triumph of Puritanism was the growing tendency
to interfere with the amusements of the people. Unlawful games had indeed been
punishable as early as the fifteenth century,"' but the Puritan even attempted
to put down strolling players. In Dorchester, a Parliamentarian stronghold,
this attitude towards them lingered on after the Restoration. On 6 October,
1660, a certain William Darrant who came 'to this towne, to shew the
dauncing of divers creatures on ropes, and dogs,' was refused although he
brought a licence purporting to be from General Monck.'" Another applica-
tion made in the following November to ' make shew of a puppet-shew called
Patient Grizell, with music and six servants,' met with no better success, nor
one of three months later to show ' Crispin and Crispianus.' In one instance
a reason was alleged. Richard Pavey of London, of St. Giles in the fields,
' coming to shew a motion of the witches of the north,' was told ' that we
have noe waste mony for such idle things.' '"
But the early years of the eighteenth century seem to have witnessed a
serious outbreak of disorder in Weymouth and Melcombe at least. In 1700
three constables of the borough found Captain Harding and Mr. Leslie,
aldermen, 'gaming and wrangling' in the 'Bear' at 10 p.m., and in 1701 two
individuals were presented because they ' drancke punch to a greate hight,'
after which at 8 p.m. they went to ' Melcombe town-end and fought with
swords.' John Palmer was presented for blasphemous swearing in 1701, and
in 1703 he swore four oaths for which he 'sate in the stocks.'"' The repre-
sentatives of the law seem, moreover, to have been powerless to enforce their
authority at this time, for the gambling aldermen refused to leave the ' Bear '
at the constables' order, and when the watchman entered the ' Bay Tree ' to
inquire into the cause of ' a great noise and swearing ' which issued from it,
the landlady 'took him by the shoulders and turned him out.''"
At this time, to judge from the Weymouth documents, Dorset towns
were typical instances of that English provincial life immortalized by
Miss Austen ; some of the extracts from the minute books of the corporation
printed by Mr. Moule might well be episodes taken from the pages of Pride and
Prejudice. My lady was ' carried ' to church by her servants, or driven about
the town in her coach. The gentlemen resorted to the post-house to read
the news. Letters were brought to the town by the ' diligence Privateer,'
who apparently did not hesitate to open and read any that he thought might
contain seditious matter ; the post-boy journeyed between Weymouth and
Dorchester, but unfortunately he was a wayward youth, and when charged
by the postmaster with irregularity in his work and not blowing his horn,
he assaulted that official in his own house and challenged him to fight.
338
"' Moule, Dacrift'we Catalogue, 76, 78, 81.
'" See a Ct. R. of Shaftesbury quoted in Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iii, 89, where presentments were made
for dice-throwing and playing ad pilam manualem, in the reign of Henry VI.
"* T. Hearn, Dorset, Co. Chron. See Roberts, Social Hist. 44.
'" Ibid. »-' Moule, Descriptive Catalogue, 86.
"' Ibid. »" Ibid. 86, 88-9.
254
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY
But a great change was not far distant for two at least of the ancient
Dorset boroughs. About the middle of the century sea-bathing became
one of the popular amusements of the fashionable world, and many of the
decayed south-coast ports sprang to life again as watering-places. In Sep-
tember, 1748, R. Prowse and J. Bennet of Weymouth received twenty-one
years' leases that they might erect ' two wooden bathing houses on the North
side of the Harbour.' In 1783 the popularity of the town as a bathing
resort had so far increased that a tax of 2j. td. a year was placed on every
bathing machine. Six years later George III paid the first of a series of
visits to Weymouth, where the duke of Gloucester already possessed a house,
and in 1790 the duke of St. Albans was allowed to erect a seat on the
esplanade opposite his house, and make steps on the sand there. This royal
and aristocratic patronage led to rapid developments — new fire engines were
bought in 1792, and in 1800 the contract for building the esplanade wall
was signed. ^^' In the meantime Lyme Regis had received a similar im-
petus to renewed life from the moment when Mr. Thomas Hollis bought
the Three Cups inn and a whole row of houses in Bond Street. ^^'' His
influence brought Lord Chatham as a visitor, and it soon became a favourite
resort for visitors from Bath, amongst whom in 1804 was Jane Austen,''^
whose impressions of the town and its neighbourhood were recorded in
Persuasion, wriittn between 181 1 and 1816. In August, 1833, the duchess of
Kent and Princess Victoria were among the visitors. Here the Assembly
Rooms were the great source of attraction. Many of the visitors had tea or
coffee there every night at a charge of 6d., and twice a week they met for
card-playing, while on Fridays dancing was indulged in.*'' In 1788 a certain
William Morton Pitt attempted to bring Swanage into notice as a seaside
resort,*^' but his efforts were not so successful as were those of the patrons of
Lyme and Weymouth, and it is only of late years that it has really extended
its accommodation to any great extent and become popular.
But in spite of this periodical influx of fashionable society and the im-
petus to trade and enterprise to which it gave rise, the county as a whole
was slow to alter. In its local government it long preserved a degree of
informality which must have made slackness on the part of the magistrates
very easy. No chairman of Quarter Sessions seems to have been elected until
1773,'^* and though the judicial business of the court was conducted openly
in ' County ' business, there was no publicity to check expenditure or secure
the ratepayers against fraud.'" Nor do the justices appear to have been par-
ticularly zealous in the performance of their duties. In 1752 the account of
the Clerk of the Peace records the expenditure of considerable sums upon
dispatching riding messengers through the county to try to persuade even
two magistrates to hold a court of Quarter Sessions."' Primitive methods
were adhered to until a comparatively late date. The old hundredjuries con-
tinued to be summoned and to make presentments before the justices certainly
as late as 1752,'" and the only way in which repairs of roads could be effected
was by the presentment of the defaulting parish or parishes by a magistrate,
"' Moule, Descriptive Catalogue, 125, 126, 127.
"" Roberts, SoaW //»/. 551-2, and Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, ii, 68.
"' Diet. Nat. Biog. "> G. Roberts, Social Hist. 553.
"" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, i, 657. "' Webb, Engl. Local Govt, i, 434, note 2.
•" Ibid. 444 and 445, note z. "■ Ibid. 422-3, note. '" Ibid. 462, note 3.
255
A HISTORY OF DORSET
who was thereupon empowered to see that the repairs were carried out.
Upon one occasion in 1752 a single Dorset justice presented eight parishes
on this account."*
The early years of the nineteenth century, however, saw considerable
alterations. In 1825 it was decided that Quarter Sessions should in future
always be held at Dorchester, instead of being continually transferred from
borough to borough,'^' and two years later the justices agreed to prepare and
publish an annual account of their receipts and expenditure. Yet earlier, in
1809, a regular engineer of the county bridges was appointed at a salary of
;r5oo a year.^"
In its agricultural methods also the county was slow to move. What is
known as the agrarian revolution, in other words the adoption of the Norfolk
four-course system, did not take place rapidly in Dorset. In 1793 Claridge
lamented the backward state of the tillage compared with other branches of
agriculture. This seems to have been due in a great measure to the immense
importance attached to sheep-farming, which was advanced for that time,
Dorset being rather a pioneer county in adopting improvements or even in
experimentalizing in that one department of agriculture.'" Second only in
importance to sheep-farming was the attention bestowed on cattle-grazing and
dairying which was centred in the rich vale of Blackmoor in the north.
Very subordinate to sheep-farming, cattle pasturage, and dairying was
the tillage of the land. In Claridge's day, wheat, barley, and oats were
cultivated in succession without the intervention of any green crop.'*' In
addition to this crude rotation the ground suffered from insufficient plough-
ing : it appeared to be the farmer's object ' to put the seed in with as few
ploughings as possible,' ^*^ and those few so carelessly done that the ploughman
often varied three or four yards from a straight line. The Norfolk plough,
drawn by two horses, had by no means come into general use ; the old-
fashioned plough drawn by four horses, and with two men to attend to them,
being more usual.'** Comparatively little was done to improve the ground
in the way of manure ; and although draining was most successfully practised
with the water meadows, it was never applied to land under tillage.'*' A
considerable amount of flax and hemp was grown in the neighbourhood of
Bridport,'*' where in good seasons it formed a very lucrative crop.
Claridge mentions that few parishes had recently been inclosed ; "^
but with the nineteenth century inclosures became more numerous, though
until 1840 they were always inclosures of common land.'*'
As the nineteenth century advanced, however, several improvements
were introduced and became almost universal throughout the county ;'*^ it was
about the middle of the century that most of the changes took place
which brought Dorset to the epoch of its greatest agricultural prosperity —
the adoption of artificial manures, the inclosure of what had hitherto been
regarded as waste land, and the use of improved agricultural implements.""
"* Webb, Eng/. Local Govt, i, 475. "' Ibid. 433, note 2. "" Ibid. 445, note 2, and 520, note 3.
■*' Stevenson, General Fietv of the jigric. of Dorset, 461.
-" Claridge, General Fiew of the Agric. of Dorset, 16. '" Ibid.
-" Ibid. 20. *" Ibid. 26, 34.
"MbiJ. 26, 27. »'Tlid. 46.
'*' Joum. of the Bath and West 0'' Engl. Agric. Assoc. (Ser. 2), 1 861, ix, 52.
'" See article on ' Agriculture.'
'*' Joum. of the Bath and West of Engl. Agric. Assoc. (Ser. 2), 1 861, viii, pt. i, Essay by Mr. Ruegg ; ix, 52.
256
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY
But this prosperity was short-lived ; agricultural distress, though not so
marked in Dorset as in other counties, yet made itself felt in several direc-
tions. The year 1879 was a bad season for everything, and from that time
may be dated the depression which has settled over modern agriculture,
especially in the north and extreme west of the county. ^°^ Gradually, but
surely, farming has become unprofitable : of course bad seasons accentuate
agricultural depression, but it was inevitable with the immense fall in prices.
From the last half of the nineteenth century, in other words since the
establishment of free trade, the price of corn has fallen. Speaking of the
agricultural depression Mr. Rew said in 1895 : —
In addition to the fall in the prices of corn, there has been also a fall to some, though
not to so great an, extent in the price of stock and a serious and permanent fall in the price
of wool. As regards stock it must be remembered that it is always subject to fluctuation
from year to year : still there is in later years a distinct fall in the level of prices. As
regards wool, many farmers told me that they could not get more than tenpence a pound,
whereas twenty years ago they could count upon is. 6d. the pound.*^"
One witness pointed out that this makes a difference of from 3J. to 4J-. per
head per annum on each sheep. He was told that cows let at from £2 to
£2 l^ss than before,**^^ clearly showing that they were not so profitable as
formerly. In West Dorset flax, which had been a considerable form of wealth,
had become unprofitable, as it was worth ^5 the acre less than in 1884,
doubtless owing to foreign competition.""* On the other hand the general
fall in prices has brought some compensation, such as cheaper agricultural
implements, artificial manures, and feeding stuffs, which must be remembered
when considering the low price of the produce.
The effects of this depression have been, as regards the landowner, a
fall in rents,^" which on the whole has been greater in mid and east Dorset,
that is on the poorer soils.^^* The average fall in rents on dairy farms has
probably been from 10 per cent, to 20 per cent., though on the best dairy
farms there may have been little or no reduction of rent ; whilst on mixed
farms the fall has been from 20 per cent, to 30 per cent., and on thin
poor soils as much as 40 per cent, or 50 per cent. As regards the farmers
who rent the land, it is in most cases quite an unprofitable occupation,
especially for the occupiers of poor farms where corn-growing is the main
pursuit.^" The receipts from stock-farming and dairying are considerably
higher than those from corn-growing ; and it is the fact that farmers do not
rely on one or even on two branches of agriculture that has prevented the
losses in Dorset being heavier than they have been in some counties. In
Dorset farmers do not so much become bankrupt all at once, as lose gradually,
a slow but sure process. ^^' Naturally there is a shrinkage of the already-
existing farmers' capital, and bankers have become cautious about advancing
money upon land. Under these circumstances it is not surprising that
"' Par/. Accounts and Papers, i88z, xv, 25.
*'' Ibid. 1895, xvii; 'Rep. on Agric. Depression,' 11, iz. '"' Ibid.
'" Ibid. S :—
Table Showing Decrease in Flax-growing
Year Acres of flax grown Year Acres of flax grown
1889 232 1892 56
1890 195 1893 36
189I 109 '894 25
^" Ibid. 12. "° Ibid. 14. "' Ibid. 16, '»' Ibid. 19.
2 257 33
A HISTORY OF DORSET
larger farms are often vacated for smaller ones, or that tenants take to
farming with insufficient capital. Also situation and convenience, with a
view to more rapid profits, is the first consideration with tenants, so that
farms in outlying districts are left vacant for those nearer the towns. Hence
there have been considerable changes of tenancy, though not so many as in
other counties, and, at any rate, land has not completely lost its market
value."'
The diminished value of land has naturally made the question of rates
very prominent : the burden on land being now proportionately more
heavy. In 1895 Mr. Wood Homer, the moving spirit of the ' County
Ratepayers' Defence Association,' calculated that the burdens on land
amounted to 10s. the acre.'^" There was much interesting discussion at
the time, even such a far-fetched and doubtful remedy as bimetallism being
considered.
But while the landowner and farmer have suffered severely from the agri-
cultural depression the condition of the labourer has been one of real, though at
first scarcely perceptible, progress throughout the nineteenth century. As early
as 1 8 I 2, what impressed Stevenson most was the rise in the standard of comfort
of the agricultural labourer. This had been effected by the introduction of
potatoes ; each labourer grew his own potatoes, and that enabled him to
keep a pig, so that he had the important additions of potatoes, pork, and
bacon to his former diet of bread and cheese and water. The potatoes were
grown upon the farmer's fallows in the upland farms, a portion being allotted
in proportion to the family ; but in the purely agricultural villages each
labourer had his own potato ground, as regular an ' allowance ' as his cottage
and garden.'" The average wage, it is true, was still 6s. a week,^'^ and
labourers were allowed corn at a fixed low price, but this meant more than
in Claridge's day, as prices were constantly advancing."' On the other hand
cottages were of the poorest description, with mud walls composed of road
scrapings,"* and as long as lifehold tenures were common there was not much
chance of improvement. But towards the middle of the century several
important changes affected the condition of the agricultural labourer. In
1834 the system of supplementing the wages of able-bodied labourers out
of the rates was finally abolished. This system had commenced in Dorset
about 1798 when wheat had risen to an immense price and wages had not
risen in proportion."' Payment according to a scale was adopted and relief
made to depend upon the price of the loaf and the number of the family.
The scale varied in different districts : in Blandford relief was given
where there was more than one child, in Dorchester and Shaftesbury it was
only allowed in families of three, or more, children."' As the system of
supplementing wages out of rates took root in Dorset there was a corre-
sponding increase not only in poor-rate expenditure, but with the general
demoralization an increase in pauperism and in crime. Thus, between
'■' Par/. Accounts and Papers, 1882, xv, Mr. Little on Dorset, 27.
'*' Ibid. 1895, xvii, 28.
'" Stevenson, General Fieta of the -Agric. of Dorset, 454.
'" Ibid. 453 ; ClariJge, 21.
*'' Stevenson, 452-3.
^ Ibid. 85.
"■' Pari. Accounts and Papers, 1834, xxviii, App. A (i), 1 3a.
''' Ibid. 1825, xix, 375.
258
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY
1792 and 183 I, poor law expenditure had increased 214 per cent., expenses
for prosecutions of crime 2,135 per cent., whilst the population had only
increased 40 per cent.**" Of course the increase in crime might partially be
attributed to the depreciation of property, the distressed state of agriculture,
and the injudicious repeal of several penal statutes relating to beer-houses, but
mainly it was contemporaneous with the adoption of the 'Speenhamland Act.'
The increase in pauperism was remarkable : in one parish, for instance, where
families above two children were supported, the number of paupers, which had
been not more than sixty in 1 767, had increased to 320 in 1 824.^*^ Expenditure
on able-bodied labourers soon far exceeded that on the aged and infirm poor.
At Haselbury Bryan, one of the worst parishes, the monthly payment in
1822 when the system began was ^8 is. to the aged and £y 6s. Sd. to the
labourers, but the next monthly payment to the able-bodied amounted to
^'13 lOJ. 7^.^°' Farmers in this village would not employ the best labour, but
preferred the inferior hands at low wages, which were supplemented by the rates.
It was, therefore, scarcely surprising that there were riots in Haselbury Bryan
in 1830, though the chief result appears to have been an order given to the
overseers to relieve ten more able-bodied families.*™
On the other hand. More Crichel escaped from the trammels of this
system : none but old and infirm people were on the parish books."^ Many
labourers possessed cottages and lived in comparative comfort, and all could
find at least a livelihood by road work. In 1834 the parish was upheld as a
proof of what good management could do, the climax of excellence being the
fact of only one appeal to the magistrates in five years.
In other districts, too, there was improvement before 1834. In
Beaminster, where wages were higher than in any other part of Dorset,"**
inquiries were made as to the character of the applicants for relief. This
was also the case in Cranborne ; no allowance was made for children, and
finally, after the death of the vicar, apparently an incubus on improvement,
the scale system was abolished."^ But as long as the rate in aid of wages was
allowed no improvement could be regarded as permanent ; the position of
the agricultural labourer was practically that of a pauper.
The year 1834 was marked by another event of which Dorset was the
centre, but whose importance in the history of labour became rather national
than local. This was the trial and transportation of six Dorset labourers in
connexion with an oath administered to members of an agricultural union.
Similar unions in Hampshire had succeeded in raising the rate of wages not
only in that county, but also in the neighbouring districts. At Tolpuddle,
in Dorset, an agreement was made between the farmers and the men that the
wages should be those paid in other districts — namely, ioj. a week. Subse-
quently, however, a reduction to ys. was effected by the employers, in
consequence of which the men made inquiries about the Grand National
Consolidated Trades Union, and formed a society of their own upon similar
lines."* The farmers were alarmed, and in February, 1834, placards were
issued threatening anyone who joined the union with seven years' transporta-
'" Yeatman, Existing County Rate, 62. ™ Pari. Accounts and Papers, 1824, vi, 432.
"^' Ibid. 443. "^ Ibid. 1834, xxviii, App. A. (i), p. 20,7.
'" Ibid. z\a. '" Ibid. \\a and \za.
'■' Ibid. 12a and \%a. "' Webb, Hist, of Trade Unionism, 128-30.
259
A HISTORY OF DORSET
tion, and within three days James and George Lovelace and four others who
had originated the movement were sent to gaol. Their trial began on
15 March, 1834, at the Spring Assizes. They were charged with violating
the Act of 37 George III (cap. 123) against seditious meetings and the
administration of unlawful oaths binding to secrecy. The judge in his
charge dwelt at length on the enormity of trifling with oaths, and the
cruelty of forcing men out of their scanty earnings to make
such a large and ample contribution as would not be endured by any class of men
to the constituted authorities of the country or the maintenance of the government
itself,
and declared that ' where men were included in societies of this kind the
common-right obligation of every man of labouring as he pleased and for
whom he pleased was taken away.'"^
At the trial the witnesses deposed to having been persuaded to join the
society, at an entrance fee of is. and a contribution of id^. a week ; they gave
a confused account of the mystery of initiation, during which they had been
blindfolded, and had listened to a considerable amount of reading which they
had not understood, and had finally taken an oath which they could not
remember, on a book which 'looked like a Bible.' The rules of the society,
which simply had for its object the maintenance of a fair rate of wages, and
which strictly forbade all violence, and all political or religious discussion at
its meetings, were read aloud. No charge of coercion or intimidation was
brought against the leaders, but the jury found them guilty of
administering and causing to be administered and aiding and assisting and being present and
consenting to administer a certain unlawful oath and engagement purporting to bind the
person taking the same not to inform or give evidence against any associate or other person
charged with any unlawful combination and not to reveal or discover any such unlawful
combination or any illegal act done or to be done and not to discover any illegal oath which
might be taken.' -''^
■&■■
They were accordingly sentenced to seven years' transportation, and on
2 1 March the Times wrote : —
This sentence, as regards the poor ignorant deluded men who are the objects of it, seems to
us too severe ; but it may be useful if it spreads alarm among those more acute and
powerful disturbers of the town populations throughout England.
The first part of this sentiment was evidently shared by many throughout
the country, and representations from various quarters were made to the
government of the day, while a leading article appeared in the Times for
I April again urging mercy. Lord Melbourne received a deputation of
trade unionists favourably on 29 March, promising that no further steps
should be taken until the king's pleasure was known;"' but the agitation had
no practical outcome, and on 1 5 April Lord Howick announced in the
House of Commons that the ship bearing the convicts had sailed for Botany
Bay.""
The question now became a national issue ; a great demonstration and
procession was arranged to assemble in Copenhagen Fields on Monday, 21
"' Times, l8 March, 1834. •'' Ibid. 20 March, 1834.
*" Ibid. I April, 1834. '"* Webb, Hist, of Trade Umonim, 131.
260
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY
April ; it was to march through London and to present a petition on behalf
of the sufferers to the Home Secretary. It was the first such demonstration
which had ever taken place in the metropolis."' The Times reflects the panic
and indignation which was felt by the supporters of the government. The
aim of the processionists, it proclaimed, could only be to intimidate — else
why such vast numbers ? — consequently their action was little short of
treason, and all self-respecting citizens were advised to be not so much as
spectators of the demonstration. ' Home is the fitting post of every man
whose active services are not called for by public duty.' '"'° The reception of
their proposal in this spirit seems to have induced the trade unionists to
entrust the actual presentation of the petition to a small delegation, but the
Times considered that the march through London still savoured of coercion,
and was convinced that the petition would ' at once be rejected as an attempt
at doing violence to the crown.' ''^
This expectation was fully justified by the events ; in spite of the orderly
conduct of the demonstrators — some 30,000 in number — and the respectful,
though firm, wording of the petition. Lord Melbourne refused to receive any
' petition presented under such circumstances and in such a manner,' though
if it should be ' presented on another day and in a becoming manner ' he
would receive it and lay it before the king.^^^
In the meantime the question had been taken up in the House of
Commons, numerous petitions were presented, and Joseph Hume charged the
government with cowardice, and anxiety to ' get hold of such victims as they
could catch.' ^''^ In spite of the agitation, however, the punishment was not
remitted until 1836, and the prisoners did not finally return home until 1838.
Their ultimate release was due to the indefatigable zeal of the London
Dorchester Committee, a body of sixteen workmen, who with the help of
Thomas Wakley, M.P. for Finsbury, after nearly five years' agitation induced
the same government as had sanctioned the exile to pardon the men and bring
them home free of expense. Subscriptions were raised to provide five out of
the six with small farms in Essex, the sixth preferring to return to Dorset.'^*
But although some thirty years later such a national disgrace as this
would have been impossible, the general position of the Dorset labourer was
still slow to improve. In 1861, indeed, Mr. Darby commented on the
benefit to the labourer from the agricultural revolution which had just taken
place. Money wages were zs. or 3J-. higher than they were twenty years
before — that is, they varied from 8j. to lu.,^'^ so that with the additional
earnings amounting at least theoretically to about 3J. bd. a week, ' the
labourer did not receive worse treatment than in any of the southern or
midland counties.' But, of course, his position depended on his employer:
his cottage might be a hovel, his garden and potato ground of the poorest
soil, his fuel the commonest gorse, his corn almost worthless. As long as
there is payment in kind the labourer will be dependent on the generosity of
the farmer who employs him.
'" Webb, Hist, of Trade Unionism, 132. '^ Times, 19 April, 1834.
'" Ibid. 21 April, 1834.
'*' Ibid. 22 April, 1834. ^^ Ibid. 19 April and 29 April, 1834.
'** Webb, Hist, of Trade Unionism, 133, note 2 ; p. 130 et seq. gives a full account of the case and its
bearing on the general history of the unions.
^^ Journ. of Bath and West of Engl. Agric. Soc. (Ser. 2), ix, 64.
261
A HISTORY OF DORSET
In 1868, when Dorset was at the height of agricultural prosperity, the
condition of the labourer was by no means proportionately improved. Cot-
tages, with some notable exceptions, were often a disgrace to their owners,'"
especially in the villages of Bere Regis, Fordington, Winfrith, Cranborne,
and Charminster. If there was a second bedroom at all it was rather a 'closet
not closed ' off from the first, and in Charminster there was an average of
seven persons to one house. ^" Mr. Stanhope also brought to light other evils,
doubtless of long duration. The habit existed in Dorset of hiring whole
families : not only was the labourer expected to work, but his wife, or at
least the daughters, were drawn in to held work, and the boys were taken
away too early from school, and then kept on after they were grown up for
the same purpose.'** Thus female labour was encouraged and the education
and future prospects of the men neglected. Though wages had been raised
by the agricultural revolution they were only paid once a fortnight, or even
once a month, and it was only the married men who received additional
perquisites.^*'
In some districts there was little or no market for labour. If the
labourer was better off in the island of Purbeck, where the clay and stone
quarries raised the general level of wages, in the Vale of Blackmoor, where the
small farms were managed by the families themselves, additional labour was
not wanted, unless it was of a very casual and unsatisfactory description.
Where labour was hired it was at a low wage, and dairy farming gave little
scope for piece-work, which might have raised the total earnings. '*''' After
this gloomy view of the agricultural labourer, Mr. Little, who visited Dorset
fourteen years afterwards, pronounced the position ' much improved.' ' On
many estates labourers were well housed, much money having recently been
expended on large properties in building improvements.' Wages, though
they were still ' far below the standard of the south-eastern and northern
counties,' in other words the mining and manufacturing districts, had ' in-
creased ten per cent, to thirty per cent, during the last ten years.''" This was
remarkable, as the agricultural depression was already felt ; and the fact still
remains that the labourer has not suffered in the same way as the landowner
and farmer have done. Of course the depression has meant a decreased
demand for labour, as the farmer has had to economize. Land has again been
inclosed for pastures, farms consolidated, and machinery more and more used
in order to dispense with labour. But this decrease in demand has been
counterbalanced by a decrease in the supply of labour, owing to the attractions
of at least nominally higher wages in the towns, or in the mining districts."*
Probably those men who desire it can find work as agricultural labourers, and,
in spite of the depression and low prices, wages have not fallen. In 1893
Mr. Spencer calculated that the average earnings of a field labourer amounted
•* The state of the cottages was so notoriously bad that public attention was attracted, and a meeting
held at Blandford in 1 843 to consider the matter. The actual example was set by Mr. Sturt, who
rebuilt a whole village on his model system. Two cottages, with three bedrooms in each, were placed side by
side in the middle of an acre of land which they divided between them ; half an acre being usually accepted
as the maximum amount of land that a labourer can cultivate without neglecting his employer's work. 'Journ.
of the Bath and West of Engl. Agric. Soc. (Ser. 2, 1S60), viii, 221.
'" Pari. Accounts and Papers, 1868-9, xiii, 80. Second report by Mr. Stanhope.
'«« Ibid. 78. '^ Ibid. 79. "o Ibid. 77, 78.
"' Ibid. 1882, XV, 28. Mr. Little on Dorset.
"' Ibid. 1893, XXXV, 6, 7. 'The Condition of the Labourer in Dorset.' Mr. Aubrey Spencer.
262
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY
to I4J-. bd. per week, and those of a carter or shepherd, who work longer hours,
to 1 5J. bd. or 1 6^.^"^ Average earnings have more recently risen to i 5J. kd.
and those of carters and stockmen proportionately."* Wages in the country,
instead of following prices, have been upheld by the increased standard of
comfort, and by competition with the towns owing to the modern fluidity of
labour. Of course the Dorset agricultural labourer does not receive all his
earnings in cash ; sometimes he only gets loj. in money, though the average
is certainly i2j. a week."* Dorset is one of the counties where money wages
are lowest, and ' allowances ' greatest, and of recent years piece-work has
become very important on the large farms."" This system of ' allowances '
certainly is not economically sound, but it has always existed, and probably its
evils are at a minimum in a county where the land is owned by large pro-
prietors. It has always been the big landowners of Dorset who have set
example in improved cottages, though the movement has never been general,
and Mr. Spencer considered that there had been little improvement since the
days of Mr. Stanhope."'' More recently the attention of sanitary authorities
has been directed to the subject of over-crowding, bad drainage, and ' the
smoke nuisance ' ; and any defects are freely commented upon."*
Other improvements of a social nature have also raised the condition of
the Dorset labourer. Drink-money is now generally given instead of the
beer or cider itself,"' so that if the Dorset peasant ' is terribly addicted to
beer ' '"'' he is at least not encouraged by his employer.
Women, even twelve years ago, very seldom worked in the fields,'"^
because the earnings of the labourer no longer rendered it necessary ; now-
adays it would be regarded as an anomaly. The hiring-fair tends to become
a picturesque survival ; it is fast dying out '"' as the modern, more educated
labourer can find work through advertisements, instead of being dependent
on the chances of one day. But except in the northern and western parts of
the county it has left its mark in yearly engagements, which may be more
likely to lead to continuous service than in the days of annual hiring-fairs,
when it became almost a custom for labourers to change their employers.'"'
The advantage of good clubs, either local or branches of national ones, is
becoming more and more recognized,'"* and membership is not so uncommon
as it used to be ; but, unfortunately, it is still a point in which theory is in
advance of practice.
'" Pari. Accounts and Papers, 1893, xxxr, 14, 29.
'" Ibid. 1905. 'Earnings of Agric. Labour.' Second report by Wilson Fox, 36.
"^ Ibid. 27 (calculation for 1903).
'"' Ibid. 4 and 29, 18 and 21.
'" Ibid. 1893, XXXV, 30.
"' Ibid. 31. "'Ibid. 13.
""" Journ. of Bath and West of Engl. Agrlc. Soc. (Ser. 2), viii, 222.
'"' Par/. Accounts and Papers, 1893, xxxv, 10.
""Ibid. 1905. ' Earnings of Agric. Labour,' 13.
«" Ibid. 1893, xxxv, 8. *» Ibid. 18.
263
A HISTORY OF DORSET
TABLE OF POPULATION, 1801 to 1901
Introductory Notes
Area
The county taken in this table is that existing subsequently to 7 & 8 Vict., chap. 61 (1844).
By this Act detached parts of counties, which had already for parliamentary purposes been amalga-
mated with the county by which they were surrounded or with which the detaciied part had the
longest common boundary (2 & 3 Wm. IV, chap. 64 — 1832), were annexed to the same county for
all purposes ; some exceptions were, however, permitted.
By the same Act (7 & 8 Vict., chap. 61) the detached parts of counties, transferred to other
counties, were also annexed to the hundred, ward, wapentake, &c. by which they were wholly or
mostly surrounded, or to which they next adjoin, in the counties to which they were transferred.
The hundreds, &c. in this table are also given as existing subsequently to this Act.
As is well known, the famous statute of Queen Elizabeth for the relief of the poor took the then-
existing ecclesiastical parish as the unit for Poor Law relief. This continued for some centuries
with but few modifications ; notably by an Act passed in the thirteenth year of Charles II's reign
which permitted townships and villages to maintain their own poor. This permission was necessary
owing to the large size of some of the parishes, especially in the north of England.
In 1 80 1 the parish for rating purposes (now known as the civil parish, i.e. 'an area for
which a separate poor rate is or can be made, or for which a separate overseer is or can be
appointed ') was in most cases co-extensive with the ecclesiastical parish of the same name ; but
already there were numerous townships and villages rated separately for the relief of the poor,
and also there were many places scattered up and down the country, known as extra-parochial
places, which paid no rates at all. Further, many parishes had detached parts entirely surrounded
by another parish or parishes.
Parliament first turned its attention to extra-parochial places, and by an Act (20 Vict.^
chap. 19 — 1857) •'^ ^^* '^''^ down [a) that all extra-parochial places entered separately in the
185 1 census returns are to be deemed civil parishes, [b) that in any other place being, or being
reputed to be, extra-parochial, overseers of the poor may be appointed, and (c) that where, how-
ever, owners and occupiers of two-thirds in value of the land of any such place desire its
annexation to an adjoining civil parish, it may be so added with the consent of the said parish.
This Act was not found entirely to fulfil its object, so by a further Act (31 & 32 Vict., chap. 122 —
1868) it was enacted that every such place remaining on 25 December, 1868, should be added
to the parish with which it had the longest common boundary.
The next thing to be dealt with was the question of detached parts of civil parishes, which was
done by the Divided Parishes Acts of 1876, 1879, and 1882. The last, which amended the one of
1876, provides that every detached part of an entirely extra-metropolitan parish which is entirely
surrounded by another parish becomes transferred to this latter for civil purposes, or if the population
exceeds 300 persons it may be made a separate parish. These Acts also gave power to add detached
parts surrounded by more than one parish to one or more of the surrounding parishes, and also to
amalgamate entire parishes with one or more parishes. Under the 1879 Act it was not necessary
for the area dealt with to be entirely detached. These Acts also declared that every part added to
a parish in another county becomes part of that county.
Then came the Local Government Act, 1888, which permits the alteration of civil parish boun-
daries and the amalgamation of civil parishes by Local Government Board orders. It also created the
administrative counties. The Local Government Act of 1894 enacts that where a civil parish is partly
in a rural district and partly in an urban district each part shall become a separate civil parish ; and
also that where a civil parish is situated in more than one urban district each part shall become a
separate civil parish, unless the county council otherwise direct. Meanwhile, the ecclesiastical parishes
had been altered and new ones created under entirely different Acts, which cannot be entered into
here, as the table treats of the ancient parishes in their civil aspect.
Population
The first census of England was taken in 1801, and was very little more than a counting
of the population in each parish (or place), excluding all persons, such as soldiers, sailors, &c., wlio
formed no part of its ordinary population. It was the de facto population (i.e. the population
264
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY
actually resident at a particular time) and not the de jure (i.e. the population really belonging
to any particular place at a particular time). This principle has been sustained throughout
the censuses.
The Army at home (including militia), the men of the Royal Navy ashore, and the registered
seamen ashore were not included in the population of the places where they happened to be,
at the time of the census, until 1 84 1. The men of the Royal Navy and other persons on board
vessels (naval or mercantile) in home ports were first included in the population of those places
in 1851. Others temporarily present, such as gipsies, persons in barges, &c. were included in
1 841 and perhaps earlier.
General
Up to and including 1831 the returns were mainly made by the overseers of the poor,
and more than one day was allowed for the enumeration, but the 1 841-190 1 returns were
made under the superintendence of the registration officers and the enumeration was to be
completed in one day. The Householder's Schedule was first used in 1841. The exact dates
of the censuses are as follows : —
10 March, 1801 30 May, 1831 8 April, i86i 6 April, 1891
27 May, 1811 7 June, 1841 3 April, 1871 I April, 1901
28 May, 1821 31 March, 1851 4 April, 1881
Notes Explanatory of the Table
This table gives the population of the ancient county and arranges the parishes, &c. under the
hundred or other sub-division to which they belong, but there is no doubt that the constitution of
hundreds, &c. was in some cases doubtful.
In the main the table follows the arrangement in the 1 84 1 census volume.
The table gives the population and area of each parish, &c. as it existed in 1 801, as far
as possible.
The areas are those supplied by the Ordnance Survey Department, except in the case of those
marked ' e,' which are only estimates. The area includes inland water (if any), but not tidal water
or foreshore.
t after the name of a civil parish indicates that the parish was afFected by the operation
of the Divided Parishes Acts, but the Registrar-General failed to obtain particulars of every
such change. The changes which escaped notification were, however, probably small in area
and with little, if any, population. Considerable difficulty was experienced both in 1 891 and
1 90 1 in tracing the results of changes effected in civil parishes under the provisions of these
Acts ; by the Registrar-General's courtesy, however, reference has been permitted to certain
records of formerly detached parts of parishes, which has made it possible approximately to
ascertain the population in I go I of parishes as constituted prior to such alterations, though the
figures in many instances must be regarded as partly estimates.
* after the name of a parish (or place) indicates that such parish (or place) contains a union
workhouse which was in use in (or before) 1851 and was still in use in 1 90 1.
% after the name of a parish (or place) indicates that the ecclesiastical parish of the same name
at the 1 90 1 census is coextensive with such parish (or place).
o in the table indicates that there is no population on the area in question.
— in the table indicates that no population can be ascertained.
The word 'chapelry ' seems often to have been used as an equivalent for 'township' in 1 841,
which census volume has been adopted as the standard for names and descriptions of areas.
The figures in italics in the table relate to the area and population of such sub-divisions of
ancient parishes as chapelries, townships, and hamlets.
265 34
A HISTORY OF DORSET
TABLE OF POPULATION
1801 — 1901
ADcieat or Geographical
County '
Acre-
age
632,270
1801
114.452
1811
1821
1831
1841 I 1851
124.718 144.494 159,385 175.274 184.380
1861 I 1871
1881 1891 1 1901
189,015 195.774 191,028 194,568 202.984
Parish
Acre-
age
iSoi
1811
1821
1831
1841
1851
1861
1871
1881
1891
1901
Bland/ord, North
Division'^
Anderson, or
597
97
68
78
54
43
59
62
80
64
66
57
Winterborne
Anderson ' J
Blandford St.
1,583*
292
326
358
363
407
367
409
447
364
359
331
Marytt
Bloxworth t . . .
2,827
182
168
210
251
306
283
264
270
261
260
215
Bryanston f • • .
1,512-
99
98
79
»55
144
167
206
232
259
242
300
Dewlisht . . .
2,134
348
361
386
361
389
442
458
494
457
396
312
Durweston . . .
1,850
332
376
454
418
468
406
364
355
376
472
396
Fifehead Nevilleft
791*
72
74
95
lOI
83
95
87
89
120
102
III
Hammoon | . .
693
59
58
71
54
57
73
74
89
76
83
69
Haselbury Bryan %
2,415
454
494
574
611
639
709
761
852
714
648
541
Langton Long
1,811
72
108
160
187
202
•83
■74
208
278
242
295
Blandford %
Pimpeme 1 1 • •
4,510*
316
325
426
489
545
517
495
420
399
39 J
375
Steepleton
773'
18
23
23
36
34
44
59
39
73
61
49
Iwerne t J
Stourpaine % . .
2,375
380
412
499
594
637
621
658
584
563
490
493
Tarrant Hinton J .
2,321
192
217
278
241
278
319
258
281
237
213
1 85
Tarrant
1,962*
■65
186
220
277
334
321
309
330
272
260
212
Keynston t X
Tarrant
1.659
67
63
88
72
123
123
107
105
86
61
80
Launceston
Tarrant Rawston
697
32
57
58
48
64
66
53
56
48
49
44
Winterborne
1,406'
49
60
73
84
96
97
106
95
112
103
9'
Clenston t J
Winterborne
1,974
161
181
203
265
304
313
284
289
250
221
193
Houghton X
Winterborne
1,340*
306
300
364
401
383
407
444
452
480
406
36s
Stickland 1 1
Winterborne
477
—
32
43
41
48
37
39
33
40
28
23
Tomson ' J
Winterborne
2,841*
430
378
493
513
541
595
554
488
422
422
357
Whitchurch f X
Winterborne
848
233
244
245
233
222
224
199
197
145
173
122
Zelstone J
Bland/ord, South
Division''^
Aflfpuddle . . .
3,630
344
451
441
442
507
4S8
455
438
477
434
358
Arne
2,671
96
loS
134
171
168
138
139
123
121
123
183
1 Anciint County. — The County as defined by the Act, 7 & S Vict., cap. 61, which affected Dorset to the following
extent: — (a) added to Dorset (i) Holwell Parish (Sturrainster Division) from Somerset, {2) part of Axminster Ancient
Parish and the whole of Thorncombe Parish (Bridport Division), both from Devon, and (3) part ol Hampreston
Ancient Parish (East Shaston Division), from Hampshire, and (b) transferred from Dorset to Devonshire Stociiland
Ancient Parish.
The area of the County is taken from the 1901 Census Volume, and does not include a part of Chardstock Parish,
added to Devon under the provisions of the Divided Parishes Acts, though necessarily the population of this area
is included.
The population in 1821 is exclusive of 436 militia, who could not be assigned to their respective parishes. (Set
also notes to Axminster, Hooke, Pulham, ToUard Royal, and Poole St. James )
'^ Consistmg of the Hundreds of Coombs Ditch, Pimperne, and Rushmore, and the Liberty of Dewlish.
' The population of Andcnon included that of Winterborne Tomson in 1801.
*> Consisting of the Hundreds of Corfe Castle, Bere Regis, Hundredsbarrow, Hasilor, Rowbarrow, and Winfrith,
and the Liberties of Bindon and Owermoigne.
266
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY
TABLE OF POPULATION, 1801—1901 {continued)
Parish
Acre-
age
1 801
1811
1821
1831
1841
1851
1861
1871
1881
1 891
1901
Blandford, South
Division (cent.)
Bere Regis : —
9,198
1,153
I, '95
1,344
1,483
1,684
1,814
1,624
1,676
1,542
1,416
1,236
Bere Regis ' . .
S,313
936
953
953
1,000
1,169
1,242
1,189
1,253
1,284
1,144
1,014
Milborne Stile-
885
217
242
264
313
290
320
288
310
258
272
222
ham Hamlet
Shitterton
—
127
170
225
252
147
113
—
_
—
Tything'
Chaldon Herring J
3,095
226
247
240
270
285
328
341
332
334
301
271
Church Knowle % .
2,922
330
374
400
438
463
480
5]'
536
562
581
527
Coombe Keynes .
2,011
93
118
128
"3
135
154
163
'43
129
119
120
Corfe Castle . .
8,932
1,344
1,376
1,465
1,712
1,946
1,966
1,900
1,806
1,777
1,708
1,440
Holme, East % . .
1,070
30
39
42
55
59
61
50
66
89
90
75
Kimmendge X • •
995
"5
105
90
124
'54
178
185
'53
170
147
126
Langton
2,316
510
467
628
676
762
762
733
924
892
773
827
Matravers J
Lulworth, East J .
2,304
364
383
353
345
392
450
453
385
364
358
294
Lul« orth. West f t
2,573"
3'2
354
365
360
407
401
446
518
339
415
358
Moreton | . . .
2,157
256
276
256
304
294
227
283
34'
309
356
356
Poxwell ....
834
I 66
67
73
99
i67
{27
69
82
78
86
82
82
Watercombe
435
20
37
59
54
63
32
Extra Par.
Owermoigne 1 1 •
3,271*
215
225
377
379
416
400
420
396
356
332
298
Steeple ....
3,368
206
196
233
237
272
270
262
318
295
3'4
225
Stoke, East f X
3273*
318
403
5'9
56.
590
630
594
613
582
581
495
Studland ....
4.633
332
306
382
435
453
445
595
574
607
432
427
Swan age t • • •
3,097
1,382
1,483
1,607
1,734
1,990
2,139
2,004
2,151
2,357
2,674
3-455
Turners Puddle .
1,998
82
134
98
82
122
109
III
128
119
87
78
Tyneham . . .
2,981
187
200
240
247
250
276
272
269
275
260
238
Warmwell f • •
',531*
105
86
82
87
94
149
148
205
'73
178
'33
Winfrith New-
burgh X
Winterborne
5,015
569
602
764
891
963
1,101
1,020
980
959
869
820
2,559
335
377
464
564
567
584
589
508
520
500
390
Kingston
Woodsford . . .
1,761
132
147
'59
182
158
183
'93
232
183
168
146
Wool X • ■ ■ ■
2,587
383
481
453
467
505
545
590
602
509
521
497
Worth Matravers X
2,712
217
277
325
356
376
396
350
297
302
229
227
Bridport
Division ^
Allington ft • •
594*
716
941
','39
1,300
1,545
',748
1,915
1,890
1,709
1,563
1.43 1
Askerswell ft- •
I,i6i*
170
181
190
228
233
224
223
229
209
194
179
Axminster (part
441
—
—
—
—
30
23
22
9
23
10
19
oi)'t
Beaminster t • •
5,190
2,140
2,290
2,806
2,968
3,270
2,832
2,6r4
2,585
2,'30
1,915
1,702
Bettiscombe t X
667*
47
62
62
65
53
73
76
60
63
59
50
Bincombe . . .
982
129
139
178
177
170
231
194
'99
223
202
155
Bothenhampton t X
823-
334
344
385
424
533
548
546
572
536
493
424
Bradpole*f . .
1,007
575
789
926
1,018
1,357
',391
1,449
1,549
1,567
1,641
1.723
Broadwinsor ' J
6,303
1,094
1,172
1,387
',570
1,661
1,516
1,538
1,499
1,256
1,105
994
Burstock ' t . . .
931
172
164
203
261
307
234
220
201
190
139
134
Burton Bradstock'f
2,680'
654
677
854
1,068
1,201
1,181
1,010
1,036
946
901
715
Catherston
245
20
18
27
27
36
32
34
33
25
21
38
Leweston X
Chardstock t • •
5, 800'
1,09s
1,151
1,256
1,357
1,405
1,387
1,461
',507
1,328
1,126
1,048
Charniouth X • •
445
369
451
607
724
620
664
678
644
626
535
560
CheddingtonI . .
785
46
117
164
178
186
189
176
165
114
112
123
Chideockt . • .
1,978
578
623
715
838
826
884
794
748
674
633
551
Com pton Valence X
1,322
69
70
86
104
116
137
136
146
126
"5
no
Corscombe t • •
5,003"
515
563
632
7'4
810
772
753
755
653
623
543
» The area and the population (1801, i8ii, and 1881-1901) of Shitttrton Tything is included with the main part
of Btre Regis Parish.
«» Consisting of the Hundreds of Beaminster Forura and Redhone, Eggerton, Godderthorne, and Whitchurch-
Canonicorum, and the Liberties of Broadwinsor, Frampton, Lothers and Bothenhampton, and Powerstock.
■• Axminster. — The remainder is in Devon (Axminster Hundred), where the entire population is shown 1801-1831.
The part in this county was added to it by the operation of the Act, 7 & 8 Vict. cap. 6i.
s Broadwinsor and Burstock. — The increased population in 1841 was due to a fair being held at the time of
the Census.
« Burton Bradstock included the population of Sturthill Tything, 1801-1831, which, however, in 1841-1901, is rightly
included with Shipton Gorge. The area is included with that of Shipton Gorge.
267
A HISTORY OF DORSET
TABLE OF POPULATION, 1801— 1901 {continued)
Parish
Acre-
age
1801
1811
1821
1831
1841
1851
1861
1871
1881
1891
1901
Bridport Divi-
sion (cont.)
Frampton t + • •
3.508'
295
331
418
376
391
392
435
474
421
391
378
Hooke'tt ■ ■ •
1,237'
184
206
234
269
268
261
247
202
154
179
'55
Loders 1 1 • • •
2,241"
654
715
857
812
952
986
1,053
1,115
952
880
741
Long Bredy . . .
2,153
241
247
291
333
340
375
250
260
227
215
192
Mapperton % . .
821
72
83
123
112
94
85
92
94
103
87
76
Marshwood \ . .
3,396-
449
538
532
536
554
520
473
423
335
330
271
Mosterton . . .
975
220
255
284
303
391
346
380
321
32'
263
207
Netherbury . . .
6,274
1,505
1,678
1,954
1,942
2,162
2,066
',875
1,809
1,584
1,454
1,253
Perrott, South . .
1,488
251
284
317
381
387
374
363
335
303
250
242
PilsdonJ . . .
660
122
98
100
99
122
95
86
70
92
83
54
Poorton, North f X
664'
75
80
89
89
112
109
92
88
61
63
42
Powerstock t . •
4,078*
802
924
1,010
1,024
1,090
1,044
1,067
1,061
821
776
631
Shipton Gorge ^*t.
1,528'
217
244
311
316
406
408
413
381
312
306
237
Stanton St. Gabriel
1,070
100
123
112
lOI
106
90
75
88
71
48
57
Stoke Abbas, or
2,327
486
496
615
587
808
826
703
671
551
499
419
Stoke Abbott * +
Symondsbury t % •
3.925*
791
860
1,076
1,147
1,316
1,395
',352
1,328
1,221
1,183
950
Thomcombe f X •
4,896*
1,092
1,189
1,322
1.368
J, 425
i,3'7
1,277
1,198
',095
93'
785
WalditchI . . .
295
134
126
141
164
191
176
175
182
192
'75
162
Wambrook J . .
1,867
138
174
201
217
223
245
286
291
263
231
201
Whitchurch
6,113*
932
1,065
1,317
1,399
1,581
'.532
',533
1,365
',053
1,020
868
Canonicorum t
Winterborne Abbas
1,514
156
151
170
133
206
'95
20s
209
198
207
170
Winterbome Came
1,544
26
32
34
62
140
137
116
'34
144
130
103
(part of)'
Wootton Fitz-
1,679*
355
328
446
455
432
361
307
252
224
162
'54
paine t X
WraxaU ....
968
54
76
62
70
65
87
83
88
97
62
47
Cerne Sub-
Division "*
Alton Pancras X ■
2,280
184
168
207
2ro
248
282
270
250
247
229
183
Buckland NewtonJ
6,250
652
695
843
786
914
990
972
1,138
855
873
755
Cattisiock ' t . .
3,073
349
350
382
427
549
594
510
588
53'
520
476
Cerne Abbas * X •
3.'49
847
795
1,060
1,209
1.342
',343
1,185
1,164
925
834
643
Cerne, Nether X •
850
50
62
60
83
71
103
95
89
93
87
62
Cheselbourne t X •
2,580-
268
273
336
352
346
408
432
408
337
243
'94
Compton Abbas J .
857
5«
82
80
69
91
100
"7
98
66
5'
50
Godmanstone X
1,172
127
144
128
152
•53
'79
'75
177
165
159
97
Hawkchurch (part
of) '" :—
Wyldecourt
—
—
238
298
316
367
267
216
250
—
—
—
Tything
Hilton t . . . .
3,044
462
512
610
685
?30
761
833
800
663
567
502
Ibberton ....
1,384
157
168
222
225
232
218
237
226
187
'37
'33
Mappowder X • ■
1,901
229
198
247
308
275
290
238
243
226
'95
207
Melcombe HorseyJ
2,157
118
129
153
172
•73
191
208
190
183
182
'36
Milton Abbas f X ■
2,420*
544
619
767
846
833
9'5
1,014
942
956
787
677
Minterne Magna"t
2,251*
321
367
311
331
354
396
380
352
322
339
306
Piddletrenthide t .
4,497
449
462
590
680
671
800
793
860
747
673
587
Pulham"! . . .
2,416
190
269
272
302
323
288
302
296
269
266
214
Stoke Wake X ■ .
1,087
85
112
'39
147
156
124
112
"4
107
96
77
Sydling St. Nicho-
J35 ;
6,714*
556
593
690
767
822
799
803
803
692
696
527
Sydling St.
5,130
459
495
563
617
675
675
692
668
559
563
414
Nicholas J
Hillfield Cha-
1,584'
97
98
127
150
147
124
111
135
133
133
113
pelryt
' Hooke. — The population given for 1801 is an estimate. '» See note 6, autt
* Winletbornt Came Ancient Farish is situated in Bridport and Dorchester Divisions. The entire area and popula-
tion, 1881-1901, are shown in Bridport Division.
*» Consisting of Buckland Newton. Cerne Totcombe and Modbury, and Whiteway Hundreds and the Liberties of
Alton-Pancras, Piddletrenthide, and Sydling St. Nicholas.
' Cattistocfi and promt St Quintin. — A number of labourers were present in 1851 engaged on railway construction.
^"Hawkchurch Ancient Parish is situated partly in Cerne Sub-Division and partly in Dorchester Division. The
entire area and population 11801 and i88i-igoi) are shown in Dorchester Division
11 Minteint .Magna includes the area and the population (1861-1901) of Gore Wood, which became a Civil Parish
under the Act, 20 V ict., cap 19.
•^ Pulham. — The population given for 1801 is partly estimated.
268
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY
TABLE OF POPULATION, 1801— igoi [continued)
Parish
Acre-
age
1 801
1811
1821
1831
1841
1851
1861
1871
1881
1891
1901
Cerne Sub-
Division (cont.)
Woolland t . . .
1,137
123
119
135
119
124
107
132
128
120
155
142
Wootton Glanvillet
1,705
275
287
309
331
342
328
300
314
237
238
175
Dorchester
Division '"
Abbotsburyt . .
4,872
788
812
907
874
1,005
1,077
1,089
1,065
979
903
707
Athelhampton, or
477
62
54
79
67
74
82
95
94
74
71
62
Admiston
Bradford PeverellJ
2,254
216
225
277
330
355
395
361
405
330
368
290
Bredy, Little '^ .
1,613
134
126
165
196
226
"99
204
193
193
203
Broadway . . .
1,051
210
264
282
385
498
610
614
712
701
774
821
Broadmayne . .
997
215
254
277
362
490
486
506
477
511
479
390
Buckland Ripers X
1,255
57
67
60
115
118
III
113
135
154
143
144
Burleston . . .
366
51
55
63
67
65
71
45
46
55
78
75
Charminster " \ .
4,095'
416
446
556
596
827
905
1,020
1,540
1,516
1,446
1,679
Chelborough, East
967
73
80
96
83
96
100
93
106
113
76
69
Chelborough, West
587
45
44
56
62
58
64
73
72
62
.,57
62
Chickerell, WestJ
1,576
255
321
409
430
531
577
660
812
819
814
943
Chilcombe % . .
45«
23
21
22
35
53
29
24
24
40
24
30
Chilfrome X . . .
971
81
85
106
III
128
119
120
105
91
88
96
Evershotf . . .
1,409"
497
485
567
569
566
606
595
494
500
371
353
Fleet t . . . .
963
125
105
132
122
140
164
160
166
138
138
121
Fordington *t . .
2,749*
888
1,094
1,275
2,030
2,937
3,147
3,258
3,277
4,095
5,076
6,224
FromeSt.Quintin'"
1,032
132
125
120
143
140
184
129
170
188
133
146
Frome Vauchurchf
614"
81
67
105
135
180
171
171
180
121
142
IIS
Hawkchurch
(part oO"*" :—
Phillyholme
4,088
679
533
558
570
453
506
490
416
590
571
463
Tything
Hermitage t • •
751*
123
119
143
124
132
139
13'
128
113
115
100
Kingston Russell"
1,166
59
185
79
76
85
84
63
70
70
61
67
Knighton, West f
2,339*
180
229
229
308
268
270
268
264
312
326
331
Langton Herring J
974
156
153
152
205
260
246
241
232
255
207
■55
Litton Cheney tt .
3,8 > 7*
347
365
424
420
463
507
501
562
458
463
381
Maiden Newton X
2,893
428
428
520
538
729
821
844
856
799
694
606
Melbury Sampford
1,041
82
52
78
53
43
55
60
65
70
108
85
Milborne
1,747
172
192
244
240
287
335
327
291
309
286
239
St. Andrew
Osmington X • ■
2,209
257'
237
3>8
421
467
485
448
449
380
292
334
Piddlehinton ft
2,264'
263
287
358
403
394
390
414
458
397
339
279
Piddletown ft • ■
7,653*
909
870
961
1,223
1,168
1,297
1,241
1,249
1,175
1,077
961
Portisham J . . .
4,5"
490
595
600
663
746
767
704
744
705
634
582
Portland'' . . .
2,897
1,619
2,079
2,254
2,670
2,852
5, '95
8,468
9,907
10,061
9,443
15-199
Preston t . . .
2,625
385
447
508
■555
672
711
723
747
689
678
664
Puncknowle X ■ ■
1,974
267
288
300
424
425
467
502
475
473
427
335
Radipole'« . . .
1,333
151
173
226
382
487
609
691
1,154
1,322
1,782
2,496
Rampisham . . .
2,095
265
347
368
416
420
412
356
393
290
251
191
Stafford, West J .
1,015
144
149
184
184
212
229
220
230
199
206
212
Stinsfordt . . .
2,071
227
339
337
382
392
373
357
352
339
278
278
Stockwood . . .
698
56
39
33
33
28
43
60
54
70
49
30
Stratton . . . .
1,716
233
253
262
310
331
394
351
341
299
329
3"
Swyre J . . . .
1,129
176
207
210
226
231
254
277
260
213
154
148
Tincleton . . .
900
122
125
142
171
187
176
154
•75
146
160
160
Toller Fratnimt:—
2,294
195
187
189
190
200
217
182
214
204
150
173
Toller Fratrum
506
46
45
37
56
67
54
45
58
54
30
47
Wynford Eagle
1,788
149
142
152
134
133
163
137
156
150
120
126
Chap.
Toller Porcorumt .
3,173
340
384
499
540
543
527
500
486
446
417
337
" Consisting of Culliford Tree, George, Puddletown, ToUerford, and Uggscombe Hundreds, and the Liberties of
Fordington, Isle of Portland, Piddlehinton, Sutton Foyntz, Wabyhouse, and Wyke Regis and Elwell.
i' The population of Little Bredy included with that of Kingston hussell in 1811.
n Charminster. — The increase in population in 1871 is attributed to the erection of a County Lunatic Asylum and a
County School.
"» See note 9, ante.
'■"'See note 10, ante.
'* Portland, Wyke Regis, and Weymouth. — The increases in population in 1901 are attributed mainly to the construc-
tion of the breakwater and to other Government works in progress at the date of the Census.
'5 Radipole. — The women and children in the barracks were not included in the population in 1821.
269
A HISTORY OF DORSET
TABLE OF POPULATION, iSoi— 1901 {continued)
Parish
Acre-
age
1801
1811
1821
1831
1841
1851
1861
1871
1881
1891
1901
Dorchester
Division (cont.)
Tolpuddle %■ • ■
2,053
279
305
351
349
368
354
401
360
305
288
282
Upway X . . . .
'i792
363
398
485
618
619
637
646
694
729
752
812
Whitcombe X • •
745
47
51
54
64
52
61
71
5'
68
4^
7"
Winterborne Came
(part of) "' :—
Cripton Hamlet
—
57
44
20
18
17
13
9
24
—
—
—
Winterborne
490
29
30
88
46
48
52
52
7^
73
51
65
Herringstone
Winterborne
652
82
83
77
lOI
91
87
86
III
83
71
56
Monkton
Winterborne
3,546
262
291
342
369
422
434
458
458
430
393
4'5
St. Martin X
Winterborne
1,831
143
148
161
176
189
206
191
•83
148
140
120
Steepleton
Wyke Regis ">'"'=
1,703
45«
570
914
1,197
1,911
1,898
2,025
2,365
2,748
4,182
7,444
S has ton. East
Division "'*
Aimer X • • ■ •
1,170
192
198
188
■ 76
189
185
•55
136
•42
•33
130
Canford Magna : —
16,871*
1,894
1,963
2,696
3,100
3-957
4,065
4,877
6,041
9-3 • 5
•5,569
22.069
Canford Magnaf
8,053'
687
730
882
576
968
961
1,125
1,098
1,107
1,416
1,524
Kinson Chap.f
4,775'
497
517
619
775
846
918
1,201
1,924
3,745
7,278
9,836
Longfleet
1,265
504
485
810
840
1,281
1,287
1,417
1,701
2,207
2,750
4,159
Tything *
Parkstone Chap.
2,838
206
231
385
609
862
899
1,134
1,318
2,256
4,125
6,550
Chalburytt . .
1,344'
134
125
135
157
152
166
194
225
211
164
•59
Charlton Marshall
2,300
239
280
304
324
395
463
553
582
652
569
510
Chettle t . . . .
1,126
no
130
132
129
I •»->
149
• 77
165
130
121
119
Corfe Mullen tt .
3,086-
401
465
544
603
758
763
724
722
694
786
867
Cranborne t • •
13,730'
1,402
1,605
1,823
2,158
2,551
2,737
2,656
2,562
2,3 • 7
2,511
2,464
Crichel, Long . .
2,018
91
92
108
138
120
•44
•45
•3^
•63
•56
•25
Crichel, More t .
1,705'
268
238
267
304
3t6
374
342
334
367
382
334
Edmondsham ft .
1,671"
179
240
262
271
298
286
279
297
230
23 •
213
Gussage All
Saints t J
Gussage
2,907'
301
298
348
373
390
477
496
425
415
4«3
347
2,882'
•95
216
246
233
280
302
3^i
299
259
298
216
St. Michael tt
Hampreston ft
4,948'
683
776
892
883
1,193
1.387
i,34^
1,355
•,393
1,625
',540
Hamworthy J . .
1.077
330
288
313
308
35'
35'
393
474
668
673
1,084
Handleyt . . .
6,014
757
793
831
889
1,076
1,229
1,203
1,162
938
869
802
Hinton Martellft
1,534'
209
211
257
267
290
324
357
381
381
359
309
Hinton Parva, or
439'
33
25
25
36
47
55
54
83
93
70
64
Stanbridgeft
Horton . . . .
2,761
308
326
420
421
448
440
431
454
463
397
33'
Lytchett
3,329'
416
420
609
680
817
878
855
803
692
753
640
Matraversft
Lytchett Minster J
3,325
493
499
544
505
858
878
802
812
848
929
863
Morden X ■ ■ •
7,5 '2
587
572
650
813
1,001
1,018
939
826
809
730
639
Parley, West t • •
3,407'
180
"75
204
235
254
286
268
317
336
329
409
Pentridge " . . .
2,053
239
246
272
241
244
256
295
260
234
196
160
Shapwickft • •
3,670'
408
395
409
462
437
444
446
409
432
402
340
Spettisbury . . .
2,250
336
477
546
667
654
660
688
673
530
562
457
Sturminster
MarshaUtJ
Tarrant Craw-
3,85''
678
662
715
803
902
872
850
847
809
806
721
600'
76
66
76
78
67
77
67
67
61
48
52
ford ft
Tarrant Monkton .
2,176
207
180
236
220
246
255
243
225
212
219
•57
Tarrant Rushton f
1,221*
180
158
206
226
184
196
•73
1 60
170
170
• 49
Wimborne
Minster *t
Wimborne
11,966'
3,039
3,158
3,563
4,009
4,326
4,759
4,807
5,019
5,390
6,127
6,174
St Giles tt
3-978'
350
386
384
384
475
495
436
471
453
405
425
Witchampton tt •
1,481*
374
377
442
478
461
504
58S
552
512
490
5.6
'•^ See note 8, an/f. '"'See note 15, an/<. '^' See note 20, /os/.
"■i Consisting of the entire Hundreds of Badbury, Coftdean, Knowlton, Loosebarrow, Monkton up- Wimborne, and
Wimborne St. Giles, and parts of the hundreds of Cranborne and Sixpenny-Handley.
'? Ptntridge includes the area and population of East Woodyates, which became a Civil Parish under the Extra
Parochial Places Acts.
270
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY
TABLE OF
POPULATION
, 1801-
— 1901 (continued)
Parish
Acre-
age
1801
1811
1821
1831
1841
1851
1 861
1871
1881
1891
1901
Shaston, East
Division (cont.)
Woodlands . .
2,594
364
346
395
423
454
476
495
457
453
416
421
Woodyates, West
817
13
20
9
18
'4
13
20
38
33
49
54
Extra Par.
Shaston, West
Division "'*
Ashmore J . . .
2,376
141
196
166
191
242
237
254
274
275
228
208
Belchalwell t • •
1,308'
134
174
192
205
225
222
158
173
169
161
93
Cann, or Shaston
987
203
267
36s
435
523
5'3
547
574
560
501
479
St. Rumbold X
Compton Abbas t X
1,516'
371
345
368
401
439
465
456
481
402
299
245
Farnhamft. . .
402'
88
76
75
94
"7
128
121
105
101
108
72
Fontmell Magna t
2,853-
628
670
733
743
876
832
875
842
731
637
566
Gillingham : —
8,567-
2,510
2,740
3,059
3,330
3,661
3,775
3-957
4,037
4,131
4,079
4,096
Gillingham . .
7,139
1,873
1,992
2,246
2,520
2,760
2,806
3,036
3,177
3,293
3,303
3,3S0
Bourton
82&'
637
748
813
810
901
969
921
860
838
776
716
Chap.t:
Iweme Minster J .
2,865
497
529
622
634
683
703
712
665
667
661
543
Melbury Abbas X ■
2,374
302
324
345
354
390
444
412
361
328
288
233
Motcombe X ■ • ■
5.063
917
999
1,184
1,405
',538
i>535
1,433
1,453
1,411
1,309
1,273
Orchard, East t
860'
166
'44
193
201
'73
219
227
244
233
166
168
Orchard, West . .
669
120
131
173
183
'57
121
103
102
"3
115
87
Shillingstone, or
2,272
380
385
430
473
512
503
509
534
566
546
532
Shilling
Okeford J
Tarrant Gunville X
3,469
408
444
487
502
518
475
441
395
348
369
303
ToUard Royal (part
of) '^—
Tollard Farnham
897'
174
191
208
220
224
218
217
253
184
193
203
Tythingt
TurnwoodjOr Turn-
1,560'
82
77
72
78
89
103
150
'5'
"5
127
'47
worth ft
Sherborne
Division "•
Batcombe . . .
1,120
155
121
177
178
'7'
227
184
177
'27
123
98
Beer Hackett J. .
918
87
76
78
no
'03
107
96
9'
83
85
60
Bradford Abbas .
1,216
480
516
533
595
652
621
585
578
510
523
391
CastletonJ . . .
71
125
123
174
186
"3
157
59
69
81
5'
46
Caundle,
1,397'
282
294
312
376
36s
397
371
383
335
325
277
Bishop's t X
Caundle Marsh \X
792*
46
58
62
70
77
7'
84
76
97
83
89
Clifton Maybank .
1,296
40
47
66
60
70
72
73
65
80
80
64
Compton, Nether .
918
371
395
458
415
456
454
376
401
387
323
263
Compton, Over
688
'35
'53
149
139
'5'
158
150
127
142
129
"5
Folket: . . . .
1,722'
182
195
269
281
3'8
330
332
3'5
268
327
294
Halstock X ■ ■ ■
3,216
397
433
447
554
626
572
532
520
441
400
357
Haydonft . • •
632'
83
79
109
123
116
109
131
III
lOI
80
89
Hoinestf . . . .
2,062*
160
127
162
'59
139
'63
147
'35
101
118
127
Leweston Extra
. 314
7
} -{
8
18
7
8
17
34
40
30
34
Par.
Lillington X • ■ ■
1,830
128
185
205
191
166
163
'87
140
167
130
Long Burton
1,041
216
287
327
361
386
389
336
372
379
330
283
Lydlinchtt. . .
2,446'
249
320
364
365
419
407
404
369
354
326
279
Melbury Bubb . .
1,243
107
123
129
121
126
157
136
141
147
120
86
Melbury Osmond "
1,222
335
285
3'9
380
404
364
329
385
389
338
249
Oborne X • • ■ •
607
132
"4
123
83
'3'
140
150
147
143
130
152
Purse Caundle J .
1,558
148
'32
142
180
183
177
.85
176
194
160
'45
Ryme Intrinsecatt
1 ,003'
123
'5'
159
171
193
216
217
240
203
163
159
Thornford X- ■ ■
1,465
256
297
329
383
394
410
415
444
4'3
397
370
Up Cerne X ■ ■ ■
1,123
68
74
84
88
107
94
75
109
76
84
65
Wootton, North X ■
668
67
60
64
78
84
75
76
72
69
77
67
'7» Consisting of the Liberty of Gillingham and parts of the hundreds of Cranborne and Sixpenny- Handley.
'8 Tollard Royal A ncimt Piirish.— The remainder is in Wilts (Chalk Hundred). The population of the part in
Dorset is estimated for 1801.
18a Consisting of Sherborne and Yetminster Hundreds, and Halstock and Ryme Intrinseca Liberties.
" Melbury Osmond. — The increase in population in 1871 is attributed to the withdrawal of a regulation made by
the late landlord, prohibiting the farmers from employing labourers with large families.
271
A HISTORY OF DORSET
TABLE OF POPULATION, 1801— 1901 (continued)
Parish
Acre-
age
1801
1811
1821
1831
1841
1851
1861
1871
1881
1891
1901
Sherborne
Division (cont.)
Yetminster : —
4,321'
947
1,052
1,125
1,199
1,246
1,333
1,430
1,519
1,357
1,329
1,085
Yetminster t . •
1,460'
479
508
543
563
628
666
696
790
711
662
557
ChetnoleChap. t
SIT
768
177
239
236
222
227
269
256
243
272
215
Leigh Chap, t: •
1,9S4'
300
367
343
400
396
440
465
473
403
395
313
Slurminster
Division '"
Buckhorn
1,705
307
297
327
403
460
484
509
559
5'7
491
441
Weston J;
Child Okefordtt .
1,752*
498
620
694
612
648
773
783
878
846
820
716
Fifehead
973
240
269
296
241
229
218
200
206
144
130
121
Magdalen %
Hanford Extra
601
II
9
13
10
19
5
6
17
56
43
56
Par.
Hinton St Mary %
1,069
266
306
297
303
361
345
342
328
296
252
245
HolweUt . . .
2,423
293
344
342
405
397
462
495
512
417
377
388
Jwerne Courtney,
1,968
420
518
512
557
605
689
620
651
623
560
474
or Shroton J
Kington Magna J .
1,990
413
464
486
539
616
652
552
516
465
427
399
Manston J . . .
1,373
109
no
140
149
127
134
152
168
1S7
'93
128
MamhuUt . . .
3,838
1, 07s
1,070
1,273
1,309
1,464
1,481
1,444
1,453
1,396
i,4'5
1,286
Margaret Marsh .
552
65
65
84
86
83
77
71
70
68
60
50
Okeford
2,633*
476
470
499
620
675
643
685
701
602
557
600
Fitzpaine ft
Siltontt- ■ • •
1,257'
341
384
409
396
385
368
306
315
245
218
221
Stalbridge X- ■ ■
5,882
1,245
1,331
1,571
1,773
1,882
1,901
1,929
2,096
1,816
1,705
1,504
Stock Gay land tt-
849*
71
52
63
66
60
63
50
66
61
56
60
Stourton Caundle J
2,004
277
304
325
349
394
450
395
409
374
295
234
Stour, East . . .
1,786
380
432
476
531
554
538
426
437
451
444
409
Stour Provost . .
2,815
604
662
800
870
892
869
889
837
726
700
569
Stour, West . .
1,040
132
172
205
219
237
221
215
197
165
158
132
Sturminster- New-
4,546
1,406
1,461
1,612
1,831
1,920
1,916
1,880
1,965
1,859
1,863
1,877
ton-Castle * X
Sutton Waldron X
1,153
188
218
206
236
251
257
248
217
188
175
175
Todber ....
379
73
81
127
119
138
119
122
152
167
138
131
Blandford Town
Blandford
Forum *\X
862-
2,326
2,425
2,643
3,109
3,349
3,948
3,900
4,052
3,79'
4,014
3,850
Bridport Borough
Bridportt ■ • •
98
3,117
3,567
3,742
4,242
4,787
4,653
4,645
4,643
3,936
3,768
3,053
Dorchester
Borough
All Saints X ■ ■ ■
25
626
667
652
667
692
814
946
923
912
8'3
894
Holy Trinity t X ■
1,369*
961
987
1,052
1,269
1,354
1,549
1,601
1,625
1,565
1,301
1,178
St. Peter ....
35
8.5
892
1,039
1,097
1,203
1,150
1,213
1,307
1,389
1,372
',336
Lyme Regis
Borough
Lyme Regis % . .
1,237
1,451
1,925
2,269
2,621
2,756
2,852
2,537
2,603
2,290
2,365
2,09s
Shaftesbury^ or
S has ton, Borough
Holy Trinity t . .
353*
923
1,011
1,115
1,184
J, '45
1,122
1,028
974
988
902
847
St. James X '■ —
1,798
614
595
724
763
924
919
931
1,060
1,001
950
873
St. James . . .
—
340
354
436
536
590
487
589
5SS
543
535
47S
Alcester Liberty
—
274
241
288
227
334
432
342
472
458
415
395
St Peter t . . .
72'
896
1,029
1,064
1,114
I,IOI
1,032
1,001
1,020
895
806
810
19» Consisting of the Hundreds of Brownshall, Redlane, and Sturminster-Newton-Castle, and the Liberty of Stour
Provost.
272
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY
TABLE OF
POPULATION, 1801
— 1901
{continued)
Parish
Acre-
age
1801
1811
i8zi
183:
184 1
1851
1861
1871
1881
1891
1901
Sherborne Town
Sherborne * J . .
6,497
3,159
3,370
3,622
4,075
4,758
5,242
5,793
6,129
5,636
5,690
6,095
Wareham
Borough
Holy Trinity . .
Lady St. Mary : —
Within* . . .
Without t . .
St. Martin : —
Within . . .
Without t . .
2,614
823-
&T
736'
4,053*
20'
4,033'
540
785
302
559
816
334
591
961
379
675
1,120
530
769
1,446
1,370
76
531
326
205
876
1,606
1,529
77
596
367
229
816
1,643
1,568
75
617
358
259
829
1,501
1,444
57
737
395
342
818
1,476
1,430
46
730
364
366
796
1,603
1,513
90
675
361
314
608
1,408
1,343
65
720
413
307
Weymouth and
Melcombe Regis
Borough
Melcombe Regis .
Weymouth Par.
Chap.'*" 20*
103
77
2,350
1,267
2,985
1,747
4,252
2,370
5,126
2,529
5,039
2,669
5,273
2,957
6,498
3,5 '5
7,533
3,828
7,920
3,630
7,626
3,59'
7,473
4,497
Poole, County of
a Town
St. James =". . .
153
4,761
4,816
6,390
6,459
6,093
6,718
6,815
6,604
7,179
7,890
7,670
i'*" See note 15, ante.
'" Weymouth Parochial Chapelry is part of Wyki Regis Ancient Parish (Dorchester Division).
'^' Poole St ] amis. — The population is exclusive of (i) 1,119 males in 1831 employed in registered vessels at the quay,
and (2) 129 males (n belonging to the port) in 1841 also on board vessels at the quay.
General Note
The following Municipal Boroughs and Urban Districts were co-extensive, at the Census of
1 90 1, with one or more places mentioned in the table : —
Municipal Borough, or Urban District
Lyme Regis M.B.
Poole M.B
Portland U.D.
Place.
Lyme Regis Parish (Lyme Regis Borough)
Hamworthy Parish, Longfleet Tything and Parkstone Chapelry
(all in East Shaston Division) and St. James Parish (County
of the Town of Poole)
Portland (Dorchester Division)
27.3
35
AGRICULTURE
^A GRICULTURE in Dorset passed through many vicissitudes during the nineteenth
/^L century, and the lot of the agriculturist, bright as were its prospects in the earlier
/ ^ years, is now cast in very hard places. Indeed, so great has been the change that
J ^ the farmer of 1800, were he alive now, would scarce recognize his county. The
number of sheep kept has dwindled, the corn area has become less, dairying is more
general, the area of permanent and rotation pastures has increased, and many small minor industries
productive of great profit as they were, have completely died out. The period of depression
which commenced in 1879 and culminated in 1895 and 1899 has left its mark on the county's
chief industry, and it is not going too far to say that agriculture in Dorset is by no means in a
prosperous state.
Fortunately the ill effects which the period of depression has left behind it have had the
contrary effect upon the farmer himself. Whereas at the beginning of the century the Dorset
farmer was looked upon by his neighbours as a man slow to change his primitive and antiquated
methods of cultivation, there is now no farmer in the land who is so keen to essay improvements or
who follows the progress of science in relation to the pursuit of agriculture with greater interest.
But the depression has had its ill effect in so far that it caused many farmers to sell their land
in order to provide capital for the continuance of their industry ; and so Dorset, which at one time
was pre-eminently the county of the yeoman, has seen this most useful class of men almost extin-
guished within its borders. In his place has risen an excellent type of tenant farmer. The days of
the ' three-bottle ' man are past ; the farmer of to-day is a keen, hard-working, practical man, who
by dint of early rising and late retiring, and by constant supervision and close application to his
work, manages to snatch a hard-earned livelihood from the land. Conservative he has always been,
and this trait of character is exemplified in his attitude towards a new-comer in the county.
A practical man is welcomed, but years must pass before he is admitted into the fold of the Dorset
farmer. Decades pass before he becomes ' one of them ' ; he is regarded, thought of, spoken of as
a ' foreigner.' This is not a charge of inhospitality, and the stranger who makes the acquaintance
of the native farmer is pleasurably gratified by the hearty welcome he receives.
The climate of Dorset is dry and salubrious rather than mild and bland, and the seasons, except
in spots very sheltered or possessed of very warm soils, are less forward than those in parts of England
not so far south. In the neighbourhood of the coast the rainfall is heavier in the winter than is
needed, whilst conversely there is too little rain in the summer. As a necessary concomitant there
is very little snow or frost during the winter months. Sea fogs, too, hang over the hills, with, it is
suggested, prejudicial effects on the corn.
Dorset, unlike many, perhaps the majority, of our English counties, shows no one soil so pre-
dominant as to constitute a county characteristic. Towards the west on the lowlands it is mostly
a deep rich loam ; on the more elevated land it is a sandy loam intermixed with silex. In the
northern and western parts, the vale of Blackmoor, 19 miles long and 14 miles broad,
contains on various substratal clay foundations, limestone, &c. some fine arable land as well as rich
pasturage. Orchards here produce excellent cider. On the south, in the Isle of Portland and most
parts of the Isle of Purbeck the soil is a stone brash. In the centre of the county the soil on the
lowlands is a deep rich loam. The soil of the downs is generally a light calcareous earth covered
by a remarkably fine turf It is difficult to apportion the areas covered by the different soils, but
some good judges put the percentages at : — Deep rich loam ten per cent. ; a somewhat cold clay is
credited with twenty per cent., and chalk with twenty-five per cent. ; sandy formations occupy
about fifteen per cent, and almost uncultivable rock is reckoned at ten percent. This leaves twenty
per cent, or one-fifth where the soils are very mixed even in a single parish or for that matter on a
single farm. Serious geological disturbances and, geologically speaking, of no very remote date
275
A HISTORY OF DORSET
appear to be indicated by the survey of the soils. Wood covers almost exactly five per cent, of the
county area. Reckoning the area of the county at 632,272 acres we get the following table : —
Acres
Deep rich loam .......... 63,227
Cold clay ....
Chalk
Sandy formations
Rock .
Mixed soil
126,454.
158,068
94,842
63,227
126,454
Total . , . 632,272
It must be remembered that no exact figures are available, and the above are only estimates
which, however, will be found approximately correct.
Agricultural depression reacted on the landowners as well as upon the tenants. It is estimated
that during the nineteenth century rents in Dorset declined in value by a half to a third and the
fee-simple from forty to sixty per cent. In the light sand districts, where there are no special
advantages by way of proximity to a town, it is found that even with careful management, after
making necessary repairs to buildings and paying the land tax, there is practically nothing left
as a net income for the owner, unless he has been fortunate enough to let his house and shooting at
a good rental. In the best parts of the dairy districts the rents do not exceed 40J. per acre, and
some land is let at I 55. per acre ; the arable districts are let at from 251. to as little as ioj. per acre,
all these rentals being tithe free. We do not wish to burden the reader with figures, but the
following comparisons show how the value of rents in Dorset has declined : —
Acres Rent
1S74 1S94
800 ..... ;^666 (with tithes ^162) . ;^300 (lithe free)
186 2^20 2>'7
1,400 ;Ci.+°° £7°o
These three instances will give a fair idea of the decline in rent values. Yet there are few
farms in hand, and the demand for farms up to 80 acres is fairly brisk. For larger farms the demand
decreases in proportion to the number of acres. In regard to leases, the majority of farmers showed
themselves as reluctant at the end of the nineteenth century to take a long lease as they were at the
beginning. In 1 800 leases were rarely granted for a longer period than twenty-one years, and even
then contained a proviso to the effect that the tenant could yield up possession at four, five, or seven
years if he so wished. Yearly tenancy is now the rule rather than the exception, though where a
good tenant desires a lease he rarely has any trouble in getting it. There are few restrictions now
included in the leases, though it is a commentary on the methods of cropping pursued by the Dorset
farmer at the beginning of the nineteenth century when we find in the leases granted at that time
restrictions as to sowing two corn crops together and the cultivation of flax and hemp. Also, it was
stipulated that if two corn crops were sown together they should not be both of the same kind, and
some grass was to be sown with the last crop.
The practice as to entry upon the land has not varied much. The incoming tenant enters
upon the land at Michaelmas and takes the hay crop, though the late occupier took the after-shear.
Formerly an obligation was upon the occupier to sow grass seeds among crops, but this is now
generally done by the incoming tenant. This practice was dropped, as it was found that the out-
going tenant sometimes sowed infertile seeds, or baked the seeds before sowing. Repairs are
mostly done by the owners.
The size of the holdings has increased. Since 1873, the first year for which accurate returns
are available, the average size of the holdings has increased from 86 acres to 95 acres in 1906.
Dorset is amongst the first counties in showing a large number of holdings of 1,000 acres and over.
There are several farms in the county, held by father and sons and farmed as one holding, of over
2,000 acres, and one even reaches the huge size of 6,000 acres. Farms of 1,000 acres are quite
common. As showing the decline in the number of acres farmed by landowners and yeoman
farmers it may be mentioned that in 1871 an estimate gave 200,000 acres as farmed by their
proprietors, whilst in 1906 the total was only 43,296 acres. In 1873 the Returns gave the acreage
of inclosed land at 466,120 acres; in 1906 the figures stood at 476,140, showing that the
inclosure of land was still on the increase. The increase in the size of the holdings is to be
accounted for, too, by the fact that the number of men cultivating land has decreased. In 1873
the number of farmers making returns was 5,420 ; in 1906 the number stood at 5,012.
276
AGRICULTURE
We are indebted to Mr. R. H. Rew of the Board of Agriculture, whose name will be familiar
to Dorset men, for the following interesting Return, which gives proportion per i,ooo acres of land
in the county, and the use to which it is put. The figures are for the year 1906 : —
Acres
Arable 271
Grass ........... 497
Woods ........... 62
Hills and Heaths 45
875
All other uses .......... 125
1,000
Agricultural statistics in Great Britain do not go back very many years, but the revolutionary
period in our agriculture lies within the dates for which we have fairly precise returns, so that the
first three-quarters of the nineteenth century may be briefly dealt with in Dorset as elsewhere.
From 1 80 1 to 181 5 was a war period, with a feverish effort to cultivate as much land as possible
for wheat, barley, oats, and pulse. With three per cent, consols down to sixty, it was not a time
for government expenditure on statistics, agricultural or otherwise, and we shall never know
exactly what areas were cultivated. All published estimates must be decreed void by reason of
uncertainty. Owing to the war with France and the consequent self-dependence of the country,
good and bad harvests exerted an extraordinary effect. Thus in February 1801 at Dorchester
200J. per quarter was paid for wheat ; but in October 701. was accepted.
In 1809 we get a curious sidelight on the want of technical instruction. Dorset labourers
were paid 9/. a week only, but girls could get 30J. a week, if clever, at plaiting straw. On
20 April of this year three days' incessant rain began in Dorset, and caused the worst floods since 1773.
The winter was wonderfully cold and the autumn-sown wheat was often killed, though a Dorset
farmer notes in 1810 that the wheat berry of what ripened was remarkably fine. But the general
result was so bad that it was estimated the crop would not exceed 10 bushels an acre.
In 1 8 1 5 began the great struggle for Free Trade. The Conservative government then in
office passed a law prohibiting wheat imports when the price was under 80J. a quarter. As the
then average was 65J. jd. per quarter the import trade was practically killed. The issue, as we all
know, was determined in 1846. Thirty years' struggle had embittered feeling to the verge of civil
war, and the victorious party showed no more moderation on their side than their opponents had done.
It was 'all or nothing' with the combatants ; yet, though the strife ended in 1846, it was not until
1879 that British cereal agriculture really felt the full effect of the change. As late as 1877, or
thirty-one years after the Free Trade Act, the average price of wheat was 565. ()d. a quarter, or
2s. id. higher than in 1846, the actual year of the statute. Thus it comes about that the full
figures for Dorset which we have for 1873 ^""^j although only thirty-three years old, of all the
service that we want, for they relate to a time when foreign competition had made no inroad worth
mentioning on the county agriculture. It will be well, therefore, to take the separate branches
of agriculture in their respective divisions and place figures and comments together.
The cultivation of corn crops of all kinds has steadily declined, with the exception of the
quantity of oats and rye sown. Oats show the greatest percentage of increase, though that for rye
is but slightly smaller. In 1873 the percentage of corn crops to all crops was 24-8. In 1906 it
was 16-07 ^■'^h a total of 76,551 acres under grain. With the exception of the year 1894, which
shows an increase over the preceding year of 3,500 acres, the Returns show a steadily diminishing
quantity of about, in the earlier years, 3,000 acres per year, and latterly of about 1,000 acres. Bad
seasons, low prices, and the laying down of land to pasture have all been responsible for this decrease,
and it is questionable, when one comes to examine Dorset agriculture from the point of view of the
Dorset farmer, whether he is not proceeding on the right lines. So far as feeding stufisare concerned
he can buy all the food he requires as cheaply as he can produce it. Indeed, there are farmers in
Dorset who say that had they not to keep tiieir land in cultivation it would pay them better not to
grow corn crops at all.
Of the corn crops the principal, of course, is wheat, though it does not cover so large an
acreage as some others. In 1873 wheat was grown on 46,740 acres. Even at that time wheat
was unremunerative, and the total area was steadily diminishing. In 1875 the area was
44,384 and in 1876 41,329 acres, a decline of 3,000 acres. From 1876 to 1879 the decline,
however, was only about 1,500 acres, but the latter superlatively bad year had its reflex in the
Returns of 1 880, which give the total area of wheat as only 35,909 acres, a difference of 4,000
acres. Then the decline steadily continued year by year until 1899, when wheat rose to a total of
277
A HISTORY OF DORSET
25,060 acres, only to drop the next year, however, to 21,817 acres. In 1906 the figures stood at
20,254 acres, and there is very little hope that it will ever rise much above that figure. As prices
are at present, a farmer, at all events in Dorset, cannot cultivate wheat to compete with the imported
article, and he can buy cheaper from the ship at Poole or Bristol than he can grow.
I Like wheat, the barley area has steadily diminished. Bad seasons have had their effect, and
Dorset farmers find it difficult to produce barley which can successfully compete with that produced
by other counties and other countries. That mainstay of the barley-growing farmer — the brewer —
is finding that he can use substitutes for barley which are cheaper, and where he finds he must have
barley he prefers foreign barley which is thinner skinned, of a clearer colour, and more even quality.
Tlie Burton brewer, it is said, is becoming fonder of Dorset barley, but his recognition of it is very
slow, and one or two bad seasons have made him very shy of the Dorset crop. Still, were brewers
to encourage growers to produce good barley, there is not much doubt that the acreage under barley
in Dorset at the present time would very materially increase.
In 1873 barley was cultivated on 38,269 acres. Two years later the area had increased to
41,329 acres, whilst in 1879 it had risen to 42,104 acres. Again that disastrous year shows its
effect in a reduction of over 1,500 acres. In 1885, in spite of the repeal of the malt tax, the
acreage had decreased to 34,982 acres, but in the following year, owing no doubt to crop rotation,
it had risen to 35,097 acres. From 1890 down to the present time, with the exception of 1894,
which shows an increase over the previous year, the area under barley has shown 'a steady fall, until
in 1906 the low figure of 21,995 acres was reached.
From the point of view of the tillage of the land the Returns of the acreage under oats afford us
the most gratification. This, during the period from 1873 to 1906, shows over fifty per cent,
increase, due to the more extended use of oats as feeding stuff and to the enhanced value of oat
straw, which has come to be recognized as equal to wheat straw. In dealing with comparison of
prices between the two crops it must be remembered that oats give about 33 J per cent, higher
return per acre than does wheat, and this usually more than compensates for the difference in price
per quarter. Slight fluctuations there have been in the number of acres under oats, but generally
speaking the Returns show a steadily increasing number of acres that are being cultivated under
oats. In 1873 the number of acres sown was 20,992; in 1906 31,311. With the exception
of 1879, which shows a total of 20,036, the figures of the succeeding years have not been below
those of 1873.
The rye area has been almost a negligible quantity, at least so far as a corn crop is concerned.
The cultivation of rye 'went out' to a great extent between 1793 and 181 5, and has never since
really come back into favour in Dorset. The use of other than wheat bread became, with a
shilling loaf, the recognized sign of poverty, and as such was thrown off with the first return of good
times. The areas given below, however, of course only refer to rye allowed to ripen into a corn
crop. Rye cut green appears under a pastoral heading. On the figures it would appear that rye as
a corn crop is slowly regaining popularity, but with the increased tendency in Dorset to lay more
land down to grass it is doubtful whether it will ever rise to any prominence. In 1873 but 643
acres were cultivated for rye ; in 1906 882 acres were sown. But during this period the areas
fluctuated somewhat largely. In 1883 653 acres were down to rye ; in 1885 only 575, whereas in
the following year the total was 773 acres. Again in 1893 a total of 1,457 ^^^i"" ^^^ sown with
rye, whilst in the following year the acreage rose to 2,996. In 1903 the number of acres was
1,022, and in the following year 1,049 acres.
When we come to consider the cultivation of green crops the decline in the acreage cultivated
is as noticeable as it is in the cultivation of grain crops. The full total of acres under green crops
in 1873 was 60,871. From that figure down to the 45,957 acres cultivated in 1906 is a bigdrop^
which is particularly noticeable, of course, in the principal crop of swedes and turnips. Mangolds,
however, show an increase, as will be seen from tlie figures. Potatoes have declined, as has the
cultivation of the minor green crops. The diminution in the number of sheep has no doubt
exercised some influence on the reduction in the acreage of roots, whilst the bad season of 1886,
when the ravages of fly spoilt the crop, and the bad season of 1899, "^^7 ^^""'^ had something to do
with the reduction in the area. The total for all green crops in 1873 included minor acreages not
under the three chief crops. Among these minor acreages the most important were tares, lucerne,
and rye cut green. These came to 8,794 acres altogether, but were not divided. The Returns of
1906 are better divided. Major Craigie's figures being as follows: Cabbage 491, kohl rabi no,
rape 1,606, tares 4,649, and lucerne 323 acres, giving a total acreage to the minor crops of 7,179,
as against the 8,794 acres in 1873.
Land cultivated for potatoes has decreased in acreage in common with swedes and turnips. It
is difficult to give a hard and fast reason for this reduction ; their value as cattle feed is a negligible
quantity, but with the increase in the number of pigs kept in the county it would seem likely to be
profitable to continue to grow potatoes to the same extent as formerly. In 1873 the total number
278
AGRICULTURE
of acres was 2,812, but in 1906 this area had diminished to 1,594, the lowest figure since the
Returns were initiated. The year 1885 showed a temporary rise to 2,453 ^^res, but in the
following year the total went down to 2,226, and since then has steadily descended to its present
level.
Swedes and turnips, surely one of the most profitable crops for a sheep-rearing county such as
Dorset is, show a decline of in round figures 10,000 acres since 1873. At no time do the Returns
show any check to the steady diminution in the area. Bad seasons have not been responsible for
the decline in the number of acres ; the rate of decrease has been steady and permanent. Dorset,
as a county, was rather slow to take up the cultivation of turnips, but with the general practice
prevalent in the county of feeding sheep off the land, it is difficult to see what sufficient reason
there is for the diminished area. Of course the smaller number of sheep kept and the larger number
of cattle is responsible primarily, but even this would hardly be the explanation of the full reduction.
Labour difficulties have also played their part, and the consequence is that a crop which is essential
to a sheep-breeding county is slowly declining. The acreage shown in the Returns for 1873 was
42,750 ; in 1879 40,680, and about that figure in 1880. The year iSgo showed a reduction to
36,919 acres, but in 1894 the area had risen to 37,150 acres. In 1900 the area was 32,371,
whilst in 1906 the figures had reached their present level of 30,709 acres.
Whilst one notes with regret the decline in the acreage of swedes and turnips, the increase
which has taken place in the cultivation of the mangold is a satisfactory feature. It may be that its
increased popularity is due to the greater results it gives to heavy manuring and the fact that it is a
hardier crop. In any case the extended area under cultivation for mangolds compensates in some
degree for the decreased area of swedes and turnips in so far as sheep feed is concerned. The year
1873 gives the total acreage as 5,183, and with the exception of the years preceding and immedi-
ately following 1880, when the acreage went down to 4,826, that figure has remained the lowest
total. The biggest jump occurs in the year 1900, when the total was 6,167 ^cres as against 5,769
in 1899. It may be taken that the increase is of a permanent nature, for the 1906 figures give
6,475 acres.
In regard to the minor crops no comparisons of any value can be given, but it is worth while
recording that of the minor green crops only one, to wit tares, has received any great degree
of attention from the Dorset agriculturist. Cabbage, which included thousand-headed kale, &c.,
is grown very little, and kohl rabi hardly at all. The latter does not find much favour amongst flock-
masters, as the trouble necessary to prepare it for feeding is not recompensed by the value of the
food. Lucerne is practically only grown as a stand-by, though its cultivation can be traced back to
the beginning of the nineteenth century, for Arthur Young in his Six Weeks' Journey through the
South of England speaks of a fine field of lucerne near Wareham.
Dorset in 1873 devoted 712 acres to flax, 9 acres to hops, and left 7,652 acres of arable land
uncropped. In the earlier part of the nineteenth century one or two years' fallow was looked upon
as being necessary to the well-being of land, but the agricultural scientists who have been teaching
that bare fallow is unprofitable and bad farming may claim, in this agricultural county at all events,
to have done good service, for in 1906 there were but 3,310 acres uncropped. In regard to hops,
that culture has died out, foreign competition being too strong. The cultivation of flax, too, has
been relegated to the past, foreign competition being one cause, and scarcity of labour, combined
with the expensiveness of production, being another. As late as 1893 we get 36 acres of flax in
the Returns, but for the past twenty years the cultivation of flax in Dorset may be said to have been
discontinued. In 1838 there were eighteen flax mills in Dorset, employing 656 hands. Eighty
tons of flax were used weekly in a circuit of 20 miles round Bridport, one-tenth of which was
grown in the neighbourhood.
Dorset, as a county, has not followed the culture of fruit to any great extent. The total of
orchards in 1873 was 3,446 acres, and in 1906 4,492. Apples are grown, chiefly for cider, and
the orchards are mostly situated in the west of the county. Nursery and market gardens, too, are
but a minor consideration, the distance from any of the great centres of population being too great
to allow of a lucrative return. The total does not much exceed 500 acres.
It is in considering the figures in regard to the acreage under grass that the great change which
has overtaken the pursuit of agriculture in Dorset is most apparent. The scarcity and high cost
of labour, the great increase in dairy-farming, and the unremunerative prices of corn crops have all
aided in inducing the farmer to let his land go out of cultivation of grain and root crops. It might
be imagined that some part of the increase is due to the greater recognition of the value of grass
and clover as a rotation crop, but when figures are examined it will be found that less land has
been broken up for clover and grasses and that the total acreage of permanent pasture has consider-
ably increased. Rotation grasses have decreased in area by about one-sixth, whereas meadow and
permanent grass lands have increased by nearly one-half. Out of, roughly, 480,000 acres cultivated
in Dorset, pastures are responsible for 352,877 acres, leaving but some 130,000 acres for cultivation
279
A HISTORY OF DORSET
of other crops. In 1873 ^^^ *°*^' of grass-land was 282,515 acres, and with the exception of the
)ear 1880, which showed a decrease of about 1,000 acres from the 1879 figures, the total
number of acres under grass has steadily increased until it reached its present high figure. In
1906 some 122,429 acres, or nearly one-third of the total, were reserved for hay.
Rotation grasses and clovers form part of every field-course followed in Dorset. Some-
times it may be a quarter or an eighth, but there is little doubt that the introduction of one and
two years' ley has to some extent saved the rotation grass area from diminishing in even greater
ratio than it has done. The decrease in the acreage of bare fallow is to some extent due to the
farmer recognizing that more benefit is done to the land by sowing a grass crop than by allowing it
to lie uncultivated. Yet there are many instances of farmers sowing grass for one or two years'
ley with the intention of forming it into arable land later on and being forced to let the land lie in
grass and become permanent pasture on account of the scarcity of labour. In all these reduc-
tions, too, the lack of capital is distinctly traceable, the cost of implements, seeds, and manures often
being beyond the farmer's means. In 1873 the total number of acres sown with rotation grasses
and clovers was 50,401. The bad season of 1897 showed an increase to 52,239 acres, but
the following year the acreage went down to 51,656. The year 1885 shows a jump to 52,157,
whilst 1886 shows a further increase to 53,285 acres. There the increase ends and the decrease
begins. In 1890 only 51,556 acres were sown, whilst in the following year the total was but
50,304 acres. The number of acres remained about the same until 1894, and the total of that
year shows a decrease of over 4,000 acres on the preceding year's figures. That total remained
about the same until 1900, when it was just under 47,000 acres, but the decline in the acreage of
rotation grass is steadily continuing, for the 1906 figures give the total as but 42,528 acres.
A consideration of the total number of acres of permanent pasture in the county of Dorset
would infallibly lead one to the conclusion that it was essentially a county in which the breeding
and fattening of stock was carried on to a greater extent than any other branch of agriculture.
Yet the breeding and fattening of cattle has not been responsible entirely for the increase. When
we consider that since the first reliable figures were available over 20,000 acres have gone into
permanent pasture every ten years, we can only conclude that there must be a multiplicity of
reasons which have been responsible for the change. From 232,114 acres in 1873 to 310,349
acres in 1906 is a big jump, and that it is no ephemeral condition is indicated by the steady rate of
increase. The figures for 1875 showed the total at 262,427, but the year following saw a
reduction to 254,146. However, this was but a temporary drop, and in 1885 we find the total
acreage up to 277,503 and the following year up to 280,215 acres. Here, in five years, we have
an increase of 23,000 acres. From that year the rate of increase has shown an addition averaging
over 1,000 acres a year. The total for 1906 is the highest figure as yet reached in the proportion
of permanent pasture to other land in the county.
In considering the number of horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs in the county during the nineteenth
century we have to record an increase in the number of each class with the exception of sheep, and
it is sad to notice that Dorset, pre-eminently a sheep county and one which gives its name to two
distinct breeds of sheep, is gradually losing place in the first rank of sheep counties. Cattle, on the
other hand, have increased by nearly one-third, dairy-farming being chiefly responsible. The number
of horses, too, shows an increase of about one-seventh, and the number of pigs has increased by about
one-fifth. With the large number of acres of pasture Dorset could carry more stock per acre than
it does at present. The diminution in the number of acres of roots cultivated may be to some
extent connected with this decline in the number of sheep, but it is certain that the smaller number
of stock carried per acre now is not productive of so much good to the land as the larger number
carried in years gone by. The reduction in the quantity of manure must be a serious matter, and
the use of artificials cannot compensate for the loss of what is the most valuable of all manures. In
all the percentages used in the following remarks it must be remembered that ' per acre ' as used
in the Board of Agriculture Returns means per 100 acres.
Dorset as a county has not gone in to a great degree for the breeding of shire horses. As
early as 1800 the county surveyor for Dorset of that time referred to the class of horse used as being
too light, and said that the breed might be considerably improved. The breed has been considerably
improved, but Dorset is not a county in which the breeding of horses is likely to attain to the highest
standard. The Compton Stud has done much in the improvement of the horses of the county, and
the Blandford Farmers' Club has also assisted in this work by keeping an entire horse for the use of
its members at a reduced fee. In 1873 the Returns showed Dorset as possessing 14,604 horses,
whilst in 1906 the number had risen to 16,650. This gives a percentage in 1873 °f 3'' ^° ^^e
acre and in 1906 of 3-5 to the acre. The percentages are calculated in proportion to the acreage
under crops, bare fallow, and grass. The rate of increase in face of these percentages has not been
so great in proportion to the number of acres as in proportion to the total number of horses kept.
Numerical progress has been steady, with no great fluctuation. In 1875 the total was 15,356 j
280
AGRICULTURE
in 1880, 16,192 ; whilst in 1885 it had fallen to 15,794. The year 1890 saw the total up to
15,970 and 1900 up to 15,558.
It was after the disastrous year 1879 that farmers in Dorset commenced to pay greater atten-
tion to dairy supplies. That year reduced farmers' capital to such a degree that many of them
found it imperative to turn their attention to a branch of agriculture which would yield them an
immediate return for their outlay. In addition the growth of the large towns and seaside resorts
was instrumental in increasing the production of milk by reason of the growing demand which the
workers in the towns created. It must not be supposed that the increase in the number of cattle
has been entirely with a view to milk-production, but this object has no doubt been the most
important factor in bringing about the present situation. It is impossible to give figures for early
years showing the growth of the milk supply from Dorset, which goes to London, Bournemouth,
Weymouth, and other seaside places within or near the county, but some idea may be gathered
from the fact that during 1906 there were dispatched by the London and South Western Railway
to London and elsewhere nearly 5,000,000 gallons of milk. As this would not represent the whole
output of dairy produce, butter and cheese having to be considered, the value of dairy-farming to
the county is at once apparent.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century the practice of the farmer keeping dairy cows was
to rent them to a dairyman, who was in effect a small holder. This practice still continues in
places, but as it was almost exclusively a product of large holdings the gradual levelling down
of the farms has done away with the necessity for the dairyman, and the farmer now generally
deals with the produce of his cows himself. Dorset butter is, of course, famous, though this
branch has suffered, as in other counties, from foreign competition. Cheese, too, has somewhat
declined, but high prices are gradually making the farmer turn his attention more to this product.
Attention might well be drawn here to the famous ' blue vinny ' cheese of Dorset. It is
extremely popular in the county, but it is very difficult to obtain outside the county area. In
appearance it is similar to Stilton, but has a more delicate flavour and in the opinion of the
Dorset man is infinitely superior.
The fattening of cattle for stores, too, has made great strides, especially in the vicinity of the
two great markets of Dorchester and Wimborne. Sales are held at Dorchester every Saturday and
at Wimborne every Tuesday.
In 1873 the number of cattle totalled 75,232 with a percentage of i6*i to the acre (every
100 acres). In 1906 the total was 94,405, while the percentage had risen to nearly 20 per acre.
Up to 1880 the figures varied but little, but in the five years ending 1885 there was an increase of
15,000. The dry season of 1893 shows its effect in the figures for 1894 which go down to 79,955.
By the year 1899 the numbers had risen to 89,128, but another bad season sent the figures down to
87,904 in 1900. However, by 1906 the number of cattle kept had jumped to its present high
figure of 90,405.
The old breed of long-horned cattle, which at one time was almost the only breed in the
county, is practically extinct, only one herd being known to exist now. Shorthorns were introduced
in 1870, and this breed is now the most common. There are several fine herds of Shorthorns to be
seen within the county and one or two pedigree herds. Devon cattle are mostly to be seen in the
west, but Shorthorns practically monopolize the rest of the county. Herefords are not popular, but
at one time the popular dairy cow was a cross between a Devon and a Hereford, the latter for size
and the former for constitution. The general all-round utility of the Shorthorn, both as a dairy
cow and for fattening, has gradually made it more popular than the crossbreds, and it may be said
that the majority of the cattle in the county are Shorthorns.
Sheep in Dorset enjoy the advantage of roaming over the chalky downs which suit the famous
Southdown breed so well, and the manner in which they thrive in the county is evidence that
Dorset is peculiarly adapted for sheep-breeding. It is all the more to be regretted therefore that the
number of sheep within the county has shown such a great decrease. Much of this is to be
attributed to the bad seasons which force farmers to sell regardless of price in order to find capital
to continue cultivation of the land. In taking to sheep-breeding a farmer has to consider that he
sees no return for his capital for twelve months. Possibly he may get a larger return in the end, but as
has often happened in the past a farmer has had to take to some other branch such as milk production
from which he gets an immediate return. Another factor has been the cutting up of large farms
into smaller holdings and thus destroying what is essential to successful sheep-breeding — a good run.
The first reason, however, apart from the effect of bad weather on the sheep, is the more true to fact,
as witness the drop from 427,831 sheep in 1873 and 498,Oioin 1879 to 463,864 in 1880, a decline
of nearly 35,000 in one year. Farmers in Dorset do not desire a repetition of 1879. Its influence is
written largely in other branches besides sheep. Till 1885 the numbers remained much about the
same, being in that year 460,371, but in the following year 1886, due to the failure of the turnip
and swede crop and a late winter, the numbers dropped to 448,635. In 1890 the figures had
2 281 36
A HISTORY OF DORSET
fallen to 418,945, but the next year saw a rise to 438,567. In 1893 occurred the drought which
was, however, not responsible for the figures of that year being down to 410,134, but in 1894 we
get its full effect, there being nearly 30,000 sheep less, the figures standing at 383,693. In 1899
there was a failure in the turnip crop and a cold and backward spring which inflicted great hardship
on the sheep. Its ill effects are particularly shown in 1 900 when the figures were 360,491, and it
is an important fact to notice, especially when remembering the fecundity of Dorset sheep, that in
the Returns for 1900 there were only 135,580 lambs as against 174,732 ewes. Compare this
with the figures for 1906, viz. 334,605, out of which 177,576 were under one year old, and it
needs little deduction to see in what sore straits the sheep were in 1900.
Of the breeds in Dorset, for the purpose of this article only two, those directly connected
with the county, need be considered. These are the Dorset Horn and the Dorset Down sheep.
There are numerous flocks of Hampshire Downs in the county, as also one or two flocks of
Southdowns.
Of the two breeds that of the Dorset Horn is numerically stronger within the county. The
Dorset Horn Sheep Breeders' Association was established in 1891, and this society has affiliated to
it the American Dorset Horn Sheep Breeders' Association and the Continental Dorset Club, both
with head quarters in America. The favour in which this breed is held extends not only to the
adjoining counties of Somerset and Devon but also as far afield as New Zealand, Australia, Canada,
and the United States.
The history of the Dorset Horn sheep goes back to the earliest records. In the Observations
of Husbandry, published in 1757, Edward Lisle remarked on the fecundity of the Dorset Horn
sheep. William Ellis in his Shepherd's Guide, published in 1749, speaks of the Dorset variety
as ' being especially more careful of their young than any other.' In Professor D.ivid Lowe's work
on The Domestic Animals of the British Islands, coloured illustrations of Dorset Horn sheep were first
<Tiven. These were in the possession of Mr. Michael Miller of Plush, who owned the last pure
flock of original Dorset Horn sheep in the kingdom. They were characterized as a breed of sheep
which, from time immemorial, had been naturalized in the county of Dorset. They had white
legs and faces ; their wool was fine and it weighed about 4 lb. the fleece. Their limbs were some-
what long, but without coarseness ; their shoulders low, and loins deep and broad ; their lips and
nostrils black, though with a frequent tendency to assume a fleshy colour. They were a hardy
race of sheep, docile, suited to the practice of folding, and capable of subsisting on scanty pastures ;
their mutton was excellent.
The property of Dorset Horn sheep which remarkably distinguishes them is the fecundity of
the females and their readiness to receive the male at an early season. They produce from 130 to
180 per cent, of lambs, and have been known, like the sheep of some warmer countries, to produce
twice in the year. They will receive the male as early as the months of April and May, so that
the lambs are born in September or October, and ready for the butcher by Christmas. Within the
last thirty years they have supplanted the Hampshire and Southdowns, especially in the neighbour-
hood of Dorchester and on those farms that are on the chalk and have good water meadows or
pastures. They have within the past few years, owing to the larger area of turnips grown, and the
use of cake and corn, together with careful selection, largely increased in size, proof, and weight of
wool. The improved breed now comes to maturity quite as early as the best Downs, and may be
described as straight and deep in the body, the ribs well arched, the loin broad, and the neck well
set on. They are full in the shoulders, without coarseness, and the hind limb well let down
towards the shank, forming a good leg of mutton with small bone. The general features are pleasing,
the head standing well up, the horns thin with a symmetrical curl, the eye quick and lively, the face
rather long and thin, and the lips and nose pink or Hesh-coloured. They are excellent nurses, good
folding sheep, and the mutton is well-flavoured ; although they have been so much improved they,
nevertheless, retain their hardiness and fecundity.
The general management of the breed in Dorset is as follows : — about one to one-and-a-half
ewes are kept to the acre, according to the quality of the land and the amount of water-meadow
pasture. They require plenty of room, and are generally allowed to roam the pasture in the
day-time, being brought onto arable at night. The general lambing time for flock ewes is about
Christmas and up to the middle of January. The off-going ewes are sold in lamb in September
and October and lamb down in October and November. The flock ewes generally lamb down on
the grass ; they are then sent on to roots, the lambs being allowed to run forward. The lambs
remain with the ewes till some time in May, and then go on to sound grass till the fodder crops,
rye, vetches, or trifolium, are fit to feed. They remain on vetches till about the end of June. As
most of the lambs are fattened, they receive as much cake and corn as they will eat, to fatten them as
quickly as possible. The general allowance is about ^ to J lb. of cake or corn per day, with some
peas. In a good season, with such keep, they would be ready to turn out about the first week in
April. Lambs born in October and November receive good feeding and are generally ready for the
282
AGRICULTURE
butcher when from ten to twelve weeks old, when they average lO to 141b. per quarter, and go
to the London market. They then make from 401. to 50J. each.
The off-going ewes are fattened off as well as the lambs, and, when highly kept, are ready for
market at the same time, and average from 22 to 28 lb. per quarter. Dorset ewe lambs have
been bred from under twelve months old, the rams being put with them in November and
December, and their produce being fit for the butcher in the following midsummer, realizing
from 28;. to 35J. each.
This breed does better on the high sour lands than Down sheep, there being little risk in
lambing them. The lambs yield from 2^ to 3 lb. of wool and the ewes from 5 to 7 lb., and
yearling rams from 10 to 141b. The wool of the Horn lamb is much prized on account of its
whiteness and the fine point it possesses, whilst the fleeces command better prices than those of
most other breeds. The principal fair for the sale of Dorset Horn sheep, especially early lambing
ewes, was formerly Weyhill, to which place they used to be driven a distance of fifty or sixty
miles, and it was by no means uncommon for lambs to be born on the road. They do not
undertake such a journey now, nearly the whole of them being brought on the last Thursday in
September to Dorchester Poundbury Fair, established in 1848, at which prizes are given for the
best ewes. Some 13,000 to 16,000 sheep may be seen at this fair, and some of the ewes realize
from 48^. to 7 5 J. per head. A large annual sale of ewes, rams, and ram-lambs is held at Dorchester
in the month of May. On these occasions ram-lambs fetch from five to twenty guineas each, and
the best rams from fifteen to forty guineas each. Though the Dorset Horn sheep had a distinct
class to itself at the Royal Agricultural Society's Show held at Battersea in 1862, it was not until
1867 that this recognition was permanently established. Since then they have been regularly
exhibited and prizes offered at the Royal and Bath and West of England Agricultural Societies and
local shows. It is impossible to give the number of Dorset Horn sheep in the county, either for
past or present years, but it may be sufficient to state that the Flock Book for 1906 contains the
history of 45,302 ewes, 19,649 ewe hoggets, and 839 pedigree rams.
The breed of sheep known as the Dorset Down sheep, though enjoying but slight notoriety in
present times, can trace its origin back to some eighty years ago. Its present type is rather an
evolution of the Hampshire Down breed, in fact it was in its earlier days known as the ' Water-
combe Breed of Improved Hampshire Downs.' Its establishment is due to the efforts of Mr. Thomas
Homer Saunders of Watercombc, near Dorchester, who considered that the Down sheep then bred
in the county, although a ' kindly' race of sheep, were deficient in size. He therefore selected the
largest ewes he could find, and crossed them with rams of still larger size, and, by judicious crossing,
in time he created a type of sheep that ultimately became known under the above title, which took
its name from Mr. Saunders's farm. The sheep bred by Mr. Thomas Homer Saunders and
Mr. Humfrey of Chaddleworth, near Newbury, who had experimented and produced a similar type
of Down sheep, were largely introduced into the Down flocks of Dorset, and also into many of the
flocks of Hampshire and Wiltshire, and in return the Dorset breeders have, to a large extent,
resorted to the leading flocks of those counties for requisite changes of blood, with the result that the
Dorset Down breed now registered, although of finer bone and often of lighter colour, is closely
related to, and possesses the principal features of, the Hampshire Down type, modified by local
conditions.
A good type of Dorset Down should be free from all coarseness, the chief points being a rather
long, full, clean face and under-jaw, with a bold bright eye and full muzzle ; the ears should be
fairly long, thin, pointed, whole-coloured, and carried well above the level of the eyes ; the neck
strong and well set on. The animal should be fairly fine-boned, and covered with a close fine
fleece going well down to the hocks and knees, round the cheeks, and between the ears and
on the forehead. It is desirable that the face, ears, and legs should be of a greyish-brown
colour. The Dorset Down should embody the good points common to all breeds of sheep, but
should be especially good through the heart and behind the shoulder ; it should also have a
well-let-down and rounded leg, and whilst not standing too short, there should be no tendency
to legginess. The following are some of the chief characteristics of the Dorset Down breed
as set out in the Flock Book : —
They are essentially a rent-paying type of sheep, especially adapted for thick-stocking, and are
noted for their fecundity. They are of a very resourceful character, being capable of producing either
sucking lamb at from lo to 12 weeks old of the finest quality from 401b. to 481b. in weight, or at
from 8 to 9 months old a well-finished carcase weighing from 661b. to 72 lb. of the very best quality
of fleshy mutton, thus meeting the preponderating demand of the dead meat market for joints of more
quality and less waste, which fact bids fair for the future progress of the breed. They possess a hardy
and robust constitution and are very adaptive, being equally at home between the hurdles or in open
grazing.
283
A HISTORY OF DORSET
The principal sales of draft ewes and lambs are those held at Dorchester and Blandford during
July, August, and September. Though strenuous efforts have been made to get a distinct class
allotted by the Royal Agricultural Society they have not yet met with success. The Bath and
West of England, however, have given a distinct class to this breed in their annual show, and the
breed appears at all local shows. The Dorset Down Sheep Breeders' Association owes its inception
to the Milborne St. Andrew Farmers' Club under the chairmanship of Mr. William Bedford of
Bere Regis in 1904.
The general management of the breed differs very little from that of the Dorset Horn, the
sheep being allowed to run in the pastures by day and brought in on arable at night. The carcase
fetches on an average ^d. to id. more per lb. than the Hampshire breed does, and an average clip of
washed wool would be, lambs 2 to 2^ lb., ewes 4^ lb., and rams 9 lb. The Flock Book of the
Dorset Down Sheep Breeders' Society for 1906 contains the registration of over 21,000 ewes,
8,000 ewe hoggets, and 350 rams.
The system of field farming now general in Dorsetshire is that known as the ' four-field
system,' but on the large sheep farms round Blandford the five-field system is more prevalent,
pastures being kept down two years instead of one. In that part of the county which adjoins the
Yeovil district of Somerset the three-field system is general. On the hill farms of Dorset no
systematic rule can be adopted. The failure of the crop is not unexpected and cannot be guarded
against, so the occupier farms as he in his judgement thinks best, and as he has to pay the
piper he may well be trusted to call for that tune which is most likely to suit the requirements
of the season.
The Norfolk course of turnips, barley, clover, and wheat was introduced at the beginning of
the nineteenth century but, with the natural conservatism of the Dorset farmer, was not much
practised, and the old system of white straw crops still continued. Some farmers followed a course
consisting of (i) turnips, rape, manured after ploughing in winter and spring ; (2) oats ; (3) beans,
vetches, which were drilled and horse-hoed ; (4) wheat ; (5) turnips, rape, &c. ; (6) oats, &c., sown
with clover (7) ; clover ; (8) wheat. This was subject to variation, but the principle was never to
have two white corn crops in succession. Summer fallowing was also practised as part of the
course.
It was about the year 1850 that 'high farming' was first introduced into Dorset, and since
that time the practice has spread until no farmer of any size or repute is to be found who sticks to
antediluvian methods of cultivation. The practice has been fostered by the survey of the soils of
Dorset undertaken by the college at Reading in 1898, under the auspices of the Dorset County
Council, which was productive of much sound service to the farmers. For wheat and oats it is
general, where available, to distribute 10 to 15 tons of farmyard manure per acre, and in spring to
sow I cwt. of nitrate of soda per acre. After clover generally 2 cwt. of superphosphate or 3 cwt.
of basic slag is applied. Where farm-yard manure is scarce an application of 4 cwt. rape dust and
4 cwt. basic slag, or 3 cwt. superphosphate, is recommended. For barley, after roots fed off, 2|cwt.
superphosphate or 2^ cwt. guano is applied, or, where following a cereal crop, f cwt. nitrate of soda,
2 cwt. guano, or 2^ cwt. superphosphate and 2 cwt. kainit is applied. For turnips, it is usual to
use farm-yard manure, about ID tons to the acre, followed by 3 cwt. superphosphate, or instead of
the dung I cwt. sulphate of ammonia and 2 cwt. kainit, the latter with I cwt. nitrate of soda.
The different varieties of soils all require special dressings, and no particular fertilizer can be said to
be in general use.
All implements common to agriculturists are in use in Dorset at the present day. Some
reluctance was shown at the earlier part of the century, but the present-day farmer is widely awake
to the advantages of labour-saving devices. Steam tackle has made great strides in Dorset, the
implement firms letting the machines out on hire to farmers. At the beginning of the nineteenth
century wheat was cut with smooth-edged hooks, and the scythe was very little used. Later the
use of the scythe became more usual, and even to this day continues in some districts. This is very
uncommon in England, though the use of the scythe for barley is recommended and known to
produce a better sample. The old-time plough of Dorset was a single-furrow plough with the
mould-boards usually covered with plate iron 9 in. wide, which was the breadth of the furrow.
This was drawn by oxen, a practice which died hard, and even to this day there are one or two
teams of oxen at work in the field. The harrow consisted of five beams, each of which contained
five tines, 9 or 10 in. apart. These harrows were sometimes drawn in pairs. There was also
in use a smaller harrow for clearing ground of couch grass as well as an implement termed a nine-
share plough, which would now be called a cultivator, and this latter did the work of the spring
harrow. Sometimes instead of shares tines were inserted.
A wooden roller was used, which was in sections and covered with iron bands nearly 2 in.
wide. This was used for rolling wheat, a smooth surface not being considered good. It corre-
sponds to the rib-roller of to-day. Drills were not used much in the earlier half of the century,
284
AGRICULTURE
owing to the labourers not being able to make use of them. At that time drilh'ng was expert work,
and men went from farm to farm on piece-work rates. Turnips were drilled by means of the
Northumberland or Scotch turnip drill. Horse-hoes were used for turning a furrow from rows of
peas, &c., previous to their being moulded up by a double mould-board. Thrashing mills were
worked by oxen and water power, all hand labour having been discarded. ChafiF cutters were of
one, two, and three blades. Wagons were lighter in build than in other counties, and the wheels
wider apart, some being 5 ft. 6 in. In coming down hills one wheel was locked, and there was
always a special thickened place in the tyre about i^in. thick on which the wheel slid. For
sowing small seeds there was a sowing machine divided into divisions of 6^ in. apart, the perforations
being in plates of tin and copper. Revolving circular brushes forced the seed through the holes.
In about 1 8 10 the Norfolk system of ploughing with two horses abreast was introduced, and
harrowing was frequently performed with three horses abreast. For rolling, one to four horses
were used.
Dorset has enjoyed a reputation for a century past for neat hedges. They consist chiefly of
thorn, but sometimes of hazel, maple, and privet. The usual method is to chop away superfluous
wood and to lay the top branches down, cutting the wood in such a way that it will grow again.
No dead wood is used, and by this method, by the time the hedge requires re-trimming new wood
has grown sufficiently to do this. The banks are built up almost perpendicularly.
If the lot of the farmer is not a prosperous one, it is pleasant to record that the lot of the farm
labourer has greatly improved. The employment of women in the fields has almost entirely dis-
appeared— a matter for congratulation, if only on humanitarian grounds. The cottages, generally
speaking, are in good repair. Those of a modern type consist of one or two living rooms
and scullery, with sometimes as many as three bedrooms. A great advance has been made
since 1842, when it was recorded that a family of eleven persons, total earnings 16s. 6d. per week,
lived in a cottage of only two rooms. At that time, too, it is recorded that a family of twenty-nine
persons lived in one cottage. In 1842 female labour in the fields was common, and boys started work
at six or seven years of age. In 1869 the guardians passed a by-law prohibiting the employment
of boys under ten years of age. At this time women were employed picking up stones, working at
hay and corn harvests, planting, digging and earthing potatoes, attending to the threshing machines,
winnowing corn, dairying, and sometimes even leading horses at the plough. It is worth while
recording, too, that in 1834 six Dorset labourers were tried and sentenced to transportation to
Australia for seven years for the heinous crime of forming a trade union. Disgusted with the low
wage and the generally low conditions of life, they formed a union for the amelioration of the
labourer's life. The union was to be kept secret, but a report of it leaked out, with the results
mentioned above. Thus ended one of the pioneer strikes of trade-unionism in this country, to the
glorification of the men who subsequently became known as the ' Dorset martyrs.'
The passing of the Poor Law in 1849 was responsible for the change in the rate of labourers'
pay. Prior to that time the outdoor relief induced the farmer to pay on the lowest scale he could,
knowing full well that the parish would come to the aid of the poor labourer. Up to that time a
labourer's wages were as low as 6s. a week, and rarely higher than los., with no special advantages.
Out of this he frequently had to pay is. or is. td. a week rent. Now, the wages are very seldom
lower than i is., and then only for a single man practically unskilled. The general wage varies
from I2J. to as high even as 201. and 22s. a week, and in addition the Inbourer gets sometimes a
cottage, and invariably coal and wood, which is carted free, and a plot of land on which to grow
kitchen produce. He is usually allowed to keep a pig, though in some instances this has been
refused, the farmer having cause to suspect that his own feeding stuffs were laid under contribution
for the benefit of the labourer's pig. These wages do not, of course, include the extra allowances
at harvest time.
Farm buildings have also greatly improved, though the low rents make the landlord reluctant
to expend money in erecting new buildings or repairing old ones. Too often attention has not
been paid sufficiently to convenience, the buildings in some cases being in a position which renders
excessive carting necessary.
This article would not be complete without reference being made to the many excellent
farmers' clubs now in existence in Dorset. These number six : the Blandford, Winfrith,
Milborne St. Andrew, Gillingham, Shaftesbury, and Wareham and Isle of Purbeck. All these clubs
send a representative to the Central Chamber of Agriculture, and, in addition, are centralized under
the Dorset Joint Agricultural Committee. With the exception of the Wareham Club, all these
clubs date back many years. The Blandford Club is the oldest, the date of its inception being
1848; but it is not many years the senior of the Milborne St. Andrew Farmers' Club and the
Winfrith Farmers' Club, both of which were instituted in 1856. These clubs have a total member-
ship of about a thousand, of which the Blandford Club has the largest share with a membership
list of 273. With the exception of the newly-formed Wareham Club, all the other clubs have a
285
A HISTORY OF DORSET
membership ranging from one hundred to two hundred. The clubs meet periodically, generally
once a month for eight months in the year, to discuss matters political and agricultural, and to listen
to papers read by experts on methods of agriculture, progress of agriculture, &c. The meetings
have been found to be of great interest and utility to the members. The clubs further encourage
the labourers to perfect themselves in their work by offering prizes in competition for hedging,
ploughing, and other rural crafts. Prizes are also offered to the shepherd who shows the best
result during lambing time. In this educational work the Dorset County Council ably supports
the clubs by making grants of money towards the prizes, and by holding technical education classes
at which the labourers can attend.
286
FORESTRY
DOMESDAY SURVEY, as is well known, pays particular attention to the woods of the
various manors, as they were so invaluable for purposes of building, fencing, and fuel,
and more especially for the feeding of swine on the acorns and beech-mast. Wherever
a wood is entered, some indication of its size is also always set forth. Most of the
Domesday commissioners were content to give a rough estimate of the size of
the wood by stating the number of swine which it would sustain, or the number of swine
payable to the lord for pannage rights ; but in some counties, as is the case with Dorset, Derbyshire,
Lincolnshire, and Oxfordshire, the size of the wood is given in lineal measure.
In the survey of Dorset the woodland is divided into three classes : — (i) silva, (2) silva modica,
and (3) silva minuta. By the first term all well-grown timber is indicated, by the second wood that
is less matured or where the timber trees are further apart, and by the third mere copse wood that is
frequently felled at periodical intervals. In one case, namely at Rentscombe, there were fifty acres
of silva infructuosay by which term is apparently meant a wood that bore no fruit for the swine
and was probably of ash. Mention is also twice made of mere scrub or brushwood {broca\
namely on the manors of Canford and Lytchett ; in each of these cases there was a parcel of
120 acres of scrub.
In Dorset there were vast areas of both silva and pastura, more particularly on the royal
demesnes. The wood of Wimborne, which was part of the ancient demesne of the crown, was
five leagues in length by one in breadth ; the wood of Dorchester four leagues by one ; and that of
Pimperne one league by half a league. The league [leuca) of Domesday was doubtless to some
extent a customary and somewhat variable term ; but it may generally be reckoned to correspond
broadly with a mile and a half of our measurement.*
These measurements, and several others like them, probably signify the extreme length and
breadth of the woods, and do not take into account the exact shape of the wood ; * it must not,
therefore, be assumed that Wimborne wood was precisely five square leagues, or 7,200 acres in
extent. Eyton,' in his elaborate analysis of the Dorset Domesday, gives tables showing that the
then area of woodland of all kinds throughout the county amounted to 104,62 if acres, or about
one-sixth of the whole surface. If to this is added the 206,494 acres of pastura, or rough open
feeding ground as opposed to pratum^ the conclusion is reached that about half the county was
then of a wild or waste description and at least suitable to be considered forest. However this
may be, that Dorset was to an unusually large extent given up to game may be gathered from
other Domesday entries. Waleran the hunter {venator) held nine manors in Dorset, whilst
amongst the king's thegns of this county three others, Aluric, Godwin, and Uluric bear a
like title.
The use of the term * forest ' as implying a great wood is a comparatively modern rendering,
which is false to its etymological origin. A forest, throughout Norman, Plantagenet and the earlier
Tudor times, meant a great district, mostly waste, reserved for royal sport and under special forest
laws. A certain amount of wood and underwood was necessary as covert for the game, but in
several forests, such as those of Dartmoor, Exmoor, and the High Peak, the woodlands formed but
a very small part of the whole area. The districts of Dorset that were technically forest included
no small quantity of moor, heather, and down.*
The large amount of old royal demesne in this county, which was divided into six distinct
groups, doubtless served as forest hunting ground for the later Saxon kings. Under the early Norman
' Eyton, Key to DomesJay, 25. * Ballard, Dom. Inquests (1906), p. 166. ' Key to Domesday.
* In this necessarily brief summary of the story of the forests of Dorset, a certain knowledge of forest
law3 and customs has to be assumed, such as their local administration by swainmote courts, and the recurring
yisits of justices for holding Forest Pleas. The respective duties of foresters, verderers, woodwards, and
regarders, &c., are set forth in Turner, Select Pleas of the Forest (1902), or in a more popular form in Cox,
Royal Forests (1905).
287
A HISTORY OF DORSET
kings, and especially in the reign of Henry I, the area of the royal forests of England was
largely extended for purposes of revenue, and although under Stephen it is probable that many
of "these extensions lapsed, his Angevin successor and his sons, as the Pipe Rolls bear witness, again
took full advantage of their forest rights.
The Forest Charter of the beginning of the reign of Henry III much reduced the forest area,
but left four distinct forests, namely those of Gillingham, Blackmoor, Powerstock, and Bere Regis ;
the last of these, however, ceased to be forest towards the close of the reign.
The various forest divisions in early days usually passed under the collective name of the forest
of Dorset. As early as the reign of Henry I we learn that forest pleas were held in Dorset, and the
name of at least one of the foresters of the court, Warin, is recorded on the Pipe Roll for 1130.
Several of the annual Pipe Rolls of Henry II contain brief references to the account rendered by
the sheriff for the wastes, assarts, purprestures, and pleas of the forest of Dorset. The amounts
greatly varied— 11 70-1, ^TioS 4s. 2,d. ; 1171-2, £i() 8i. ii^. ; 1172-3, 3^. lid.; 1173-4,
3s. 2d.; 1 174-5, y. 2d. ; and II 76-7, ^5 35. %d. The large total for the first of these years
probably arose from its including the period when the occasional Forest Pleas were held by the
justices.'
Tliese Pipe Rolls remind us that the two great contiguous counties of Dorset and Somerset had
for some time a joint sheriff. Nor is it surprising, as the vast stretch of woodland ran continuously
across the borders of the two shires in several directions, that there was a certain amount of connexion
in their forest rule. Thus, the chief forestership that was vested in William de Wrotham by
Richard I extended over Dorset as well as Somerset. This forestership in fee of the whole
bailiwick of the forests of the two counties descended from this William de Wrotham to his son of
the same name, who was archdeacon of Taunton and a great organizer of the navy under King John.
The office next descended to a nephew, Richard de Wrotham, who was a minor until 1225. Richard
died without issue in 125 1, and his four married sisters became his heirs. The eldest sister Muriel
had married Hugh de Placetis, and their son William de Placetis, or Plecy, succeeded as forester in
fee for the two shires. He died in 1274, and his son Richard in 1289. Richard had no issue, and
this hereditary office passed to his sister Sabina, who brought it in marriage to Nicholas Pecche.
This forestership ended in 1337 by sale, under Matthew Pecche, grandson of Nicholas.^
A general perambulation of the forests of Dorset was undertaken by fourteen knights early in
the reign of Henry III, as a consequence of the Forest Charter of 121 7, whereby all that had been
made forest since the day of the coronation of Henry II was to be restored. The report, as
presented before Hugh de Neville, Brian de Insula, and three other justices, stated that Alan de
Neville, the king's forester, had afforested all the high lands or downs of the county {omnia montana)
after the above-named coronation, and therefore they ought no longer to be under forest rule and are
part of the woods pertaining to Bere and the wood of Powerstock which were royal demesne, the
latter having been obtained by the crown through exchange with Roger de Newburgh. King John
had also afforested the whole island of Purbeck ; and this was no longer to be forest, save for the
warren of hares pertaining to Corfe Castle. The perambulation then proceeded to set out the exact
bounds of the forests of Gillingham and Blackmoor, docking the former of certain woods that had
been added since the accession of Henry II.'
In June 1228 Hugh de Neville was ordered to proclaim, both by word of mouth and by
letter, to the men of Gillingham that they were free to pasture their animals in the woods of the
king in accordance with the old customs.*
In November of the following year the sheriff of Dorset received a mandate to issue general
summonses for the approaching Forest Pleas.' Strictly speaking. Forest Pleas were supposed
always to follow the Regard, or independent close inquiry held every three years by at least
twelve knights of the shire called regarders, who drew up a report as to the condition of the
particular forest, especially as to the assarts or inclosures and the purprestures or encroachments.
In course of time, however, these pleas were held most fitfully and at very long intervals.
Among the forest records of Dorset, however, are the presentments of two of these eyres of
the reign of Henry III, which were held at the three years' interval, namely in 1257 and
1260.
There are full accounts extant of the Forest Pleas of Dorset held before four justices in 1257.'"
Among the venison presentations made by the foresters and verderers in the forest of Bere we find
' Pipe R. (Pipe R. Soc), xvi, 17 ; xviii, 75 ; xix, 193 ; xxi, 18 ; xxii, 24 ; and xxvi, 2I-2.
' See Hutchins, Dorset, iv, 517 ; Collinson, Somerset, iii, 63 ; and more especially Greswell, Forests and
Deer Parks of Somerset (1905), 138-47.
' From the Book of Cerne, Canib. Univ. Lib. cited by Hutchins, op. cit. iii, 662—3.
' Close I 2 Hen. Ill, m. 7.
' Close 14 Hen. Ill, m. 2Z d.
'" For. Proc. Exch. T. R. No. 10.
288
FORESTRY
the case of Hugh Fitzhugh de la More, who had taken the fawn of a roe deer. In consequence,
he had been imprisoned at Ilchester, but apparently had been released before the date of the eyre,
at which he did not enter an appearance. He was accordingly outlawed. Several trespassers were
charged with taking two deer and a roebuck in the same forest ; others with taking a hind and a
roebuck in the same forest ; another with hunting a hind ; two others with hunting and one with
taking a stag. The fines for these offences varied from a mark to half a mark. The vert or
' greenhue ' presentments in Bere forest numbered thirty-four cases. The large majority of these
charges were for small offences in taking green wood, and the delinquents were fined from izd. to
half a mark. One was excused on the score of poverty. Thomas, chaplain of Bloxworth, had not
allowed himself to be attached, probably on the ground of his clerical privilege, and a mandate was
accordingly directed to the bishop of Salisbury to produce him before the justices. Among graver
charges, the heir of Richard de Wrotham, late master forester, was fined 535. 4c/. since that officer
had taken the ' coporones ' or top and lop of a large number of oaks felled for the works at Corfe
Castle under the direction of Master Gerard, the carpenter. These branches trimmed from the
timber Richard de Wrotham had probably appropriated as a natural perquisite. The usual fine in
small cases of trespass against the vert was 12^., and the same amount was levied on John, the son
of Manser Dodde, who had discovered in the forest a swarm of bees and carried them off.
The venison presentments for the bailiwick of Gillingham, of which the record is slightly
imperfect, included the taking of a buck and doe, of a fawn, of a brocket, two does, four does,
two bucks and a doe, and several other fallow deer, as well as hunting with bows and arrows, and
hunting with greyhounds. Among other offenders was John, the parson of Fisherton, who had
not been attached and did not appear. In consequence, a mandate was directed to the bishop of
Salisbury to produce him at Ilchester. The vert cases were upwards of sixty. The heavy fine
of 30J. 3(^. was imposed on two men who had sold cablish or wind-uprooted timber in 1256, and
105. lod. for a similar offence in 1257.
It was certified before the justices that eighty logs {ligna), forty from the park and forty from
the foreign wood, had been used on the works at Gillingham, and six beams {fusta) for making
sluices in 1251 ; six oaks for the works of the chapels of Corfe and Dorchester, in 1252; six
timber oaks for the nuns of Shaftesbury, in 1253, ^^^ various other timber gifts to the Dominicans
of Wilton and Gloucester, and to different religious houses and individuals, including sixty oaks
and sixty ash trees to the earl of Cornwall in 1257.
The pannage fees of Gillingham Forest varied very greatly from year to year, in accordance
with the abundance or the scarcity of acorns or beech-mast. The pannage receipts of 1250
were 30J. 5^. ; of 1251, ^^15 45. ; of 1252, £(i 4.5. ^d. ; of 1253, nothing, owing to a deficiency
of mast and acorns; of 1254, ^10 3s. jd. ; of 1255, ;^l6 is. 8d. ; of 1256, 431. lod. ; and
of 1257, 50J. lod. Various chartered claims foi forest privileges were made and sustained before
the justices.
There is an imperfect roll presented at this eyre of the woodwards of the county of Dorset, who
were sworn before the justices, beginning with John Malot, woodward of the king of the wood of
Bere and five others of different private woods in that forest. The woodwards of Blackmoor
actually numbered upwards of thirty ; six of them were wardens of as many woods that per-
tained to the abbess of Shaftesbury. Their number is a proof of the extent and frequency of
the actual woods within the Dorset forests, particularly of the Blackmoor division. A forest
woodward was an important official. Though primarily responsible, as the term implies, for the
actual timber and undergrowth of the district in his charge, he was also to some extent a
technical forester, that is, he was at the same time responsible for the venison. To understand
their position it is necessary to remember that there was never a single royal forest, all the lands
of which were demesne. In each forest, and this was emphatically the case with that of Black-
moor, there were various woods that were private property, nevertheless these woods were subject
to general forest jurisdiction, such as the free ingress and egress of the king's game.
Moreover, the owners could not, without the king's licence, do anything therein, such as felling
timber, clearing undergrowth, building houses or sheds, establishing forges, or burning charcoal, that
might be held to alarm or damage the deer. To look jointly after their own rights and those of the
crown, owners of woods within a royal forest were not only permitted but required to appoint
woodwards, who took oath before a forest justice to serve the king in the matter of venison, and who
had the power to attach and present offenders.
The venison presentments of Powerstock included : — the charge against the men of Gerard de
Bengham, archdeacon of Dorset, of hunting in 1 251 in the forest with the archdeacon's dogs and
taking a roebuck ; each of the delinquents was fined 41. ; taking a roebuck with two greyhounds,
and the taking of five other roebucks, two roe-does, and two stags by different offenders. The vert
presentments of Powerstock numbered fifty-one, and the fines varied from the usual I id. to 3J. In
three cases an alibi was established.
2 289 37
A HISTORY OF DORSET
The venison presentments of Blackmoor are imperfect, but they include the taking of two harts,
several does, a fawrn, and a buck. The vert presentments amounted to a hundred and thirty-nine
separate charges.
Pleas of the Forest for Dorset were again held in 1270, before Roger de Clifford and three
other justices at Sherborne." The first membrane opens with a list of nine of those summoned to
attend who were dead, and with the fines on defaulters varying from 2s. to 20s. The vert present-
ments for the bailiwick of Blackmoor amounted to eighty-three, the fines varying from I2(/. to half a
mark ; an a/ibi was established in two of these charges, and a tew offenders were excused on the
ground of poverty. The vert presentments of Gillingham for the same period numbered thirty-
three, but these included a variety of cases in which oaks had been granted by licence, such as two
oaks from Robert de Wychampton, dean of Salisbury, and a single oak for Master Nicholas de
Cranford, parson of the church of Gillingham.
There is also an entry to the effect that 407 oaks had been felled at Gillingham since the last
pleas by the king's orders, including 238 for repairs to the houses and court at Gillingham, and
twelve for the works at the castle of Sherborne.
The venison presentments of Powerstock were solely concerned with the taking of roe deer,
concerning which there were three cases ; whilst the like charges at Blackmoor at these pleas
were only concerned with fallow deer, involving the killing of a buck, a fawn, and fourteen
deer. The Blackmoor presentments also included several cases of hunting and one of snaring, when
there was no known capture of game. The Gillingham presentments were concerned with fallow
deer, save a single case in which a stag (red deer) was killed. A large number of instances of inclosures
and encroachments, contrary to the assize of the forest, were brought before the justices as the result
of the regarders' reports.
These Forest Pleas dealt with the whole of the forests of the county. It may be as well now
to give a few further selected particulars that can be gleaned from the general records as to the
different forest divisions of the shire.
Gillingham, in the extreme north of the county, flanked by Somerset on the west, and by Wilts
on the north and east, was originally one of the divisions of the widespread ancient forest district of
Selwood.^- Various perambulations of Gillingham, of the reigns of Henry III, Edward I, and
Elizabeth have been printed in the third edition of Hutchins's Dorset}^ Broadly speaking, whatever
may have been its earlier limits, the bounds of Gillingham Forest, subsequent to the Forest Charter
at the beginning of the reign of Henry III, were nearly conterminous with those of the ancient
parish of Gillingham, which was one of the largest in the county, having a circuit of 41 miles, and
an area of over 15,000 acres. Leland says that in his days it was 'four miles in length, a mile or
thereboute in bredth.' ^^
The bailiwick of this forest was usually in the hands of some person of note, who held it in
serjeanty as the king's forester in fee, and was bound to maintain it at his own cost. This hereditary
ofBce, according to Coker, was held throughout the greater part of the reign of Henry III by Walter
Joce.^* On his death in 1265, it was found that Walter held of the king in chief a carucate of
land in Gillingham and kept the forest, both vert and venison, at his own charge. ^^
At the death of John Joce, in 1310, it was found that he held lands in Gillingham to the
extent of a messuage and 137 acres by serjeanty of being forester in fee of Gillingham, and keeper
of the park of the manor which was then in the hands of Queen Margaret, by grant of Edward I. ^'
He left two daughters heiresses ; the elder, Amicia, conveyed this bailiwick, with its fees and
profits, to her husband, William de Buggele, who died seised of it in 1314. Two years later this
forestership was alienated by the crown to William Hame and his heirs. In the reign of Henry IV
the bailiwick of forest and park passed from Hame to Stourton, in which family it remained until
the attainder of Charles Lord Stourton, when the oflice, valued at ;^40 per annum, reverted to the
crown .^*
There was also a superior office in this forest over the forester in fee, the appointment to which
rested with the crown at pleasure. In 1 340 Edward III confirmed Matthew Beleval in the warden-
ship of Gillingham Forest for life, to which office he had been nominated by Queen Isabella on the
death of John le Hay ward."
From time immemorial the abbess and convent of Shaftesbury had the right to take four horse-
loads of brushwood for fuel from this forest every day save Sundays. But in 1340, when one
Geoffrey de Cotes, temporarily supplying the place of John de Monte Gomery, steward of Queen
" For. Proc. Exch. T. R. No. 11. " Coker, Surv. 0/ Dorset (1732), 87.
" Ibid, iii, 620-1, 662-3. '* Leland, ///'«. vi, fol. 52.
" Coker, Surv. of Dorset, 88, where the name is misspelt ' Foce.'
"^ Inq. p.m. 49 Hen. Ill, No. 2. " Inq. p.m. 5 Edw. II, No. 42.
" Hutchins, Dorset, iii, 624. '^ Pat. 14 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 11.
290
FORESTRY
Philippa, was in charge of the manor, he one day saw the four horse-loads being carried to the
abbey. Entirely ignorant of the privilege, Geoffrey ordered the foresters, in the name of his lady,
not to permit them to take the brushwood any longer. Whereupon the convent made suit to
the king, and their ancient privilege was speedily confirmed under privy seal.""
Mandate was issued by Edward I, in 1273, to Alan de Plogenet to deliver to Eleanor, the
king's mother, the manor of Gillingham, with the hundred and forest and other appurtenances, then
in his custody."' About the same time writs were directed to the bailiffs, goodmen, and foresters of
Gillingham, informing them that Gillingham had been assigned in dower to the king's mother.^^
In 131 8, when a large assignment of dower was made to Queen Isabella, the manor and forest
of Gillingham, valued at ;r8o a year, formed a portion."'
In 1275 an inquiry was instituted on behalf of Master Nicholas de Cranford, parson of the
church of Gillingham, touching his claim to the tithe of venison taken in the king's forest of Gilling-
ham, of the hay and herbage sold in the glades thereof, and of the pannage ; also to compensation
for the tithe of the glade of Marleye, whereof he asserted that his predecessors were possessed when
that glade was arable land and titheable to the church.^'
The sheriff of Wilts was ordered in April, 1280, to deliver Peter de Esquidemor, imprisoned at
Old Sarum, for trespass in the king's forests of Dorset and Somerset, to twelve men who undertook
to have him before the king in the Parliament after Easter next.-'
At the close of the year 1279 the king granted quittance of the common summons to
attend the pleas of the Dorset forests to William de Mohun, the bishop of Salisbury, the abbot of
Hyde, Matilda, widow of Robert Waleraund, Hildebrand of London, and Oliver de Ingham.^*
In March, 1291, the sheriff of Dorset was instructed by the crown to cause a verderer to be
elected for the forest of Gillingham, in the place of Roger Anketil, deceased.-'
Edward I, like his predecessor, made frequent gifts of both timber and venison from Gilling-
ham. Sarah de Merreth received seven oaks fit for timber in 1292, of the king's gift. Twelve oaks
fit for timber were given to Eustace de Hacche, in the same year, to rebuild his hall. In the following
year Walter de Aylesbury received six timber oaks. The constable of Corfe Castle, Richard de
Bosco, obtained six oaks for the works at the castle in July, 1293.-*
The keeper of Gillingham was ordered in May, 1292, to present the bishop of Salisbury with
six bucks, of the king's gift ; in the following month a similar gift was made to Joan, wife of Alan
de Plukenet ; and in July a like gift was supplied to Eustace de Hacche."'
In the following year Roger Lestrange, forest justice, was ordered to allow Peter de Chalone
to have six live bucks out of Gillingham forest.'"* In December, 1293, ^^^ keeper of this forest
was ordered to supply John Mautravers with ten does ; and in the following January Robert de
Bosco, of Corfe Castle, was supplied with four Gillingham does ; in July, 1294, Eleanor de Curtenay
had four bucks, and in August, Nicholas de Sancto Mauro three bucks.''
In August, 12 1 5, King John sent his huntsman Albert de Capell, with two horses and fourteen
buckhounds [damericii canet) to take bucks in his forest of Blackmoor.'"
Henry III, in 1223, gave John de Erleigh eight does and two bucks or brockets out of Black-
moor towards stocking his park at Duston.'' In the following year William earl of Essex and
William Briwere had each the royal licence to take six bucks in Blackmoor,'* and venison gifts from
Blackmoor were fairly frequent throughout the reign of Henry III.''
About the same period the king made several gifts of roofing-timber and of brushwood for fuel
out of the Blackmoor Woods. Somewhat later, gifts including an oak in 1230 for the bridges of
Corfe Castle, ten oaks in 1232 to the Earl of Lincoln, and sixty oaks to the abbot of Bindon, in
1233, for the fabric of his church.'^
John de la Lynde, in 1266, had a grant from Henry III of the bailiwick of the forests of
Blackmoor, Gillingham, and Powerstock which he held for five years.''
Of this forest of Blackmoor, Leland [temp. Henry VIII) says that it ' streachid from Ivelle unto
the quarters of Shaftesbyri and touchid witte Gillingham forest that is nere Shaftesbyri.'^* The
earliest known perambulation of this forest, which seems to have been taken soon after the granting
'" Pat. 14 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 6 ; Misc. Chan. Bdle. 1 1, file 8 (13). "' Pat. I Edw. I, m. 15.
-' Ibid. m. 5. °^ Pat. 1 1 Edw. II, pt. 2, m. 30. " Pat. 4 Edw. I, m. 32 d.
" Close, 8 Edw. I, m. 9. '"'' Ibid. m. w d. " Close, 19 Edw. I, m. 7.
" Close, 20 Edw. I, m. 6 ; 21 Edw. I, m. 10, 9, 5.
'" Close, 20 Edw. I, m. 5, 4. '" Close, 21 Edw. I, m. 9.
" Close, 22 Edw. I, m. 13, 12, 6, 5.
'■ Close, 17 John, m. 24. '^ Close, 7 Hen. Ill, m. 15. »* Close, 8 Hen. Ill, m. 6.
'''Close, 12 Hen. Ill, m. 4 ; 13 Hen. Ill, m. 8 ; 14 Hen. Ill, m. 14 and pt. 2,m. 2; 15 Hen. Ill,
m. 20, 17, I ; 16 Hen. Ill, m. 10, 6 ; 17 Hen. Ill, m. 17, 14.
•" Close, passim. ^' Plac. For. 54 Hen. Ill, cited by Hutchins, op. cit. i, 188.
'* Leland, liin. vi, loi.
291
A HISTORY OF DORSET
of the Forest Charter at the opening of the reign of Henry III, occurs in the Book of Cerne in
the Cambridge University Library ; a translation is given by Hutchins, as well as a later one of the
year 1300.'' The latter of these perambulations were made, inter alia, by Walter de la Lynde,
Richard le Bret, and Ralph le Brox, former foresters in fee of this forest, and by Walter de
Thornhull and Roger de Plumber, verderers of the same. In the 1300 perambulation the jurors
recite a considerable number of vills, hamlets, and woods that had been afforested by King John and
added to Blackmoor Forest, but which had been disafforested in the time of Henry III and again by
a confirmatory writ of Edward I in 1279. Among them were the vills and woods of Melcombe
Matravers, Melbury Bubb, Batcombe, Wootton Glanville, Mappowder, West and East Dulham,
Haselbury, Fifehead Neville, Fifehead St. Quintin, Caundle Haddon, Caundle Beyn, Caundle Purse
and Duntish, with several others.
The manor of Bere or Bere Regis, about the centre of the county, was of royal demesne in
Saxon times.'"' King John had here a royal residence, sojourning at Bere for repeated short visits
throughout his reign.''^ In 1259 this extensive manor was granted by Henry III to Simon de
Montfort, and hence ceased to be a royal forest. Ten years later it was granted to Edmund, the
king's brother. Edmund in the same year granted a moiety of it including the wood of Bere to
the abbess of Tarrant. This grant was confirmed by Edward I.*^
As to the forest or wood of Bere, which is difficult at times to distinguish in the records from
the forest of the same name in Hampshire, there are a few references on the Close Rolls of Henry III.
Thus in 1230, the sheriff of Dorset was directed to assign forty oaks to Henry FitzNicholas out of
the wood of Bere, for building the manor-house of Fordington ;''' and in 1 23 1 Hugh Paynel had
a royal gift from Bere of three roebucks."
The large parish or liberty of Powerstock, in the south-west of the county, gave its name to
a compact, small forest district. It was not royal demesne at the time of the Domesday Survey, when
it was held by Hugh of Roger Arundel. From the Arundels it passed by marriage to the New-
burghs, and from the Newburghs it was acquired by King John, who exchanged it with Robert de
Newburgh for lands in Somerset, and who then proceeded to make it a forest, as is definitely stated
in documents of the reigns of Henry III and Edward I.^°
Henry III gave the bailiwick of this forest to John de la Lynde ; it was valued at a mark a
year. He died in 1272, when Edward I accepted the homage of Walter de la Lynde, his son and
heir for all the lands which John had held in chief, together with the bailiwicks of the three
Dorset forests of Blackmoor, Gillingham, and Powerstock.''^
There are also occasional references to the wood or forest of Powerstock in the Close Rolls of
Henry III. In 1231 the king ordered that Thomas de Gorges of his household should always be
allowed a reasonable amount of dead or dry timber out of Powerstock.''' In the following year
Godfrey de Craucombe obtained the gift of six roe-deer out of Powerstock Forest, and six more out
of the king's park at Newton, Somerset, towards the stocking of his park at Bere.^^ At a peram-
bulation of this forest, held in 1300, Walter de la Lynde is named as taking part in it as forester
in fee and Robert de Bingham as verderer.'*' Although afforested as late as the time of King John,
this comparatively small forest was not affected by the Forest Charter of Henry III, as it was
genuine royal demesne. In the time of Edward III the manor and hundred of Powerstock were
held by a subject in chief of the king, and hence it became practically disafforested. Coker,
writing in 1732 and not understanding the nature of a forest, says, 'in former ages a forrest,
but nowe it is most destitute of woodes.' ^^
Some reference must be made in connexion with Dorset forestry to that great tract of country
known as Cranborne Chase. This great chase had originally been royal forest, but in quite early
days passed into the hands of a subject, and hence, though retaining much of the local administration
of a forest with some of its rights and customs, ceased to be under the particular jurisdiction of
the king's justices in Forest Pleas. The ' Outbounds' or Outer Chase of Cranborne embraced not
only the north-east corner of Dorset, but also a considerable extent in Wiltshire, together with
certain parts of Hampshire. It contained about 800,000 acres and seventy-two parishes, including
parts of the city of Salisbury and of the towns of Wilton, Shaftesbury, Blandford, Wimborne, and
Ringwood. Within this vast circuit was the chase proper or ' In-bounds,' which was about
^ Dorset, iv, 5 1 6-1 7. '" Hutchins, Dorset, i, 136 ; Madox, Firma Burgi, 84.
*' Close, 9 John m. 17, 13 ; 'John's Itin.' Jrci. xxii.
" Hutchins, Dorset, i, 136 ; Close, 4 Edw. I. m. 7.
" Close, 14 Hen. Ill, m. 74<j'. " Close, 15 Hen. Ill, m. 17.
*' Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.) 16515 ; Hund. R. (Rec. Com.) i, 97 ; Perambulations off. 1225 and 1300.
" Abbrev. Rot. Or'tg. i, 19. " Close, 15 Hen. Ill, m. 12.
'' Close, 16 Hen. Ill, m. 17.
*' This perambulation is given in extenso in Hutchins, Dorset, ii, 317.
^ Coker, Sa;xrj) of Dorset, 26.
292
FORESTRY
ten miles in length, between three and four in width, and twenty-seven in circuit. The storv of
■Cranborne Chase is full of interest, both in old days and in comparatively modern times. As the
•chief residence of the holder of the chase was in the Wiltshire portion of the inner circuit, it
is thought best to give the sketch account of its history under Wiltshire Forestry.
The extant fifteenth-century records of Dorset forests are not numerous. The wood sale
accounts of Richard Cressebien and Matthew Vynyng of the forest of Gillingham, for 1402-3,
are extant and in good condition. They are still inclosed in the leather pouch in which they were
•originally forwarded to London. ^^ There was a considerable number of oaks used this year for the
lodge and pales of the park of Gillingham, as well as for the lodges of Dunhurst and Mardle
■within the forest. The sale is entered of numerous ' rothers,' which seems to have been a variant
■for roers or robora^ a term for oak trunks. They varied much in value, doubtless according to size.
Four rothers for Walter Hert, chaplain, were valued at 33;. \d. ; they were probably for the
repair of the chapel. A rother for the prioress of Shaftesbury was only valued at \bd.
Pleas ^^ of the forest of Gillingham were held at Shaftesbury in September, 1490, before Sir
Reynold Bray, Edward Chaderton, clerk, and Richard Empson, as justices of the forest of Elizabeth,
-queen of England, on both sides of the Trent. Among the various officials who appeared were
Philip Lucas, the deputy for Sir John Luttrell, sheriff of the county, who was not present in
person ; William Twynyhoe, esquire, lieutenant of the forest for Sir John Cheyne ; William
■Goodwyn, ranger ; Gilbert Thomson, parker of Gillingham, and two other foresters,*' the launder
{the keeper of the launds or pasture grounds of the deer), the servant of the lieutenant, the bailiff
and his fellows of the Hundred of Redlane, the two verderers, eight regarders, and the reeves and
four men of each of the townships of Gillingham, Motcombe, and Bratton. The palmy days
of forest law and its highly detailed administration were already fading away. About the most
important business transacted was the due allotting of perquisites of oaks, roers, and bucks to the
ofKcials and the registering and confirming of old liberty claims within the forest. The jury of
the Hundred of Redlane presented a list of various persons who had felled oaks, but in almost
€very instance they knew not the numbers nor the warrant. It will be noticed that at these
pleas, Gillingham Forest was described as pertaining to the queen of Henry VII. From the
days of Edward, Gillingham manor and forest were usually assigned to the ^vereign's consort
as part of her dower. It was part of the portion of at least two of the wives of Henry VIII,
Ann Boleyn and Catherine Howard.
At a swainmote, or local forest court, of Gillingham Forest, held before Robert, the steward, on
18 January, 1534, the jury, on their oaths, presented John Netherwend and two others for having
* kylled a male dere called a Sowre at Middelhege within the quenes grace libertie and free warren
adjoynyng to hyr graces Forest of Gyllyngham,' and further charged the same offenders with having
' kylled a doo with a halter a sowre with greyhounds at Wethers.' William Grymston was charged
with carrying at his girdle five halters, and going with certain others on a night in November to a
place called Hawkyns ; also, on another occasion, going with others ' into Myddelhegge and there
they sett up three halters but they kylled nothyng.' There were various other charges of killing
fallow deer by night, in the park of Gillingham, against William Grymston, yeoman, and his servants.
At a previous manor court of the manor of Gillingham, evidence had been given of the violence of
Grymston in breaking the king's peace by armed threats against those who were witnesses of his
poaching, especially against one Alexander Frances, ' and there dyd yll intrete hym offering to thrust
his dagger in hym yf he did speke one word and otherwyse that is to say in suche wyse that he of
his pore lyf was in dispayre.' *■*
Various noblemen or gentlemen held the office of warden or constable of the forest of Gilling-
ham in its later history usually in conjunction with like offices elsewhere ; such were tiie earl of
Warwick in the reign of Henry VI and Sir Humphrey Stafford in the time of Edward IV. From
1593 till 1604, Sir Walter Raleigh and his son Carew held the offices of ranger of the forest,
steward of the woodwards' court, keeper of the park, and steward and bailiff of the manor of
■Gillingham."
When the manor of Gillingham was granted to the earl of Elgin, part of the forest lands
were reserved for the crown ; but in July, 1625, a lease was granted by Charles I to Sir James
Fullerton, his old preceptor, for forty-one years of the herbage of Gillingham Park at the ancient
rent of ;^ii, together with 2,408 acres of waste at the rent of 12c/. an acre, the latter to be
*' Mins. Accts. bdle. 141, No. 11. " D. of Lane. For. Proc. bdle. 3, No. 2.
*' The forestership in fee, as the proceedings record, was at th's time in dispute. John Thornhill w.is
apparently in possession and claimed a moiety at least, and a ' robur ' was granted to his deputy who put in
an appearance. But Humphrey Pokeswell also claimed the hereditary office in the right of Elizabeth his
■wife, and a date was fixed for the further consideration of the matter.
" Ct. R. ptfo. 170, No. 17.
" Hutchins, Dorset, iii, 624.
293
A HISTORY OF DORSET
improved for the king. The lessee was to maintain 400 deer in the park for the king's recreation.'*
But the following February Sir James Fullerton had a grant of all the deer within the forest and
park." In March, 1628, a revised lease was granted to Sir James, under which licence was granted
to dispark.^'
In August, 1629, William Connock, one of the king's huntsmen, petitioned the king as to a
roval grant made him in the previous year of trees to the value of j^ 1 00 in the forest of Gillingham,
and trees were appraised to him by the commissioners. These trees Connock afterwards sold for
/190, and he was called upon to repay the overplus. He prayed that he might retain the overplus
and his prayer was granted.*^
It was about the close of 1628 that Charles I by commission formally disafforested Gillingham,
allotting several shares to the commoners and borderers and making Sir James Fullerton farmer of the
considerable crown portion with right to inclose and fence it. This inclosing of what had been for
centuries common pasture land was vehemently resisted. Mobs, armed and disguised, threw down
the fences, filled up ditches three miles in length, sawed up the rails, carrying them off or burning
them, and threatened the farmer's workmen with death. They took an oath to be true to each
other, and to rescue any who might be apprehended. Eventually sufficient force was obtained to
secure the arrest of the ringleaders and early in 1630 the Attorney-General proceeded against Henry
Hoskins and eighty-seven others for riot and destruction in the Star Chamber. Thirty of the
delinquents (many of whom were of good position) were fined ;^200 each, thirty-five ;/^lOO each,
and nine ;^40 each. All were bound to good behaviour for two years and additional fines were
imposed for damages to Sir James Fullerton and to the two king'smessengers whohad been assaulted.
Hoskins, who was styled the colonel of the rioters, Alford the captain. Cave the lieutenant, and
Miller the corporal were also set in the pillory with papers on their heads declaring their ofiFence.**
Sir James Fullerton, in 1630, was granted by the king the whole of the Star Chamber fines levied
on the rioters.^'
In considering the story of the deer and the timber of any particular county, both of which are
included in the old significance of the term forestry, some attention should be paid to the private
parks as well as to the actual forests or royal hunting. Parks or fenced inclosures for deer, con-
taining more or less timber and coverts, could not be formed without royal licence ; but not only
were such licences pretty readily granted to the larger landowners from the thirteenth century
onwards, but the sovereign was frequently ready, as we have noticed in this county, to make grants
of live deer for the purpose of park-stocking.
There is extant an interesting record ''- of the Dorset parks, inclosures, and commons, drawn up
in the year 1583, for the information of the authorities who were anxious to encourage the breeding
of horses for military purposes. Similar lists were prepared for several other of the southern
counties.
The true certificate of all and every the parkes, inclosures and Comons within the said County
expressing their several! circuits and names of the lords and owners of them And what nomber of
horses mares and stalliands for brede are yearly kepte accordinge to the Statute.
Hundred of Cogdenne. — Imprimis there is within the said hundred two parks belonging to the
house of Canford. The great parke called Canford Parke being one myle di in compasse And no mares
kept there. The Litle parke called Lye Parke being a myle in compasse And no mares kept there
Thearle of Huntingdon and Mr. John Baker owners of the said parkes but no dere in either of
them.
Item there is within the said hundred a Comon about the compas of iij myles belonging to the
house of Canford and the villages adjoining upon the said Comon are these viz. Corf Mullen, Mr. John
Phillips and Mr. Thomas White of Fisleford lords of the said village.
Item Mr. Henry Trenchard Lorde of Litchet Matreverd and his tenants do entercomon upon the
waste grounde of Cogdenne.
Item Sir Thomas Kitson knight lord of South Latchett and all his tenants do entercommon upon
the said waste grounde of Cogden.
Item there are within the said hundred one other parke called Litchett park Mr. Henry
Trenchard lorde thereof. And is in compasse i myle or more And no dere kept there And but one
mare kept there according to the Assize of the Statute.
Hundred of Badburye. — Item there is a parke within the said hundred called Holte parke which is
the Quenes majesties continent in compasse iij miles And there are deere kept. Mr. Thomas Lovell
hath the herb.ige thereof by lease And doth kepe there I mare agreable to the Statute.
Item there is a Comon within the said hundred called Holte fForeste which is her m.ijesties and is
compass iij m}les And her majesties tenants do comon there. But no mares or Stalliands kept upon
the same agreable to the Statute.
•^ S.P. Dom. Chas. I, vol. 4, No. 97. '' Ibid. App. 563.
** Ibid. vol. 15, No. 79. -' Ibid. vol. 148, No. 73.
'" Ibid. vol. 159, No. 28 ; vol. 143, No. 66 ; Rushworth, Hist. Coll. 1639-40, App. 28.
" S.P. Dom. Chas. I, vol. 187, No. 46. '- S.P. Dom. Eliz., vol. 163, No. 20.
294
FORESTRY
Liberty of Gillingham. — Item the Queens majesties parke of Gillingham is in compasse iij myles and
deere kept there Sir John Zowche knight warden thereof And doth kepe ij mares there and the Fee
fosters one mare agreable to the assise of the statute.
Item Mr. Thomas Morton esquire hath a ground in Gillingham called Bengfcldes in compasse
one myle and doth kepe ij mares there according to the assize of the statute.
Hundred of Knotvlton. — Item there is within the said hundred a parke called Woodland Parke
Sir Francis Willoughbye Knt. lorde thereof And is in compasse one myle and better Mr. Ralph
Lambert hath it to farrae And doth kepe for bread iiij mares in the parke and one stalland agreeable
to the assize of the statute. And no deere is kept there.
Item there is within the said hundred one inclosed grounde in compasse one mile Thomas Goode
owner thereof And doth kepe ij mares in the same agree.ible to thazzize of the statute.
Hundred of Cranborne. — Item there is a parke within the said hundred called Blagden Parke The
Queen majestie lady thereof And Mr. James Hannam farmer of the same And is in compasse iij
miles And no deere nor mares or Stalland kept there.
Item there is within the said hundred one other parke called Alderholt parke Thearle of Pembroke
lord thereof And is in compasse ij myle And no deere mare or stalland kept there.
Item there is within the said hundred a comon heathe called Cranborne Comon which is her
Majesties containing in compasse iij miles and the entercommoners upon the same are these the town of
Damerham which is the bishopes of Sarum ; The villages of Harbridge and Litle Asheford And no
mares or Stallands kept there agreable to the Statute.
Item there is also a comon within the said hundred called Bouslye Comon within the parish of Shilling
Eckeford Mr. Brokesby lord thereof And is in compasse one mile and no mares or stalliands kept there.
Hundred de Whitchurch. — Item there is one parke within the said hundred called Chediocke Park
belonging unto Sir John Arundell Knight containing in compass a mile and a half or thereabouts
wherein are no deere But disparked and converted only to tillage And no mares kept there according
to the statute.
Item there is one other parke within the said hundred called Marshwood parke which is Sr Ame,
Poulett land containing in compass iij myles or thereabouts But disparked and converted into diver
tenements And no mares keep there according to the statute.
Item there is within the said hundred one other parke called Cricklake parke which is the land of
one Mr. Baker in Kent But is likewise disparked and converted to pasture and tillage and containing
in compasse two myles or thereabouts But no mares kept there according to the Statute.
Item there is within the same hundred one other parke called Wotton parke which is the land
of John Wadham and Edmund Hardye esquire containing in compass one mile or thereabouts And
in their occupation But no deere in the same neither mares kepte according to the Statute.
Hundred de Egerton. — Item there is one parke within the said hundred called Hooke parke which
is the land of the right honourable the Lord marquis of Winchester containing in compass one myle or
thereabouts and in his occupation in which parke there is as well deere kept as also mares according to
the statute.
Hundred of Tollerford. — Item there is one parke within the said hundred called Melburye Parke
which is the land of John Strangwaies esquier containing in compasse one mile and half and in his
occupation in which parke there is as well deere kept as also mares according to the Statute.
Hundred de Shurbome. — Item there is one parke within the said hundred called Shurborne parke
whereof Sir John Horsey knight is owner continent in compasse ij myles or thereabouts and in his
occupation in which parke there is as well deere kept as also mares according to the Statute.
Item John Miller of Cane holdeth a certeine inclosed ground within the said hundred called
Bailye continent in compasse by estimation a myle and somewhat more wherein are kept no mares
according to the statute.
Item there is within the said hundred a Comon of her Majestie called Blackmore Comon
continent by estimation in compasse v myles And these villages and townships viz Folk Burton
Holneste Busshopes Downe Blackmores ford and Lidlinche be entrecomoners upon whiche comon ar
kepte and yearly breade a great nomber of mares and colts of small stature but very few or no stalliands
according to the statute.
Hundred of Redlane. — There is within the said hundred two Comons whereof the one is parcel of
the manor of Sutton Walron And is proper to thinhabitants thereof only And by estimation continent
I myle in compasse The other is parcell of the manor of Chilockeforde and hath borderinge upon it
the comons of Sturminster and Ockeforde ffitzpaine and of Fiforde with others and continent likewise
by estimation one mile in compasse or thereabouts But the pasturing of the said comons is not
imployedto the breadinge or fostering of mares Stallands or colts but converted to the breadinge of other
■cattle and at certeyne tymes of the yeare to sheepe excepte it be only of a very few colts of small
stature And of themselfes profitable to nothing.
Hundred of Tetmister. — Item there are within the said hundred two comons of her Majesties
whereof one of them called Ryrae Comon continent by estimation i myle and upwardes in
■compasse These villages videlt the tethinge of Ryme and the tethinge of Yelmister ar intercomoners
and the other called Lye Comon continent the like compasse or thereabouts these villages viz. Lye
Batcombe, Wolcombe Melburye Bubbe and Hiefeld which is the lands of George Trencharde esquire
are entercomoners wherein are kepte and yearelye breade a great nomber of mares and colts of small
stature But very fewe or no stallands according to the statute.
295
A HISTORY OF DORSET
Hundred of Newton. — Item there is within the said hundred two commons of her Majestic
whereof one of them called West Comon continent by estimation I myle in compasse or thereabouts
These Manners viz LiJlinche West Bagber, East Bagber and Mr. Crolchorne his tenants of Haydon do
entercomon The other called Gobson Comon continent the like compasse or thereabouts the Mannors
hereafter mentioned be intercommoners viz. Chilockesover Ockeforde ffitzpain South Fifett Fifett Nevill
and Plumber ar entercomoners upon whiche comons ar mares kepte accordinge to the statute.
Hundred of Buckhnde. — Item there is within the said hundred one Comon of her Majesties called
Blackmore Comon continent by estimation vj myles in compasse or thereabouts whereunto these Manors
viz Pulham Hohvall Bucklande and Wotton Glanfeld do entercomon And upon the same ar Mares
kept according to the statute.
Item within the said hundred one Henry Stoyett of Mylton holdeth by lease one enclosed ground
called Duntishe Park being disparked and the lands of the Lord Morden continent by estimation one
mile and a half in compasse wherein are not mares kept accordinge to the Statute.
Hundred of Jf'hitetvay. — Item there is within the said hundred one parke called Melcombe Parke
continent by estimation ij myles and a helf or thereabouts in compasse being the land of Sr John Horsey
Knight And in his occupation in whiche parke he as well deere kepte as also Mares and Stallands
according to the Statute.
The Isle of Purbeck, which is the name for the south-easterly corner of the county, though
ceasing, as has been stated, to be a royal forest under forest laws in the time of John, long
remained a home of the red deer, which roamed almost at will throughout the whole territory,
extending twelve miles in length, and ten miles in the widest part from north to south. Within
the warren or park of Corfe Castle there were also fallow deer. Documents of the fourteenth and
subsequent centuries occasionally name the Forest of Purbeck ; but it was more usually termed
Chase, the correct title when held by a subject. The Constable of Corfe Castle, who held that office
under various titles, was lieutenant of the whole island, and not infrequently denominated chief
forester or warrener. In a quaint map of the Isle of Purbeck, drawn by one Ralph Treswell,
circa. 1585, red deer (both stags and hinds) are drawn as roaming about in all parts of the district.**
The author of a survey of the western counties, drawn up in 1635, says of Purbeck : —
In this island doth range many goodly deere that are hedged in with a surer p.ile than wood
(sea and river), which, when they are hunted will adventure into the sea and take s.ik soils,
whereby they stand long and make brave sport, of which (having a fit opportunity and a little time
to cast away) I had some part, much to my content."
King James is said to have been the last of our kings who hunted here ; he visited Corfe
Castle in 161 5. The open heaths of the eastern side of the island were eminently suited as runs
for the red deer. The last of these wild deer are said to have perished during the great Civil War.
There are but five deer-stocked parks at the present day in the whole of this extensive
county.*^
Charborough Park (Mrs. Ernle-Erle-Drax) is one of the finest parks in England ; it is beauti-
fully timbered on undulating ground. The area is 798 acres, and it is stocked with 400 fallow and
250 red deer. The park also contains 35 Brahmin cattle. There has been no planting done on
this estate for many years, but the present owner is much interested in forestry and replanting has
begun (1907) at Moram Park. Charborough Park was inclosed on its present lines early in the
nineteenth century, but there had previously been a park of a smaller extent within its limits, and
the park at Lytchett, a mile in compass, just mentioned in the 1583 survey, was near at hand.
Sherborne Castle (F. J. B. Wingfield-Digby, Esq.) The actual deer park has an area of 328
acres and is stocked with 280 fallow deer. There are also two Japanese deer. All the fallow deer
are of a dark brown colour, and very few are in any way dappled. In addition to the park proper,
there is a considerable extent of surrounding park-like grounds with finely displayed groups ol
timber and stretches of bracken, flanked with wood. The whole covers about 1,000 acres.
There are a large number of roe-deer living wild among the woods, particularly in the Old
Park, Honeycombe, and Whitfield woods. Of late years a considerable area of woodland has been
replanted.
Melbury House, Dorchester (Earl of Ilchester) is surrounded by a fine old well-timbered park of
about 500 acres, stocked with about 500 deer, red, fallow, and Japanese. Here was an ancient seat
° This map is preserved at Kingston L.icy ; a reproduction is given in the last edition of Hutchins'
Dorset, i, 462.
" Lansdowne MS. 213.
" Some of the brief information as to Dorset parks is gained from Deer and Deer Parks (1867) and
Whitaker, Deer P^r^j (1892), and some from local observation; but I am chiefly indebted to the ready-
courtesy of the agents of the different estates.
296
FORESTRY
and park of the old family of Strangways from whom the Earls of Ilchester are descended in the
female line. It is thus mentioned by Leland in the time of Henry VIII :
This is a fair park hard by the manor place of Milbyri and yn this park is a pond, out of the wich
issueth a broketh, that with the course of a right few miles goith into Ivelle Rvyer. . . . Mr.
Strangways now and late began to builde richely at his commune dwelling House in Milbyri Park,
and caussed three thousand lode of free-stone to be fetched from Hamden Quarre nine myles of
thither."^
At the present time all kinds of forest trees indigenous to England grow luxuriantly in Mel-
bury park ; there are many of great age and size. The old historic oak tree has attained to the
immense girth of 40 ft. Four elms in front of the house, part of a group of seven trees, are from
120 to 125 ft. high, and about 27 ft. round the base of the trunk. Amongst timber in the park
that is still growing may be mentioned an oak 25 ft. high and 18 ft. in girth, and a poplar 30 ft.
high, 15 ft. in girth."
Stock Gaylard Park (the Bishop of Worcester) is the oldest park in the county. William de
Cantilupe had a park here, within the forest bounds of Blackmoor in 1248.''* It is 75 acres in
extent, and is stocked with about fifty fallow deer. Some of the old timber, both oaks and elms, is
particularly fine. Recent measurements taken for this article show that one of the oaks has a girth
of 17 ft. 6 in. 5 ft. from the ground, whilst the boughs stretch out to a diameter of 100 ft. Another
oak has a girth of 17 ft. 2 in., whilst there are two elms with a girth of 14 ft.
Bryanston Park (Lord Portman), which was inclosed in 1760, has an area of fifty acres; but a
few years ago an additional 152- adjoining acres was high fenced, where the deer are sometimes
admitted when their own keep falls short and a change of pasture seems desirable. Except for
landscape effect and making good the weak places in the old coverts, there has not been any exten-
sive planting on this estate for some years.
With regard to the roe-deer, Dorset was evidently a favourite haunt in mediaeval days,
as may be judged from the venison presentments of the forests of Blackmoor and Powerstock cited
above. It is therefore particularly interesting to note that it is the one county in England where
this graceful indigenous breed of small deer now run wild in considerable numbers. After having
disappeared from Dorset for some two or three centuries, roe-deer were re-introduced at Milton
about the beginning of the nineteenth century, and now they roam freely about the woods of the
Vale of Blackmoor, under the general protection of the landowners. Occasionally they are seen in
other parts of the county. About 1870 some of these Dorset roe-deer wandered as far as the New
Forest, where a small herd is now established. In 1884 a few of these roe-deer were caught and
transferred to Epping Forest, where they are now established.^^
Several parks of the county, not now stocked with deer, have some claim on our attention,
more especially Lord Wimborne's beautifully timbered old park of Canford Manor, which incloses
about 800 acres. There were here two parks in Elizabethan days, distinguished as Great and
Little ; they are marked in Saxton's survey of 1575, and again by Speed in 16 lO. The Earl of
Shaftesbury has a nobly timbered park, of upwards of 400 acres, around St. Giles House ; Leland
noticed a park here, which was then held by Mr. Ashley, an ancestor of the Earls of Shaftesbury.
The small park and surrounding well-wooded hills, planted about a century ago, at Milton Abbas,
afford about 5,000 acres of beautiful woodland scenery.
Other parks, all more or less well-wooded, are those of Holnest 130 acres. Holme Priory 80,
Kingston Lacy 420, Minterne House lOO, Moreton House 100, and Whatcombe House 160.
A General View of the Agriculture of Dorset was prepared in 1793, by John Claridge, for the
Board of Agriculture. It was then estimated that woods and plantations covered 9,000 acres, that
86,000 acres were uncultivated or waste, and that 290,000 acres were ' Ewe Leas and Downs.'
The county is spoken of as ' extremely barren both in timber and wood,' nevertheless there were
several places appropriated to the growth of underwood, such as Duncombe in the Vale of Black-
moor, and Honeycombe Wood, near Sherborne. The underwood was cut at ten or twelve years'
growth, and produced about five or six pounds an acre for faggots. There was some fine oak
timber at Sherborne Castle, at Melbury, and in that part of the Vale of Blackmoor, in Mr. Sturt's
possession. Several noblemen and gentlemen had made plantations about their places of residence,
notably the Earl of Dorchester at Milton, Mr. Frampton at Moreton, and Mr. Portman at Bland-
ford ; nevertheless, Mr. Claridge considered that there was no part of England which he had ever
seen so much in want of ornamental and useful woodland as Dorset. He proceeds to point out that
most of the attempts at planting which he had seen have been upon too small a scale, and no sooner
have the westerly winds from the coast attacked them, than they become miserable and unthrifty ;
'° Leland, Ittn. vii, 77 ; vi, 12.
" From information kindly supplied by Mr. W. H. Wells, Lord Ilchester's agent.
»» Pat. 32 Hen. Ill, m. 4. '» Cox, Royal Forests, 86.
2 297 38
A HISTORY OF DORSET
and this too arises from their being planted in nurseries, and of too large a size. The soil on the
tops of the hills is particularly well adapted to the growth of beech, and oak would not fail to grow,
provided there was a sufficient mixture of firs to shelter them in their infancy.
A revised and much extended report on the county, under the editorship of William Stevenson,
was issued by the Board of Agriculture in i8i2. The statement as to the scarcity of timber is
repeated, and the quantity was said to be continually diminishing. The Vale of Blackmoor, very
woody in former times, had merely hedgerow timber. Exclusive of woods and timber in parks,
preserved for ornament, and therefore 'of little use to the public, there were only seventeen parishes
that had timber woods, and many of them but thinly stored and chiefly underwood.' They were :
Abbotsbury, 50 acres of oak timber ; Charborough, 10 ; Fifehead Neville, 60; Hawkchurch, 50 ;
trees worth ^^5 each ; Chilton, 100 ; Hilton, 70 ; Sydling St. Nicholas, 100 ; Symondsbury, 20,
some young and thriving ; Stalbridge, 90 ; Stock Gaylard, 60 ; Stourton Caundle, 65 ; Sturminster
Newton, 100 ; Tarrant Gunville, 250, ash and oak; Tarrant Monkton, 50 ; West Chelborough,
40 ; Winterborne Clenston, 320, 40 of which have some fine ash ; and Winterborne Whitchurch,
44 acres, but only about five timber trees. This enumeration is under 1,500 acres ; but there
were in addition a number of copses, almost entirely of hazel, on the chalky soils. These copses
were cut at about six or seven years old, for the purpose of hurdle making, without splitting the
hazel. Some interesting information is given as to success in plantations of Scotch firs.
It is of much interest to note that the attention given to arboriculture and the principles of
modern forestry during the last quarter of a century have brought about a steady and by no means
inconsiderable increase in the acreage occupied by woodlands. This increase during the decade
ending 1905 shows an additional area of 52,483 acres given up to woods and coppices throughout
England and Wales. In this growth Dorset has taken its full share. The acreage of this county
given up to woods was in 1888, 30,808; in 1891, 31,457; in 1895, 37,615; and in 1905,
38,869. The agricultural returns of 1905 adopted an improved method of subdividing the wood-
land ; they show that Dorset possesses 19,937 acres of coppice, that is of woods periodically felled
and reproduced from the old stools; 1,366 acres of plantations, or woods planted within the last
fifteen years, and 'other woods' which have an acreage in this county of 17,516, giving the full
total of 38,869. Dorset cannot, however, be considered a well-wooded county, as its area is
624,341 acres.
For the most part its recent increase in woodland has been effected tor landscape or game
purposes ; there is but very little arboriculture on commercial lines, save on parts of Cranborne
Chase and at Selwood, to the north of Shaftesbury. There are also considerable oakwoods at
Marshwood in the west of the county, the timber of which is considered to be of inferior quality.
In several parts of the Vale of Blackmoor, notably at Holnest and Mappowder, there are some
exceptionally fine oaks. The elm grows to a great size in the neighbourhood by Beaminster and
Bridport. The climate is so mild in the south-west, about Abbotsbury, that in recent years semi-
tropical trees and plants have been found to flourish as in the Scilly Isles.
298
SPORT ANCIENT AND
MODERN
WITHIN the borders of the small
county of Dorset a great variety
of sport is to be found, inter-
esting both for its antiquity and
its excellence. The wild nature
of the country and the smallness of the population
have doubtless been greatly in favour of sport, and
a strong love of it is inborn, not only in the leading
families of the county, but also in the yeomen
farmers of Dorset, a class of men whose equal can
hardly be found anywhere out of England. Even
among Dorset labouring men this love of sport
appears, and they will be found always ready to tell
the line of the hunted fox, the best spot in the river
or bog to find wild-fowl, or the deep pool where
the largest trout rises in the gloaming. Dorset
is a county where every description of English
sport may be enjoyed, save indeed deer-stalking ;
and even an imitation of this may be attempted
with a rook rifle and a grazing roe-buck, on the
edge of any of the great fir plantations.
Hunting naturally takes the precedence,
whether of fox, roe, or hare ; but at the same time
shooting and fishing are of a very fine order, and,
as will be seen from their individual history,
hold a prominent position amongst the records
of sport in England.
Racing and coursing are not carried on to any
great extent in these days, but many notable
horses have been bred and trained in the county.
Polo has of late years received a great deal of
attention in one part of the county, and some of
the best players of the day belong to the club.
A short notice of hawking will be found at the
end of the article on shooting, and this sport de-
serves a mention, one of the finest flights of hawks
in the world having been trained and flown in
Dorset.
The ancient history of sport in the county
brings before us more than one royal hunting
ground. Domesday Book speaks of a forest and
chase at Wimborne, of which there are no
signs now. In the reign of Edward I we have
mention of forests at Powerstock, Gillingham,
and Blackmoor ; arid Bere Wood is the remains
of what was a great forest in the reign of King
John. The decoy and the unique swannery at
Abbotsbury, where there are at least i,ooo swans
take us back to very ancient times.
Of historical hunting grounds in the county
the two most famous perhaps are the Isle of
Purbeck and Cranborne Chase, and in Hutchins's
History of Dorset we read of Purbeck : —
The forest extended over the whole island, and the
woods were well stocked with red and fallow deer
and stags, especially in the west part, but these were
destroyed in the Civil Wars, and few, if any, have
remained in the memory of man.
In old evidences it is styled the ' Forest,'
' Chase,' and ' Warren ' of Purbeck, and seems
generally to have been reserved by our princes
for their own diversion. King James I was
the last of the English kings who hunted here.
The author of a Survey of the IFestern Counties
in 1635 says : —
In this island doth range many goodly deere that are
hedged in with a surer pale than wood, which, when
they are hunted will adventure into the sea and take
salt soils, whereby they stand long and make brave
sport, of which (having a fit opportunity and a little
time to cast away) I had some part, much to my
content.
Cranborne Chase was also a royal possession,
and its history is full of evidence of friction be-
tween the owners and the inhabitants of the
chase. We read, for instance, that 'a certain deer
came wounded into the vill of Kingston on the land
of Hereward de Marreys, and the deer being weak,
the villeins and women took it,' which coming to
the ears of the steward of the earl of Gloucester,
he sent his foresters to distrain for the said deer and
' they took a thousand two teeth sheep and kept
them till Hereward paid a fine of twenty marks.'
As early as 1343 hares and foxes were hunted
in Cranborne Chase, and in an action taken
against Philip, the forester of the earl of
Gloucester, one accusation was that ' they take
the dogs of the freemen in the Chase, where
they had always been accustomed to hunt hares
and foxes.'
In the article on fishing it will be seen in
what early days the history of the Frome
fishery begins and how it too was for centuries a.
royal preserve.
299
A HISTORY OF DORSET
HUNTING
FOXHOUNDS
Dorsetshire may boast of being one of the
first counties in Great Britain in which hunting
under regular conditions was carried on ; it is
indeed claimed by some that the first pack of
hounds, kept solely for the pursuit of the fox,
was kennelled within its borders at Cranborne
Chase. These hounds were kept by Mr.
Thomas Fownes, who resided at Steepleton
in the middle of the seventeenth century. He
was a pioneer in the breeding of foxhounds,
and his pack was supposed to have been the best
of that day for looks and hunting qualities.
They were afterwards sold to go to Yorkshire.
Our history of old days would be incomplete
without a notice of the famous Peter Beckford,
the author of Thoughts on Hunting^ a standard
work even in these days. He was born in 1740,
and five years after his birth his father, Julines
Beckford, purchased the house and manor of
Steepleton from Thomas Fownes. Mr. Paget,
in his introduction to Thoughts on Huntings
says : —
Peter's innate love of sport found vent at first in
keeping a pack of harriers, but these soon gave way
to foxhounds. Thomas Fownes had given the
neighbouring squires and yeomen a taste for fox-
hunting in its legitimate form, so that when Beckford
announced his intention of reviving the glories of the
Cranborne Chase hunt he was welcomed on all sides.
From what source or sources he procured the founda-
tion of his pack, it is now impossible to ascertain ; but
judging the man from his writing, one does not
deem it likely that he would spare either trouble or
expense in getting the best blood. We may also
consider it an established fact that by dint of careful
breeding he brought his pack to a very high state
of perfection ; but what was their ultimate fate I
have not yet been able to trace. The Cranborne
Chase country was not, even in Beckford's day, an
ideal spot for hunting, as he s.iys himself ; but being
then less cultivated and fenced it was probably much
better than as we know it now. They had, however,
' The first edition of Thoughts on Hunting was pub-
lished in 1 78 1, and many editions have been published
since. It is a work full of information, knowledge,
and experience, and every novice should read it, to
prepare himself for the noble sport. The author is
buried in the church at Steepleton, and on the marble
slab of his vault is this simple inscription :
P.B.
sibi
et
suis
MDCCCIX.
A memorial tablet gives his name in full, the date of
his death, and this epitaph :
'We die and are forgotten — 'tis He.aven's decree ;
Thus the fate of others will be the fate of me.'
good sport and killed their foxes, so that it may be
presumed they enjoyed themselves, which is after all
the chief object for which we hunt. The country
which Beckford hunted was probably that which now
is known as the South Dorset. We know he hunted
beyond the Stour, as we have it on his authority, the
occasion being when he crossed it in a flood and lost
several hounds. To the north is the Blackmore
Vale, which is nearly as good a country as any in the
shires, being a wide expanse of grass, though it is
greatly spoilt by the majority of fences being planted
on banks. From the little one can gather of Beck-
ford's doings as set down by himself, I imagine he
was not a very hard rider, and the big banks of the
Vale may have had no great attraction for him.
Of Peter Beckford Sir Egerton Brydges in
The Retrospective Review says : —
Never had fox or hare the honour of being chased
to death by so accomplished a hunter ; never was a
huntsman's dinner graced with such urbanity and
wit. He would bag a fox in Greek, find a hare in
Latin, inspect his kennels in Italian, and direct the
economy of his stables in excellent French.
To the real student of hunting he gives much
information and advice as welcome to-day as
when he wrote his letters. Of hounds he
says : —
There are necessary points in the shape of a hound,
which ought always to be attended to by a sportsman;
for, if he be not of a perfect symmetry, he will neither
run fast, nor bear much work : he has much to
undergo, and should have strength proportioned to it.
Let his legs be straight as arrows ; his feet round, and
not too large ; his shoulders back ; his breast rather
wide than narrow ; his chest deep ; his back broad ;
his head small ; his neck thin ; his tail thick and
brushy ; if he carry it well, so much the better.
This last point, however trifling it may appear to
you, gave rise to a very odd question. A gentleman
(not much acquainted with hounds), as we were
hunting together the other day, said : ' I obser\'e,
Sir, that some of your dogs' tails stand up, and some
hang do^^•n ; pray, which do you reckon the best
hounds ? ' Such young hounds as .are out at the
elbows, and such as are weak from the knee to the
foot, should never be taken into the pack.
A great excellence in a pack of hounds, is the head
they carry ; and that pack may be said to go the
fastest, that can run ten miles the soonest ; notwith-
standing the hounds, separately, m.iy not run so fast
as many others. A pack of hounds, considered in a
collective body, go fast, in proportion to the ex-
cellence of their noses and the head they carry, as
that traveller generally gets soonest to his journey's
end who stops least upon the road. Some hounds
that I have hunted with, would creep all through the
same hole, though they might have leapt the hedge,
and would follow one another in a string, as true as a
team of cart horses. I had rather see them, like the
horses of the sun, all abreast.
300
SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN
Peter Beckford is not less precise with regard
to the qualities that should distinguish the hunts-
man : —
He should be young, strong, active, bold, and
enterprising ; fond of the diversion, and indefatigable
in the pursuit of it : he should be sensible and good-
tempered ; he ought also to be sober : he should be
exact, civil, and cleanly ; he should be a good horse-
man and a good groom : his voice should be strong
and clear ; and he should have an eye so quick, as to
perceive which of his hounds carries the scent when
all are running ; and should have so excellent an ear,
as always to distinguish the foremost hounds when he
does not see them ; he should be quiet, patient, and
without conceit. Such are the excellencies which
constitute a good huntsman : he should not, however,
be too fond of displaying them till necessity calls
them forth : he should let his hounds alone whilst
they can hunt, and he should have genius to assist
them when they cannot.
Of the value of view halloos he gives the
following amusing instances : —
My hounds being at a long fault, a fellow halloo'd
to them from the top of a rick at some distance off.
The huntsman, as you may believe, stuck spurs to his
horse, halloo'd till he was almost hoarse, and got to
the man as quickly as he could : the man still kept
hallooing, and, as the hounds got near him, ' Here,'
said he, ' here — here the fox is gone.' ' Is he far
before us ? ' cried the huntsman. ' How long ago
was it that you saw him ? ' ' No, master, I have not
seen him ; but I smelt him here this morning, when
I came to serve my sheep.'
Other instances were as follows : —
We were trying with some deer-hounds for an out-
lying stag, when we saw a fellow running towards us
in his shirt : we immediately concluded that we
should hear some news of the stag, and set out joy-
fully to meet him. Our first question was. If he had
seen the stag ? ' No, Sir, I have not seen him, but
my wife dreamt as how she saw him t'other night.'
Once a man halloo'd us back a mile, only to tell
«s that we were right before, and we lost the fox
■by it.
A gentleman, seeing his hounds at fault, rode up to
a man at plough, and with great eagerness asked him.
If he had seen the fox ? ' The fox. Sir ? ' ' Yes,
•d — n you, the fox I did you never see a fox?' 'Pray,
Sir, if I may be so bould, what sort of a looking
•creature may he be ? Has he short ears and a long
tail ? ' ' Yes.' ' Why, then, I can assure you. Sir, 1
have seen no such thing.'
To the field Peter Beckford gives excellent
advice which might well be taken to heart in
modern hunting days. He says : —
Few gentlemen will take any pains ; few of them
■will stop a hound, though he should run riot close
beside them ; or will stand quiet a moment, though
it be to halloo a fox. It is true, they will not fail to
halloo if he should come in their way ; and they will
do the same to as many foxes as they see. Some will
encourage hounds which they do not know ; this is a
great fault. Were every gentleman who follows
.hounds to fancy himself a huntsman, what noise,
what confusion, would ensue ! I consider many of
them as gentlemen riding out ; and I am never so
well pleased as when I see them ride home again.
You may perhaps have thought that I wished them
all to be huntsmen — most certainly not : but the
more assistants a huntsman has, the better, in all prob-
ability, his hounds will be. Good sense and a little
observation will soon prevent such people from doing
amiss ; and I hold it as an almost invariable rule in
hunting that those who do not know how to do good
are always liable to do harm. There is scarcely an
instant during a whole chase when a sportsman ought
not to be in one particular place ; and I will venture
to say that if he be not there he might as well be in
his bed.
But we must leave Mr. Beckford and get ' forrard
on.'
Mr. Phelips, history records, kept hounds at
Cattistock, Mr. Chafyn Grove had some at Wad-
don about 1768. Sir Granby Calcraft had his
hounds at Rempstone, and the Right Hon. John
Calcraft kept some at Puddletown about 1790.
The Lulworth Hounds were kept by the Welds
in Purbeck and hunted from 1790 till 18 10.
Amongst others who have kept hounds in the
county was George IV, who when Prince of
Wales, hunted from Crichel about 1 800, keep-
ing the hounds at Puddletown. Mr. Yeatman
and Mr. Hall hunted a great deal of what is
now the Blackmore Vale country. During their
time ' Billy Butler,' who was rector ofFrampton,
flourished and became a great friend of the
prince. Mr. Butler was a great character, and
many are the stories related of him. His
friendship with his royal highness commenced in
the hunting field under the following circum-
stances. After a long, fruitless draw, someone
pointed Mr. Butler out to the prince, as a man
who knew the haunt of every fox in the district,
and being brought forward the rector advised that
a certain gorse near at hand should be drawn.
After hounds had been through it and no fox found,
great disappointment was expressed, but Billy But-
ler was not defeated. Going up to the huntsman,
he inquired which was the surest fox-finder
in the pack. A hound named Trojan was
pointed out. After making friendly overtures
to this hound, he took him boldly up in his
arms, struggled with him into the middle of the
gorse, and after a little trouble got him to put
his nose down. A slight whimper, then a deep
note told the field the parson was right, and^^oon
the whole pack were full cry on the line of a
fine fox, which had lain close in the very thickest
part of the gorse. This greatly pleased the
Prince of Wales, and the friendship commenced
thus favourably grew until Mr. Butler was a
welcome guest at Crichel. Among many amus-
ing incidents recorded of him it is said that the
prince wishing to give him a present, told him
to go into the stable and take any horse he
fancied. Delighted with this offer, 'Billy'
picked out a shapely chestnut and rode off with
301
A HISTORY OF DORSET
it. A day or two afterwards a groom arrived
and told the disappointed sportsman that he had
taken a horse that belonged to someone else and
at the same time handed him a cheque for ;{^I50
to soften the blow. The generosity of the
prince, however, did not end there, for a little
later he gave the parson another look into his
stables, saying : ' I am sorry you lost your horse,
Billy ; go into my stables and take another.'
Of the runs during the time when Mr.
Yeatman hunted the country, there are some
very interesting records in an old Hunting
Journal of the Blackmore Vale Hounds from
1826— 1 83 1, and a note at the commencement
says : —
In perusing the Hunting Journal of the Bl.ickmoor
Vale fox-hounds, it must not be forgotten : first, that
a very considerable part of the countr}' which their
proprietor established in the spring of 1826, had not
been hunted at all for nearly thirty years ; that the
foxes had been systematically destroyed, and even that
their haunts and earths were known to few, if to any
persons, except to those who dealt in their destruc-
tion ; secondly, that this small extent of country had
never been hunted before by any gentleman as an
entire country ; thirdly, that at its extreme north-
eastern Wiltshire extremit}' the covers are of enormous
extent, and so full of earths as to baffle the vigilance
of the most careful and active stopper ; fourthly, that
a large portion of the country lying between Yeovil
and Compton Castle is nearly destitute of cover of
any description capable of holding a fox during the
winter months, consisting almost entirely of sandy
arable land, intersected by roads, and notorious as bad
scenting ground ; and lastly, that a system of annoy-
ance, bordering on persecution, in the county of
Dorset was not wanting to superadd difficulties to the
whole of no ordinary kind, such indeed as must be
continually kept in view by the courteous reader of
the following pages.
Truly wonderful are the accounts of some of
the runs, both for distance and duration, as the
following two examples testify.
Friday, 29 October 1830. — Hounds met at
Inwood, where a very old and gallant dog fox
was found immediately. After three ineffectual
attempts (being headed by a large and anxious
field) he got away on very good terms to Toomer
Farm, and under Frith Wood. The hounds
pressed him at the top of their speed through
Purse Caundle to Hanover Wood, and away for
Plumley Wood and New Lease Coppice ; then
across the inclosures for the village of Stourton
Caundle, crossing the Caundle River for the
plantations and park adjoining Stock House, and
leaving the main covers to the left. Making
their way over Blackrow Common for the River
Lyddon the pack began to consider him as their
own, running him at a killing pace by Rooks-
moor to Haselbury Common, where the pack
divided ; one column of hounds running into
the hunted fox in view one field short of Dead-
moor Wood, and the other column of hounds
running their fox to a drain under Wonston Hill
near Mappowder, after a splendid run of two
hours and fifty-five minutes over a good twenty
miles of ground. The dead fox was given to
the pack ; the other was saved and bolted in
security, after the pack had been sent home.
Tuesday, 22 March 1831. — The Blackmore
Vale hounds met at Charlton Horethorne and
were walked on to the celebrated gorse cover of
Caundle Brake, where they found their fox imme-
diately. Going away close to his brush through
Frith Wood to Plumley Wood, they followed
him to Ashcombe Wood, Haydon, and Goathill,
making their way through Sherborne Park to
Honeycombe Wood, crossing the corner of it
by Lillington, through Thornford toBeer Hackett.
Then sinking the hill at Knighton for Frankham
Farm, within a few fields of Clifton Wood, they
pressed him at akillingpacealongthefine inclosures
of the Yetminster Vale to Ryme, and through the
covers of the earl of Ilchester at Melbury to
Clarkham in Halstock parish, where they got up
to him. Traversing the open common and in-
closures at East Chelborough they went at a
racing pace nearly to Corscombe, from whence
the pack fairly turned him to West Chelborough,
and there this gallant fox reached his earth in
safety a few yards before the hounds, after a run
of three hours and forty-five minutes, through
fourteen parishes, over rather more than twenty-
five miles of country.
It seems that Mr. Humphrey Sturt in the year
1805 or 1806 kept a pack of hounds at Clyffe,
for Mr. John House of Anderson left a record
of a great run with him in January of one of
those years. A stump-tail fox was dug out at
Milton Park, and brought over to Clyffe and
let loose in a cellar. The frost being rather
severe he was kept there for a day or two, and
turned out at Lord's Down, near the old Dew-
lish Turnpike Gate, at about twelve o'clock.
He went away over Milborne Farm, jumped
the fence out of Milborne Eweleaze into the
deer-park, then making across the open fields
and downs for Whitechurch he turned to the
left over Chescombe and Whatcombe Park,
went straight ahead over Thorncombe and
Down House, crossed the Blandford and Stick-
land road, down over the Clyffe, and swam the
Stour between Blandford Bridge and Bryanston
House. He ran strongly through the deer-park
on to Mill Down, over the old Shaftesbury road
to Pimperne, which was left on the right, straight
on to Tarrant Hinton and Eastbury Park wall
through Chettle to Thickthorn, and so to
Thorny Down (still keeping the Salisbury turn-
pike road on the right). Keeping a straight
course over the Minchington Downs and on to
Woodyates, he crossed over Verne Ditch or
Boverley Dykes into Wiltshire, straight on by
the side of the road and the big open country
to Harnham Hill within a mile of Salisbury.
302
SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN
Darkness coming on the fox was lost at the
bottom of the steep hill, after hounds had been
running this wonderful stout varmint for over
four hours. They never went over the turn-
pike road but once from find to finish ; and the
distance by road from old Dewlish Turnpike
Gate, where this fox was turned out, to the
bottom of Harnham Hill is just 30 miles. About
three days afterwards the old woodman at Milton
Park declared he saw this same ' old stumpy '
walking about in the same wood where he had
been dug out about a week before.
In 1806 began Mr. Farquharson's long reign
of over fifty years, during which he hunted the
whole of Dorsetshire at his own expense, al-
though Mr. Yeatman's hounds, Mr. Hall's
hounds, and Mr. Drax's hounds were co-existent
at different periods. After leaving Oxford
Mr. Farquharson bought a pack of hounds from
Mr. Wyndham, at first hunting them himself,
but afterwards handing the horn over to Ben
Jennings who came from Essex. Langton was
his head quarters, and there he had stables built,
the finest perhaps in the south of England. The
kennels were at Eastbury, and at Cattistock on
the other side of Dorset he had another hunting
box, for the time he hunted that side of the
country. Ben Jennings remained thirty years
with him, and during his time, in March 1825,
occurred one of the runs of the century. The
meet was Buckland Wood, and a very large field
of the old school were present. A fox was found
which broke away over the Vale to Dairy-house
Coppice, and then through Clover Willow-bed to
the Waddon and Corton Eweleaze. Up to this
point the hunting had been very slow. In the
long heather at Blagdon it was supposed a fresh
fox must have moved out of a pit, and all at once
the hounds took up the running, and turning to
the left, went away over the Dorchester and
Abbotsbury road and the higher side of Bridehead
Farm into the Gorwell covers, and then turning
to the right over the hill to Lower Kingston
Russell. Crossing the meadows the fox went up
the steep hill (leaving the Whatcombe earths on
the right), on over the big downs, across the
Bridport road (leaving Winterbourne on the right),
and put his head straight over Higher Kingston
Russell Farm. He crossed the Roman road into
East Compton Farm ; bore to the right again over
Southover and Littlewood farms into Frampton
Hogleaze, and on into Frampton Court. Here
this stout fox went down by the side of the water-
meadows at Grimston and Stratton to Bradford
Pevereli, and from this place the horses began to
stand still, one after the other. The chase, how-
ever, still continued over Fordington Down to
Poundbury, thence to the Dorchester Barracks,
and entering the top of the town this good fox
ran down Durngate Street into the 'Plume of
Feathers ' yard, whence he was brought out and
killed. The Dorset Assizes were being held.
and the excitement was so great that the judges
closed the courts for a time, and came out to see
the fun. Lots of the horses died in Fordington
fields and in the town that night, and many more
were of little use afterwards : yet horses at that
time of the year, says an old account of this
wonderful run, were in good hunting trim.
When Jennings became too old for his duties,
the famous Jim Treadwell came with some of
Mr. Hall's hounds to be Mr. Farquharson's hunts-
man. Treadwell was born in 1800 at Stoke
Talmage, and was for a time whip to Mr. Lowndes
Stoke. Then he went into Berkshire to Mr. Cod-
rington, one of the greatest scientists of his day
in fox-hunting matters, and during the sixteen
years that he remained with Mr. Codrington he
learned all that was worth learning both as to
breeding hounds and then hunting them scientifi-
cally. From Mr. Codrington he went to
Mr. Hall, and thence to Mr. Farquharson.
Treadwell had two sons. One was first whip
to Lord Scarbrough and the other. Jack, was
huntsman of the Quorn, whilst his brother Charles
was for many years huntsman to the Bramham
Moor. In 1846, whilst he was huntsman, the
great Hilton Down run took place, and Mr.
Symonds has left this account of it: —
April 26th, 1846. Met at Bulbarrow in a co!d
sleet and snow, anything but a hunting morning. The
old squire was not out. We found a fox at Balmer's
Coombe, [which] ran across into Melcombe Park, and
went into a drain. We left him there for another day.
About two o'clock we went up into some short furze
above the house towards Hilton, and up jumped a
brace of foxes ; the hounds caught the vixen, full of
cubs, just going to lie down. Treadwell got off his
horse, threw the vixen up on the hedge, and put the
hounds on the old dog, which had ten minutes' start.
They went through the Coombe, all down over the
Cheselbourne downs to Bagber Coppice, which he did
not enter ; on to Milborne Wood, which was at that
time all one cover (the middle part not being rooted),
ran the straight ride right through without a turn,
crossed the Dorchester turnpike, where Treadwell and
myself viewed him going across a fifty-acre field on
Milborne Farm, in the direction of Tolpuddle. On
we went, over the large fields, tried the big earths in
Tolpuddle Eweleaze, which had been stopped a few
days before when the hounds met at Milborne Wood ;
went over the road between Tolpuddle and Burleston,
through the water-meadows to Parke's dairy-house,
right ahead to the end of Tincleton Hanging, leaving
Cow Pound on the right, over Little Admiston farm
into Ilsington Big Wood, which he went straight
through without a check. All over Ilsington Heath
to the top of Yellowham Wood, where he heard some
guns (rabbiting going on) and turned short to the left,
raced down over Bhompston and Duddle Heath to '
Morris Mill, down the water-meadows the north side ^
of the River Frome to Lewell MiU on to Stafford,
crossed over the river into Mr. Floyer's shrubbery ;
over Stafford Eweleaze, where the navvies were making
the South Western Railway from Southampton to
Dorchester, but they did not see our fox ; on to Came,
where nearly every horse came to a trot ; turned to
303
A HISTORY OF DORSET
the right across Fordington Field, leaving the Wey-
mouth ro.id on the left, to where the South Western
station now is, down into the water-meadows again to
Stanton's factor)-, on to Goud's Mill, still on up the
meadows near Stafford, when Treadwell saw an old
hound hit the scent into a narrow hedge-row, with a
brook on the other side ; the rest of the hounds
were outside. Treadwell cheered on the hounds as
Druid gave his deep note till we got to the end of the
hedge-row, where the fox and this single hound went
into the brook together. Treadwell jumped off his
horse, went into the water up to his neck, took the fox
away from the single hound, and the pack ate him up
as stiff" as a stake.
As a proof of the great popularity of Mr. Far-
quharson,^ no less a sum than ;^I,I50 was raised
in 1827 to present him with a testimonial.
Again at the end of fifty years' mastership j^ 1,800
was collected and a magnificent pair of silver
candelabra, together with a portrait by Sir Francis
Grant of himself on his favourite horse Botanist,
were presented to him. Mr. Farquharson
died at Langton in 1 871 in his eighty-seventh
year.
Blackmore Vale Hounds
The old history of the Blackmore Vale Hounds'
is rather involved, but owing to the kindness of
Lady Theodora Guest the following particulars
have been obtained. Mr. Farquharson's country
being far too large for any pack to hunt properly,
one or two irregular packs of hounds sprang up.
In 1826 the Rev. Harry Farr Yeatman of Stock
Gaylard started a pack of hounds, with which
he hunted chiefly hare, and occasionally fox and
roedeer. He bought his hounds of Mr. Templar,
a Devonshire friend, and hunted the Stock covers
and a great part of Somersetshire. Mr. Hall,
who lived at Holbrook House near Wincanton,
was master in 1834 ; Mr. Portman of Bryanston,
Blandford (afterwards first Viscount Portman),
hunted a portion of the country by arrangement
with Mr. Hall, from 1831 to 1840.
'The
record
of Mr.
Farquharson's
hounds
from
1837 to
1857 is
as follows :
: —
Year
Killed
Earthed
Year
Killed
Earthed
1837
118
20
1848
166
43
1838
103
16
1849
138
30
1839
104
24
18^0
144
38
1840
126
32
1S51
132
32
184I
139
31
1852
•34
21
1842
156
24
1853
152
31
1843
17+
31
1854
105
44
1844
141
29
1855
117
4'
1845
127
22
1856
100
47
1846
107
27
1857
62
II
1847
•33
30
Hunted 2,787 days, and killed 2,678 foxes, and earthed
624, thus accounting for 3,302 foxes; after deducting
1 2 blank days, this accounts for 5 1 5 more foxes than
days the hounds found.
Meantime, Mr. Drax of Charborough Park
near Wimborne,and Holnest Park near Sherborne,
started a pack of foxhounds in 1833 '^ hunt his
own property, and in 1840, having bought
Mr. Portman's hounds, he became master of the
whole Blackmore Vale country. In 1853
Mr. Drax sold his hounds to Mr. G. Whieldon
of Wyke Hall near Gillingham.
That the Blackmore Vale country was regularly
hunted by Mr. Hall in 1834 is proved by a
printed copy of a meeting, a very interesting
document still in existence, of which the sub-
joined is a copy : —
At a meeting of the
Friends of Mr. Hall's Hunt,
Holden at Sparkford Inn,
on the 20th September, 1834,
Present — H. F. Yeatman, Chairman.
J. Lee Lee, M.P. W. C. Medlycott W. F. Knatchbull
J. Goodden J. H. Wyndham R. C. Tudway
J. N. Quantock Jas. Bennett J. T. Tatchell
A. Tooke Robt. Leach Thos. Cave
G. Midlane Sealy Bridge R. Leach
J. Andrews
Resolved unanimously ' that it is expedient that a sum
of money be raised by subscription for the purpose of
earth stopping and the preservation of foxes in the
consolidated Vale Country, hunted by Henry Hall,
Esq. ; the said sum of money being to be raised in
pursuance of a resolution passed at a meeting of the
Blackmoor Vale Hunt assembled at the Henstridge Ash
Inn, in the month of January', 1834.'
That subscriptions for the above purpose be received
(post paid) at the ban k of the Messrs. Messi ter and Co. ;
and that Henry Messiter, Esq. be requested to accept
the office of treasurer to the consolidated Vale Hunt :
such subscriptions being to be considered as due on
ihe first day of October in each year.
That the undersigned persons be named as a Com-
mittee to carry the above resolution into effect, and to
'The list of successive masters and huntsmen is as
follows : —
Masters
J. S. W. Sawbridge-
Erle-Drax
G. Whieldon . . ^
Capt. Stanley . . V
Viscount Dungarvanj
Lord Harry Thynne
R. Strachey . . . .
Capt. Stanley .
G. D. Wingfield-
Digby of Sher-
borne Castle
Sir R. G. Glyn, bart.
of Gaunts House,
Wimborne
Merthyr Guest of
Inwood
John Hargreaves
Col. Percy Browne,C. B
1833-53
Huntsmen
. . J. Last
1853-5
/H. H
(J.Mit
oney
Mitchell
. . W. Stansby
.... Webb
. J. Dinnicombe
1858-63 . Turner
1863-4 • Wilson
1863-76 John Press
1876-85 G.Orbell
1885-6. . Haines
1886-90 G. Brown
1890 . . C. Fox
1895 . W. Spiller
G. Alcock,
kennel huntsmaa
G. Alcock
304
SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN
guarantee to Mr. Hall the payment of a sum not
exceeding Three Hundred Pounds per annum, for the
above purpose.
J. Lee Lee, M.P. W. F. Knatchbull W. C. Medlycott
J. Goodden H. F. Yeatman R. C. Tudway
J. N. Quantock J. T. Tatchell Jas. Bennett
A. Tooke Robt. Leach Thos. Cave
G. Midlane Sealy Bridge R. Leach
J. Andrews
That whereas a very liberal offer has been made on
the part of E. B. Portman, Esq. to surrender his claims
to the covers of Inwood, Caundle Brake, Stalbridge
Park, Frith Wood, and Fifehead Copse (as neutral
covers) provided that Mr. Hall permit Mr. Portman
to draw Stock Wood, Rooksmoor, and Thornhill Copse,
when, and as often as it suits his (Mr. Portman's) con-
venience ; resolved, that in the opinion of this meet-
ing it is desirable that such exchange of covers should
take place ; it being to be understood that the whole
of the Blackmoor Vale country including Stock Wood,
Rooksmoor, and Thornhill Copse is vested in Mr. Hall,
and that this arrangement is now entered into on the
part of Mr. Hall, as a matter of accommodation to
Mr. Portman ; and it is further agreed that Mr. Hall
shall be at liberty to draw Stock Wood, Rooksmoor, and
Thornhill Copse, in each year in the months of Novem-
ber and February, on the condition that heaccommo-
d:Ues Mr. Portman with a day's sport in the Annis
Hill and Cherton Wood Country, in the months of
November and February aforesaid ; and that this
arrangement is to be binding as long only as Mr. Port-
man keeps his fox-hounds ; at the expiration of which
period the whole of the aforesaid covers shall revert to
Signed, H. F. Yeatman, Chairman.
Resolved, that the cordial thanks of this meeting be
given to Mr. Yeatman for his able and impartial
conduct in the chair. g.^^^^^ ^_ ^ Medlycott.
The importance of this document to the
county appears from another dated 1853 at the
beginning of the dispute with Mr. Farquharson,
which lasted until 1858, when Mr. Farquharson
gave up the whole country, Mr. Digby of Sher-
borne Castle, Lord Portman, and other landowners,
having joined in putting pressure upon him to
give up a portion of his immense territory.
At a
Meeting of the Members
of the
BLACKMORE VALE HUNT,
Holden by adjournment at Wincanton, on Monday,
the 1 6th day of May, 1853.
The Hon. Col. Boyle, M.P., in the Chair.
It was unanimously resolved, —
That this meeting has heard with very great sur-
prise, through the medium of a letter addressed by
J. J. Farquharson, Esq., to Lord Dungarvan, G.
Whieldon, Esq., and Captain Stanley, joint masters of
the Blackmoor Vale Fox-hounds, that he (Mr. Far-
quharson) considers that Inwood, Caundle Brake, and
everything within that line, as belonging to his
country, and that he has Sir Hugh Hoare's permission
to consider the Stourhead covers the same.
It appearing to this meeting, beyond all doubt,
that this newly made claim of Mr. Farquharson's can
only be considered as adverse to the very existence of
the Blackmoor Vale Fox-hounds, and to the efficient
hunting of those covers in Dorset, Somerset, and
Wiltshire, which they have occupied uninterruptedly
from 1826 down to the date of Mr. Farquharson's
letter of the 21st of April, 1853, it being certain —
First, that Mr. Farquharson voluntarily resigned and
gave up the above recited covers, when the Black-
moor Vale Fox-hounds were established in 1826,
from which distant period down to the date of his
present claim of the 21st of April aforesaid, and for
twenty-seven years in succession, Mr. Farquharson
never made a demand for the restitution of these
covers, either by application to the Blackmoor Vale
committee of management, who were appointed in
1834 to conduct the affairs and business of the B.V.
Hunt, or by any application to the honorary secre-
tary of the said committee, or by any application to
any master of the Blackmoor Vale Fox-hounds, in so
far as the records of the Blackmoor Vale Hunt will
furnish information ; whilst, secondly, it appears
certain that during the above twenty-seven seasons,
Mr. Farquharson has never drawn with his fox-hounds
any one or more of the above covers he now claims,
nor exercised any one right or privilege so as to shew
that he had not abandoned these covers, which he
now lays claim to ; it being also certain according to
the law and usages of fox-hunting, that Mr. Farquhar-
son can have no right or title to the above recited
covers ; in proof and confirmation of which, it has
been laid down by an ex-master of fox-hounds of
very long standing, and who is now a standard
writer of authority on the law of fox-hunting (See
the work of Scrutator, page 1 24), that covers may
become lapsed by any master discontinuing to draw
them for seven years, or by his allowing another
pack to hunt them without remonstrance and inter-
ference for that period — in these cases the master of
an adjoining pack, with the consent of proprietors,
m.iy take possession of these covers, and they will
become an integral part of his country —
It is therefore resolved, for these and other
reasons, to reject the claims so unexpectedly preferred
by Mr. Farquharson, and to request and encourage the
Blackmoor Vale committee of management to con-
tinue to keep possession of the said covers thus claimed
by Mr. F., and to do so in accordance with the
powers vested in them by the resolution of the B.V.
Hunt, recorded and published in years 1834, 1837,
and 1 840, when it was resolved from time to time
at public meetings of the Blackmoor Vale Hunt,
that the Blackmoor Vale country, as a consoli-
dated country (and including the very covers now
claimed by Mr. Farquharson), should be vested in a
committee of management, as an entire country, to
be holden in trust for the members of the Blackmoor
Vale Hunt.
That the thanks of this meeting be given to the
chairman, for his able conduct in the chair.
(Signed) Robert Boyle,
Chairman.
With the resignation in 1859 of Mr. Far-
quharson came a readjustment of the country, and
the Blackmore Vale hunt enlarged its borders,
whilst some country was handed over to Lord
Portman on the one hand and to Lord Poltimore
on the other for the Cattistock hunt.
305
39
A HISTORY OF DORSET
Mr. Drax, who hunted the county from 1833
to 1853, h^^ ^^^ support of all those farmers
and landowners who naturally objected to the
long distances necessitated by Mr. Farquharson's
huge country. In 1840 he purchased Lord
Portman's hounds, and the whole of his breeding
may be found in The Blackmore Vale Hounds from
1833 to 1900. He appears to have used all the
good kennels, including those' of the duke of
Beaufort, Lord Middleton, Mr. Codrington, Mr.
Assheton Smith, the duke of Rutland, Lord
Fitzwilli.-im, and Sir T. Sykes.
Miss Serrell, in her most interesting book,
Hound and Terrier in the Field, says : —
Mr. Drax had a great eye for colour in his own
and his sen-ants' dress in the field. The latter were
attired in canary-coloured plush coats, with blue
collars bound with gold lace, and a gold fox with a
silver brush on each side of the collar. For the rest
they had red waistcoats, white breeches, white tops,
black velvet caps, and white gloves. The members of
the hunt sported scarlet, but the master came out in
a sky-blue coat, a cream-coloured waistcoat em-
broidered with gold, and a top-hat. On certain days
Mr. Drax would mount himself and his men on grey
horses, though he did not by any means confine his
establishment to horses of that colour.
After the retirement of Mr. Drax there
appears to have been for a time a quick suc-
cession of masters, the names of Mr. Whieldon,
Captain Stanley, Viscount Dungarvan, Lord
Harry Thynne, and Mr. R. Strachey occurring
between 1853 and 1858. In 1858 the reins of
office were taken up by Mr. George Digby
Wingfield-Digby of Sherborne Castle. Mr.
Digby became a most popular master, and being
very fond of a fast ride over the Vale, he gave
his attention to breeding pace in his hounds, so
that he altogether changed the character of the
pack. He specially favoured the Sparkford Vale,
which is all grass and flying fences, and tradition
has it that Mr. Digby was so unwilling to be
deprived of a gallop in his favourite country
that a fox would often travel with him in a
basket under the seat of his brougham to be
turned out if required. In Mr. Digby's time
John Press came as huntsman to the Blackmore
Vale from the Cambridgeshire. He had been
whipper-in to Mr. Farquharson's hounds under
the famous Jim Treadwell, and afterwards was
huntsman to the Crawley and Horsham and the
Cambridgeshire. He is said to have been an
extremely clever huntsman, and to have had
almost preternatural abilitv to tell where his
hunted fox had gone. When hounds were at
fault he would catch them up, gallop off as
straight as a line to some point which he had in
his mind, recover the hunted fox, and kill him, so
that often the field never knew that hounds had
been off the line at all.
In 1865 Sir Richard George Glynn, third
baronet, of Gaunts House, near VVimborne, took
the hounds, and Mr. Digby made over the whole
establishment — horses, hounds, and hunt servants
— to him, the kennels still remaining at Charlton
Horethorne. Press remained with the new
master for eleven years, and was soon recognized
as one of the first huntsmen of the day. Miss
Serrell gives us an amusing story of his resource
in the field : —
It was early in the year, when Sir Richard met at
Henstridge Ash. The first coverts to be drawn were
those of Inwood, and Press, finding that there was no
scent and no chance of sport, took his precautions to
have a good d.iy to his credit in spite of difficulties.
In the first covert into which hounds were thrown
they chopped a fox almost under the nose of the horse
of the only member of the field who happened to be
within sight. Press was down in a moment, and as
he took the fox from hounds he looked round, and
seeing but the one man near, he exclaimed, ' Not a
word, sir, if you please,' and springing back into the
saddle, he put the fox up on the highest branch of a
fir-tree he could reach. Then with a touch on his
horn he gathered and lifted hounds cleverly out of
covert, and riding almost in a line with them, cheered
and encouraged them on in the direction of the
vilLige. A good thirty minutes' gallop followed, by
Templecombe and Stow-ell back to Henstridge Ash
and up to the covert whence it had started. Here
Press, well in front of the field, threw down the fox,
and with a loud who-whoop celebrated the obsequies
in due form, and received the congratulations of the
field on a good day. The one somewhat mystified
follower of the huntsman's tactics obeyed Press's in-
junction to keep the secret, and it was not till some
time afterwards that a rumour of the day's proceedings
came to be noised abroad. As Press explained the
reasons for his manoeuvre, ' You see, sir, I knew 'twas
our only chance to-day, so I took it.'
After living in retirement at Milborne Port
for a few years Press died in 1885 in the County
Asylum at the age of sixty-seven.
Another famous huntsman succeeded him,
George Orbell, who had commenced his hunting
days with harriers in Hertfordshire. He then
went as whip to Lord Poltimore, and from him
to the Blackmore Vale, Sir VVatkin VVynn's
hounds, and the South Berks successively. After
serving as kennel huntsman to the South Notts,
and then as huntsman to the Craven, and after
that to the RufFord, he returned to the Craven,
from which pack he came to succeed Press with
the Blackmore Vale.
Mr. Merthyr Guest, to whom Sir Richard
Glynn gave the hounds, succeeded that gentle-
man in 1884 and remained as master till 1900.
He was a heavy-weight, a consistently hard
rider, and always rode splendid horses well up
to his weight. He had a great partiality for
greys, and during his term of office it was a
wonderful sight to see the master and all the
hunt servants mounted on grey horses. After
1885 Mr. Guest increased the hounds to three
packs and hunted six days a week, the huntsinan
306
SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN
carrying the horn four times a week, hunting the
dog and bitch packs separately, while Mr. Guest
took the horn on Wednesdays and Saturdays,
hunting a mixed pack of small dogs and large
bitches himself. The huntsmen who served
with him were Orbell (for one year), Haines,
G. Brown, C. Fox, and W. Spiller. Strange to
relate, George Orbell died in 1886 in a private
asylum, insane like Press before him.
Mr. Guest had a fancy for light-coloured
hounds, especially with tan markings, as catching
the eye better when running. Another pecu-
liarity of his, which became a distinguishing
mark of the B.V.H., was that he never had the
hounds' ears rounded, in spite of the verdict of
fashion. He bred for nose and voice, and he
never kept a mute hound. There was a great
deal of Belvoir blood in his packs, and in 1885
new blood was brought into the kennels with
hounds purchased at the sale of the New Forest
pack, and Mr. Guest bred very successfully from
these. In 1896 the Brocklesby dog pack was
bought by him from Lord Lonsdale. When
Mr. Guest gave up the country the hounds were
sold at Rugby by Messrs. Tattersall, fetching
about 900 guineas ; one lot, S. Auditor, fetched
eighty-two guineas alone.
The great run of the Blackmore Vale country
during his mastership was on 30 December,
1884. The meet was at Jack White's Gibbet, and
a fine dog fox was found quickly at Hadspen. He
first took a sharp turn round Hadspen, which
threw out some of the field, and then went away
westward at a racing pace to Grove and over the
hilly ground by Honeywick in the direction of
Ridge Barn and Cole-crib, making for the rail-
way near Wyke Champflower ; he crossed it
here, and on account of this line and the River
Brue, the hounds were for some time alone.
However, he ran parallel to the railway for some
way, and then recrossed the Brue near Castle
Cary station. Leaving the station on his left he
raced on to Lamyat, swinging under Creech Hill
to Milton Wood, where he did not dwell, but
went on down to Evercreech town, outside of
which the hounds came to a check, enabling those
who had been thrown out by the river to rejoin
them. A quick cast of Orbell's put them right,
and after running under the railway between Ever-
creech and Shepton Mallet, hounds crossed the
line again and went through Evercreech Park Farm
to Pye Hill. After Pye Hill scent became cold,
but the master, convinced that the hunted fox
was in front, persevered towards West Pennard
and on to Sedgemoor. Close to the road between
North Wootton and Barrow the end came. The
fox jumped right into the arms of an old woman
standing at a cottage doorway and fell back
almost into the mouths of the pack. The
master was first up with Lady Theodora Guest,
Mr. Rome of Compton Castle, Messrs. Turner,
Berkeley Napier, Corp, Maidment, Richards,
and one or two more. The time to the first
check at Evercreech was fifty-eight minutes ; to
that under Pennard House two hours thirty-five
minutes, and the last stretch from Pennard Church
was a race of twenty minutes.
Another memorable run was that on 13 April
1889, from Pylle Station. Finding in Folly
Wood, hounds ran on over Cockmill Farm into
the wood, and at the top of the hill went along
the lane as if for Pilton Park Farm. Bearing
out of the lane, however, short of Pilton, they
flashed over the Middleway road and ran down
to the lower end of Goosefurlong. From this
point they crossed the Hambridge Lane, and
going over Withial they passed Stene Farm. Just
short of Purbrook Chapel they took a line beside
the road through Lottisham and Rookery Farm,
and over Lower Farm towards Stone House.
Swinging to the left at the brook hounds headed
for Park Wood, and once more crossing Lower
Farm and running down to the brook they
crossed, and going through West Wood reached
Wrangles, where the covert was being cut.
Heading for Naydens there was a momentary
check, but a hound named Drosky recovered the
line silently, and as the master luckily saw her
and put the pack on to her, they went on with-
out loss of time towards New Inn Corner. They
were now once more running the road, but
hounds swinging off it to the right, ran down on
to Bridgend Farm, and with a good head swung
along by the side of the river to Mendip Farm.
Here behind the farm-house they came up to
their quarry, and pulled down a fine dog-fox in a
thick brambly fence. The time was one hour
and seven minutes, and the fox had never been
seen from the start. The measured distance was
10 miles, and except for the one check, when
Drosky hit off the line so curiously, there had
been no time for any one to get up. There were
only three people really in this run from find
to finish, though a handy road enabled some to
be up in time to see hounds break up their fox.
In 1900 Mr. John Hargreaves came from
the Cattistock to take the Blackmore Vale
country in succession to Mr. Guest, and had,
of course, to build up a fresh pack of hounds.
The dog hounds were bought from Mr. Chandos-
Pole, who had bred them in the Cattistock
country, and had hunted them three years subse-
quently in the hills of Derbyshire. The bitch
pack was got together by Mr. Hargreaves from
some brought from the Cattistock, a draft from
the Tyndale, young and old, a draft from the
V.W.H. (Cricklade) old hounds, and some of
his own breeding.
He was a great believer in Belvoir blood, and
strove while breeding hounds to use only dogs
of that blood, his experience being that for work,
drive, and tongue nothing was better.
Mr. Hargreaves hunted the hounds himself,
with George Alcock as first whip and kennel
307
A HISTORY OF DORSET
huntsman. He was a bold rider with a great
knowledge of both hound and country, and has
been described as the finest gentleman huntsman
of the day.
He has chosen two among many good runs
during his mastership as especially worthy of
notice.
1 8 February, 1904. — The dog hounds found
in Withy Tree Copse, one of Air. Drake's
coverts, and ran through Brooke, Butterwick,
Longburton Gorse to Six Acres, and going
across the road through Holm Bushes, went
over the Vale. The line from this point was
through Whitfield Wood and across the railway
at the back of Yetminster to within a field of
Clifton Wood. Here the fox turned sharp to
the left, and leaving Ryme to the left, hounds
raced along very fast past Caswells Gorse, where
they pulled their fox down, stiff and cold, close
to Drive End, Melbury. The distance as hounds
ran was some fifteen or sixteen miles.
9 January, 1905. — Getting on to a stale line
at Horrington the bitch pack puzzled it out
slowly to Stowell Covert. Here they got on
good terms with their fox, and ran very fast
back over the hill through South Cheriton into
the Vale. They crossed the Vale and went up
over the hill to Sandley, where they got a good
way behind the fugitive and hunted slowly on to
Thorngrove, Sir Harold Felly's house, near Gil-
lingham. Thence they crossed the railway and
River Stour into Lord Portman's country, and
eventually ran into their fox in some cabbages
in a garden at Mr. Honeyfield's farm. Time
about one hour and fifty minutes — a lo-mile
point — 16 as hounds ran.
In 1906 Colonel Percy Browne, C.B., who
had been master of the South and West Wilts
from 1898 to 1900, took over the Blackmore
Vale country, with George Alcock as huntsman,
and under his auspices sport has been excellent.
Alcock started his hunting career with the Dove
Valley Harriers in 1879. He served successively
with the South Notts, the Meynell, the Black-
more Vale, and the Cattistock, finally returning
to the Blackmore Vale. Colonel Percy Browne
carries on the system of breeding favoured by his
predecessor, and the hounds are a most workman-
like lot with lots of music and drive. There are
plenty of foxes, the county is well in favour of
hunting, and there are no troubles with shooting
tenants.
The Blackmore Vale country is in the main a
bank and double ditch country, chiefly pasture with
big woodlands, but at the Sparkford Vale end
the fences are of a flying description. It is
about 21 miles north and south and 25 miles
east and west, and is bounded by the South and
West Wilts, the Cattistock, the South Dorset,
and Lord Portman's. The subscriptions to the
pack are regulated by the number of horses kept,
iiiid there is a splendid system for the wire and
30S
poultry fund, the country being divided up into
some eighty districts, with an honorary overseer
to look after each, so that a small amount of
trouble keeps everything straight. The kennels
are at Charlton Horethorne, where they have been
for many years.
The Cattistock*
Most of the country lies in Dorset, but there
is a small portion in Somerset. It extends some
25 miles by 18 miles and adjoins the Blackmore
Vale, the Taunton Vale, the East Devon, and
on the other side the South Dorset. There is
a great deal of pasture land with a little light
plough and some downland, and part of the
country is bank and double ditch with a few
stone walls and a certain amount of timber.
The Cattistock Hunt is of great age, although,
like other Dorset packs, it has only hunted
its present country since the resignation of
Mr. Farquharson, who, as is mentioned above,
hunted the whole of Dorset. In 1761 John,
ninth earl of Westmorland, hunted a pack of
foxhounds from Forston, and in 1780 there is a
record of hounds called * The True Blue Hunt,'
kept at Cattistock Lodge by the Rev. J, Phelips.
This gentleman had a famous huntsman named
Isaac Rogers, who was known by all as ' The
Doctor.' He was a great character, and count-
less anecdotes are told of him. Visiting a
well-known pack of hounds renowned for their
beauty, Rogers was asked his opinion of them.
' Why,' he replied, ' they be beauties to look
at, but they hain't hafe so scraitched 'bout their
faces as our old maister's be down to Montacute.'
Another good story is told of him, that on a
good scenting day, when hounds in a thick fog
had run clean away from the field, 'the Doctor'
was an hour trying to get to them, and when at
last he reached them he found them coming
back by themselves. Rogers was of opinion
that they had killed their fox, and Mr. Phelips
remarked to him, ' You had better get off and
smell their breath. That will soon tell you.'
' No, no, maister,' returned the old man, with
a knowing look, ' that '11 never do. A pretty
story would be carried up along into the New
Forest next April, that the Doctor didn't know
when his hounds had killed their fox without
getting off to smell the breaths o' 'em.'
* Masters from i860 to 1900 : —
Lord Poltimore from i860 to iS/z
Mr. J. Codrington „ 1872 „ 1877
Captain Macnaughten „ 1877 » 1878
Mr. J. Codrington
(second mastership) „ 1878 „ 1883
Lord Guilford „ 1883 „ 1886
Mr. Fetherstonhaugh „ 1 886 „ 1887
Mr. Phipps „ 1S87 „ 1888
Mr. R. Chandos-Pole „ 1888 „ 1897
Mr. J. Hargreaves „ 1897 „ igoo
Rev. E. A. Milne and
Mr. W. F. Fuller „ 1900
SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN
Rogers died at the age of seventy-four, having
spent sixty years of his life in the service of
Mr. Phelips. The epitaph his master had put
on his tombstone was as follows : —
Now, the ' Doctor ' is laid, and over his head
May the turf be as light as a feather,
And if not very warm, it will do him no harm,
Who ne'er valued the wind nor the weather.
He's no longer in view, but to give him his due,
Though not born nor bred for a college.
Death ne'er drove to the earth a man of more worth,
More science, or practical knowledge.
Isaac Rogers his name : a huntsman whose fame
From the Yeo to the Avon resounded :
At his musical voice Clift Wood would rejoice,
Dev'rill Longwood its echo rebounded.
As in life's busy burst he was never the first
To hit off a fault in a neighbour.
Now he's fairly stopt in, let us hope that he'll win
The brush of reward for his labour.
After Mr. Farquharson had given up his
hounds, the first to take the Cattistock country
was Augustus, second Lord Poltimore, who
married Miss Sheridan of Frampton Court. For
twelve seasons he hunted the country at his
own expense with John Evans as huntsman, and
showed some excellent sport. John Evans had
been Lord Poltimore's valet at the University.
He used to remark, with a smile, that he had
had a University education, and that although
he had never taken his degree, he was very near
it, for he had lived next door to someone who
had done so. He was always well mounted and
had an extremely clever first whip, who used to
gallop and hold up his cap when he viewed the fox
on. The result was they had some wonderful hill
gallops with the bitch pack, and although this
lifting was hardly hunting, the riding contingent
had some capital sport. At Lord Poltimore's
retirement in 1870 his dog hounds fetched extra-
ordinary prices, the average being about ;^I54 a
couple.' All but one lot, which was bought by Sir
Algernon Peyton, went to Major Brown.
In 1872 a committee was formed, and the
Cattistock, under Mr. Codrington's mastership,
became a subscription pack. Twice Mr. Cod-
rington had a five years' office, Captain Mac-
naughten taking the mastership in 1877 and 1878,
when owing to private affairs Mr. Codrington
was absent from the county. It is said of this
master, that although under stress of circum-
stances he would ride very hard, as a rule he
preferred to avoid too much jumping, and once
on being shown a horse which the would-be
seller pressed on him as a perfect jumper, he
exclaimed after mature deliberation, ' Well, I
suppose we can soon cure him of that.'
'They were sold on 13 April, 1870, with this
remarkable result : — Lot I, 3 couples, ^^231 ; lot 2,
3 couples, ^^48 3 ; lot 4, 3 couples, /409 los. ; lot 5,
3 couples, X525 ; lot 6, 3J couples, ;^630; lot* 7,
3 couples, ;£63o.
His successor was Dudley, seventh earl of
Guilford, who had been at one time master of
the East Kent. He was a determined straight
rider who on taking the hounds hunted them
himself with Jim Beavan as first whip. He
bought twenty-five couples of hounds from
Mr. Codrington, a draft from the kennel of the
late duke of Grafton, and in addition purchased
Mr. Bellew's bitch pack. His mastership was
sadly concluded in his third season by his death
on 19 December, 1885, after a fall in the
hunting field. Though the accident was of a
very grave nature it does not appear that a fatal
result was anticipated, for the master on the
following Saturday morning ordered the hounds
to be taken to Corscombe (at which place the
meet was announced to take place), remarking,
' I suppose I am in for six weeks at least.' But
all hopes of recovery were speedily disappointed,
for delirium came on soon afterwards, and his
lordship remained in an unconscious condition
until shortly after nine o'clock the same evening,
when death released him from his sufferings.
Lord Guilford, who was only thirty-four years
of age, was president of the Dorchester Agricul-
tural Society, and had acted as one of the judges
at the society's shows every year during his
residence in the county.
A memorial brass was placed in Walder-
share Church near Dover, where he was buried,
by his Dorsetshire friends, as a testimony of
their regard. It bears the following inscrip-
tion.
In affectionate remembrance of Dudley Francis
North, seventh earl of Guilford, who w.is born 1 85 1,
and died from an accident while hunting with the
Cattistock Hounds in the county of Dorset, 19
December, 1885 : This memorial is erected by his
sorrowing friends in that county.
The two succeeding masters remained but a
season each. They were Mr. Rupert P. Fether-
stonhaugh and Mr. J. Phipps ; but the next
master, Mr. Reginald Walkelyn Chandos-Pole of
Radbourne in Derbyshire, remained nine seasons
with the Cattistock. He had been one of the
joint masters of the Meynell, a welter weight,
riding 18 stone and having out three splendid
horses a day.
When he took over the country the pack
hunted two days a week, but Mr. Chandos-Pole
added to the thirty couples of hounds already in
the kennel another pack of dog hounds, purchased
from the Blankney. When he gave up the Catti-
stock he took away some of these hounds and
with them hunted the Peak district. Later on
Mr. John Hargreaves purchased them in 1900,
when he took the Blackmore Vale. In 1897
this gentleman, before he became master of the
Blackmore Vale, took over the Cattistock
country from Mr. Chandos-Pole, and hunted
there for three seasons, showing, as did his
predecessors, wonderfully good sport.
309
A HISTORY OF DORSET
In I goo the Rev. E. A. Milne of Chilfrome
came to the hunt as master. He has remained
with them up to the present, taking in 1906
into joint partnership as master Mr. Wilh'am
Fleetwood Fuller, late master of the North
Bucks Harriers, with which pack Mr. Milne had
also been associated. A rare judge of horse and
hound, popular with all classes, ' Parson ' Milne
is an ideal master. His own huntsman, he is
known as the ' fox killer,' a sobriquet he has
well earned, for no man can hunt a fox from
find to kill better. For some years Newman
was his first whip, and Levi Sheppard, who had
been huntsman to Mr. Fred Radclyffe at Hyde,
was kennel man. The present kennel huntsman
and first whip, who was for some time huntsman
to the Holderness, is Medcalf, a bold rider, a good
man in kennel, and a first-class whip.
In breeding his hounds Mr. Milne has been
chiefly to Lord Rothschild's and the Belvoir, and
he has got together a fine lot of hounds, with
bone, size, and quality. Whipster by Woldsman
— Lively, one of the hounds bought at Lord
Poltimore's record sale by Sir. A. Peyton, was
largely used as a stallion hound in Lord
Rothschild's pack, and a great deal of his blood
has thus got back again into the Cattistock kennel.
Sapper is perhaps the best stallion hound in the
home kennel, and a nice young hound coming
on is Deputy. There is no damage or poultry
fund, and the farmers scorn the idea of such a
thing, being all enthusiastic followers of the
Cattistock. In 1903 the master and Lord
Digby decided to give as a compliment to the
best yeomen farmers a button, limited to twenty-
five recipients ; it is a black one with the monogram
of the hunt, and needless to say it is a highly
prized honour. The county is a varied one,
with hill, vale, and big coverts, and is stiffly
fenced. On the whole there is very little wire,
and this hindrance to hunting is becoming less
used. Foxes are very plentiful, and there is no
trouble with shooting tenants.
In the season 1906-7 90^^ brace of foxes
were killed and fifty-three earthed in 171 days'
hunting.
A famous run was that which took place on
29 November, 1901, from the Artillery Barracks
at Dorchester. The fox was found at Hog
Hill, and ran round Maiden Castle Rings to
Monkton and then over the hill to the water-
works. From this point hounds ran very fast to
Miss Miller's covert, over the road to Came, and
on to Sutton Poyntz. Here they swung rather
to the right through Broadway to Dairy House,
leaving Huish on the left, and by Rodden Hill
nearly to Gorwell, then down the hill to Abbots-
burv, where they killed their fox. Distance 13-
mile point, two and a half hours.
On 12 January, 1906, hounds met at
Langton Cross Roads and found two foxes in the
day, running tremendous points both times and
losing both foxes. The first run was from the
Cross Roads covert and on to the coastguard
station, leaving VVyke on the right, to Rodden
and on by Langton, through Thresher's Gorse
to Dairy House and over the railway into the
Wadden Vale. Going through the Vale the
run continued to Ashton Gorse and by Ashton
Farm House to Maiden Castle Rings, over the
road and railway to Herringston, where the fox
was lost. Point 10 miles. The second fox was
found at the Monument, and after twisting about
for some time went away by Well Bottom straight
to Ashton Gorse and Ridgeway Hill, and
running all the Came coverts was lost near
Poxwell. Point 9 miles.
The South Dorset''
The country is about 20 miles long by
15 wide, entirely situated in Dorset. It
adjoins Lord Portman's, the Blackmore Vale, and
the Cattistock Hunts. Heath, arable, pasture,
and hilly country are to be found within its
borders, whilst banks, timber, and flying fences
divide the fields. Wire is very prevalent in
some parts, especially near Dorchester, and there
has been considerable trouble in keeping up the
stock of foxes, owing to the letting of most of
the shootings ; but this is happily a matter of
the past, better feeling existing generally
between all parties.
In 1858, when Mr. Farquharson gave up the
whole country, Mr. Charles RadclyfFe took up
this side, and Mr. Farquharson bequeathed to him
the distinctive white collar which is still the mark
of the South Dorset Hunt. In the early part
of the history of this hunt the hounds were
more generally known as Mr. RadclyfFe's, and
were kennelled at Hyde, the home of the
master.
Mr. RadclyfFe was a very fine horsemen not
only over a country but ' between the flags,' and
his beautiful seat on a horse is well portrayed in
the presentation picture of him on his favourite
grey horse painted by Stephen Pearce. He had
three very good huntsmen, George Kennett,
Tom Davis, and Henry Beviss ; of the trio
perhaps the most famous was Kennett, one of
the very best huntsmen of his day. He had
been in Herefordshire with Lord GifFord and then
went to the V.W.H. ; from this pack he came
to Mr. RadclyfFe and remained many years with
the South Dorset. Afterwards he was with
Mr. Piatt, master of the North Herefordshire,
then with Lord Fitzwilliam, and ended his
hunting career with the Fife. On 16 March,
'Masters of the South Dorset : 1 85 8-1 907 : —
Mr. C. RadclyfFe 1858-82
Mr. F. Radclyffe 1882-6
. Mr. (afterwards Sir) Elliott Lees 1886-7
Mr. Fetherstonhaugh-Frampton 1887-94.
Mr. J. Ashton R.idcliffe . . 1894
310
SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN
1863, during his time Mr. RadclyfFe's hounds
had a wonderful run from Whitchurch. Draw-
ing Horse Close Coppice, a fox, which proved
to be an extraordinary one, was found in a pit
on Kingston Farm. He went straight over
Bere Down to Hayward's, across Milborne
Down ; leaving the fox-pound on the right, to
Milborne Rings, over the meadows and on to
1 Warren Hill, where he was viewed two fields
ahead. The scent was breast-high as he went
over the big corn-fields on Mr. Homer's Farm,
over Tolpuddle Eweleaze, down Burleston Hill,
and on across the water-meadows. Here the
pace began to tell, but at the top of Baling Hill
there was a long check at the cross-roads, which
eased the horses and gave the fox a good mile
or two to the good. Kennett cast down the
hollow track way, and the hounds hit it over
the Dewlish road on to Paull's Farm. Over into
the Druce hedge-rows and then keeping straight
on across Druce Eweleaze over the Muston mea-
dows to Burn Coppice hounds ran on that bad-
scenting plough-land for two miles to Doles Ash,
which was left on the right. Thence they
crossed the road leading from Plush to Piddle-
trenthide, up over the hill between Alton and
Plush, on over the flat, leaving Whatcombe
Wood a little on the right, through the centre
of Armswell big cover into the vale below,
to Alton Common, where a dairy-house stands
in a large yard. There Mr. Radclyffe and
George Kennett saw the fox, which was dead
beat, go round the corner of a hay-rick close to
the yard gates, but after that could not make
him out, although they tried all the cow stalls,
pig-styes, and out-houses. At length Mr.
RadclyfFe, knowing the fox had not gone on,
ordered the hounds home. There were very few
left to see the end of this grand run, which was
the best of all Kennett's runs with foxhounds.
The fox was afterwards found curled up in an
out-house, and having been marked was turned
adrift. He was killed three years afterwards
from Admiston Withy Bed, giving a good fast
forty minutes.
Mr. Fred RadclyfFe succeeded his father, and
with Levi Sheppard, a Dorset-bred man, as
huntsman hunted the country for a few years,
showing good sport. During his time several
good runs were recorded. Meeting 1 5 March,
1884, at Black Hill, Bere Regis, Sheppard took
hounds on to Horse Close, where Mr. R. Cave
turned up a fox out of a small pit. The fox
made straight through Horse Close in the direc-
tion of Whitchurch, turned as if for Longthorne,
which he passed on the left, then crossing
Chescombe Farm to Milton Park, bore away to
Luccombe Hill. There he was twice headed,
and went straight ahead over the hill by Hewish
Farm in a direct line for Bagber Coppice, which,
however, he left a little on the right, straight into
Milborne Wood. Leaving the wood, he ran the
turnpike road as far as the old Dewlish gate, then
up the lane to Crawthorn Farm into the long
plantation, where Henry Symonds saw him in
the middle of a field standing still listening till
the hounds were in view. Not done for yet, he
ran another thirty minutes on to Basing Hill,
and over the turnpike for Puddletown, when he
turned to the right over PauU's Farm to Druce
House. Headed back there, he turned across the
large arable fields and through the hedgerows,
and ran the road which leads to Dewlish for
half a mile, and bearing to the right for Puddle-
town, he was killed in the open by Mr. PauU's
house. Time, 3 hours and 5 minutes. The
distance from point to point, lo miles; ground
run over, 20 miles.
Mr. (now Sir) Elliott Lees ' was for one
season master in succession to Mr. Fred Rad-
clyfFe, and moved the hounds to kennels at
Sturminster Marshall. After a brilliant season
he presented the hounds to the country.
Mr. Rupert Fetherstonhaugh-Frampton, of
Moreton, was the next master, and hunted hounds
himself with Stephen Burtenshaw as first whip.
The hounds were removed to Bere Regis, where
some excellent kennels were built on a most
healthy site. The ex-master of the Cattistock,
who had assumed the additional name of
Frampton in 1887, was a rider sans peur et sans
reproche. One of his best runs was on 4 No-
vember, 1889. He found a fox in Warmwell
Wood and ran through Knighton Wood to
Empool, through Hope Wood to Watercombe
Tunnel, where the fox was headed. Taking
to the heath Reynard made for Bincombe, and
going over White Horse Hill was killed in a
stable at Sutton Poyntz after a good two hours'
run. In 1894 Mr. Frampton resigned and Mr.
Ashton RadclifFe, under whose management the
hounds have gone on steadily improving in type
and quality, was induced to take the mastership.
Mr. RadclifFe is a good huntsman in the field
and a most patient and persevering master of the
kennel. Having a keen eye for the true type of
hound, and keeping that type always before him,
he has gone on year after year building up a
pack of level, well-matched hounds. Many a
good judge of foxhounds has pronounced the
South Dorset as they are now one of the
smartest and best-looking packs of hounds in the
provinces. Mr. RadclifFe began his hunting
days under Sir Charles Slingsby with the York,
and with the Bramham Moor when Mr. George
Lane-Fox was master and Charles Treadwell
(brother to the famous Jim Treadwell) was
huntsman. At one period he helped his cousin,
Mr. Piatt, with the North Herefordshire, when
' Sir Elliott Lees, while member for Birkenhead,
was winner of the House of Commons Point to
Point in 1887 on Damon, after having won the Blacic-
more Vale Point to Point in the previous year on the
same horse.
3"
A HISTORY OF DORSET
the latter was away, and then hunted the Roch-
dale Harriers from 1880 to 1887 with great
success. He has had several good kennel hunts-
men during his time. Old Bartlett was his first,
who had been huntsman to tlie V.W.H. (Lord
Bathurst's), and also to Lord Fitzwilliam's
hounds. After him came Kane Croft, who re-
mained seven years, a capital kennel huntsman
and whip who had gained his experience in
Ireland, Hertfordshire, the Isle of Wight, the
Belvoir, and the Woodland Pytchley countries.
Then came Stratton, who had been huntsman
to Lord Portman's, and has now gone to the
Fife.
William Maiden, who is now kennel hunts-
man, came to the South Dorset from the New-
market and Thurlow. Before that he had been
with the County Galway, East Sussex, Heythrop,
Essex, Brocklesby, Lord Galway's, and Duke of
Buccleuch's hounds. When Mr. RadclifFe first
came to the South Dorset there were but few
really home-bred hounds, the rest of the pack
being drafts from the Belvoir, Cheshire, and
Lord Portman's. He sent some of his best
bitches to the Oakley to start building up his
pack and to get bone, and after that chiefly to
the Belvoir for quality and straightness, and to
the Grafton, a pack he considers to transmit
good working powers. The produce have been a
very fast, level, and musical lot of hounds, with
wonderfully good necks and shoulders and plenty
of bone. One of the best runs the South Dorset
have had in Mr. RadcIifFe's mastership was on
16 November, 1896. Meeting at Cheselbourne
they found in a pit between Cheselbourne and
Dewlish a fox that ran by Milborne Wood and
Athelhampton to Tincleton Hang and down to
ClyfFe House. Crossing the water meadows by
Woodsford he went through Knighton Wood and
Withby Bed and was killed in a cottage garden
at Broadmayne, every hound being up at the
finish. The time was one hour and fifty minutes
and the point was something over ten miles —
fifteen or sixteen as hounds ran. There was no
real check all through, and three sets of water-
meadows and three rivers were crossed.
The South Dorset Hunt has gone through
several serious crises from dearth of foxes and
other causes, but things are brighter now and,
with a popular master as Mr. RadclifFe is, will
so continue. The backbone of the hunt is to
be found in the strong support of the yeomen
farmers, who form a large portion of the field
and go as well as they preserve foxes. The
most interesting covert in the country is
Melcombe Park, a huge succession of woods.
It lies on the edge of the South Dorset Hunt,
adjoining the Blackmore Vale and close to a
portion of Lord Portman's country. Although
nearly every week, sometimes more than once,
one of the packs runs through or into this covert,
it is always full of foxes, and the writer has seen
3
as many as ten or eleven foxes in a single
morning there. In some parts of the country
there are wild expanses of heath where will be
found the worst of riding with the best of foxes.
But a Dorset heath man will ride the roughest
part as fast and as safely as the best of country,
the great secret of course being to ride it fast and
leave the horse alone.
Lord Portman's Hounds
The history of these hounds, like that of other
Dorset packs, begins in 1858, when Mr. Far-
quharson gave up the county. Their country ex-
tends some fifteen miles north and south and eigh-
teen miles east and west, lying chiefly in Dorset,
but with a small portion in Wilts and Hants. The
country is bounded by the South and West Wilts,
the Blackmore Vale, the South Dorset, the Wilton,
and the New Forest. Edward, first Viscount
Portman, got together a small pack in the first
instance, with his son, the present Viscount
Portman, acting as field master, and John Dinni-
combe as huntsman. At first foxes were so
scarce that in the sixty-two days' hunting of the
first season five days were blank, only twenty-
nine foxes were killed, and twenty earthed. But
matters soon improved ; foxes were better pre-
served when covert owners found they would be
hunted.
J. Smith succeeded Dinnicombe and remained
as huntsman for many years. In 1873 he was
succeeded by Dyer, who was a very short time
with the pack ; but Joe Moss, the next huntsman,
who had whipped in to Dyer, carried the horn
for twenty-six years, and was a most capable and
popular huntsman. He was born in Suffolk, and
started his hunting career in Essex, where his
father hunted a pack of harriers at Writtle. His
first experience with foxhounds was with the
Surrey Union ; then he served with Lord
Leconfield's hounds in Sussex under Shepherd.
After a while with the Puckeridge he went to
the Cattistock, when Lord Poltimore was
master. He began with Lord Portman's as
whip to John Smith in 1870, and after two
years he went to the Duke of Buccleuch, then
to Mr. Corbet in Cheshire, where he found in
the Cheshire kennels the Poltimore bitch pack,
which had been purchased for a large sum of
money, and afterwards had to be destroyed on
account of hydrophobia.
After that he returned to Lord Portman as
whip to Dyer and eventually succeeded him as
huntsman. His two successors, Stratton and
Sliarpe, did not stop many seasons, and the present
huntsman is Sam Dickinson, who is doing
extremely well. His previous experience had
been with the Fitzwilliam, Burton, Lord Galway's,
and the Rufford. The hounds are from some of
the best strains of blood in England, and at
different periods the Belvoir, Oakley, Fitzwilliam,
12
SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN
Poltimore, Grafton, Warwickshire, Brocklesby,
Grove, and Lord Portsmouth's have been
utilized. The territory comprises light hill
country, some heath, a strongly fenced vale
mostly grass, and a good deal of woodland.
Wire has been greatly taken down in the vale,
but rabbit netting in the hill country is a great
hindrance. Some country loaned in 1858 in
the east and north was given up when foxes be-
came more numerous, and a small exchange of
country was made with the Blackmore Vale
when Mr. Wingfield-Digby was master of
that pack. Two or three small coverts have
been planted, and Lord Portman r^ts one
large covert called Doncliffe, and two small
gorses.
The kennels were rebuilt about 1889 on the
plan of Lord Miildleton's, and are perfect models.
Foxes are plentiful in some districts, but in other
parts of the country, owing perhaps to the
increase of shooting tenants, are not so well
preserved. The farmers, as in other parts of
Dorset, are keen sportsmen and staunch sup-
porters of the hunt.
On 16 January, 1890, these hounds had a
memorable run. Meeting at Harley Gap they
found in the gorse close by ; the fox made
his point for Lord Shaftesbury's Harley Wood,
and, breaking at the lower end, crossed the down
to Waite. At Monkton, where there was a
check. Moss cast by the meadows to the bridge,
where hounds hit off his line. Up to this time
the pace had not been great, but now commenced
what was perhaps one of the fastest runs on
record. Over that splendid open country, with
hardly a fence, it was a perfect race to Water
Lake through Cranborne Farm to Blagdon Hills.
Hounds drove their fox without a moment's
check into Martin Wood, where a man was
holloaing, but as they still stuck to his line. Moss
showed good judgement in letting them alone.
Without a pause they pushed him on to High
Bowlesbury, and away into the open again,
across Ridley Farms to AUingford Water and
Rockbourne Knoll. Here the fox was seen steal-
ing away by the Down Farm for the Tenantry
Down, and was pulled down just before reaching
New Buildmgs. Thirteen miles as the crow
flies, and sixteen miles as the hounds ran. Time,
from find to finish, I hour 12 minutes.
POINT-TO-POINT RACES
In connexion with the Dorset hunts the
Blackmore Vale and Lord Portman 's hold annual
point-to-points at the end of the season. The
Blackmore Vale have races for heavy-weights
and light-weights open to the Dorset hunts, also
heavy-weights and light-weights open to farmers
and one open race.
Lord Portman's have races for red coats,
heavy-weights and light-weights, and farmers'
welter and light-weights.
STAG-HUNTING
The Ranston Bloodhounds
For some eight seasons, George second Lord
Wolverton hunted the carted deer (and some-
times a drag) with a pack of bloodhounds, chiefly
over the Blackmore Vale country. These hounds
originated from a draft of eight couple of blood-
hounds* bred in County Meath by Captain
Roden of Kells. In 1875 the Ranston pack
numbered 16 j couple standing 27 in. at the
shoulder, and according to Major Whyte-Mel-
ville ' their limbs and frame were proportioned
to so gigantic a stature, and thanks to the Master's
care in breeding, and the freedom with which he
had drafted, their feet were round and their
powerful legs symmetrically straight.' As a rule
they hunted red deer, chiefly hinds ; a few stags
were kept, but they did not answer so well.
James Young was Lord Wolverton's first hunts-
man, to whom John Boreham succeeded. Tom
Lane, the head keeper, had charge of the deer,
drove the deer cart, and sometimes carried the
drag, as did also Stark, who was a bold horseman
and knew the country well. As with all packs
of bloodhounds, it was always either a very good
or a very bad day with them, since they hunted
entirely by scent, never raising their heads for a
view.
A good run is recorded by Miss Serrell with
these hounds. On 7 March, 1874 : —
Lord Wolverton's fixture was at Fifehead Magdalen,
as he had settled to look for a hind that had been
seen for some days feeding with the cows on Loder's
Farm at Buckhorn Weston. This hind had given a
capital forty minutes from Mansion the week before,
and had been lost at the end of the day near
Rodgrove.
The hounds and the field — the latter numbering
about one hundred, were shut into the yard for
twenty minutes, and then the chase started over the
open-trenched fields and their stiff fences in the
direction of Rodgrove. Thence towards Shanks, and
at a gallop down the lane till there was a short check
close by Langham. Hounds soon recovered the line,
and crossing a ploughed field, bore down to the South
Western railway, and passing under the arch, went
round towards EcclifFe Mill till the river lay in front.
A somewhat deep ford here let both hounds and field
through, and going fairly straight for Stour Provost,
the pack crossed the Todber Road, and leaving Nash
covert on their right, came down once more to the
river. For a while they ran along the bank till they
came to City Mill, where they crossed, the narrow
plank bridge at this point allowing the field to get
over in single file. At Pentridge the Somerset and
Dorset railway had to be crossed, and now the pace,
which up to this point had been good, grew slower.
The hounds, however, never left the line, and the big
doubles that lay in their path, and which they could
cross but slowly, brought out their deeper and more
' Captain Roden's hounds had come from Mr.
Jennings in Yorkshire and Mr. Cowen of Blaydon
Burns.
313
40
A HISTORY OF DORSET
angn' tones. Near Bagber the hind was viewed in
the Blackwater, but before hounds came up she was
off, and the field, now reduced to fifteen in number,
went on by the Bagber brickfields and over Haydon
Common to Stoke Wake. Here the gallant hind was
taken, after a run of two and a half hours, the earlier
part of which had been at racing pace. The Lady
Theodora Grosvenor and Mrs. Clay Ker-Seymer were
well up till near the end, the only members of the
field who were actually up when the deer was taken
being Mr. Merthyr Guest, Mr. Clay Ker-Seymer, and
one of the whippers-in.
An amusing incident occurred during one of
the drag hunts, showing the way in which the
hounds evidently ran the foot and not the drag.
The man who was carrying the drag, feeling
thirsty, left it at a little distance from a public-
house, and having gone to the house and slaked
his thirst, returned and continued on his way.
When the hounds arrived at the spot they did
exactly the same, going straight to the public-
house (causing great fun), and returning to the
spot where the man had picked up his bait, went
on and finished the run.
After parting with the bloodhounds (the pack
going to Lord Carrington), Lord Wolverton
built a new house at Iwerne Minster, near
Shaftesbury, and kept a pack of smart harriers,
which he hunted himself on deer and hare and
showed great sport.
Roe-Deer Hunting
Roe-deer hunting deserves considerable notice
in the history of the county, for Dorset, being
one of the very few homes of the wild roe-deer,
is the one part of England where the roe has
been systematically and regularly hunted. Their
existence here is due to George second earl of
Dorchester, who somewhere about the year 1800
turned down a few Scottish roe-deer in the
woods of Milton Abbey. From this source
Mr. Mansel-Pleydell in 1829 took some to the
Whatcombe Woods, and they now have become
very numerous and fairly widely spread through-
out the county. Nearly all the large coverts
now hold roe-deer, one of their favourite haunts
being Hethfelton Plantation, where they are
strictly preserved by Mr. J. W. T. Fyler-
Henbury. Roe-deer are also found in Bere
Wood, Melcombe Park, Milton Abbey, Ilsington
and Yellowham woods, and in some of Lord
Ilchester's coverts.
The earliest regular pack of roe-deer hounds
was kept by Mr. Mansel-Pleydell, who hunted
them for some fifteen or sixteen years. Mr. Yeat-
man of Stock House and Mr. James Harding of
Misterton hunted roe and hare indiscriminately.
Mr. Drax, and later on Mr. Charles Rad-
clyfFe of Hyde, kept special packs for roe-deer,
as well as packs of foxhounds, and in quite recent
years Lord Ilchester kept a pack of roe-buck
hounds.
According to the Sporting Magazine for 1824,
Mr. Pleydell's pack consisted of 18 couple of
dwarf foxhounds and a few moderate-sized
harriers. They had finished that season in April,
having killed fourteen brace of deer. In the
middle of the season they killed six consecutive
times, each deer giving a good run of from three
hours to three hours and a half. The huntsman
was William Rice, who is buried at Milborne,
and on his tombstone it is stated that ' he was
the first man that ever hunted a pack of roe-buck
hounds.'
Of these hounds a record of one run is related
by Mr. "Symonds in Runs and Sporting Notes from
Dorsetshire.
The roe-buck hounds of E. M. Pleydell, Esq. of
Whatcombe House, closed the season with a brilliant
day's sport on Saturday, 5 April, 1828.
They threw off at Elcombe Wood, and in about
ten minutes a fine buck was viewed going over the
opposite hill in gallant style for Escombe, through
which he passed and made for Turnworth ; here he
remained a few minutes, and then broke over the
downs into the Vale of Blackmoor to Ibberton, where
being headed by some labourers, he ascended the hill,
and skirting Ibberton Park, ran to Houghton Wood,
passed through that extensive covert, and turned
through the inclosures of M. Davis, Esq., to a coppice
at some distance near Durweston. Thence he made
for Elcombe and again attempted the hill ; but his
strength failing, he turned back into covert, and
passing directly through, broke on the other side ; and
the whole pack (with the exception of one couple of
hounds) ran into him in view in a short furze brake
on the down, after a run of one hour and fort)-
minutes without a single check, and the greater part,
particularly in the open countr}', at speed.
The mountain harriers kept and hunted by
Mr. James Harding of Higher Waterson enjoyed
wonderful sport after roe for several years about
1830 and onwards.
Mr. Charles RadcIyfFe in 1856 commenced
roe-deer hunting with hounds bought from Mr.
Bellew. They were foxhounds crossed with
bloodhounds, most tenacious of the line of the
hunted deer, seldom changing except when a
fresh deer got up in view. These hounds are
reputed to have given grand sport, and the
account of one run with them on 3 April, 1857,
will show their powers of endurance.
This run was from Lytchett High Wood, of
4 hours 10 minutes, and the distance run was about
2 5 miles. The deer broke away for Lytchett Manor
House through the covers and over the Pailey Gate
and Poole Road, went straight ahead, taking all the
Henbury plantations in his line. Turning to the
right over that enormous extent of wild heath nearly
to Poole Junction, he bore to the left for Hamworthy,
where he turned short back and went right through
the Henbury covers again ; he then crossed the Bland-
ford and Wimborne turnpike, took the meadows, and
crossed the River Stour near White Mill. The
refresher was much needed, for this strong animal
went straight for Badbury Rings as fresh as ever, took
314
SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN
a turn round the old Roman encampment, came back
over the downs, crossed the old Blandford turnpike and
the fine open country to Kingston Lacy House. Here
he got into the meadows again and hid for some time
in a large spear bed. He jumped up in full view,
went over the river again, which gave him fresh life
once more, ran the south side of the river (here wide
and much swollen with heavy rains) for two miles,
and took refuge under Julian's Bridge close to the
town of Wimborne, where he stood under the arch-
way close to the bank, with his fine head and antlers
just out of the water. He was soon got out and
killed. All were wet through, and the horses were
thoroughly done up, for it had been raining all the
time from start to finish.
Those who have hunted the roe-buck say that
at first the quarry runs short, not much in
front of hounds, but once forced into the open
will run very straight and far. It is remark-
able that although hares and foxes are often
chopped the roe-lDuck scarcely ever is, and even
when surrounded his agility and strength enable
him to evade hounds. Even the oldest roe-
buck has never been known like other stags to
stand at bay ; it will allow itself to be taken
without any attempt at defence.
It is strange that regular hunting of this
quarry which gives such excellent sport has now
ceased. Several attempts, indeed, have been
made to revive an interest in it, and at odd times
packs of harriers have had a day after the roe,
but no systematic roe-deer hunting is now carried
on in Dorset.
HARRIERS AND BEAGLES
Dorset has very little history of hounds kept
exclusively for hare-hunting. During the last
century, at different times and in different
places, both beagles and harriers have been kept
for brief periods, but none have been kept on as
a county pack, with the single exception of the
Sparkford Harriers.' As far back as 1830 the
Rev. Nathaniel Bond of Creech Grange, kept a
pack of harriers in Purbeck ; and later on, from
1856 to i860, the Bonds had a pack of beagles
at Grange. From 1862 to 1870 the third earl
of Eldon had a very sporting pack of harriers at
' These hounds have recently come under the
mastership of Mr. F. J. B. Wingfield-Digby of
Sherborne Castle, and will probably be kennelled
there for the future.
Puncknowle ; and afterwards these hounds also
came to Grange until 1875.
From 1865 to 1867 Mr. John Smith-Marriott
hunted a pack from Sydling Court, commencing
with very small beagles, but going on to draft
foxhounds.
Mr. Crane had a wonderful little pack of
pocket beagles at Southover in the latter part of
the nineteenth century, and Mr. Sheridan of
Frampton Court hunted a pack of beagles in his
portion of the Cattistock country. These
hounds, which belonged to his daughter, Mrs.
William Hall Walker, gave great sport, and once
ran a fox for two hours and twenty minutes,
very nearly handling him. In quite modern
days Mr. Harry Mills had a small pack of large
beagles and small harriers, moving them to
Grange afterwards, and increasing their size.
For a short time he hunted in the Isle of Pur-
beck, but troubles with shooting tenants and
other reasons eventually brought this pack to an
end. At the present time Mr. Montague Rad-
clyffe has a smart pack of foot beagles at Hyde.
OTTER HUNTING
Otters abound in Dorsetshire ; but the hunt-^
ing of them has not received much attention,
although it is now of a more regular and syste-
matic character than formerly. Miss Serrell for
a few seasons, about 1890, hunted the otter with
a pack of her wonderful terriers around Fifehead
Neville and killed quite a number, the terriers
taking to the sport with great zest and determi-
nation. After that Mr. Courtenay Tracey took
over the rivers, and has visited and hunted them
more or less ever since, extending his rivers year
by year and getting good sport.
His pack of about twenty couple consists of a
few couple of pure otter-hounds, some fox-
hounds, and some a cross between the two ; the
latter he esteems for this kind of sport, as they
stand the coldness of the water better than the
pure foxhound, and are truer hunters than the
pure otter-hound. He is ably assisted by Mr.
Twynham and Mr. F. Rigden ; no days seem
too long, no distances too great, for these hounds
and their master to accomplish. Mr. Tracey 's
otter-hounds are kennelled near Salisbury, and
the kennel huntsman is Tom Stubbington.
315
A HISTORY OF DORSET
RACING
As far as modern racing is concerned Dorset
has none, although some good racehorses are bred
within its borders, and there is an excellent
training stable near Bland ford. In olden days
races were held annually at Blandford, where the
old racecourse still exists, and also at Sherborne
and Weymouth. Blandford races were held on
the downs in the parish of Tarrant Monkton,
and date back to very early times in the history
of racing.
The races, however, have been discontinued since
1843, having gradually dwindled into unimportance.
Some curious items are preserved respecting them in
the time of James I, when public races were estab-
lished in many parts of the kingdom, although it is
not improbable that in this town horse-racing may
date from a much earlier period. They appear to
have been encouraged by the town authorities, who
provided an entertainment during the week of their
continuance, besides engaging 'players' for the further
amusement of the company, who were probably ac-
customed to attend these races perioJically, as an
established scene of festivity and amusement.'
As far back as 1603 there is a record of races
at Blandford, and the following account of moneys
expended is of interest : —
Blandford Races, 1603.
John Cleves, Town Steward or Chamberlain
of the Borough.
Dr. for Money received at
the Races
£
s.
d.
On Sunday
for Supper .
. 0
17
6
„ Monday
„ Dinners .
. . 2
14
6
» j»
„ Suppers .
• 9
6
6
„ Tuesday
„ Dinners .
• • 7
•5
6
» »
„ Suppers .
. 10
7
6
„ Wednesday
„ Dinners .
. 10
6
II
»> >♦
„ Suppers .
• • 9
6
5
„ Thursday
„ Dinners .
:}-
9
3
»j »
„ Suppers .
„ Friday
„ Dinners .
„ Suppers .
■ II
10
6
„ Saturday
„ Dinners .
• • 4
I
8
82 16 3
Received for the play, six nights £\l js.
There is also a long list of noblemen and
gentry who attended the races in their coaches
and six, among whom are mentioned Lord
Milton of Milton Abbey, Lord Shaftesbury of
St. Giles, Lord Arundel of VVardour Castle, Mr.
Sturt of Crichel, Mr. Willett of Merley House,
Mr. Portman of Bryanston, Mr. Weld of Lul-
worth Castle. Other early Dorset patrons of the
turf were Humphrey Sturt, esq., Henry William
Berkeley Portman, esq., Francis Seymour, esq.,
' Hutchins, Hist, ef Dorset.
and Thomas Erie-Drax, esq., as appears by the
list of subscribers in 1757 to an old book on
racing by Reginald Heber, entitled The His-
torical List of Horse Matches run and of Plates
and Prizes run for in Great Britain and Ireland.
It is interesting to note that owing to the
length of the races, the weight carried, and the
several heats run by the same horse in a day, the
racing of those days was a very diflPerent matter
from that of our times.
1777-
Blandford, Dorsetshire.
On Tuesday, 22nd of July, ^50 for 4 yr. olds,
colts 8 St. 7 lb., fillies 8 st. 4 lb., winner of one plate
this year to carry 3 lb., of more 5 lb. extra.
2 mile heats.
Mr. Tombs' ch. f. Cornish Lady by
Prophet, I plate i — i
Mr. Parke's b.c. Brlskin .... 2 — 2
At starting 2 to i on Briskin.
On Wednesday the 23rd, £(,0 given by the
Memben for the County for 5 yr. olds 8 st. 7 lb.,
for 6 yr. olds 9 st., and aged 9 st. 7 lb. Winners of
£10 plates this year to carry 4 lb. extra, of King's
Plates since the 5 th of April, 10 lb. extra.
4 mile heats.
Mr. Hibberd's b.h. Omnium,
5 yr. old 2 — I — I
Mr. Bowles' b.h. Codrus, 6 yr.
old, 2 plates i — 2 — 2
These horses must have run 12 miles in heats.
In 1816, on Tuesday, 29 July, we have the
record of a Maiden Plate of ^^50 run off in four
mile heats.
Mr. Tate's ch. h. Lismahago by
Acacia, 9 st. 10 lb. ... 2 — i — i
Mr. Wilson's b.c. Wooton, 4 yrs.
8 St. 2 lb I — 2 — 2
In August 18 1 2, a race was run at Sherborne,
with the following result : —
/50 for all ages. Heats thrice round.
Mr. Farquharson's Wood Daemon
by Lop, aged, 9 st 1 — i
Mr. Williami' ch. g. Picaroon, aged,
8 St. 1 1 lb 3 — 2
Mr. Radclyffe's Small Hopes, 6 yrs.,
9 St. 4 lb 2 — 3
One of the most interesting points of the old
Blandford racecourse is Telegraph Hill, where
used to stand the Semaphore, with which mes-
sages could be sent to London almost as quickly
as an electric message gets there now. It was
one of a series of semaphore signal stations on
the high hills between Blandford and London,
each taking up the message and passing it on.
Both Blandford and Weymouth held races for
king's and queen's cups.
16
SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN
RACING CELEBRITIES
The foremost place among racing celebrities
of the county belongs to the first Lord Alington,
who from his earliest years took the greatest
interest in the turf. The late Sir Francis Doyle,
who was a distant cousin of the Sturts, used to
relate that Gerard Sturt, when an Eton boy in
1839-40, backed Lord George Bentinck's famous
filly, Crucifix, for all her races as a two and
three-year-old, and wound up by landing a
treble event bet when, in 1840, she won the
TwoThousand Guineas, One Thousand Guineas,
and Oaks.^
In 1849 colours were first registered for
Mr. Gerard Sturt, as he was then — light blue
jacket and white cap ; and the first of his many
trainers was John Day of Danebury.
His first successes worthy of record were
gained when he and his staunch confederate, Sir
Frederic Johnstone, transferred their horses to
William Day's care at Woodyates, which that
good trainer and fine judge of racing had leased
from the earl of Shaftesbury. Perhaps the most
remarkable of the lot was Brigantine, which
William Day bought for Sir Frederic Johnstone
as a yearling for 150 guineas. This mare,
trained at Woodyates, won for Sir Frederic the
Oaks and the Ascot Gold Cup in 1869. She
subsequently remained in Lord Alington's stud
at the White Farm at Crichel until 1882.
The real interest attaching to Lord Alington's
racing life, so far as it affects the majority of
modern racegoers, commences with the period
when, about the year 1882, he became for the
first time a patron of John Porter's famous
training establishment at Kingsclere in Hamp-
ihire, of which his partner. Sir Frederic John-
stone, was already a supporter. There is no
occasion to recapitulate in detail the names and
performances of the numerous thoroughbreds in
training which belonged jointly or severally to
Lord Alington and Sir Frederic Johnstone be-
tween 1 88 1 and 1903. Are not their names,
ages, pedigrees, and performances, as well as the
jockeys who rode them, exhaustively recited by
John Porter in his entertaining work Kingsclere,
published in 1896? Before he joined the
Kingsclere stable Lord Alington's triumphs had
been principally confined to handicaps, selling
stakes, and two-year-old races. With each and
all of his many previous trainers, William Day
alone excepted, he had been singularly unsuc-
cessful. At Danebury, at Littleton, at Findon,
at Newmarket, where for fifty years he had
horses under the charge of several trainers,
some of whom, by his orders, kept his con-
nexion with their stables a profound secret,
he was seldom cheered by victory. All, how-
' The editor of the Sportsman has most kindly sup-
plied a great deal of information concerning Lord
Alington's racing life.
ever, was changed when the partners threw
in their lot with William Day at Woodyates.
The long list of prizes won by Lord Alington
(then Mr. Gerard Sturt) and Sir Frederic John-
stone is given by William Day in his Racehorse
in Training (p. 99), from which we quote the
following passage : —
That some estimate may be formed of the merits
of the animals my horses met, I v/\\\ summarize a few
of the races they won. Handicaps : — Chester Cup,
Cambridgeshire, Royal Hunt Cup, and Somersetshire
Stakes, three times each ; the Metropolitan, Goodwood
Stewards' Cup, Great Eastern Handicap, Goodwood
Stakes, and Northamptonshire Stakes, twice each ;
the Portland Plate, Cesarewitch, Chesterfield Cup,
Stewards' Cup at Chester, the Doncaster and Lincoln-
shire Handicaps ; the Newmarket, Lincoln, Goodwood,
Doncaster, and Stockbrldge Nurseries, the Shrewsbury
and other small handicaps. Among two-year-old vic-
tories I may include the New, Molecombe, and Lavant
Stakes, the Ham and Findon Stakes, the Criterion,
and the following weight-for-age races ; The Oaks,
Goodwood, Derby (twice). Queen's Vase at Ascot
(twice), the Ascot and Goodwood Cups, the Two
Thousand Guineas (twice). Royal Stakes, and, finally,
the Yearling Stakes at Shrewsbury, not to mention
others.
In 1883 St. Blaise running in the name of
Sir F. Johnstone won the Derby.
In 1 891 Common won the Triple Crown.
In 1894 Throstle won the St. Leger.
In 1 891 Lord Alington sold Common to
Sir J. Blundell Maple for one of the largest sums
ever paid in the United Kingdom for a racehorse,
and in 1894 he sold Matchbox, which ran second
in the Derby to Lord Rosebery's Ladas, to Baron
de Hirsch for ;^i 5,000.
Towards the end of his life Lord Alington
generally had a few horses in training with
Walters at Pimperne, and many of them were
successful. He died in 1904 and was succeeded
by his son the Hon. Humphrey Napier Sturt,
who still keeps some good horses in training with
the same trainer.
The late Lord Wolverton had a few good
horses in his time, the most famous of his breed-
ing was The Bard. The late Mr. Ralph Bankes
of Kingston Lacy also did a little racing, and he
won quite a good number of the smaller events
between the years 1881 and 1902. Amongst
his best horses were Camiola which in 1894
won five races at Hurst Park and Kempton Park,
and Perseverance, the winner between 1899 and
1 90 1 of seven races at Ayr, Birmingham, Kemp-
ton Park, and Newmarket.
TRAINING ESTABLISHMENTS AND
STUD FARMS
Now that Mr. Gilpin has left Langton and
gone to train at Newmarket the only trainer left
in the county is Mr. Alfred Walters at Pimperne.
The father of the present trainer of this stable
was Mr. W. Walters, who himself was the son
317
A HISTORY OF DORSET
of John Walters, one of three brothers, all trainers,
well known about 1840. He began riding in
pony and galloway races when ten or eleven years
ofage. Afterthat he rode under Rules of Racing
and later on was a well-known steeplechase rider
under National Hunt Rules. In 1863 he com-
menced as private trainer to Sir C. Rushout,
near Moreton in the Marsh, moving afterwards to
Earls Croome, thence to Wroughton, and finally
coming to Pimperne in 1885. Among the best
horses trained at Pimperne were Goldseeker and
Tyrant, which between 1886 and 1890 won
between them the following races : — The Don-
caster Welter Plate, the Cleveland Handicap,
and the Portland Plate at Doncaster ; the Septem-
ber Handicap at Manchester; the City and Subur-
ban ; the Welter Handicap at Newmarket ; the
Chester Cup and the Great Cheshire Handicap ;
the Great Northern Handicap at York ; and the
DoncasterSpring Handicap. Amongother winners
trained by Mr. Walters the best have been Clarion,
Monsieur, Goodlake, Hibernian, Bonny Kate,
Mountain Knight, Bobbie Burns, and Satyrica.
It would be impossible to find a healthier spot
for horses, or a more perfect training ground,
than this on the old Blandford racecourse, with
distances to suit preparation for all races. Beau-
tiful firm and springy turf on a good subsoil
covers the whole ; and nicely undulating downs
abound. Above all its recommendation is its
isolation, for here are no crowds, no jostling, no
touts to worry the trainer in his trials, the horses
run no risks, and have every opportunity for good
work without hindrance.
A notable stud farm is situated at The Knoll,
Corfe Mullen, where with excellent paddocks
and every modern convenience Captain H. Y. Mills
(late 6th Inniskilling Dragoons) takes in about
thirty-seven mares for breeding purposes. A-
mongst these mares is Concussion, dam of Ham-
merkop, Sirenia, and Water Chute. Hammerkop
won the Cesarewitch in 1905, and the Alex-
andra Cup at Ascot in 1905 and 1906. Sirenia
won the Duke of York Stakes, the Kempton
Jubilee in 1900, and in Ireland was unbeaten as
a two-year-old. Another mare in the paddocks is
Clarehaven, winner of the Cesarewitch in 1900,
and here may be seen many other winning mares.
Eager by Enthusiast — Greeba stands at The
Knoll, one of the most popular horses that
ever ran, and the champion sprinter of his time.
Although no classic race fell to his lot, he won
no less than ^Ti 5,000 in stakes and won a good
race every time he appeared at Ascot.
Mr. William Martin of Moor Court has also
bred a few useful thoroughbreds at his farm near
Bailey Gate, but they have always been sold
before entering upon their racing career.
POLO
Polo, as a county game in Dorset, dates from
the year 1900, when the Blackmore Vale Polo
Club was formed, and this club now is admitted
by all to be the leading country club of the day.
The president is Major Earl Cairns, the hon.
secretary and treasurer H. E. Lambe, esq.,
Stalbridge, and the assistant hon. secretary the
Hon. L. Lambert, Milborne Port.
In 1907 there were thirty playing and seventy-
five non-playing members ; of the former the
best known are perhaps Captain Phipps Hornby
(late of the Rifle Brigade), Colonel Duth (late
of the 8th Hussar Team), Captain A. Courage
(of the great 15th Hussar Team), Mr. J. Har-
greaves (of the Freebooters Team), and the Hon.
H. Grosvenor (late of the 14th Hussars).
This is the only county club which can
boast four grounds — three boarded and one un-
boarded — all situated some three miles from
Sherborne.
Polo commences on i March, and ends on
31 August. About seventy days' polo are played
on the grounds each season, with two annual
tournaments.
In 1904 the club won the 'County Cup'
after having been runners up for the two preced-
ing years. In 1905 and 1 906 the team were
runners up at Ranelagh for the County Clubs
Junior Championship, which was instituted
by the Blackmore Vale Polo Club and was
afterwards taken over by the County Polo
Association.
SHOOTING
We have encountered many difficulties in
compiling the following short account of shooting
in Dorset. Of late years nearly all the shootings
have been let to newcomers, and now very few
landlords keep them in their own hands. From
these latter only statistics have been obtained ;
it has been found impossible to get returns from
the present shooting tenants.
In old days there certainly was not anything
like the amount of what may be termed artificial
game — that is to say, home-reared pheasants,
partridges, and wild duck ; but the shooting was
of a more sporting character when the old-
fashioned country squire enjoyed moderate days
with his neighbours who supported and partici-
pated in other sports as well.
Dorset is a county eminently suitable by
nature for almost every variety of bird and
animal, and in every part of it a varied bag may
be had. There are good coverts of all sizes for
318
SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN
pheasants, fir plantations famous for woodcock,
bog, river, and harbour ^ for wildfowl, upland and
arable for partridges and hares, whilst the heath
swarms with rabbits.
Grouse have been imported, but with no
success ; and a few years ago there was a very
fair sprinkling of blackgame, but these have
steadily decreased of late years.
The most famous perhaps of all the big shoot-
ing manors is Crichel, the home of Lord Aling-
ton, where His Majesty the King has shot on
more than one occasion. The shooting has
steadily improved for many years and some
memorable bags ^ have been made. As many as
260 hares have been killed in the turnips in one
■day by three guns, and 1,540 in the season.
Hungarian partridges reared on the estate have
wonderfully improved the stock, and there are
now great quantities of birds.
Lord Wimborne's Canford estate is also a
famous shoot, notable as being one of the first
places in the county where partridges were
reared, as far back as 1886, for driving purposes,
150 brace being killed in a day.
Milton Abbey has always been an estate
notable both for pheasants and partridges, the
latter having immensely increased of late years.
It is almost unique for high pheasants, the coverts
all being hanging woods on the side of the hill.
The Lulworth estate contains the best hare
and partridge land in the county, and some re-
markable bags have been made there year after
year.
Rushmore, Melbury, and Colonel Brymer's
coverts at Ilsington, are all good shoots, while
Charborough^ is remarkable for being the first
place in the county where pheasants were exten-
sively reared.
On Brownsea Island situated in Poole Harbour
Mr. Van Raalte rears a large quantity of game,
and round its shores there is exceedingly good
wildfowl shooting.
Encombe, the property of Lord Eldon, is a
good shooting manor, but more preserving was
done in the past than is now the case.
Grange Woods used to be celebrated for wood-
cock, as many as forty being sometimes flushed in
a day, when they had just come in.
Woodcock and snipe are not nearly so plenti-
ful in Dorset as in former days. The writer
has seen records of as many as thirty woodcock
killed in one day, and it was no uncommon thing
for two guns to kill between forty and fifty snipe
in a day, whereas now half a dozen woodcock or
four couple of snipe would be considered good.
Taken all round the shooting in Dorset is of
a very fair description, and of a really sporting
order with regard to wildfowl.
FALCONRY
There are few places in England where the
general characteristics of the country are so suited
to the sport of falconry as those which are found
in the county of Dorset. For here we find large
tracts of open moorland, big fields, with here and
there broad stretches of open down-land, all of
which are essential to the successful pursuit of
hawking. Not only is the Dorset falconer
favoured with excellent grounds over which to
carry on this fascinating sport, but he is also
fortunate in living in a county which is still one
of the greatest strongholds of our most noble
British falcons, the peregrine [Falco peregrinus).
Between St. Alban's Head and Bridport there are
' Those who have turned over the pages of Hawker
on Shooting will remember the wonderful bags of duck,
teal, and widgeon that Poole Harbour has afforded, a
happy hunting ground in days of yore both to the
punt gunner and shoreman.
* The best three days consecutively were in 1900 : —
Pheasants
Hares
Rab-
bits
Wood-
cock
Vari-
ous
Total
Jan. 23 .
1. 551
123
189
I
9
1,873
„ 2+ •
1,018
65
81
4
4
1,172
„ 25 •
■ 1,517
68
385
4
4
1,978
Total . . 4,086 256 655 9 17 5,023
In one rise on 1 1 Dec. 1 896, 708 pheasants were
killed at one stand, the rise lasting three-quarters of
-an hour.
Still several eyries or these falcons, where annually,
in spite of wanton destruction by guns and traps
and the depredations of egg hunters, a fair num-
ber of young peregrines are bred each year.
From time to time the lover of bird life may
recognize the graceful flight of these splendid
falcons, as they sail high over the Dorset
moors or open downs. For many years the
writer used to employ men to watch and guard
most eyries of peregrines along the Dorset
cliffs. On occasions certain of the young birds,
commonly called eyesses, would be taken from
the nests for the purpose of training them,
others being left and allowed to fly away. The
local cliff climbers were paid a good price for all
birds whether taken or not, in order to outbid
the professional egg hunters who were always
willing to pay a certain price for the eggs.
It was early in 1887 that the writer first
commenced his attempts at falconry. Acting
under the advice of an old friend, the late
Major C. H. Fisher of Stroud in Gloucestershire,
the greatest falconer of his day, he began by
training two eyess peregrines taken from a nest
near Lulworth Cove. Although he has owned
innumerable falcons and hawks and flown them
in many lands since those days, his earliest
' At one time guinea-fowl and wild turkeys were
placed in the Charborough coverts for shooting.
319
A HISTORY OF DORSET
vicissitudes, pleasures and disappointments, pertain-
ing to the first few seasons of a career as a falconer,
will ever linger in his memory. He has in recent
years trained and flown in Dorset peregrine
falcons, Barbary falcons, merlins, goshawks,
sparrowhawks, and even sakers and larmers im-
ported from Asia, and with them he has taken
such quarry as herons, blackgame, pheasants,
partridges, wild duck, snipe, pigeons, rooks, crows
and seagulls with the falcons, larks with merlins,
and hares and rabbits with the goshawks. The
best places for flying hawks in Dorset are
the open moorlands around Wareham, Wool, and
Bere Regis, the downs near Blandford and the
surrounding country', and such places as Fording-
ton Fields near Dorchester. Two other sports-
men have kept and trained hawks in Dorset
during recent years. Colonel Thompson of the
7th Dragoon Guards, when acting as adjutant of
the Dorset yeomanry some years ago, kept
and trained hawks at Charminster, and Mr. G.
Blaine, who was for a few seasons the tenant of
the Bere Regis manor, kept a fine establishment
of trained hawks at that place. Time, space,
and the nature of this article do not admit of any
detailed account of the actual method by which
hawks are trained and flown. Nothing but a
fine day spent with a falconer and his hawks in
such places as a grouse moor in August, or on
the downs in spring when riding hard after good
rook hawks, will give the reader an idea of the
immense time and patience which are required ere
a falconer can render tractable and subser\'ient to
hiswill one of nature's wildest creatures. Then for
the nonce he may imagine himself once more back
in the olden days, when falconry was the sport
of kings, and hawking parties issued forth from
every stately hall or castle in Merrie England.
ANGLING
The fishing in Dorset is extremely good in
some parts ; salmon, trout, and all descriptions
of coarse fish may be taken, and some very good
sea line fishing is to be found on the coast. The
principal fishing rivers are the Frome which,
rising near Rampisham, flows into Poole Harbour ;
the Piddle which rises above Piddletrenthide
and empties itself into Poole Harbour ; and the
Stour, with its tributaries, which rises in the
north-east corner of the county, and flows into
the sea at Christchurch.
Dorset salmon fishing, although not nowadays
first class as regards the number of fish taken, is
first class for the size of the fish. Trout fishing
is really first class, for there are few places in
the United Kingdom with better natural trout
streams, and where the water is carefully pre-
served the skilled angler may make phenomenal
bags. Many a big catch has been made with
the wet fly ; but of the best fish the greatest
number, whether in the Frome, the Tarrant, or
the Piddle, have certainly fallen to the lot of the
dry fly fisherman. Coarse fishing in many of
the rivers is really good, and excellent sport
may be enjoyed by the skilled bottom fisher-
man.
The Frome
The history of salmon fishing on this river
is of great antiquity and importance, but it is
as an industry rather than as a sport that we find
early mention of it in the accounts of the honour
of Gloucester. In 1544 Henry VIII made a
grant of the manor and borough of Wareham
to Catherine of Aragon, including all sporting
and fishing rights.
In 1 56 1 the Frome salmon fishery was
leased to a certain Francis Browne and
Anne his wife, at 69J. ^d. with a fine of
j^20. In 1582 it appears to have been
granted to Edmund Frost and John Walker.
In the same year it came into the possession of
Sir Christopher Hatton and after that went to
Sir John Bankes. From him it passed to the
Calcraft family, who have held it ever since ;
the present owner being Captain Marsden, R.N.,
nephew of the late William Calcraft of Remp-
stone. Hutchins in his History of Dorset relates
that an old fisherman of ninetj'-three had told
him of a catch of forty-seven salmon weighing
sixty score, which, being unsaleable at Ware-
ham, were carried on to Bindon Fair and sold
at 2d. a lb. The best netting was below Ware-
ham Bridge, and in one year 150 salmon were
taken — all big fish.
It was not until quite modern times that rod
fishing for salmon was introduced on the Frome,
but after several successful years of the nets,
when Messrs. Panton & Son had the netting
rights of the Calcraft estate, it was attempted.
The first to try the rod was the late General
Hankey, who was stationed at Dorchester about
1868, and though permission was granted when
he asked leave of Mr. Bond of Creech Grange, the
idea of catching a fish was laughed at. Begin-
ning at Holme Bridge, he fished steadily down
to a pool about 400 yards below the present
Swanage Railway Bridge. Here he hooked a
fish which from its play he imagined to be a
pike, and after about a minute it broke away
without showing itself. Having fished the river
down, he returned to the same pool and in it
rose, hooked, played and landed a salmon of
28 lb., a clean fresh run fish. On examination
he found the tongue split and bleeding, which
proved it to have been the fish he had hooked
320
SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN
already. The pool is still called Hankey's
Pool, and many fish have been caught there
since. Soon after this Mr. Montague Guest,
Mr. C. Hambro, Mr. Sidney Osborne, and Mr.
Fred Fane took the best of the fishable water,
from Stoke Mill to Wareham. In their best
season, in spite of the nets below, forty-seven
clean fish were taken on the rod, besides a large
number of kelts returned to the river. Of late
years the number of salmon coming up in the
spring and summer months has for some quite
unaccountable causes greatly decreased, and if a
dozen fish are caught in a season, it is considered
a good year, and that with no nets on the water
at all. It is true that in the old days more
trouble was taken, a water bailiff was kept on,
the farmers cut the weeds once and often twice
in a season, pike were netted in the lower
reaches constantly, and steam tugs coming from
Poole to Wareham kept an open passage free
from weeds and mud, which is not now the
case. And yet quite as many fish are seen in
the winter months, November, December, and
January, making their way to the spawning beds
even as far up the river as Highford Common.
One most remarkable feature of this river is
the fact that grilse or parr have never been seen
in it, and only fish of very large size are taken.
So large are they that it is the opinion of many
who have fished the water that, had a record
been kept, the average would have been between
27 and 30 lb. As proof of that, a year or two
ago Captain Radclyffe fishing in the early part
of the season, took seven fish on the fly averaging
29^ lb. The record fish taken on the rod are
one of 46 lb. caught by Mr. Osborne, using a
prawn, and one of 41 lb. caught by Captain
Radclyffe, using a fly.
The Frome as a coarse fishing river would
take a very prominent position, were it not for its
more important salmon fishing. There are pike,
roach and dace in quantities and of good size
between Wareham and Moreton ; above that
they give way to trout preservation. At Holme
Bridge between Wareham and East Stoke we
have seen enormous catches of roach and dace,
some running up to i^ lb. and over. The pike
fishing is extremely good, fish running up to
about 20 lbs. Mr. R. Butler took one of 21 lb.
quite recently in the Hethfelton Water, which
is strictly preserved by Captain J. W. T. Fyler.
There is good trout fishing at Moreton,
where Mr. Frampton by careful and systematic
netting has destroyed most of the pike and has
stocked the river with good sized trout, which
are doing well. Going on through West Staf-
ford the river improves more and more towards
Dorchester. The best water is that belonging
to the Dorchester Club, which has a world-wide
reputation, and the stretch belonging to Mr.
Sheridan of Frampton Court. The Dorchester
Fishing Club, which has done a great deal for
the preservation of trout, is limited to twenty-
four members. The extent of fishable water
belonging to the club is about six miles, which was
reclaimed from the hands of netting poachers
through the energy of the late Captain Mansel,
who for many years was hon. secretary of the
club. Among its most renowned members have
been Mr. Selwyn Marryatt, Mr. W. H. Pope,
and Major Cumberland. Of the first-named it
has been said that he could place his rod between
his arms behind his back and in that way cast a
fly as deftly as most ordinary fishermen. At
one time there were some immense fish below
the town, and Major Cumberland caught several
of them up to 7^ lb. in weight on the artificial
fly. Since, however, the new drainage system has
been finished in Dorchester, these big fish have
disappeared. Mr. Sheridan's water is extremely
good and most carefully preserved ; the water is
well stocked and full of large fish, which rise
well to the dry fly.
The Piddle
The Piddle, which runs parallel with the
Frome, has also a reputation for salmon, but as
the only good part is tidal, little has been done
by rod — the biggest fish recorded was taken in
1898 in the nets and weighed 42 lb. As in the
case of the Frome, many fish are seen in the
winter months on the spawning beds. This
river is undoubtedly, without exaggeration, one of
the most prolific of trout-yielding streams in the
south of England. The best part of it lies
between Brian's-Puddle and Binnegar, the very
pick of it between Chamberlayne's and Hyde.
There is more than one record of a good rod
taking forty brace in the Hyde water, and
on one occasion Captain Radclyffe, to prove
its capacity, caught 58^ brace in one day,
of course returning most to the water. They
run a fair size, and on most of the fishings
there is a I lb. limit. On the lower reaches
there are some very large fish, and the writer has
twice killed, on the May Fly, fish of nearly
5 lb. and many of 3^ lb. A few years ago
this portion was seriously depleted of fish, but by
judicious management the water is now well
stocked with large fish. Mr. Lindler, the pre-
sent tenant, has established a fish hatchery at
Bere Regis, the only one in the district, which
is doing remarkably well. Going further up
there is very fine fishing through Affpuddle, and
right up to Puddletown, all the water being in
the hands of private owners who preserve it
most carefully, more particularly the water at
Southover, and Tolpuddle which belongs to
Mr. Crane. Mr. Homer's water at Burleston
deserves notice, large-size trout being caught here,
the record fish in 1906 being 3 lb., while the
average for all years is 45 lb.
321 41
A HISTORY OF DORSET
The Stour
The Stour is almost entirely a coarse fishing
river, although at the mouth salmon ^ come up.
The pike fishing in many parts of the river is excel-
lent, and all through from VVimborne to Blandford
they are caught in considerable numbers and of a
fair size. Chub, perch, dace, and roach are also to
be found in plenty in most of the reaches. In
the tributaries of the Stour there is good brown
trout fishing, and Sir Richard Glynn has estab-
lished a fish hatchery near Fontmell Magna,
where he has gone in extensively for rainbow
trout. Captain RadclyfFe says : —
The small strwrn here is particularly adapted for
these fish, whose peculiarity is that they will make off
down stream for the sea, but as there are a number
of small mills, with the assistance of iron gratings, the
downward march ot these fish is retarded. B/
constant restocking of the highest mill dam pools a
really good supply of fish is kept up, and the}' grow-
very quickly and take the fly well.
In the Tarrant, another tributary, there is
good brown trout fishing and the fish thrive
well and rise well. Unfortunately at intervals
this river runs quite dry, and constant restocking
is necessary to keep up a supply.
SEA FISHING
Angling for salt water fish on the coast of
Dorset has been for many years on the increase.
Poole Harbour is by no means a bad spot, but
for the most part all fishing there, both with
net and line, is carried on by professional fisher-
men. The Swanage coast, VVarbarrow Bay,
Arish Mell, and Lulworth Cove all offer oppor-
tunities to the sportsman, but by far the
' Five or six yean ago a gentleman fishing near the
bridge at Blandford with a spinning bait for pike
took a salmon of 12 lb. This is one of the few
recorded instances of the capture of a salmon on a rod
in this river. As in the Frome, salmon come up in
the winter to spawn.
best fishing is to be obtained at Weymouth.
There is an excellent anglers' club here, which
under the title of the Weymouth and Dorset
Sea Angling Society is federated with the
National Council of Sea Anglers. The presi-
dent of the society is Mr. S. H. Wallis, a
very practical angler, winner against 184 com-
petitors of the Corporation Cup and Gold Medal
at the Folkestone Festival in 1906, when he
beat the whole record of the south coast, his
biggest fish being two congers respectively
30 lb. and 22 lb. and a pollock whiting of
13 lb. The honorary secretary is Mr. J. Rogers,
and there are about 300 members. The, fishing
grounds extend over more than ten miles of
good rocky bottom, and there is excellent conger,
bass, whiting, pollock, and mackerel fishing.
The largest conger caught on line weighed
421b., and bass have been caught up to 13 or
141b. This is the only place in England
where bass fishing can be followed all the year
round, and as many as 1 00 in a day have been
taken by one rod. In the Fleet waters they take
the fly well, and on one occasion two rods took over
ten dozen good fish there. The mackerel afford
excellent sport, and the record for them was 1 00
dozen taken on the line by Mr. A. Brown
sailing single handed, his fore sheet hauled to
windward. Unfortunately the fishing is being
considerably hurt by netting in the backwater,
which is one of the finest breeding grounds
imaginable. This netting is carried on to an
enormous extent with no close season, and
bushels of the brown shrimp have been taken out,
so that this epicurean morsel for choice fish is
nearly exterminated. Now and again a shark
visits the water, and on one occasion a large one
was hooked on a trot and towed the angler out
to sea at a great rate, having to be cut loose for
fear of a capsize.
The fishing at Weymouth is carried on both
from the quay sides on shore and also from
boats ; the local fishermen are good guides.
GOLF
It can hardly be claimed for Dorset that the
county is a golfer's paradise. There is but little
golf in the county, and none of it is of the true
seaside quality, although the Dorset Club makes
a gallant effort to provide real golf for its
numerous supporters on its famous course at
Broadstone.
Within the county there are no more than
seven recognized golf clubs, and it argues a lack
of enterprise and enthusiasm for the game in
Dorset folk that so much of the magnificent
turf of its downs and so vast an area of its
characteristic sandy heath is unutilized for the
royal and ancient game. Dorset is, however, a
sparsely-inhabited county, and it is possible that
the courses it has are sufficient for the needs of
its players.
It was not until the beginning of the last
decade of the nineteenth century that the wave
of enthusiasm for golf, which was sweeping like
a torrent over England, reached our county ;
and to Bridport belongs the honour of having
instituted the first golf club within its borders.
In February 1 891, the West Dorset Club
opened a nine-hole course with a circuit of
about one and a half miles on some sixty acres
of fine down turf on the slopes of the west cliff
at West Bay. The hazards here are gorse, dis-
322
SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN
used quarries, roads, and stone walls ; and the
best time for play is in the spring and autumn
months.
In 1892 was founded the Isle of Purbeck
Golf Club, whose links are two miles from
Swanage on the north side of the road to Stud-
land. This very hilly nine-hole course has a
length of about a mile and a half; the hazards
are hedges, gorse, ponds, with some artificial
bunkers.
The Lyme Regis Golf Club was initiated in
1893. Its nine-hole course is 500 ft. above the
sea on the cliffs between Lyme and Charmouth.
Golf had already been played for some time on
Lenthay Common, near Sherborne, when in
1894 the course of the Blackmore Vale Club
was opened a mile and a half to the north of
the town. It was laid out on undulating ground
on either side of a road which with its high
hedges formed a hazard at more than one of the
nine holes. The club has recently gone back to
links on Lenthay Common.
The Ashley Wood Club has a down course
of nine holes two miles from Blandford. It
was opened in 1896. The turf is good, and
gorse is the principal hazard. The old Dor-
chester Club, founded in the same year, has now
amalgamated with the Weymouth Club under
the name of the Weymouth, Dorchester, and
County Club. The course of eighteen holes is
on Came Down two miles from the county
town. The hazards are furze, chalk-pits, tumuli,
a pond, and some ditches.
The great course of the Dorset Club, opened
in 1898, is the outcome of a prodigious expendi-
ture of money, labour, and ingenuity. It lies
about midway between Wimborne and Poole at
Broadstone, partly on the eastern edge of the
great heath that, under different names, extends
from Corfe Mullen to Moreton, and partly in
the park of Merley Hall. On the wild and
hilly heath portion Tom Dunn, who designed
the course at the direction of Lord Wimborne,
laid out the first six and the last four holes.
The thick growth of ling, gorse, and fern which,
rising shoulder high, covered the sandy hill-sides,
was cut away, bogs were drained, and turf was
laid, tees were levelled, vast putting greens were
made and bunkers built, and after years of work
ten magnificent holes, of which it is not easy to
find the equal on any inland course, appeared.
It has been said by a judicious critic of
Broadstone that if the vast ditch and rampart
hazards were replaced by artfully arranged pot
bunkers this could be made one of the finest
courses in Europe, and many may be found to
agree with this dictum so far as it applies to the
holes at the beginning and end of the round.
But the long seventh and the five holes in the
park are less enjoyable.
The course is 3^ miles round, and the long
carries required from the tees form what is
perhaps the most marked characteristic of this ex-
cellent course, where the tees are like putting greens
and the greens themselves of lavish dimensions.
Meetings are held in the spring and autumn.
In compiling this bketch of Sport in Dorset the
writer has endeavoured to obtain an accurate ac-
count of each description of sport both of the
past and present and each detail has been verified.
His best thanks are due to masters of
hounds, who have most courteously given end-
less information, and each kennel has been
visited by the writer. With regard to shooting
some difficulties have arisen, and very few shoot-
ing men in the county have supplied either
information generally or statistics in particular.
For the history of racing, the stud farms and
training establishments have been visited, and at
these the utmost assistance has been given. The
writer wishes to express his gratitude more
especially to Captain Eustace Radclyffe, who has
not only supplied a great deal of general infor-
mation, but has himself written an article on
falconry for this work ; to the Lady Theodora
Guest for the loan of many interesting documents
bearing on hunting ; and to the Editor of the
Sportsman for racing particulars.
323
INDUSTRIES
INTRODUCTION
INDUSTRIAL Dorset, at first sight seems
a contradiction, the county being pre-
eminently agricultural. The real value
of the composite wage of its labourers
has formed the subject of economic dis-
cussion again and again. The curious method
by which cows are let out to the dairy-farmers
has received as much commendation as it has
provoked criticism ; few persons, however, could
tell what industries flourished between Poole and
Lyme Regis ; and if the famous quarries of
Purbeck and Portland were left out of account,
most would probably assert that the chief trade
of Dorset was in butter and cheese. Yet
political economists point out that had not the
burgesses of Bridport insisted on maintaining
their monopoly for rope-making in the reign
of Henry VIII, their town might have become
a great manufacturing centre.^ If this had
come to pass, the advantages offered by the
coal-bearing north would probably have been
outweighed by the facts that for long years
Dorset produced the finest hemp in the English
market, and that this manufacture is dependent
to a great extent on skilled labour, an aptitude
for which is transmitted from parent to child.
But the burgesses ' stabbed themselves with
their own dagger,' " and instead of a mighty
city with suburbs stretching out to include
Burton and Beaminster, Powerstock and Toller
Porcorum, there remains one of the most pic-
turesque parts of this beautiful county, ' which
has often been styled the garden of England.''
However, although the hemp industry was un-
doubtedly injured at the time by the short-
sighted policy of the burgesses of Bridport, it was
by no means destroyed ; and after passing
through various vicissitudes it is still the pride
and mainstay of Bridport.
As regards manufactured goods, the county is
to a great extent in the first stage of industrial
development. It has scarcely been affected by
the industrial revolution which has been so
admirably described by Mr. Arnold Toynbee.''
' Gibbins, Industrial Hist. Engl, i o i .
' Bohn, Coll. of Proverbs, 202.
' England Displayed (1769), 64.
* Toynbee, Industrial Revolution, 5.
There are factories and mills, but a great many
of the workers work in their own homes ; the
most important operations, both in the hemp and
gloving industry, are performed by hand ; a con-
siderable proportion of the work is done by
women, while the children often take their turn
as soon as school hours are over.
Dorset was well equipped to take its stand as
an industrial county in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries. But its equipment is now
old-fashioned, and much of it obsolete. In all
the descriptions of Dorset, and of these there are
many, great stress is laid on the excellence and
abundance of raw material : of wool, of hemp,
of stone, and of clay. Leland, Camden,
Cosmo III, duke of Tuscany, and a host of
others join in dwelling on the quantity and
quality of the sheep reared on the ' beautiful
pastures' of the downs.' Time has made no
impression on the truth of Camden's description
of Dorset, 'garnished with many a green hill
whereon feed flocks of sheep in great number
with pleasant pastures likewise and fruitful
valleys.' ^ Defoe was told ' that there were six
hundred thousand sheep fed on the downs within
six miles of the town ' of Dorchester. He writes,
' I do not affirm this to be true, but when I view
the country round I confess I could not but
incline to believe it.' ' Gilpin quotes and objects
to a poetical description of the
Dorseti.in Downs
In boundless prospect spread, here shagged wilh
woods,
There rich with harvest, and there white with
flocks.'
He holds that even poetical licence is not
warrant enough to call red sheep white. His
observation held good until late in the nineteenth
century, for the * r\iddle-man ' went his rounds
year by year and dipped the sheep in red ochre.
Great quantities of sheep are still raised in
' Cosmo III, Travels in Engl. (Magalotti, 1668),
46, 47.
' Camden, Britannia (ed. Holland, 1610), i, 51.
' Defoe, Tour Through Gt. Brit. (1724), i, 64.
' Gilpin, Observations on the Western Parts of Engl.
292.
325
A HISTORY OF DORSET
Dorset for the sake of their wool as well as for
their meat, but the cloth industry which at one
time depended on the local wool has lett the
county.
Fields of hemp do not lend themselves so
readily as flocks of sheep to picturesque descrip-
tions, and even flax is only beautiful when its
dazzling blue flower is in bloom ; but the fact
that the rich damp soil round Bridport produced
the best hemp in England is continually men-
tioned. Hemp is no longer grown in the neigh-
bourhood, though the common nettle belonging
to the same botanical family springs up with un-
paralleled vigour and luxuriance. The home-
grown flax can no longer compete with that of
Ireland or Belgium, but it is used locally mixed
with hemp or cotton.
In the Middle Ages the marble of Corfe won
wide recognition, and Dorset sculptors not only
wrought at home, but were summoned to a
distance by king and prelate as the ablest of their
time. Portland stone was exported at least as
early as the reign of Edward I, and the stone of
the quarries of southern Dorset is still the
county's one pre-eminent gift. The clay found
round Poole and Corfe Castle was not so widely
known as the stone of Purbeck and Portland,
but constant allusions are made by topographers
of the last three centuries to its intrinsic qualities
as a good clay for tobacco pipes, and to its value
as an export to London.
Besides raw material, Dorset possessed and
still possesses all the power required by eighteenth-
century machinery. It is covered with a net-
work of little streams, which rush out of the
sides of the chalk downs. These make up in
speed what they lack in volume ; some are
strong enough to drive water-wheels within a
quarter of a mile of their source. Numerous
mills are mentioned in Domesday Book, but very
few of them still work. Almost all the corn is
ground by steam mills, and many of the water-
mills are in ruins ; others have totally dis-
appeared.
Besides industries which were promoted by
the enterprise of individuals and the fallacies of
public bodies, there were those based on a false
estimate of mineral riches. Pottery and quarry-
ing do not fall under this definition, but most of
the attempts to work the other minerals found
between Poole and Weymouth have had little last-
ing success. The least important of these minerals
is gypsum, which occurs in the lower Purbeck
strata of Durlaston Bay, and was once worked
to a limited extent.* There are more references
to the alum industry, which was set up more
than once in Dorset, but never took root per-
manently in the county.'" Thus all the advan-
tages which Dorset possessed have decreased in
value ; the streams are left to irrigate the water-
Green, Kimmeridge Shale, its Origin, 2.
" See in/ra.
meadows ; the cloth industry, now requiring
machinery, steam power, and coal, has migrated
to Yorkshire ; and better hemp can be imported
from Russia.
The disadvantages to industry from which
Dorset has suffered have varied from time to
time. At present the most powerful drawback
to commercial enterprise is the lack of coal ; but
this deficiency had no practical effect until the
introduction of machinery at the end of the
eighteenth century. Another handicap is the
distance from London, and this was intensified,
until railways were built, by the inadequate
means of communication. Even now it is still
a factor to be considered in any industrial prob-
lem, and at any time up to the nineteenth
century it would be hard to overestimate its
influence.
The older roads seem to have been far from
satisfactory. The county is famed for its downs ;
and the roads in use in Dorset were to a large
extent ancient ways along them, while even the
new lines of route made by the Romans in their
very directness occasionally admitted very steep
gradients. Modern road-builders have found it
impossible to avoid steep hills, but their roads
tend to follow the valleys rather than the ridges
or slopes of the downs.
The Roman roads were wonderfully made ;
but if the presentments of the eighteenth century
are any criteria, the surface and upkeep of roads
and bridges must have been in a deplorable con-
dition. Year by year the roads are presented as
out of repair,'^ and sometimes as under water,
and the bridges as in a broken-down state. '^ The
expense of carriage by road is continually referred
to in the county records. The cost of transport-
ing soldiers, vagabonds, paupers, and convicts, as
well as that of sending luggage and messengers,
was always heavy ; a good example is the cost
of conveying a lunatic to Bedlam in 1794, which
amounted to^^ii lis. bd}^ At the beginning
of the last century ** the turnpike roads, and even
the by-roads when on dry soil, appear to have
been on the whole in a satisfactory condition,
and a surveyor of experience observed that they
possessed sufficient convexity to cast off the
water after sharp showers, which drained away and
was soon absorbed in the chalky substratum. In
the chalk districts flints were then used for the
repair of the turnpike roads, but elsewhere lime-
stone broken with hammers. In the west of the
county, however, and in some parts of the vale
of Blackmoor, the by-roads were even then
miry and scarcely passable in winter, while in
summer the large, rough stones with which they
abounded rendered them far from pleasant,
whether for horses or wheeled vehicles. In
" Sess. R. 1709, 1720, 1752, &c., &c. ; Courtly
Rec. Ouartcr Sess. 1712, 1763, 1764, &€.
" fbid. " Ibid.
" Stevenson, op. cit. 439.
326
INDUSTRIES
southern Dorset at the present time Forest marble
and the refuse of Purbeck and Portland stone are
often used locally, but the main roads are mended
with stone brought from a distance.
Before the advent of railways heavy mer-
chandise was, if possible, sent by sea, exported
from Poole, Weymouth, Bridport, and Lyme.
There was often no other alternative. Though
Dorset was well watered, a writer in 1769 says :
there is not in the whole county, one river rendered
navig.ible by art ; nor indeed any stream that vifould
be of sufficient advantage to the county, to induce per-
sons to undertake it, except the Frome, which might
easily be rendered navigable from Wareham to Dor-
chester ; and could not fail of paying the necessary
expenses at the same time it would prove of the
greatest advantage to the county by reviving the
manufactures which formerly flourished there.'*
However, the Frome was never canalized, and
at present the only canal in the county is one in
the north, in the upper course of the Stour.'^
It is called the Dorset and Somerset canal, but
it was never completed, and is not used. Con-
sequently, until railways were built, all goods
had to be sent by road or by sea, and the baneful
influence of the cost of carriage is clearly seen
in the history of the hemp industry.
Coaches from London supplied the news of
the world and the correct time to a number of
small villages along their route, which were cut
off from such luxuries when the coach service
ceased in 1830,^' as the supplanting railway
followed a different line, and does not yet touch
all the villages through which the coaches passed.
The introduction of the motor car has, however,
recently brought some of these villages into more
frequent contact with the great world outside.
From these general observations on the indus-
tries of Dorset we must now proceed to notice
very briefly a number of crafts which we are
unable to deal with in any detail. Some of
them, as for instance glove-making, still occupy
an important place in the county, others are
either practically extinct at the present day or
of comparatively slight economic importance.
Salt-making, one of the most necessary indus-
tries of mediaeval England, was actively carried
on in 1086 at several places on the Dorset coast.
Two entries " occur relating to salters {saUnar'tt)
at Lyme. At Charmouth ^^ sixteen salters are
mentioned, while at Ower,^" which belonged to
the Benedictine house of Milton, thirteen salters
rendered 20s. At Studland ^' again no less than
thirty-two sa/inae are recorded. Beside these, as
we learn from a much later rental ^^ of the
" Eng/. Displayed (1769), 64.
" Faunthorpe, Geography of Dorset, 1 1 .
" Quarter Sess. Rec. " Dom. Bk. fol. 77^, 85.
" Ibid. 80. '» Ibid. 78. " Ibid. 80.
''' Harl. MS. 61. It contains entries of as late a
date as the first decade of the fifteenth century, but
may be in substance much earlier.
abbey of St. Edward at Shaftesbury, Arne [Hern)
in Purbeck was devoted entirely to the manu-
facture of salt, and over twenty tenants held one
or more salt-pans each. Benegarus, one of the
most substantial of these, held a sixteenth part
of the hide which formed the manor of Arne
at a rent of 30^?., and also three salt-pans, for
which he paid 8;. yearly, and in addition was
bound to render three week-works of salt as well
as one week-work from his land. Some tenants,
however, as Sampson, who held three salt-pans
for 9^. and two week-works, do not seem to have
had any share in the arable land. Numbers of
the tenants on other manors of the St. Edward's
Abbey were bound to carry a certain amount of
salt from Arne when required. For instance,
' all the men of Fontmell ought to carry away
20 seams of herrings {allecium) from Wareham,
and 20 seams of salt from Hern.' ^' So also
Oswy, a virgater of Iwerne, had to carry salt
and herrings ; other tenants were subject to a
similar liability.
In the fifteenth century there existed a con-
siderable export trade in salt with France. On
25 June, 6 Edward IV, a pinnace,"'' Le Typhan
of Cherbourg, Pierre Blanc master, carried out
of Poole not only broadcloth, but forty quarters
of salt worth ^^4 45., on which a foreign mer-
chant paid IS. o\d. in customs duty and
4^. 2\d. as his share of the subsidy. So also a
' creyer,' the Mary of Poole, on 30 September,^*
7 Edward IV, included amongst her cargo, pro-
bably consigned either to the Channel Islands or
the French coast, twenty-one quarters of salt at
2J. the quarter, on which the English owners
only paid the subsidy at the rate of is. in the
^i. Salt was, however, even at this time also
imported into Dorset from abroad, and gradually
the local manufacture dwindled and disappeared
before the competition of the salters of Worces-
tershire and Cheshire.
At one time there were ship-yards in every
one of the Dorset ports. But Lloyd's latest
Yacht Register only mentions one firm at Wey-
mouth and three at Poole.
A brief account of the industry at Poole dur-
ing the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is
given in Hutchins* History of Dorset.
We have no ancient accounts of the number of
shipping in this port. In 1 649, 8 ships went hence
to Newfoundland and two to Barbadoes : but after
the Restoration this trade increased and flourished.
In 1736, one hundred and forty four sail belonged to
this town. In 1 74 1, forty nine ships of this place
had been taken since the commencement of the war
with Spain. In 1 743 thirty-one ships were taken
since the beginning of the war with France, on a
general computation worth, one with another,
j^3 7,200 . . . four ships exclusive of the thirty one
"^ Harl. MS. 61, fol. 65J.
"■ K.R. Cust. Accts. 6 Edw. IV, bdle. 1 19, No. 8.
» Ibid. 7 Edw. IV, bdle. 119, No. 9.
327
A HISTORY OF DORSET
were retaken. In 1750 one hundred and twenty six
ships belonged to this port including brigs, snows,
bilanders, sloops, whereof there were in the harbour
58, on the stocks 8, Abroad 60. In 1770, two hun-
dred and fifty ships belonged to the town."*
About 1 790 there belonged to this port two hun-
dred and thirty sail of shipping, with burden 21,301
tons, and employing about 1,500 men ; about one
hundred and forty ships were employed in the foreign
trade, and the remainder in coasting and fishing :
besides the number of men actually employed in
navigating ships, there were annually a very consider-
able number of men employed in the fishery on the
coast of Newfoundland."''
Later the building of Leith smacks and revenue
cutters gave employment for many hands."*^ Be-
fore 1 86 1 the building of yachts proper was
begun, and in 1903 one ship-yard had
a patent slip capable of hauling up vessels of 200
tons, and another added in 1892 capable of hauling
up vessels of over 400 tons.*"
When Lloyd's last Yacht Register was drawn
up there were thirty-five yachts afloat which had
been built at Poole, varying in burden from 3 to
lOi tons ; but the largest, the Sperenza, has been
broken up this summer.^*' Although the yachts
built are few in number, some of them are very
fast,^" but of course they do not in any way
compete in popular estimation with the world-
femous yachts built at Glasgow and Newcastle.
It is said that 4,000 women and children were
employed at Shaftesbury in 1793 in making all
kinds of shirt buttons,^' the rate of payment
being 5c/. per gross of twelve dozen, the worker
finding her own thread.-' Mr. Atchinson was
the chief employer of labour. In 1812 he had
1,200 women and children in his employ, for
the latter of whom he established schools in
different parts of the county. While learning
their craft, which usually occupied from three to
four weeks, the children received no pay, as they
'spoilt much thread.'"' At the expiration of
that time they were paid id. a day for two
months, then u. a week for two months more,
with an increase for a year, the best hands
earning from \os. to i2j. a week.^° The
farmers, we are told, objected to this in-
dustry, as it drew the women from the fields,
"* Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset (1774', i, 10.
""Ibid. (1874), i, 44, 45.
"■= Pigot, Z)/>. (1823), 261.
"■i Kelly, Dir. 1 903.
'^ The Tacht'tng Monthly, June, 1907.
"'Kelly, Dir. 1903.
" Claridge, Agric. of Dorset, 39. This industry
was ' taken to ' by Shaftesbury, according to a modern
writer, ' in despair,' and, according to the same
authority, the town 'fared somewhat indifferently' at
the new departure. Treves, Highways and Byu.\.ys in
Dorset, 7.
" Stevenson, Agric. of Dorset, 449.
"Ibid. "Ibid. 453.
where they could only earn <^d. a day, to the
button factories.'" The price of mould buttons,
when finished, was from %d. to 31. per dozen,
wire work being ix. bd. to 4^. a gross. Girls have
been known to make twelve dozen a day, though
the average was from six to seven dozen. The
first operation, that of casting, or covering the
wire, was performed by children of six or eight,
the filling being done by more expert hands.
The manufacture of fine wires for the button
trade was largely carried on in the town in
1830."
At Blandford in 1797 the women and children
were chiefly employed in making thread and
wire buttons for shirts, a few being similarly
employed at Durweston.'^
The manufacture of stockings has been largely
carried on at different places in the county. At
Wimborne in 1793, 1,000 women and children
were engaged in knitting worsted stockings, the
worsted costing from id. to 'Z\d. per oz., the
finished stocking selling at from 3^. itd. to \s.
per pair.'' Stalbridge stockings, ' the finest, best,
and highest prized in England,' were in high
repute in Defoe's time,'* the industry continuing
to flourish until the introduction of machinery
dealt the inevitable blow at this as well as at
other home industries. Poole was making silk
stockings in 1756.'* A few women were knit-
ting stockings at Corfe in 1802.'^
The industry seems to have been underpaid,
and the districts where it was carried on are
generally noted as being very poor. It was con-
nected with Wimborne from very early days,
and it would be interesting to discover if the
doles left by pious benefactors were in any way
responsible for the small remuneration gained for
the knitting of stockings by those whom the
hope of these doles had attracted to the shadow
of the Minster.
Cotton yarn was largely spun at Abbotsbury
in 1750 for the manufacture of stockings."
Dorset glovers seem to have escaped the notice
of historians, although members of the craft
must have been fairly numerous in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries, there being frequent
references in the Bridport Documents to glovers
who were fined for overcharging.'* No trace is
forthcoming, however, of the existence of any
gild or organization corresponding to those of
Perth and Worcester. Glovers, nevertheless,
are mentioned in Law Court Reports, and in lists
of inhabitants of the towns, although no topo-
grapher includes gloving among the local indus-
^° Ibid. 449. " Pigot, Dir. 1830, p. 291.
'■ Eden, $tate of the Poor, ii, 146, 150.
^ Claridge, Agric. of Dorset, 40.
" Defoe, Tour through Gt. Brit, i, 333.
'' Dodsley, Descrip. of Roads, 2 1 .
'' Brayley, Benuties of E"gl. and Wales, iv, 388.
'" Cooke, Topog. Dorset, 62.
•*' Wainwright, Bridport Doc. K. 31, 35, 62.
?28
INDUSTRIES
tries of the county. Some clue to the apparent
oversight may be gathered from the fact that the
more important glove-making centre of Yeovil
was within easy reach, and it is probable that,
even at a very early date, the Dorset glovers
were chiefly employes of those of Somerset,
rather than manufacturers on their own account.
According to the evidence of Mr. Willmott,
silk manufacturer, before a Select Committee on
the Silk Trade in 1 83 1, there was no gloving
carried on at Sherborne at that date except in
the form of a home industry, the gloves being
sent over from Yeovil and Milborne Port, and
sewn by the Sherborne women in their cottages. ''
Gloving was formerly carried on at Beaminster,^"
at Cerne Abbas," and Bere Regis.*^
At the present time the trade centres in Sher-
borne and includes Gillingham and Sturminster
Newton, though in earlier days glovers were
found all over the county.
There are 45 men and 631 women who
work at this trade, and of these the majority are
home workers.*^ The industry is carried on by
Dorset firms, who manufacture gloves from start
to finish in the county, and by London and
Worcester firms who have established glove-
sewing branches in Dorset.
There are three factories in Sherborne in
which the process of glove-making is carried
through all its stages ; the skins are prepared and
dressed, then the gloves are cut out, sewn,
stitched, buttoned, and finished. But glove-
sewing is practically a home industry, very little
of this being done in the factories. The kinds
of gloves made are ' Lamb, Kid and Goat.'
As a rule the workers congregate in North
Dorset, but occasionally in other parts women
are found making the heavy shapeless thumbed
gloves with which hedgers protect their hands
while working. The industry is especially im-
portant as a home industry in contradistinction
to the silk weaving, which is carried on in the
mills. On account of its smallness, and of the
clearness of the issue, Sherborne should yield a
distinct answer if an investigation were under-
taken as to the relative advantages of home and
factory work for women. Glove-sewing ranks
next to the hemp industry in providing work for
Dorset women, but it is not nearly so wide-
spread, nor so independent, as it would not be
hard at any moment for the manufacturers to
have their gloves sewn elsewhere.
The fame of Dorset pillow-lace has been some-
what eclipsed by that of Devon ; the industry
was, however, profitably carried on in three
towns at least in the county during the eighteenth
century. Blandford in Defoe's day was ' chiefly
" Pari. Rep. on Silk Trade, 1831, p. 284.
*" Green, Rural Indus, of Engl. 72.
" Pigot, Dir. 1830, p. 280.
** Green, Rural Indus, of Engl. 74.
" Population Returns, 56.
famous for making the finest bone-lace" in
England. They showed me,' he adds, ' some so
exquisitely fine as I think I never saw better in
Flanders, France, or Italy, and which they said
they rated at above ^^30 sterling a yard.' *^
In 1594 bone lace could be bought at is. ^d.
per yard ; in 1685, largely owing to the increased
fashionable demand, the price ranged from 2s. \d.
to 30J."
In 1750 Broad Street, Lyme Regis, was
' chiefly inhabited by lace-makers, who worked at
their doors in the summer.'*' In 1752 prizes
were awarded by the Anti-Gallican Society to
Lyme lace, the specimens submitted being ' ruflles
of needle point and bone lace.' ■** A narrow cap
piece was valued at four guineas, five guineas a
yard being considered a not exorbitant price.
A lace dress for Queen Charlotte was made at
Lyme, the lace-makers also taking in work from
Honiton and Colyton.*' The last of the lace-
makers was Catherine Power, who excelled in
the production of designs of interlaced initials
and other ornaments.*"
Up to 1780 much blonde lace, both white
and black, was made at Sherborne. '^
In 1875 a few makers were at work at Char-
mouth.'^
Hat-making had a brief existence as a Dorset
industry in 1791, when it was introduced as an
employment for the prisoners in the new gaol at
Dorchester, which was run, so the county boasted,
on humanitarian and economic lines. Materials
and instruments were procured, and a hatter im-
ported to teach his art ; but the latter speedily
decamped, and the justices of the peace, coming
to the conclusion that prison labour was not
profitable, directed the clerk to make inquiries
about treadmills.*'
The manufacture of bandstrings, which went
out of fashion about 1720, was largely carried on
prior to that date at Blandford.** Bandstrings
were laces or ribbons used for securing the bands
worn around the neck, and which sometimes
appeared like a hanging bow in front, or like a
stout silk cord with pendent tassels.**
The commercial activities of Sherborne were
transferred, as its cloth trade gradually passed
away, to the production of haberdashery wares,
with which the town supplied the west of
England markets.*'^
" Defoe, Tour, i, 330-I.
*" So called from the use of bone pins prior to the
adoption of those of metal.
" Rogers, Agric. and Prices in Engl, v, 55S.
" Roberts, Hist. Lyme Regis, 118.
" Palliser, Hist, of Lace, 354.
" Roberts, Hist. Lyme Regis, 380.
^" Ibid. " Palliser, Hist, of Lace, 354.
*^ Palliser, op. cit.
" Dorset Accounts (1791), iii, 75.
" Cox, Magna Britannia, i, 560.
" Dillon (Fairholt), Costume in Engl ii, 28.
^^ Rural Elegance Displayed (1768), 268.
29 42
A HISTORY OF DORSET
Cranborne had a short-lived ribbon-weaving
industry in the eighteenth century,*' whilst Brid-
port, in addition to its specialities of ropes and sail-
cloth, also made, and still makes, linen thread/*
Melbury Osmond was noted in the early part of the
last century for the manufacture of staymalcers'
tape, known as ' Melbury iron tape,' ^' besides its
* extensive trade in horn buttons and plated
buckles.' ^ SnufF was being manufactured at
North Chardstock in 1812.^' Straw-plaiting
was introduced into Swanage early in the nine-
teenth century.'^ ' Dorchester Cakes ' were a
delicacy which has not escaped the notice of
various travellers.
Stained glass was at one time made in Dorset.
Before the Reform.ition [s.iys Aubrey] I believe there
was no county or gre.it town in England but had
glasse painters. Old — Harding of Blandford in
Dorsetshire, where I went to schoole, was the only
country glasse painter that ever I knew. Upon play
dales I was wont to visit his shop and furnaces. He
dyed about 1643, aged about 83 or more.''^
A thriving trade was carried on at an early
date in Lyme Regis by letting the right to cut
and harvest the oare growing on the rock-ledges,
500 acres being left dry at low water. In the
reign of Edward VI Roger Garland, mayor, ' re-
ceived of the man that burns the oare, that was
due unto the town, 2js.'^ In 1569 an 'arrear-
age ' of oare, 205., appears in the town accounts.
The right of gathering was let in 1589 for three
years at 40;. a year, the renters being protected
by law. A fine of 40/. was inflicted in one
case in 1569.^* In 1580 an order was made by
the Court of Hustings that none were to burn
the oare within the parish and liberty without
licence from Mr. Mayor. ^^ Thomas Wood,
who was fined 2j., seems to have been the first
offender against this decree.*' Mr. John Roze
' for charges of the oare ashes ' received
£1 I2S. 8d. at this date.
In Elizabeth's reign near Canford on the Dor-
set coast, 'James, Lord Mountjoy, studious in
mineral matters, began to make calcantum, or
vitriol (we call it copperas), and to boil alum.' *'
Early in the eighteenth century this latter was
manufactured at Kimmeridge by Sir William
Clavell of Smedmore,*' but the works, after the
owner had expended ^^4,000 upon their con-
" Hutchins, Hist. Dorset, ii, 137.
»«Ibid. i, 233.
'' Stevenson, ^gric. of Dorset, 450.
™ Hutchins, Hist. Dorset, iv, 439.
*' Stevenson, Agric. of Dorset, 450.
" Ibid.
'^ Hutchins, op. cit. (1874), i, 216.
^ Roberts, Hist. Southern Counties, 388.
« Ibid.
'* Court of Hustings Book of Lyme.
" Roberts, Hist. Southern Counties, 389.
** Hutchins, Hist. Dorset, ii, no.
«* Ibid, i, 172.
struction, besides building a pier 100 ft. long,
60 ft. broad, and 50 ft. high, for the export of
the alum,'" were 'seized to the king's use,'"' all
the alum houses and mines in Dorset having been
granted to Paul Pindar for twelve years.'^ After
his disastrous 'setting up ' of the forfeited alum
industry, Sir William attempted to establish salt
works and a glasshouse. The glasshouse at Kim-
meridge had 'come to perfection' in 1732, when
it seemed ' likely to redound to a good benefit ' ; "
but sixteen years later ruined buildings and heaps
of ashes were all that remained of the works.'*
' Bluish stones,' yielding ' such an offensive
savour and extraordinary blackness that the
people labouring about those fires were more
like furies than men,' '* were used as fuel in the
glasshouse. This was of course the Kimmeridge
coal, 'a highly bituminous layer of shaly stone
about 2 ft. 10 in. thick with its partings, and of
a dark brown colour,' whence its local name of
blackstone. It breaks with a conchoidal fracture
and readily ignites.''' This shale has been in
use from time immemorial, ornaments and vessels
made from it figuring amongst Roman remains at
Weymouth and at Silchester ; whilst it was ex-
tensively used as fuel in the neighbourhood of
Kimmeridge, ' for which purpose however its
abominable odour renders it unsuitable.' When
the price of coals was high the shale was worked
at bs. a ton." It is still occasionally employed.
The whole of the mineral property at Kim-
meridge is now leased to the Kimmeridge Oil
and Carbon Company, who carry on the manu-
facture of paraffin. The Blackstone seam yields
120 gallons to the ton, or 66 gallons when
largely distilled, the common shale only yielding
33 gallons.'* The company use the coal for
fuel, and for improving the illuminating power
of coal-dust, as well as for the extraction of the
oil. The residual coke and carbon which are
left after the distillation of the oil can be used
as a deodorizer, a disinfectant, &c., and as a
manure ; whilst an insecticide has also been
made from the oil."
A ' Bituminous Manure Company ' was es-
tablished at Wareham in 1848 for the produc-
tion of manures, jet varnish, paints, mineral
spirits, naphtha, machine oil, and asphalt. Twenty
thousand shares were issued at ;^5 each.*"
To the lively Diary of Celia Fiennes in the
reign of William and Mary we are indebted for
''" Coker, Surv. of Dorset, 47.
" Ibid.
" Hutchins, Hist. Dorset, i, 172.
" Coker, Surv. of Dorset, 47.
Hutchins, Hist. Dorset, i, 172.
Coker, Surv. of Dorset, 47.
Mem. Geol. Surv. 1906, p. 14.
Warne, Ancient Dors. 2 78.
" Mem. Geol. Surv. 1898, p. 54.
"' Ibid.
"" Warne, Ancient Dorset, 278.
330
INDUSTRIES
an eye-witness's account of the making of cop-
peras at that date on Brownsea Island —
The stones being found about the isle in the shore
in great quantities. There is only one house [she
writes] which is the Governor's, besides little fisher-
men's houses ; they being all taken up about the
copperas works ; they gather the stones and place
them on ground raised like the beds in gardens,
rows one above the other and are all shelving, so that
the rain dissolves the stones, and it drains down into
trenches and pipes made to receive and convey it to
the house which is fitted with pans four square and of
a pretty depth at least 1 2 yards over. They place
iron spikes in the pans full of branches, and so as the
liquor boils to a candy it hangs on these branches, I
saw some taken up. It looked like a vast branch of
grapes. The colour of the copperas not being much
differing it looks clear like sugar candy, so when the
water is boiled to a candy, they take it out, and re-
plenish the pans with more liquor. I do not remem-
ber they added anything to it, only the stones of
copperas dissolved by rain into liquor as I mentioned
at first. There are great furnaces under it keeping
all the pans boiling. It was a large room or building
with several of these large pans. They do add old
iron and nails to the copperas stones.*'
Sir R. Clayton had copperas works at Stud-
land, which were, however, in ruins in 1700.
The stones in this case were brought from the
Isle of Wight.82
Hutchins records an attempt made in 1 571 by
Sir Thomas Smith to transmute iron into copper
on land which he leased from Lady Mountjoy
near Poole at a rental of ^^300 per annum,
hoping to find the means of making vitriol there ;
but the attempt, we are told, came to nothina;.^'
The iron foundry which existed at Bridport in
1 812 was not supplied with native ore, though
a vein of ironstone is found near Abbotsbury.
QUARRYING
The best and most widely used stone quarried
in Dorset has been obtained from the Purbeck
and Portland formations.'^ Purbeck marble earliest
won an extended repute ; at the present day the
Isle of Portland furnishes the largest quantities of
excellent building stone.
In barrows of a very ancient date slabs of the
local limestone were used for lining or covering
the sepulchral chamber, while the excavations at
Silchester^ and Verulamium ' have shown that
marble from the Upper Purbeck strata'^ wasduring
the period of Roman occupation employed for
decorative work. The Saxons had little need for
opening up fresh quarries, but for a few churches
they used the Purbeck limestone, which was also
early in request for fonts * and sepulchral slabs.
From the Roman period till the twelfth century
little if any demand existed for Purbeck marble ;
but with the passing of the massive Norman
fashion of building the marbler came into his
kingdom. Indeed, it has been well said ' that
nearly every English church of any size that was built
from 1 1 70 to 1350 imported for its structure these
polished dressings which . . . were not only moulded
and chiselled with delicate foliage, but were carved too
into fine head corbels or into relief panels of figure
subjects.
*' Fiennes, Through Engl, on a S'tde-saddle, 5-6.
" Hutchins, Hist. Dorset, i, 219.
^ Ibid, ii, no.
' A. Strahan, Geology of Isle of Purbeck and Weymouth,
236.
' Arch, liii, pt. I, 266.
^ Teste the late Mr. Micklethwaite.
•* The Purbeck marble is not crystalline, but really
a dark Paludina limestone, or shell conglomerate.
* The font of Studland is rudely axed out of Pur-
beck ' burr ' ; Trans. Dors. Nat. Hist, and jintiq. Field
Club, xii, 176.
Already in the twelfth century Purbeck marble
was being exported as far as Dublin for archi-
tectural use, whilst such effigies as that in the
south porch of Abbotsbury church, or those of
Bishop Iscanus at Exeter and Bishop Jocelyn at
Salisbury, furnish flat reliefs soon to develop into
the fully modelled figures of the knights at the
Temple Church, the Peterborough abbots, or that
unique royal effigy in Purbeck marble on the
tomb of King John at Worcester. But it is no
part of our task to trace the aesthetic develop-
ment of sculpture in marble ; ^ a few notes only
are offered in illustration of the quarrying industry
of Corfe and its neighbourhood.
By the thirteenth century ' Corfe had become
* Archit. Rev. xii, 5.
* The reader is referred to the valuable series of
articles by Messrs. Prior and Gardner on ' Mediaeval
Figure Sculpture in England ' which appeared in the
Archit. Rev. d.Vinxig 1902 and the following years.
' Several early records of conveyance of marble and
stone from Purbeck exist. Probably the marble
mentioned as sent to Clarendon in Pipe R. 23 Hen. II,
m. 10, was from Purbeck. Cf, as to marble sent to
Chichester, Close, 6 John, m. 2 ; 8 John, m. 4.
It was also liberally used in Sussex at Boxgrove. Later
we hear of ' lapides Regis qui sunt apud Suthampton
et venerunt de Purbec ad operationem castri nostri
Wintonie ' (Lib. R. 21 Hen. III). As regards export
beyond the bounds of England, Purbeck seems to have
been used in Dublin almost as early as the last ten or
fifteen years of the reign of Hen. II. Geoffrey of
Coldingham, in describing the work of Bishop Hugh
Pudsey at Durham, and the marble used in the
Galilee, uses the words ' A transmarinis partibus
deferebantur columpnae et bases marmoreae ' \Hist.
Dun. Script. Tres. (Surtees Soc. ix), ii], and Symeon
of Durham also refers to the marble as ' addito de
longinquo ' {Opera (Rolls Ser.), i, 168], but mentions
neither Purbeck nor Corfe.
331
A HISTORY OF DORSET
famous all over England as the head quarters of that to one of these quarries may be referred an
the marble industry, but the particulars recover- entry on the roll of Pleas of the Crown for the
able as to the quarries themselves, their manner year 52 Henry III,'° that Walter le Vel and
of working, or their possessors, are scant Hugh le Mochele were crushed {oppress!) in the
and disappointing. A few incidental facts can quarry of Peter de Clavile, where they were
be gleaned from the remaining records of the Isle digging stone with a certain pick" {besca) valued
of Purbeck or the fuller series of fabric rolls of at 6cl. The verdict was ' misadventure.'
great royal works, while a comparison of the six- The Purbeck marble and stone conveyed to
teenth-century marblers' code with the customs of Westminster for the abbey and the king's palace
Portland may suggest some general conclusions. seem as a rule to have been bought '* from mer-
A claim, we believe, has occasionally been chants or such quarry-owners as Peter and
asserted by the quarriers of Purbeck to enter William de Clavile. It is well known, how-
any uncultivated land in search of stone on the ever, that quarries both for chalk and stone
authority of a traditional but non-existent charter, were occasionally opened up in manors belong-
but such a right has never been legally estab- ing to the crown or leased during the progress
lished, as in the old mining fields of the Forest of of royal works, and in one of the earliest
Dean, or Derbyshire. It is more probable that detailed accounts now extant of the works at
the regular practice was to obtain the licence of St. Peter's, Westminster, we hear of stone from
the owner, or in the case of royal demesne of the ' the king's quarry,' " but its position is not stated.'*
constable of Corfe Castle, though encroachment In the greater number of cases, however, when
may have occasionally been winked at or con- Corfe marble or stone is mentioned, some note of
doned on account of the lucrative dues paid for purchase is added, and royal officers were
the right of carr)'ing the stone. Indeed, it may stationed in the Isle of Purbeck to super-
be suspected that most of the quarries, even in intend the buying and to ensure that the
the thirteenth century, were private enterprises king was fairly dealt with. For instance, about
undertaken either on behalf of the lord of a 1257,'' ;f35 ^^ P^''^ ^° Nicholas Red and
manor or else by quarriers working in partnership his fellows, ' viewers of the purchases of the king's
and holding a lease or licence from the crown, marble at Purbeck for the king's works at West-
Some of the more valuable of the ancient quarries minster.' A few of the letters sent by the king's
lay in the parish of Worth Matravers near Quarr, representatives at Purbeck with consignments are
which indeed took its name from them.* These still extant. They are brief and businesslike,
disused workings extend in a westerly direction
through Haycroft and Downshay.' It is possible also been exposed. The marble of this quarry varied in
colour, green, bluish-grey, and occasionally red from the
" The marble strata and the beds beneath them are presence ofiron. It generally weathered brown outside,
also clearly seen at Peveril Point, where, as Mr. A. '"Assize R. 202, m. 23, under hundred of Row-
Strahan notes, ' the coast crosses the strike of a number barrow,
of small folds at right angles.' 11 < Besca ' is generally translated ' spade,' but here
' At Woodyhide between Afflmgton and Downshay ^ pij.^ ^^ < (.g^.gi . ^^^^^ j^ ^^ intended.
considerable quantities of Purbeck marble were dug u < j^ marmore empto apud Corfe ad operationes
even in the last century. Mr. Woodward, in his ecclesiae Westmonasterii'; Pipe R. 41 Hen. Ill, m. 8.
Jurassic Rods 0/ Britain, gives the following section of cf also Pipe R. 42 Hen. Ill, m. 12. As to stone
a marble pit open in 1884, and situated 150 yds. north < i„ g nnviUs libere petre et dure de Chorfemptis ad
of Coome Farm and half-a-mile east of Langton :— i^j^jj,^ pro petra et frecto et discirgatione ^+8 1 is. 6J.' ;
ft. in. Accts. Exch. K.R. bdle. 467, No. 7 (4), 67 Edw. I ;
rr >, Ljf_ui f° ^~3 cf. Westm. Misc. Press 6, B. 3, P. 2 2, TT.
Two broken-up bands of marble • "l « , . 1, , t7 l i^ n u ji 'J xt
'^ [o +-3 " Accts. Exch. K.R. bdle. 467, No. I.
Flaggy marble much weathered: » It is possible that this quarry was at Purbeck, but it
Paludina on joints .^...08 is equally likely that it lay somewhere on the slopes
Shales with ' race ' and thin flaggy of the North Downs, whence enormous quantities of
limestone 40 stone were procured for the royal works at West-
Paludina marble, much broken by min;ter and elsewhere. Towards the end of the four-
joints, and occurring in inter- teenth century we hear of a quarry taken on lease at
rupted masses 03 Chaldon in Surrey. Stone from Chaldon was also
Clays and calcareous shales with being used .i century before ; cf. Mr. M. S. Giuseppi,
'race' ; 6 F.S.A., ' S;ons Quarries,' in r.C.//. 5Brr^V, ii, 278^ ;
Brown limestone, blue-hearted ..04 Scott, Gkaningsfrom IVestmimter Abbef (2nd ed.1, App.
Paludina marble 06 258 ; Accts. Exch. K.R. bdle. 467, No. 7 (4). It
Shaly parting 01 may be remembered also that there is a Chaldon in
Paludina marble, irregular bed . . o 3 Dorset, and Mr. A. Strahan states that 'A small ex-
Calcareous shales with ' race ' and posure of Upper and Middle Purbeck strata marks the
thin limestone bands ....16 axis of the Chaldon anticline, and some old limestone
Paludina marble 07 quarries in them are said to have been opened for
Paludina marble 14 stone for Burton Church.' Op. cit. 1 06.
Beneath this last bed, another of Paludina marble had " Pipe R. 42 Hen. Ill, m. 1 2.
INDUSTRIES
Robert de Bremele writes '* to Master John of
Oxford :—
I am sending you one shipload of marble by
William Justise, whom you may pay for freight 5 J
marks and 10 shillings, and if God prospers us I
will send you a shiplo.id before Whitsunday, and a
third if I can find a ship to carry the said stone.
You may expect me {sciatis adventum meuni) in
Whit- week and not before because the season
is now at hand in which, if I am absent, your
business cannot be carried out well {non bene possint
expedir'i).
On another occasion it is possible that some
remonstrance had been addressed to Purbeck re-
garding slackness at the quarries, for Richard le
Wy te of the quarry at Purbeck writes ^' to Robert
de Beverley that the bearer, Peter de Sarcesye, had
expedited the king's work at the quarry as much
as he could, and had purchased and brought two
shiploads of stone. The most valuable supplies
from Corfe consisted no doubt of the well-known
marble, but we also hear of a freestone. This
may have been the stone in modern times called
Purbeck-Portland. But the matter is uncertain,
as the Corfe merchants supplied apparently more
than one variety of stone. In a Westminster
fabric account for the years 6 & 7 Edward I we
read : — "
To Edward of Corf on the same day (Morrow of
Palm Sunday) for 1300^ stones from the island {petie
de huuld), for the stone and freight ^^5 y. \d. To the
same for 16 yards {yirgis) and 2 feet of hard Corf
stone {dure petre de Corf) 22s. . . . To Robert of
Corf" on the day aforesaid for 55 yards of Corf stone,
for the stone and freight £^ 1 7/. 6d. For discharging
it 2s. 6d.
The term ' stone from the island ' is undesir-
ably ambiguous, as the phrase may refer to
stone from the well-known quarries ^'^ of the
Isle of Wight, and even the Isle of Portland
is possibly not excluded. Yet as the merchant
is a Corfe man the expression may embody
an early use of the term ' island ' as applied
'" Accts. Exch. K.R. bdle. 467, No. i.
" Westm. Misc. Press. 6, B. 3, P. 22, ir. The
quarry here referred to seems to have been on the
land of the Claviles.
" Accts. Exch. K.R. bdle. 467, No. 7 (6). Sir J. C.
Robinson kindly suggests that the ' hard stone ' here
mentioned m.iy be the local ' burr,' an extremely
durable building stone used to a very great extent at
Corfe Castle, as well as in the tower of the fifteenth-
century church at Swanage.
" Probably the Robert le Blund who supplied
marble for the Eleanor crosses.
"" The stone from these was used to a very large
extent, both at Winchester and at Christchurch
Twyneham. When Winchester Castle was being
repaired early in the third decade of the thir-
teenth centuiy, much of the stone employed was
' petra de Insula' (see Accts. Exch. K. R. bdle. 491,
No. 13).
to Purbeck. The determination of the point
must, however, be left to the judicious
reader.
Not only was stone and marble bought at
Corfe for the king's works at Westminster, but
even for new building or the repair of already
existing structures at Corfe Castle stone was
sometimes ^ but not invariably purchased in
the neighbourhood. Yet on one occasion at least
an attempt made by the constable of Corfe Castle
to obtain stone cheaply at the expense of his
neighbours provided work for the lawyers. The
officer in question, Elias de Rabayne, during his
tenure of office was indeed peculiarly unfortun-
ate in quarrelling with the Purbeck landowners.
One of them, William de Clavile, complained -^
that on the Tuesday after All Hallows, 5 Ed-
ward I (1277), the constable had caused five of his
oaks to be cut down and carried to Corfe
Castle, and furthermore in the Easter week
following had ordered one John Doget to open
up a quarry within the close (c/ausuram) of the
aforesaid William at Holne, from which stone
had been raised against the landowner's will.
Clavile complained to the king, and an injunction
was served on the constable ordering him to
cease his infringement of Clavile's rights and to
offer compensation for the wrong, but this the
aggressor ignored.
The constable in answer declared that his
predecessors who had held the castle and warren
of Corfe had been wont both to cut down trees
and make quarries and thence carry stones for
the repair of the castle of Corfe when necessity
required. He had simply followed precedent
in the matter, and furthermore he had taken
a part of the stone ^' in order that he might
send it to the Tower of London in obedience
to the king's writ. He demands that inquisi-
tion should be made thereupon. Richard de
Colleshulle the sheriff, however, deposed that
the constable had no right to take the stone
and timber or meddle in the work of repair-
ing the castle, since viewers were appointed to
see to the business, to whom he as sheriff made
the necessary payments for the expense of
materials.
•» See Accts. Exch. K.R. bdle. 460, No. 27 ; bdle.
461, No. 5.
" Assize R. 205.
" The only stone found at Holne is apparently a
reddish grit or sandstone, and this appears at Corfe to a
small extent only in the Butevant Tower and adjacent
walls. Elias does not apparently say that he had
actually sent any to the Tower, and it is doubtful
whether his statement was literally true even as it
stands. He might have possibly at some time received
a royal order to procure and send 'freestone' to the
Tower, but it is hardly likely that the rough stone
of Holne would be brought the long journey from
Purbeck when Kentish rag and Reigate stone were
so easily obtainable. See also the sherifTs statement
above.
333
A HISTORY OF DORSET
The jury found that wood and other neces-
saries could be taken in the warren,^' but pointed
out that although the constable had used one oak
for repairing a bridge, the rest taken had been made
into charcoal for his private profit. They also
evidently regarded the quarry as an unwarrant-
able encroachment, and fixed the damages in
respect of the timber and stone removed at one
mark. It is significant that when building
operations and repairs were in progress at the
castle of Corfe a few years later than the date of
this trial large quantities of stone were pur-
chased "* from Sir Peter [Doget] (probably the
chaplain at the castle chapel), Lawrence Cok,
John Lenard, and Thomas Cusyn. Indeed, it
may be reasonably suspected that the best
quarries of marble and possibly of freestone
at Purbeck were during the thirteenth and
fourteenth century in private hands. Occasion-
ally, however, the officers in charge of the work
of repair at Corfe Castle seem to have directly
employed quarriers to raise stone in the vicinity
of the castle. For example^' in 1377-8 wages
were paid to Ralph Ridell, John Waytenan,
Benet VVaytis, William Fynche, Benet Kydell,
Michael Domersham, William Pyell, Thomas
Hugon the less, Ralph Rossekyn, Philip Coule,
and Richard Combe, eleven masons (Jatomorum)
called ' Roughmasons and Quarreours,' working
at digging stones at the quarry at Purbeck and
shaping [scapulanchim) and preparing the same
stones there. They were paid at the rate of
dd. a day, and were assisted by four * garciones '
or mates. Several of these rough masons also
worked on the castle with John Combe, Master
William Wynford, John Harpetre, and Philip
Colyn, who were apparently masons in the higher
sense and did no rough quarry work.
Not only was marble and stone raised and
exported in block from Purbeck, but a local
school of sculptors produced to order polished
marble dressings and effigies which they sent to
all parts of England. It seems likely from
inspection ^^ that the marble capitals and bases
sent to Chichester^' in the early years of the
thirteenth century were worked at Purbeck,
while the mouldings ^* of the Purbeck work at
*' In another similar case, Elias de Rabayne v.
abbess of Shaftesbury, the jury laid down that
' omnia necessaria ad opera ipsius castri perficienda et
etiam focalia cum moderamine ' could be taken ' in
boscis predictis non dausis vicinibus castro predicto,'
but that Elias had taken wood in other manner than
his predecessors. It would appear from this and other
cases that the right claimed by the crown to take
timber and stone for the repair of Corfe Castle was
limited to the uninclosed portions of the Warren of
Purbeck.
^* Accts. Exch. K.R. bdle. 470, No. 27.
" Ibid. 4.61, No. 9. ** Jrchit. Rev. xv, 175.
" Close, 6 John, m. 2 ; 8 John, m. 4.
'' Mr. W. R. Lethaby, ' How E.xeter Cathedral
was Built,' in Archit. Rev. xiii, 175, 176.
Winchester Presbytery, Wells Chapter-house,
and Exeter are very similar.
Orders were sent to the Corfe sculptors for
effigies, and we hear ■' just after the middle of
the thirteenth century that lOOj. is to be paid
for a certain image of a queen to be cut in
marble stone and then carried to Tarrant Keyns-
ton {Tarente Momalinm\ there to be placed on the
tomb of the Queen of Scots. Again, early in
the reign of Edward I the sheriff accounted '*
for the expense of a marble altar '^ made in
Purbeck and delivered as a royal gift to the
Carmelite friars in London. Occasionally, how-
ever, for especially important work a famous
sculptor '" was by royal command summoned to
a distance and took with him the tools and raw
materials of his craft. This documentary evi-
dence is confirmed by the deep layers of marble
debris containing fragments of mouldings and
foliations, the chips from the workshops, which
have come to light in the course of excavations
within the town of Corfe.^'
Owing to the long series of royal works
undertaken in Westminster and London during
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and the
natural advantages of the capital as a distributing
centre, a number of Purbeck marblers ^^ settled
far away from their Dorset homes and in
some cases probably never returned. It may be
that whenever the services of Purbeck men
-' Pipe R. 38 Hen. Ill, m. 9.
" Hutchins, op. clt. i, 466.
■" Purbeck marble was a favourite material for altar
slabs. Some examples still remain as in the Lady
Chapel at Christchurch, Hants, in Corton Chapel,
and elsewhere. On Monday, 11 March, 1353 (?),
24/. was paid to Thomas Elyot, a merchant, 'for a
certain marble stone bought for an altar in eadcm
ret'eUiana.^ Accts. Exch. K.R. bdle. 471, No. 6,
which relate to works at Westminster and the Tower.
"" ' Et Magistro Simoni de Well ad expensas suas
in eundo versus Westmon.asterium ad mandatum
Regis ad faciendum ibidem quendam tumulum ultra
corpus Katerine filie Regis 2 marcas per breve Regis.
Et in cariagio utensilium suorum ad operacionem
dicti tumuli 4/. %d: Pipe R. 41 Hen. Ill, m. 8.
^^ Hutchins, op. cit. (last edition), vi, 466 n^.
" One of these may be mentioned in illustration —
Adam de Corfe. Early in the fourteenth century we
find him settled in London as a stone and marble mer-
chant, and about 1307 supplying for 50/. a slab of
marble to place on the high table of the king in the
Great Hall of Westminster (Add. MSB. 30263, fol.
11^). A few years later he is apparently contracting
for the new pavement at St. Paul's, and about 1315
also supplies stone for an archa goterarum beneath the
' cameram Marculphi super Thamisiam in funda-
mento,' since the fun da men turn of the former arch
was weak and worn out by the tide of the Thames
(Jutta Thamhiae) (Add. MSS. 17361, fol. 14).
From the records of the City quoted by Mr. Lethaby
we learn that Adam de Corfe lived in Farringdon
Ward, and on his death in 1 331 left a tenement in
East Street, Corfe {IVestminster and the Kin^s Craftsmen^
186).
334
INDUSTRIES
were required for a considerable time, as at
Exeter, a tendency existed as at Westminster
towards the formation of a school of craftsmen
trained in the tradition of the marble workers
of Corfe.
By the limited scope of this paper we are
absolved from trying to account in detail for the
artistic skill of the Purbeck craftsmen. Oppor-
tunity in the main calls forth latent faculty, and
at Corfe, maybe, an indigenous Celtic strain,
possibly reinforced later by Breton immigration,^^
tempered Saxon heaviness. Again, the later
settlement of foreign artisans'' may have fur-
nished a certain stimulus; but this, even reckoned
at its highest value, did little more than whet the
already keen edge of native craftsmanship.
It is impossible to catalogue here the names
of known masons, marblers, and merchants who
hailed from Corfe and its neighbourhood during
the Middle Ages. But one family was so pro-
minently connected with the marble industry of
Purbeck for nearly a century and a half that it
may be cited as in some measure typical, though
the precise relationship between the different
members of it is often a matter of doubt or
even quite unknown. The first William Canon
whose connexion with the Purbeck marble in-
dustry is certainly known was already apparently
an owner of property there before 1288, and is
found associated with John le Mayr of Corfe
and others in certain litigation,'' and on the
death of Queen Eleanor supplied marble for
some of the crosses erected in her memory,
especially that of Charing.'^ In 1 291 (Thurs-
day before Quindene of Easter, 19 Edward I) he
was sitting with other fellow burgesses on a jury
to determine the extent of the castle and chase
of Corfe.'' About this time he was also con-
tracting for the marble required in the recon-
struction of the cathedral church of Exeter, and
it is most likely that he was the William Canon
who paid for marble supplied there in 1310.*"
The William Canon, however, who was men-
'■" Cf. Eng/. Hist. Rn: Oct. 1907.
'* Cf. the case of Durand ' the carpenter,' of Domes-
day, from whom probably descended Gerard ' the
carpenter ' of the thirteenth century and the De Moul-
hams. John, as we know, introduced foreign artisans
into Corfe. Cf. Pipe R. 17 John, m. id. and Close,
16 John, m. I 5.
" Assize R. 210, m. i 3 </.
^* Accts. Exch. K.R. bdle. 363, No. i. John and
Robert de Corfe and the brother of the second of
these, William le Blund, are also mentioned in this
connexion. Robert de Corfe supplied worked marble
for the crosses at Waltham, Northampton, and Lin-
coln, and with Robert Pavy, ' asshelers,' for the cross
of Charing.
" Hutchins, op. cit. i, 496.
'» P. Yrtcmm, Archil. Hist, of Exeter Cathedral, 28.
William Canon also wrought the marble of the choir
screen, though an imager was later brought down
from London pro imaginibus talliandis.
tioned in the Vicesima Roll of 1327 (i Ed-
ward III) was possibly his son, who had
succeeded to his father's business and was carry-
ing on the great work at Exeter. If this is the
case William Canon the second, even in 1327,
was one of the more substantial men of Corfe,
a deputy collector (suhtaxator), and paying 2J.
towards the subsidy, the amount contributed
also by John Vicary, and these ratings were
only exceeded by the 2s. bd. levied on William
de Moulham ^^ and the 31. levied on William
Steynor. By 1334 the great contract for the
supply of marble to Exeter carried out by William
Canon (junior) in succession to his father was
practically completed,^^ and in the subsidy-roll "
of 1334 (7 Edward III) William Canon is found
paying the highest rate of all in the town of
Corfe, \s. o\d. John Canon also, perhaps a
brother or cousin, who had figured in the sub-
sidy of Edward's first year assessed at bd.., now
paid \7.d. And the same amount was also paid
by a certain Adam Canon at Welle in Bindon
Liberty. About twenty-three years after, Wil-
liam Canon,*^ if he may be identified with the
second William Canon of Exeter, now full of
years and honours, was mayor of Corfe, and
commissioned with a certain clerk, John de
Kingston, to survey all defects in the king's
castle there. He may have died about this
time, as his colleague alone appears to have
acted in handing over the work to William of
Derneford, the next mayor.^' In the last decade
of the fourteenth century a third William
Canon ^' is found carving angels at Westminster
at 20J. apiece, but whether or no he was the
son of the great contractor does not appear.
Other members of the family are occasionally
heard of, as Master Edmund Canon,^' master
stone-cutter, who was paid ^^27 6j. for working
from 5 June, 1357 (31 Edward III), until 4 June
of the following year, on the stalls of St. Stephen's
chapel at the daily wage of u. bd. ; Richard
Canon,*' who sells marble; and as late as 1422
John Canon,*' evidently a master mason, who is
ordered with the assistance of William Wilflete,
clerk, to select and take stone-cutters and other
artisans for royal works at Hertford Castle and
elsewhere.
All through the fourteenth century the export
of marble from the Purbeck quarries continued
*' Lay Subs. R. bdle. 103, No. 35.
" Exeter Fabric RR. cited by Oliver, Lives of
Bishops of Exeter, 383.
" Lay Subs. R. bdle. 103, No. 5. This assessment
was for a fifteenth and a tenth.
" Accts. Exch. K.R. bdle. 460, No. 30.
" Various mayors of Corfe were on several occa-
sions chosen as viewers when repairs at the castle were
required. No doubt they were or had been in most
cases engaged in the quarrying industry.
" B.M. Add. R. 27018.
" Smith, Antiq. ofWestm. 200. " Ibid. 203.
" Pat. 2 Hen. VI, pt. 3, m. 25 d.
335
A HISTORY OF DORSET
actively, though the close of the interior rebuilding
of the cathedral church of Exeter probably syn-
chronized with the beginning of inevitable de-
cline. Yet the abbey of Westminster was a
good customer of the Corfe merchants right
into the fifteenth century, and we hear of the
sacrist *" journeying to Purbeck and his expenses
amounting to fi, 55. z\d.
After 1 400 the demand " for Purbeck marble
both for structural and monumental use very
much lessened, and alabaster grew in favour as
the fittest material for sculptured effigies. The
best quality seems to have been procured in the
neighbourhood of Chellaston in Derbyshire,
whence it was exported all over England and
even to the continent. But gypsum is by no
means confined to the midland counties. Even
in Dorset it occurs in the Lower Purbeck strata
of Durlston Bay, and though not worked commer-
cially at present has undoubtedly been quarried
in times past and even comparatively recently for
makingplaster of Paris. Certain entries found
in the Customs Accounts of Poole *- in the latter
half of the fifteenth century may suggest that the
Corfe marblers, feeling that their trade was slip-
ping from them, turned their attention at least
for a time to working in alabaster.*"^ However
this may be the entries are of sufficient interest
to be noted as a slight contribution to the history
of alabaster in England. The pinnace he
Gahriell, of Poole, of which Robert Gosselyn
was master, left the port carrying two ' tabylys
de alabastre ' value j^3. These were apparently
the property of William Filat. Another pin-
nace," the Nicholas of JVareham^ left under the
*' Scott, Gleanings from Westm. Abbey (2nd ed.),
App. 259.
"' However, it w.-is still in request for high-class
sepulchral work. See the contract made by John
Bourde of Corfe Castle, marbler, 15 May, 35 Hen.
V^I, to make a tomb of marble for Richard Beau-
champ, earl of Warwick, in the Lady Chapel on the
south side of St. Mary's Church at VVarwick. Slabs
ot good and well-coloured marble, 2 in. thick and of
convenient breadth, were also to be provided for
paving the chapel. Hutchins, op. cit. i, \i>\b.
" P.R.O. Cust. Accts. K.R. bdle. 119, No. 16
(18-19 Edw. IV).
"'^ Although the entries may suggest that one or
more pockets of gypsum of sufficient strength and
beauty for ornamental work had been discovered locally
and used up, yet on the other hand the alabaster
referred to may have been obtained from Chellaston
or Nottingham. Sir J. C. Robinson is of opinion that
the entries relate to Nottingham work brought to
Poole for export to France, Spain, and Portugal,
especially the two latter countries, with which Poole
had much trade.
" About two months before this we meet with an
entry of a vessel entering the port wnh. alabaster. As
it stands alone it is just possible that the clerk who
made the fair copy wrote intravit in error for exivit
(see, however, the preceding note). It reads ' Batalla
vocata le Nic[hoIa5] de Wareham unde Arnulphus
mastership of Thomas Togyll on 14 August,
and the Customs Accounts mention consign-
ments for which Richard Harres was responsible,
'vj tabylys de alabaster' worth £6, and a case
{pypa) of images worth 26j. ^d. Nearly a month
later (9 September) there left a skiff {scapha)
called the Mary of Poole, of which John Duet
was master, carrying 'j tabyll of alabastre'
value 20s. Four days later a ' batalla ' called
the Margaret of ' Kyhavy,' master John Wade,
took out another table of alabaster worth 20s.
Some three years after this a mutilated entry ^
shows us an outgoing Poole vessel whose master
was William Mellett carrying twenty tables of
alabaster worth £26 13J. ^d.
Marble, however, was still an article of export,
for the Leonard of Poole, under the mastership of
William Newborough, left the port late in the
reign of Edward IV,^' with 5 casks [doliis) of
marble on board valued at ^3 ioj., so that
John Russe, a denizen, paid thereon in subsidy
3;. bd. The Purbeck stone exported seems at
this time to have been largely for roofing pur-
poses. Early in the reign '* of Edward IV a
foreign ship with a Dutch or Flemish master
took out 30,000 stones called ' sclatte stones,'
valued at ^^4. On this he paid is. to the Cus-
toms as well as a subsidy of 45. Another foreign
ship about 20 years later *' took on board 30,000
' helyng stones' worth 45;. Caen stone was
still occasionally imported in some quantity,'* and
now and again a Norman marbler settled at
Corfe and took out letters '' of denization.
In the reign of Henry VIII Purbeck stone *" was
being used at Portchester, probably in this instance
for roofing purposes, but little is heard during the
sixteenth century of Purbeck marble, while in
the two following centuries Portland stone of the
best beds took precedence of Purbeck, though
both have often been used in conjunction. For
paving, however, a bluish stone from Purbeck
has always been in demand.
The Purbeck quarriers and stone merchants
have long formed a close society known as the
' Company of Marblers or Stone Cutters of the
Isle of Purbeck,' but of its exact origin and
Marchall est m[agister] intravit 22 die Junii . . .
De Rogero Lane indigena pro vj pety tablys de
alabastre et una imagine de Virgine Maria val ^^3.'
Amongst the miscellaneous cargo of an entering
French ship in 1505 were two candlesticks, a holy
ivater stoup and 'j Saynt Johnis hedde,' doubtless of
alabaster. Cust. Accts. K.R. bdle. 120, No. 10
(19 & 20 Hen. VII).
"Cust. Accts. K.R. bdle. 119, No. 18 (2z
Edw. IV).
" Ibid. bdle. 1 19, No. 20.
'■* Ibid. bdle. 119, No. 8 (6 Edw. IV).
'■ Ibid. bdle. 120, No. 3 (3 & 4 Hen. VII).
" Ibid. bdle. 119, No. 12, &c.
*' Pat. 6 Edw. IV, pt. 2, m. 20.
'» L. and P. Hen. nil, x, 780. Purbeck stone is
still largely exported from Swanage to Portsmouth.
336
INDUSTRIES
history little is known, as no early records are
forthcoming.^^ Copies of their rules, however,
go back to the sixteenth century, and some of
these are probably of great antiquity, as for
instance the regulation —
That no man of the Company shall set into his
fellow-tradcsmen's quarr to worke there without his
consent within 12 moneths and a day, nor to come
into any part of that ground within a hundred foote
of his fellow-tradesmen's quarr upon the forfeiture of
5 poundes to be paid unto the owner of the quarr
unto whom the offence shall be dun. Neither shall
no man in this company worlie partners with any
man, except it be a freeman of the same company,
upon the forfeiture of 5 poundes.
There were also restrictions as to the number
of apprentices. These, after their seven years'
probation, were admitted at the annual meeting
on Shrove Tuesday at Corfe Castle. According
to the rule —
Upon any acceptance of any apprentice into the
company he shall paie unto the wardings for the use
of the company 6s. Sd., a penny loafe and two pots
of beer.
Apparently the new freeman appeared in court
with the penny loaf in one hand and a pot of
beer in the other, and on paying the half-mark
was declared free, his name being entered in the
register. The newly-admitted quarrier was,
however, unable to take an apprentice until seven
years after his admission. The wife of a free-
man on paying is. could also be admitted to the
freedom of the company, and was then enabled
if she survived her husband to take an apprentice
and carry on the business. At the annual
meeting a warden and a steward were appointed.
The business of the first of these was to arbitrate
between quarriers in disputes arising out of their
craft, and especially in regard to encroachments.
In difficult or important cases it might be
necessary to summon the whole body to deter-
mine the matter. The last man of the company
married in any year provided a football, and this,
as we know from a rule recorded later than the
sixteenth century, was to be carried to Ower —
As also a present to be made of one pound of
pepper as an acknowledgement in order to preserve
the company's right to the way or passage to Owre
key according to antient and usual custom.
Although Ower has long ceased to be, as it was
in the heyday of the marbler's trade, the port
whence the stone was shipped, this custom is
still observed. By the eighteenth century the
stone was carried in carts to the ' bankers ' at
Swanage, and there stored till it could be put on
board the stone ships.*^^ And Swanage still
retains its position as the practical head quarters
of the trade in Purbeck stone.
An edition of the rules of the company drawn
up in March, 1 697-8, recites the ancient rules
substantially as before, but certain articles are
added in order to meet the difficulties and incon-
veniences arising from the trade being in the
hands of a number of small dealers with very
slight capital, and in fact to organize the trade
as a joint stock company. The preamble of
these articles declares that the stone dealers, by
reason of the deadness of the trade,
have of late yeares made it their practice to carry
their said stone to London in small quantities, having
but little stocks. And in order to dispose thereof
have and still doe endeavour to undersell one another
to the infinite prejudice of the stone trade, by means
whereof the price and value of the said stone is so
lessened and beate down that scarce anything can now
bee gotten by it.
It is, however, probable, as the editors of
Hutchins' History of Dorset point out, that the
notorious slackness of trade in Purbeck stone at
the end of the seventeenth century was partly
due to the inferior stufFsupplied. This inference
may perhaps be legitimately drawn from a
curious document of 1687, ten years earlier than
the date of the revised rules. In this certain
persons,
being inhabitants of several parishes of Sandwich
and Langton within the Isle of Purbeck and county of
Dorset marblers and merchants in the said trade,
bound themselves to resist the claim of the
London buyers to have the stone examined and
to deduct the cost of the search from the price
of the material delivered. This suggestion of
the poor quality of the stone is supported by
an allusion in the articles of 1697 to the
breaking of the stone by the manager if found to
be unmerchantable.
The measures taken to consolidate and control
the Purbeck stone trade in 1697 seem to have
borne fruit, as during the eighteenth century
considerable activity is discernible. For instance
a tough red stone from Purbeck was used for
building Ramsgate Pier, and between June,
1750, and September, 1752, the Harbour
Trustees of that town employed fifty sail in
transporting 15,000 tons of stone from Dorset to
the Isle of Thanet.*'* Again, between January,
1764, and January, 1 771, Purbeck stone was
shipped to the extent of 94,000 tons,^* according
to the Customs Records. In fact the yearly
output at that time was probably at least 14,000
tons.
The nineteenth century saw renewed activity
in the Isle of Purbeck in marble quarrying.
" The early records seem to have been burnt at
Corfe Castle in a fire about 1680.
'' Hutchins, op. cit. i, 682.
2 337
'' Hutchins, op. cit. i, 657.
" Possibly the real amount was much greater, as
owing to the absence of any duty no great care was.
taken in securing accurate returns.
43
A HISTORY OF DORSET
which had practically ceased at the end of the
eighteenth century. This revival was due in
part to the needs of church restorers," though
local marble has also been occasionally employed
to some extent in new work, as for instance in
the church built by the earl of Eldon at Kings-
ton.
The stone quarries in the neighbourhood of
Swanage continue to be worked in much the
same manner as they have been for centuries.
They are not open v/orkings, since the best beds
of stone lie very deep. Indeed the approaches
are inclined shafts to the depth of a hundred
feet or more. In 1877 there were at least
ninety-two of these stone mines worked, as the
late Sir C. Le Neve Foster reported,
by I, 2 or 3 men underground, who are in many
cases the owners as well as the occupiers. Their work
is often most irregular ; if the men can find work as
masons, they abandon their quarries for a time, and
do not return to them till other work is slack.
The annual output of dressed Purbeck stone and
marble amounted in that year to 11,816 tons
10 cwt., besides 1,41 1 tons, 10 cwt. of undressed
stone.
The marble from the Upper Purbeck Series
can be got in blocks seven or eight feet long,
but seldom more than a foot in thickness. Its
gradual disuse towards the close of the Middle
Ages was in part perhaps due to change of fashion
or in part to the fact established by experience
that it was lacking in durability. The local
* burr ' of the Upper Purbeck Series has been
largely used for local buildings in the past, and
was employed in the nineteenth century during
the restoration of Wimborne Minster. It is a
compact sandy limestone and occurs in thick
beds.
From the principal veins ^* of the Middle
Purbeck Series, the Lane-and-end or Laning
Vein, the Freestone Rag, the Freestone Bed and
Upper Tombstone Bed, Brassy Bed and Lower
Tombstone Bed above the Cinder Bed, and be-
low it the Button, Feather, Cap and New Vein,
considerable quantities of good stone are still
obtained suitable for kerb-stones, paving, building
and tiling purposes. The limestones of the
Lower Purbeck Series found in the Isle of Purbeck
proper are of little value. Outside it they
furnish good material at Portisham.
In the cliffs between Durlston and St. Albans
headlands beds of the same general character as
those in the Isle of Portland have been largely
quarried under the name of Purbeck-Portland.
Some excellent oolitic stone was long worked
" e.g. Temple Church and later the Ch.ipter House
at Westminster and Exeter Cathedral.
"" For a full account of the various veins, see
Hutchins, op. cit. i ; Damon, Geology of Weymouth ;
Woodward, Jurassic Rocks of Britain, v ; A. Strahan,
Geology of Isle of Purbeck, 91 et seq.
underground here in galleries as at Winspit
and Tillywhim.'' From the ledges of these
clifF quarries the stone was shipped into stone-
boats when the weather permitted them to lie
close in shore. Smeaton was of opinion that this
stone was inferior in colour to the best stone
from Portland Island, harder to work, and, as he
was informed, not in general near so durable.^*
Long before the period of recorded history the
stone of Portland Island was doubtless occasion-
ally quarried, and indeed of its very ancient use
for sepulchral purposes evidence actually exists.
A tomb possibly of the Early British period
excavated in the Purbeck beds and immediately
above the upper 'dirt bed' was found in 1897
in the Combe Fields Quarry between Weston
and Southwell. Internally it was lined with
flat Purbeck stones or ' slats ' horizontally laid
and pugged in clay, behind which the roof of
the chamber was in part roughly arched and
covered with slabs of stone.**' Other similar
tombs and cists of stone slabs from the Upper
Portland beds have also been discovered on the
island.*'
Edward the Confessor had granted to St.
Swithun's, Winchester, Portland with other
manors, but the Conqueror seems to have treated
the gift as invalid,'" though his son Henry
Beauclerk again confirmed to the monks the
manor ' as King Edward had given it them.' "*
It is possible that during their tenure of Portland
the monks of St. Swithun's may have exported
stone to a distance, but of this no documentary
evidence exists." The stone used by Walkelin
" Damon, Geology of Weymouth (1884), 199. The
Tillywhim Quarry derives the second portion of its
name from the crane or ' whim ' used to lower the
stone into the boats. See Robinson, A Royal Ifarren,
93. The 'best bed' of Purbeck-Portland stone is
thickest at Seacombe Quarr}',where it reaches 8 ft. with
4 ft. of inferior stone above it (Strahan, op. cit. 64).
'* Smeaton, Eddystone Lighthouse, 66.
^"^ In this tomb was found a mortar formed out of
the ' Roach ' bed with a pestle of flint. Another
chamber was afterwards opened close by, of similar
construction, but nothing was found in it. It was
probably used for the storage of grain ; ex inform.
Mr. J. Merrick Head.
" Proc. Dorset Nat. Hist, and Jntif. Field CM, xix,
128, &c. Captain Mascall, R.E., 'List of Remains
discovered in neighbourhood of Verne Hill,' in Damon,
Geology of Weymouth, 240 el seq.
" In Domesday Portland is surveyed as 'Terra
Regis.'
" B.M. Add. MS. 29436, fol. 14.
" Some of the stone, however, found in the Norman
work at Christchurch Twyneham cannot be distin-
guished from Portland oolite, and may not un-
likely have come from quarries at Wyke or Portland.
Mr. J. Merrick Head informs us that the earlier of the
two ruined churches at Portland, which is of twelfth-
century date (? 1 140-60), is built partly of local stone
and partly of Purbeck marble. The original tool-
marks are still visible. Rufus Castle, which lies
338
INDUSTRIES
at Winchester is supposed in the main to have
been procured from Quarr in the Isle of
Wight.
In the thirteenth century Portland passed to
the Clares by exchange, and from them later to
the earls of Ulster, the earls of March, and thus
in the fifteenth century to the crown. During
the whole of this time there can be no doubt
that quarries within the island were worked for
purely local use, but even as early as the begin-
ning of the fourteenth century Portland stone
in considerable quantities was being exported as
far as Exeter, as the Fabric Rolls '' of the Cathe-
dral Church bear witness; and fifty years after, if
not much earlier, it was in request for the con-
stant fresh building or reparatory work proceed-
ing at the royal palace of Westminster and
elsewhere in London/'' Towards the close of
this century, however, there was for a time at
least a lull in the activity of the quarry belonging
to the manor, for we read in a Minister's Account
for the year 20—21 Richard II that in respect of
the issues of the quarry nothing was returned/*
For the next century and a half little is heard
of the Portland quarries, though there is no
reason to doubt their continued working/^
within the grounds of Pennsylvania Castle, is also
built of the same local stone, and is a fine example of
the great durability and strength of Portland oolite.
The angles and walls are in general as sharp and
intact as on the day they were built, and the additions
and openings for defensive purposes equally so. The
tool-marks are distinctly shown on the stones of this
building.
" Cited by Freeman, Orckit. Hut. of Exeter Cath.
123. It also seems to have been used in the choir
of Christchurch Twyneham ; Ferrey and Britton,
Antig. of Christchurch (1841), 15. Mr. J. Merrick
Head points out that there exists in Portland a locality
known as Priory, where quarries have long since been
opened and are now disused.
'* Cf. Pat. 23 Edw. Ill, pt. 3, m. 32(2'. and Accts.
Exch. K.R. bdle. 471, No. 6 (25-28 Edw. III).
'Thome Elyot pro j navata petrarum de Portland
empta pro fundamento muri palacie iuxta aquam
reparando £\l 5/.' At the same time two shiploads
of rag cost only £2 zs. It was used in connexion
with the Portland stone in the same work. A very
large amount of Portland stone was also purchased for
the King's Chapel at Westminster and for the Tower.
See Accts. Exch. K.R. bdle. 470, No. 18, and bdle.
471, No. I (21-22 Edw. III).
" Mins. Accts. (Gen. Ser.), bdle. 832, No. 29.
" The fifteenth-century ruined church of Portland
was built of local oolite resembling Top Bed. The
original tool-marks still appear on the north front.
The main walls of Wyke church are built of a stone
very similar to Portland oolite, which, however, may
have been quarried outside the limits of Portland
manor. The main walls of Sandsfoot Castle near
Weymouth were built of Portland stone in the reign
of Henry VIII. The stone is generally in excellent
condition; certain decayed blocks in the interior are
not from Portland, but were procured from a quarry
in the vicinity of the castle.
Leland," however, notes that ' the people be
good there in flyngging of stonys and use it for
defence of the isle,' and he adds further they
' be politique inough in selling their commodities,
and sumwhat avaritiose.'
Elizabeth had reigned about fifteen years when
depositions were taken by commission ^* as to
the crown rights in Portland, and amongst the
interrogatories administered was the following :
What quarries [are] within the saide demeane lands ?
What rent the Quenes Majestic hathe byn aunswered
for the same and what it would yerelie yielde, and
who hath taken the profittes thereof?
The reply given to these questions is instructive.
One deponent declared
that there is no quarry of stones whereof the Quenes
Majestie hath bene aunswered any rent of the same
[and he explained further] that the custome of the
island is and hath bene by all the tyme of his remem-
brance, that is if any man do break any ground of
the Quenes demaynes he must have warrant from the
officers for the quarringe and getting any stones there
and also must compound and agree for them and
touchinge stones lyinge uppon the ground in a certayn
common called Wathe which have bene solde in
oure tyme and [sic] the profittes thereof have bene
taken and converted to the use of all the inhabitants
. . . and that if any quarry be broken by the princes
commandement or license that then the tenants ought to
have thereof half of the profittes that [the stones] are
sold for and in consideracion of breakinge the ground
and consumlnge of their grasse in lyinge and carryinge
away the same to the waterside.'*^
" I tin.
'* Exch. Dep. by Com. Mich. 15-16 Eliz. No. 12,
Dorset.
"* It may be interesting to compare with this cer-
tain presentments of the last century, concerning
which Mr. J. Merrick Head kindly furnishes us the
following note : —
At a Court Baron and Court of the Island and
Manor of Portland together with the Court of Sur-
vey concluded on 7 July, 1846,
It was presented, after the Homage had made a
personal survey and perambulation of the island and
Manor, inter alia, ' That all stone exported from the
Common or Commonable lands doth pay 1 2d. per
Ton; one moiety of such I2rf'. belongs to the Lord or
Lady in Chief, and the other moiety to the tenants;
and by Ancient Grants, and also by one from Her
present Most Gracious Majesty, we have 3^'. per Ton
given us out of Her Majesty's said moiety, which
makes Her Majesty's part 3a'. and ours 3d'.
' And all such Stone as is for Her Majesty's own
use is free, paying nothing.
' And likewise we that are Tenants for our Buildings
within the Manor take for our use what Stone we
please, paying nothing and asking no leave. And all
such Stone liable to such Tonnage as aforesaid is
accounted for at our Courts on the oaths of the
persons exporting the same, and the duty paid to the
Queen's Receiver or his Agent and divided as before
mentioned. All Stone raised and drawn from the
Quarries in the Farm has time out of mind paid to
339
A HISTORY OF DORSET
About twenty years later (1594) under
warrant from Lord Burghley, a survey or view"
was taken by William Pitt ' of the quarries of
stone and mines of oare earth which will burne
within the Islande of Portlande.' He found the
sea-cliflFs for the most part 'all full of workes
and quarries of stone,' and further discovered ' in
the same clyfFesand in thesandesandshoares . . .
and in other places round aboute and in other
places there but especially eastewardes from Her
Majesties Castell there a kind of black stone or
o.re earth of minerall matter apte to burne which
is not granted by lease but remaineth in Her
R'lajesties hands as parcell of her manner and
the Tenants 3d', per Ton, but by Her Majest}''s late
Grant ■^li. cut of every I zii. payable to Her Majesty
for such Stone has been granted to the Inhabitant;, as
appears by such Grant, which 3a'. to the Tenants and
Inhabitants is for damage done to the herbage on the
Commons by laying rubble or rubbish thereon, but
Stone drawn in the Quarries on the Farm for Her
Majesty's use pays nothing.'
Also presented, ' That all the Tenants and persons
belonging to the parish employed by them (but no
other persons) have had time out of mind a right to
open and work what Quarries they please in the
Commons or Commonable lands, provided they do
not thereby hurt or injure the Highways, paying the
Customary duty ; and all Tenants from time immemo-
rial have raised what stone they pleased in their own
respective tenements, as they are freeholders and never
did pay any acknowledgement to any person for the
Stone so raised in their own respective grounds.'
Then follow presentments as to deposit of rubble
on weirs or rubble grounds, and payment in respect
of same ; and for erecting piers with cranes or sheers
for shipping off stone ; also presentments of commons
and commonable lands, and of the queen's quarries,
and of the custom and pnctice of making an ar-
rangement in respect of labour and payment for the
same ; and of forfeiture in certain events such as
improperly stopping or obstructing the working of
quarries.
Further presentment, that where in working quarries
in either p.irish or private lands in the cliffs a public
road or way would be destroyed or worked through if
the work were continued, it is the custom for the pro-
prietor of the adjoining land to allow an equally con-
venient roadway through such land for the public on
receiving the tonnage-dues for the stone raised under
the road so intended to be worked through, and that
no person shall work any quarry in the cliffs nearer
than 1 8 ft. of any private lands, unless or until he
shall obtain from the owner of such private land a
substituted road or way of at least 1 8 ft., and so as
often as occasion or necessity sh.ill require.
These extracts are given to show the peculiarity of
the customs existing at Portland in respect of quarr}'ing
of stone ; other customs are also given, and reference
should be made to the Court Rolls for more detailed
information. It may be mentioned that the present-
ments cannot always be relied upon ; some of them
are in opposition to common and statute law, and are
of questionable legality.
" B.M. Add. MS. 29976, fol. 1 1 8^.
islande of Portlande of which stone or oare earth
Her Majesties tenantes in the said Island doe
sometimes take and gather to burne for want of
woodes and other fewell and may be valued
togaether with the said workes and quarries of
stone in yerely rent to Her Majestic x;.' Be-
sides these, certain stone quarries had been leased
for various terms yet ' indetermined, with certain
exceptions in the saide grante unto one Nicholas
Jones at the yerely rent of 51.'
Although, as the foregoing references prove,
stone had for many hundreds of years before the
seventeenth century been quarried in Portland,
yet the wide and establibhed repute of the ' mer-
chantable ' stone of the true Portland beds re-
ceived an enormous extension from its use bv
Inigo Jones in the reign of James I, especially in
the building of the Banqueting House at White-
hall and the additions made to the fabric of Old
St. Paul's. In connexion with the first of these
enterprises, a new pier was built at Portland at
a cost of £112 igs. 2d. and a lasting impetus
was given to the quarrying industry of the
island.80
It may be remarked, however, that the
quarrying of stone at Portland for the work
at Old St. Paul's and its carriage to London
met with certain obstacles in the next reign,*'
and as a result a spirited remonstrance was
addressed in 1637 to the archbishop of Can-
terbury. From this it appears that Ralph
Bunn and John Elliott ' who have wrought in
the quarry at Portland about the stones for the
West End of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in
London ever since that work begun,' had been
taken by the press-gang for the royal navy to the
great hindrance of the work. Furthermore com-
plaint was made that the ' ships which did bring
the stones for St. Paul's had their men pressed
out of them the last year, and could not be
released though they had a warrant from the
officers of the navy.' The press-gang, indeed,
held the warrant invalid, as it was without the
Admiralty seal, and therefore sufficient warrants
were prayed for by the petitioners to secure both
quarrymen and sailor?. Laud on the reception
of this appeal at once took action, and on 20 April
informed Mr. Secretary Nicholas that ' it is His
Majesty's express pleasure that sufficient warrant
*■ It may be noted that, in the purchases made by
the Corporation of the City of London in 1630 for
the repair of Newgate Prison, while Purbeck stone cost
only 5a'. a foot, Portland stone was priced at \s. SJ.
Rogers, ^gric. and Prices in England, v, 5 1 1 . In the
reign of James I also large quantities of Portland
stone were employed in building or repairing the
town houses of certain noblemen, as, for example, the
dukes of Richmond and Buckingham. Several refer-
ences to the Portland quarries will be found in the
contemporary State Papers, e.g. S. P. Dom. Jas. I,
cxiii. No. 71 ; cxv, No. 75 ; cxlvi. No. 61 ; clxx,
No. 25, &;c.
"' S.P. Dom. Chas. I, ccclii. No. 57.
340
INDUSTRIES
be given to secure both the one and the other as
is here desired.'
The increased demand for Portland stone from
this time forward gave ample employment to the
quarrymen who were free of the island, and after
the Great Fire it was extensively used in the re-
building of London, where St. Paul's Cathedral and
the churches of Wren are sufficient monuments of
its strength and beauty." In 1696 the inhabitants
of Portland are said to have been about 700 in
number,*' while the fees or king's rents amounted
to 14s. ^d. per annum at T^d. per acre, besides
which there existed an inclosed farm of ;^I0 per
annum which had then yet thirty years to run.
The herbage of all uninclosed ground was common
to the fee-tenants, but as to the quarries worked
by them in such common land a fee of izd. per
ton on all stone raised was due to the crown as
an acknowledgement. The writer of the account
we are here quoting states that Charles II
gave by sign manual 9/ of this I2</. for the use of
the poor inhabitants of the island which has been con-
tinued to them by succeeding princes, and the other
2id. is paid to the Receiver of the fee farm rents of
Dorsetshire for account of the Crown, the same being
first adjusted at the Courts held for the manor.
But no acknowledgement was paid for the quarries
found and worked in the inclosurcs.
The right to work in the quarries, however,
was restricted to such as were ' free of the island.'
Accordingto the account we have been following :
All natives of the Island are free both sons and
daughters, and the daughters have this privilege that
if one of them marry an alien, and have for her dowry
a paddock (or little inclosure) by vertue thereof she
invests her husband with the freedom of the quarry,
and from that time he is admitted free. Every pad-
dock is divisible into as many parts or shares as the
owner pleases, and each part has an equal title to the
quarrys with the whole. An instance may explain
this : A has an inheritance of an acre and has four
daughters to bestow it upon. He divides it by par-
tition-walls into four parts and gives each of them a part.
The conveyance ** is in this manner. After Evening
service on a Sunday when the churchwardens and
some of the best inhabitants are placed in the church
porch he stands up and expresses himself to this effect :
I, A, desire you my neighbours to take notice, that I give
to each of my daughters an equal share of my paddock
*' It is impossible to give a complete catalogue of
buildings of importance in London which have been
constructed mainly of Portland stone. Amongst
secular edifices the Horse Guards, Somerset House,
the General Post Office, the India House, the
Foreign Office, and the Reform Club, may be
mentioned.
"' Stowe MS. 597, fol. 423 et seq.
" They say .... that ' customary lands have
always been accustomed to be aliened by those that
have been customary tenants thereunto either by
surrender in the court of the said manor of Portland,
or by last will and testament or by free gift at the
Church Door.'' Proc. in Chan. Eliz. ii, I ; i, 2, 63.
For the modern development of this practice since
1845 see Somen, and Dors. N and Q. vii, 322.
called • and bounded &c. as it now lies divided in
four parts. Whereupon the assembly rises, and blesses
by name the daughters. And now e.ich of these daughters
intitles the man she marrys to all the Privileges of the
King's quarrys, which renders her a good fortune to a
mason many whereof go from London and marry thus
in Portland."
The following contemporary table gives some
notion of the prices of Portland stone shipped
from the island at the close of the seventeenth
century : —
Solid f
to the
■ Per ft.
Sq. ft.
to the
Tun
sq.
Tun
Scantlings, according to the
largeness, as may be seen in
the account for rebuilding
St. Pauls 16
9^.
22
Rollers 10/ per solid foot .
)
Perpen Ashlar wrought on
both sides 20
Step
9,d.
25
Pavier
Id.
40
Ashlar wrought on one side
Sd
25
Blocks 9/. per ton 16
The rates above include the tunnage duty.
Sir Christopher Wren,*** who employed Port-
land stone in his work on St. Paul's Cathedral,
seems to have come into conflict with the quarry-
owners of the island during the progress of his
undertaking.*'"' On 12 May, 1705, we find him
writing to them in the following terms : —
Gentlemen, I have perused yours of the 9th to
myself and Mr. Bateman, and find you'll never make
a right use of any kindness for which reason you may
expect less of mine for the future. You have been
paid hitherto beforehand, but without your better
behaviour, you shall not be paid so again, though you
may always depend on what is right. I shall not add
to my last direction about the money, till that be
fully complied with, nor at present tell you the price
charged to the Duke of Buckingham. As for the
stone sent to Greenwich, I know no risk you have
run, nor of any proposed to you ; so that you have no
pretence to higher pay, on that account. 'Tis all one
to me what your jury do. It shall not alter any
measures of mine, except in endeavouring that the
tunnage money you claim by a pretended grant from
the Crown, be disposed to better purpose than you
apply it to, you having no manner of right to it, as
I shall easily make appear, and also represent to the
Queen your contesting her right, and your contempt
of her authority ; for, though 'tis in your power to be
as ungrateful as you will, yet you must not think that
your insolence will be alw.iys borne with, and though
you will not be sensible of the advantage you receive
" Some curious details as to Portland marriages
will be found in Smeaton, Eddy stone Lighthouse, 65 >i.
"* I am indebted to Miss E. M. Hewitt for this
and the following paragaph.
fib Wjg„ had control of the quarries from 1 67 5 to
I 717. Many of the blocks which were excavated at
that time, but rejected for his purpose, remained for
several years lying about in or near the quarries ;
Phillimore, Mem. Sir C. ff^ren, 221.
341
A HISTORY OF DORSET
by the present working of the quarries, yet, if they
were taken from you, I believe you might find the
want of them in very little time ; and you may be
sure that care will be taken both to maintain the
Queen's right, and that such only be employed in the
quarries as will work regularly and quietly, and submit
to proper and reasonable directions, which I leave you
to consider of, and am
Your friend,
Chr. Wren.
P.S. — I am sorry Mr. Wood has paid you the
tunnage money, but if I have not a better account of
your behaviour, I shall ende.tvour that you be made
to refund it ; and whether your jury present Mr.
Wood or not for the stone, 'tis all one to me. If you
take upon you to pay the duty for any stone, for St.
Paul's or other uses that I give orders for, you shall
not have one farthing allowed you for it.
To Mr. John Elliott, Bart. Comber, Thomas
Ouseley, Ben Stone, Henry Atwel, Robert Gibbs, at
Portland."'
The allusion to Greenwich in the above letter
is explained by reference to the Treasury Papers of
1702, concerned with the report of James Moun-
tague to the Lord High Treasurer, on the petition
of the directors of Greenwich Hospital touching
the demand by the islanders of Portland of lid.
per ton and bd. by the commissioners of all stone
shipped for the use of the hospital. In this
report we find it set forth that the whole island
is the queen's manor. Also that time out of
mind a duty had been paid of is. z ton, 3^/. of
which was in consideration of the damage done
to the herbage by the quarry workings.*^''
We are unable here to trace further in any
detail the history of the Portland quarries, but a
few notes may be allowed on the different strata
of stone and the fashion of working. In a typical
quarry the strata in descending order may be
found *' as follows : —
ft. in.
Mould 10
Shivered stone and rubble — the
debris of Purbeck stone and slate
stone 10 o
Bacon tier with layers of sand ,.19
Aish stone ^ 3
Soft Burr 16
Great Dirt-bed (with trees and Cy-
cadeae) 10
Cap Rising 20
These are excavated and then the top-cap is
reached, with a thickness of from 8 to I O ft. A
"= Hutchins, Hist. Dorset, ii, 818.
"■^ Cal. Treas. Papers, 1702, vii, 498.
"* It must be remembered, however, that the thick-
ness of the different strata varies considerably according
to the nature and position of the quarry. A shorter
section of a quarry as known among the quarrymen is
furnished us by Mr. J. Merrick Head. The names
are in descending order : — Soil, Rubble, Soft Burr,
Dirt Bed, Cap, Skull-Cap, Roach, Whitbed, some-
times Curf Bed, Base Bed, Flint Bed.
very thin dirt-bed follows between this and tiie
Skull-Cap (2 ft. 6 in.), which is succeeded by the
True Roach, which averages from 2 ft. 6 in. to
3 ft. The Top-Cap, Skull-Cap, and True Roach
are generally blasted off to get at the ' merchant-
able' stone beneath. For heavy engineering
works, however, True Roach, which is very
light brown in colour, furnishes excellent mate-
rial. It weathers well, is tough and strong, and
owing to its resistance to the action of water is
suitable for dock and sea-walls and break-
waters.*'
Next below the True Roach are found the
Whitbed 8 to 10 ft.
Curf or Bastard Roach with
flints
Basebed Roach
Basebed stone 5 to 6 ft.
Flat beds or flinty tiers
Whitbed *' is in many respects the most valu-
able of the Portland series. The material with
which the fine oolitic grains are cemented to-
gether is hard and crystalline. This stone, if of
good quality, weathers excellently, and is markedly
superior in this respect to Basebed, which re-
sembles it in appearance, but is softer, more
easily worked, and adapted rather for internal
work. Bastard Roach or Curf may be distin-
guished from True Roach by the absence of the
fossil known as the Portland Screw {Cerlthium
Portlandicum), which seldom if ever occurs in
Curf. Its weathering qualities are poor.
Smeaton,^' the builder of the Eddystone Light-
house, on his visit to the Portland quarries,
remarked how —
When tlie merchantable blocks are cleared of the cap
the quarrymen proceed to cross-cut the large flats
which are laid bare with wedges. The beds being
thus cut into distinct lumps the quarryman, with a
tool called a ' kevel,' which is at one end a hammer
and at the other an axe, whose edge is so short or
narrow that it approaches towards the shape of a pick,
by a repetition of sturdy blows soon reduces a piece of
stone, by his eye, to the largest square figure which it
will admit.
At the present day blocks of from 10 to 12 tons
can be obtained easily if required. The mode
of carriage of stone for shipment down the hill
was formerly by large wooden trollies with solid
wheels of wood, drawn by a team of horses, three
behind, two abreast, and one following — the
three behind operating as a drag.
The whole island is full of the quarries, which
are wrought from open faces. The stone is
*' It has also been used for fortifications, as it was
found by experiments to offer more resistance to shell-
fire than even Cornish granite.
*' The colour is more commonly white, but a
brownish hue is perceptible in some of the best stone.
Notes on Building Construction, iii, ' Portland Stone.'
'^ Eddystone Lighthouse (1791), 62 et seq.
342
INDUSTRIES
worked by the ' Ope ' joints, known as ' South-
ers,' ' Ope Gullies,' north to south, ' East and
Westers,' which cross 'Southers' and 'Rangers,'
south to east.
The marks placed on the stone when quarried
to indicate its measurement and weight are
shown in the illustration here given. A hori-
zontal line is placed on the block of stone. Each
of the perpendicular lines across it represents lO
cubic ft. The downward oblique line to the
right represents 5 cubic ft., and each stroke
following I cubic ft. up to 10 cubic ft. Then
instead of continuing these strokes (making in all
10 cubic ft.) an additional perpendicular stroke
is added to the horizontal line and so on. The
oblique upward line to the left must be placed in
such a position that if produced it would bisect
the right angle, but must not be allowed to
touch it. This line represents half a cubic foot.
If the blocks of stone are very large, figures
are sometimes substituted for the marks. The
amount of stone represented in the diagram is
Lmes thus
represent
10 (eet eakch
A line Thus*
represents
;^ Cubic foot-
At the beginning of the last century upwards
of 25,000 tons of Portland stone were annually
exported, and the stone was then sold at 9a'. a
foot at the quarries, and was rising in price,'"
while aquarryman working in the island expected
2s. 6d. a day. In 1 81 2 800 men and boys, i8o
horses, and 50 ships were engaged in the stone
trade of Portland, and from 20,000 to 30,000
tons were being exported every year at prices
varying from 16s. to 24.S. per ton of 16 cubic ft.,
the duty being 6^. a ton.'^ In 1839 the annual
output of the Portland quarries was estimated at
24,000 tons, that is about one acre of good stone,
while it was believed that 2,000 acres of stone
remained un worked. In 1855 the Portland
railway carried 22,995 tons of Block and 3,547
tons of Roach, while a further amount was
shipped directly from the island. In 1865 the
amount carried by the Portland quarries railway
reached 81,649 ^ori^, but in 1875 this figure had
been reduced to 56,841 tons, and in 1882 to
45,967 tons. Besides the quantity carried on
A line thus
represents
5" feet.
Unas thus
represent
1 foot each
59 J cubic ft., and it may be remembered that
the measurement of a ton of Portland stone is
16 cubic ft.«'^
According to the opinion of the Commission-
ers of 1839 the stone in the north-eastern part
of the island is superior to that in the south-
western part. Although many of the quarries
belong to the crown and are worked by convict
labour, some of the best are still privately owned.
It is impossible to give here a complete list of
the Portland quarries, but the Waycroft, Wide
Street, Maggot, Weston Independent, Inmosthay,
Tout, and Bowers may be mentioned.^'''
'^" Ex informatlone Mr. J. Merrick Head.
''"' It was presented 7 July, 1 846, that the queen's
quarries were in part of the farm and demesne lands
called Grove, Way Croft, Bowers, and Under King-
barrow, and that other quarries were on Vern, on
Higher Down, in Wide Street, at Sturt, in East Weir,
and in Yelland Cliffs (Yeolands) and West Cliff:
Since then large quarries have been opened in Combe
Fields and Portland Bill. Ex informatione Mr. J.
Merrick Head.
the railway, large shipments varying from 5,000
tons or less to 10,000 tons were removed directly
from the island every year during the latter half
of the last century. And to get the total output
we must add to the figures mentioned the stone
won by convict labour for government works,
and the enormous quantity, especially of Roach,
used in the making of the breakwater between
1847 and 1862.'^ Since 1882 the amount of
stone quarried in Portland has largely increased,
and immense quantities have been used of late
years in inclosing Portland Roads by other break-
waters, in order to form a secure harbour for
naval defence.
The Portland beds have also been worked
" Hutchins, op. cit. ii, 819.
" Stevenson, V'uiv ofjgrlc. of Dorset, 55.
'■ For most of these figures we are indebted to the
valuable account of the Geology of Weymouth and Port-
land by Mr. Robert Damon and The Rep. of the Royal
Com. on the Selection of Stone for the New Houses of Par-
liament (1839).
343
A HISTORY OF DORSET
from the Middle Ages, at least near Upwey and
Preston, where the bed corresponding to the
Portland Basebed is known as ' VVhite Freestone.'
About the middle of the reign of Edward III we
hear '' of ' Wynesbache ' (Windsbatch) stone
being carried from Westminster to the Tower,
and Preston is also occasionally mentioned towards
the end of the fourteenth century as the locality
whence stone was exported to London.'''
In Portisham parish Hutchins mentions a
quarry of stone used for paving and tiling, and
about a mile east of the ' Hardy Monument ' a
quarry was opened to provide stone for the
bridges of a local railway. The best freestone
bed is inferior to the Basebed of Portland island.
Of the quarries of purely local repute in Southern
Dorset no account can be given here, but
references are occasionally found in records, as for
example to the quarry on AUington Hill, whence
William de Legh, in the thirteenth centur}',
permitted the hospital of St. Mary Magdalen of
Bridport to take stone for necessary uses.^*
In respect to ornamental stone it may also be
noted that septaria from the Oxford Clay of
Radipole Backwater, when cut into slabs and
polished have been used as tops for fancy
tables.''
It is possible that oolitic iron ore found in the
upper part of the Coral Rag at and near Abbots-
bury may have been quarried in the early medi-
aeval period, when, owing to the difficulty of
transporting Gloucester iron and the expense of
Spanish iron, local bloomeries were not infrequent
in places where little or no iron is worked to-day.
But no documentary evidence of the smelting of
Dorset iron has been published. We hear, how-
ever, that the Constable of Corfe '^ in the thir-
teenth century took from the abbess of Shaftes-
bury for her land in Blackenwell twenty-four
horse-shoes as rent, while a rental of Kingston "
shows us Beorn the smith doing all the iron-work
and shoeing exacted of him by the abbess for his
half-virgate, but the metal employed may have
been obtained from Hampshire.
To conclude, a mere mention can be made of
a very few of the northern quarries of the county.
At Sturminster and MarnhuU the lower beds of
the Coral Rag yield an excellent oolitic building
stone which has been employed locally to a
considerable extent. The limestone layers oc-
curring in the Forest Marble are frequently
quarried for flagstones, and at Long Burton, not
far from Sherborne, the finer varieties have been
polished for ornamental use as chimney-pieces,
under the name of Yeovil Marble.
The latest government returns of the stone
raised in Dorset during the year 1906 show that
8,147 tons were raised from mines,'' and 94,463
tons from quarries. Underground and above
ground at the mines, which included a good
many workings for clay, producing 35,038 tons
of this material, 261 persons were employed.
Inside and outside the quarries, which besides the
stone showed an output of 122,437 tons of clay
and 700 tons of chalk, the number of workmen
reached 1,057.
THE HEMP INDUSTRY
One of the oldest industries in Dorset is that
connected with the manufacture of hemp and flax ;
in importance it ranks next to quarrying. The
centre of the trade, which has been chiefly con-
cerned with the production of ropes, sail-cloth,
and nets, has been, from time immemorial, the
town and neighbourhood of Bridport, though
there are mills also at Poole and Hamworthy.^
There is no direct reference to the industry in
Domesday, although it has been pointed out by
Mr. Eyton, in his study of the Dorset Domesday,
that Bridport, the smallest borough in point of
burgesses, and with fewest acres of annexed terri-
tory, was taxed at the rate of a full firrna noctis,
a fact which he considers to have been * the co-
ordinate of a great commercial position.' ^ Having
regard to the very primitive character of the
" Accts. Exch. K.R. bdle. 471, No. 6 ; cf. Pat. 24
Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 31.
" One of the masons employed on the royal works
in London as early as 1 348 was one William of Pres-
ton. See Accts. Exch. K.R. bdle. 471, No. I.
"' Hisi. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, App. 486.
" Strahan, Geology of Isle ofPurbeck, 236.
rope-making industry, it is reasonable to suppose
that even in io86 the 'human spiders' had
begun their long, monotonous tramp, and that
the manufacture for which they were to be so
widely renowned accounted in some measure for
the high figure at which Bridport was rated.
However this may be, the town's seal bears wit-
ness to the fame and profit which were brought
to Bridport by ropemaking, for on it are engraved
three ' cogs ' or hooks employed in this industry.
There seems to be no record of the exact date
when the use of this seal was granted to the
borough, though there are repeated notices of
it in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
The documentary evidence concerning rope-
making begins in 121 1, and the interest of the
"Add. MS. 24775, fol. 67.
" Harl. MS. 61, fol. 62.
'' The greater portion of the stone derived from
mines no doubt came from the Isle of Purbeck.
' The people of Bridport have been styled by
Defoe the ' best artists in ropes, cables, and nets.'
Tour through Great Brit, i, 327.
* Eyton, Key to Domesday, 73.
344
INDUSTRIES
liistory lies in the antiquity of the manufacture,
in its sometime national importance, and in the
obscurity which involves the withdrawal of the
manufacture of heavy cordage, as the reasons
which are at present suggested are considered
inadequate by experts.
There have been three great periods in the
history of the Dorset industry. During the first
of these the town was chiefly concerned in the
making of rope and tackle for the royal navy,
and this culminated in the statute of Henry VIII,'
which destroyed the rivalry of its near neighbours.
During the second, the connexion between Brid-
port and the Newfoundland fishery reached its
highest point in the prosperity induced by the
French war (1792-18 15). During the third
period, nets of every description, from a billiard-
table net to a trawl, have been sent all over the
world.
In the Pipe Rolls for Somerset and Dorset,
13 John, the sheriff accounts for moneys which
he has paid for 3,000 weighs of hempen thread,
according to Bridport weight, for making ships'
cables, and for the expenses of Robert Piscatoris
whilst he stayed at Bridport to procure his nets.*
Two years later, in 121 3, King John sent a
letter to the sheriffs of Dorset and Somerset,'
commanding them as they love themselves and
their own bodies to buy for his use all the oats
they could lay hands on. They were to seize
the money from abbeys or wherever they could
get it upon loan or in any other manner, and
they were ' to cause to be made at Bridport,
night and day, as many ropes for ships both
large and small as they could, and twisted yarns
for cordage.' ^
In this year a French fleet, prepared by King
Philip at the instigation of Pope Innocent, was
lying in the port of Damme ready to invade
England. An English fleet under William
Longsword, earl of Salisbury, fell upon it and
took or sunk well-nigh every vessel. Perhaps
this was some satisfaction to the inhabitants ot
Bridport, as it is most unlikely that they ever
received full payment for the rigging which they
made.
In 5 Edward I Michael de Langestone and
John de Hokestone, bailiffs of Plympton, ad-
dressed a complaint to Richard de Ramesham
and Nicholas Prikeny, bailiffs of Bridport, en-
joining them to admonish Robert Lautrepays to
pay to John de Stodbury, their burgess, 3/. Sd.,
or else the hemp and cords which he agreed to
deliver to him a fortnight before Michaelmas
last ; also to admonish a similar offender, David
' ' An Acte for the true Makynge of great cables,
halsers, ropes, and all other takelinge for shippes in
the Boroughe of Burporte in the Countye of Dorset.'
Stat. 21 Hen. VIII, cap. 12.
* Rot. Pip. Dors, and Somers. 1 3 John (Rec. Com.).
' Wainwright, Bridport Doc.
' Ibid. Nos. 12, 13.
de Wynterburne, ' who is vulgarly called Davye,'
to satisfy the same John for 1 1 st. of hemp and
cords which he had covenanted to deliver at the
preceding Christmas ; the said Davye having had
yarn to the value of 4;. 215'., and he to receive the
rest when he had given satisfaction as to the
said hemp and cords. Robert Stok was to be
'admonished' with regard to 12 St. of cord
which he should have delivered by St. John the
Baptist's Day, having received 55. bd. on account
for yarn. John le Cherwode again had failed to
deliver 4 st. of hemp by Mid-Lent, though he
had been paid I2d. The bailiffs of Plympton in
conclusion informed those of Bridport that,
pending satisfaction, they had confiscated the
boat of Richard Blanchard.'
Interesting references abound in ancient re-
cords at an early date to the frequency and
importance of the hemp trade of Bridport.
' Cultures,' or lands cultivated with hemp and
flax, are mentioned in deeds, &c. of the reign of
Edward III, whilst 'searchers of flax and hemp'
held office in the reign of Richard 11."
The following entry appears in an account-
book of St. Michael's Chantry of Munden or
Mondene in Bridport in 1453 under the head of
' Necessary Expenses ' : half a bushel of hemp-
seed, 3j(^.'
In 45 Edward III Nicholas Tracy granted to
John Feldaye and Matillidis his wife one rood of
hempland lying in the 'culture ' called Ponches-
ford in Bridport.^"
Those municipal gifts to great personages
which were such a feature of the mediaeval
social system, and which were invariably repre-
sentative of local industry, took traditional
shape at Bridport, where the corporation made
frequent offerings of webs, reins, horse-nets, and
girths to those whose friendship they were
desirous to secure. ^^ Cords and yarn figure re-
peatedly in assessments ; whilst hemp is con-
tinually recorded as part of a man's possessions,
and with it lucelli, hempen wicks for lamps
and torches.'^ Forfeitures of yarn and hemp
appear in the Bailiffs' Accounts, 18 & 19
Richard II, in one instance to the amount of
gj. 6d., and of hemp-seed to the extent of /^hd.^'^
Hemp was grown in Bridport and then sent to
Plympton to be made into rope-yarn. It was
next sent back to Bridport to be made into rope,
and when finished was sent again to Plympton,
presumably to be used by the navy.'*
Not only was yarn sent to Bridport to be spun
into rope, but rope-makers were sent all over the
kingdom to exercise their handicraft. In 16
Edward II the late sheriff petitioned '* for 79s.
' Hist.
MSS.
Com.
Rep.
vi, App. 489.
' Ibid.
476.
' Ibid.
479-
■° Ibid.
" Ibid.
490.
" Ibid.
492.
" Ibid.
'* Ibid.
489.
» Ibid.
345
44
A HISTORY OF DORSET
which he had paid for the expenses of six ropers
proceeding from Bridport in the county of Dorset
to Newcastle-on-Tyne.
In the documents belonging to the Bridport
Corporation there is very little direct reference
to the making of ropes until the town procured
its Act of Parliament in the reign of Henry VIII,
but there are several allusions to the fact that
flax and hemp were ordinary crops, while in the
lists of forfeitures yarn, hemp, and hemp-seed
continually occur.
The manufacture of ropes seems to have gone
on steadily increasing from the thirteenth to
the first quarter of the fifteenth century, when
for some time a great quantity of rope was
imported from Genoa and Normandy. But
Bridport recovered its pre-eminence, and orders
for cables were again received. In March, i486,
a command was sent from the dockyard at Ports-
mouth to John Browne of Bridport, to deliver
' a pair of takkes [tackle] and a pair of shets
weighing 741 lb., and for a hauser for a tye
wei2:hing 500 lb. ' the total cost being
The industry seems to have been badly
organized, and the regulations oppressive, con-
sequently manufacturers tended to leave Brid-
port and set up rival businesses, near enough to
share in the supply of excellent hemp, but beyond
the reach of the burgesses' rules. The inhabi-
tants of Bridport noted this tendency with
increasing uneasiness. Tradition says that they
were finally stung into action by jealousy of the
rope-walks at Burton Bradstock, a village with-
in three miles of their town hall. They peti-
tioned for an Act of Parliament limiting the
industry to their own town. The preamble to
the statute 21 Hen. VIII, cap. 12, explains their
position, their fears and their precautions, as
clearly as possible. ' The Bailiffs burgesses and
other inhabitants' of Bridport represent to the
king that
where they out of time that no man's mind is to the
contrary, have used and exercised to make within the
same the most part of all the grc.it cables, halsers,
ropes and all other tackling as well for your royal
ships and navy as for the most p.irt of all other ships
within the realm, by reason whereof your said town
was right well maintained and inhabited, your High-
ness and your subjects right well served, until now of
late, many diverse and evil disposed persons, intending
the destruction of your said town for their private
lucre and advantage, have withdrawn themselves into
the country in diverse places there taking farms and
using husbandry out of the said town and also daily
resort to buy and provide hemp and thereof make
cables, ropes, halsers, traces, halters and other tackle,
being by the said persons slightly and deceivably
made by reason whereof not only buyers of the same
have been continually thereby deceived, but also the
prices of the said cables, halsers, traces, halters and
other tackle thereby greatly inhaunsed, and your said
town or borough by means thereof is likely to be
destroyed, ruined and desolated if speedy remedy be
not by your Highness in that case provided.
Evidently the burgesses saw no advantage in
competition, and they had probably persuaded
themselves quite honestly that the only reason
they objected to other rope-walks was because of
the inferior quality of the goods produced and
the disrepute into which such quality plunged
the industry.
The Act they obtained was curiously short-
sighted and petty. It prohibited any persons living
within five miles of the town from selling hemp
except at the Bridport market, and further
enacted
that no person or persons other than such as dwell
and be inhabitants within the said town, shall make,
after the feast of Easter next coming, out of the said
town any cables, halsers, ropes, traces, halters or any
other tackle
except for their own private use. Various penal-
ties were imposed on those who broke the
statute. The hemp and rope forfeited were
divided between the king and the informer. In
the first place its action was only to endure until
the next Parliament, but the statute was con-
firmed and continued by various Parliaments in
the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary,
Elizabeth, and James I.
The natural result of this statute with its five-
mile limit was to drive manufacturers further
away, and a great part of the industry is said to
have migrated to Yorkshire, where it could
develop more freely.
The lines on which the trade was organized
are indicated by the draft of the lease of the
common beam and weights preserved among the
Bridport documents.^' This manuscript is not
dated, but, judging from the writing, it is not
later than Elizabeth's reign, and it is probably
earlier.
The bailiffs, with the assent of the burgesses, let to
farm to Morgan Moore for 2 1 years at a rent of ^^4
per annum, the common beam and weights used for
the only weighing of hemp within the borough of
Bridport, with all the usual fees, profits, penalties,
commodities, and advantages, and do constitute him
their officer and minister for viewing, surveying, and
searching of hemp, and for the true making of cables,
hawsers and ropes according to the statute in that case
provided. The lessee is prohibited from transferring
the lease, from enhansing or raising any payment or
duty, and from demanding a larger fee for the wind-
ing of hemp than heretofore has been payable. He
is also required yearly, on Michaelmas Day, to deliver
to the Bailiffs a book containing the names of all
persons that have hemp growing within 5 miles of
Bridport, the quantity grown by them and the value
thereof, and to inform the Bailiffs what fore-stalling
and regrating are carried on, and what conveyance
from the said market contrary to the Statute.
Bridport Dagger,' Tie Globe, 24 Feb. 1906.
346
" Bridport Doc. K. 25.
INDUSTRIES
The impression left by this lease is that the
manufacturers were subject to, if they did not
actually suffer, an amount of supervision which
probably became more and more irksome, despite
its laudable object of upholding the prestige of
the hempen goods made in Bridport.
Among the numerous uses to which Bridport
rope was applied was that of hanging men ; and
the custom was so common that when a man
was hanged he was said to be ' stabbed with a
Bridport dagger.' Leland seems to have heard
this saying in the Midlands, and to have under-
stood it literally, for he left a note in his Itinerary^
'at Bridport be mace good Daggers,''* when he
should have written * good hempen ropes for
hanging rogues.' There is also a morality play
called ' Hycke Scorner ' (probably printed early
in the reign of Henry VIII), in which one of the
characters, ' Imagynacyon,' makes the grim re-
mark that the inhabitants of Newgate have ' ones
a yere some taw halters of Burporte.' Probably
in the sixteenth century the town's halters were
as famous as its hawsers, and the demand for the
first article was out of all proportion to the de-
mand that exists to-day ; but they could not have
been such a profitable item as hawsers, especially
in Elizabeth's reign, when the fabulous riches of
America inflamed men's minds, and the prohibi-
tions of the Spaniards stirred up their obstinacy.
Historians of Bridport have sought in vain
for evidence that the town sent any ships to
help to fight the great Armada, but they com-
fort themselves by maintaining that nearly if
not quite all of the cordage and ropes for the
English fleet of that time was supplied by Brid-
port ; as the victory was due in great part to
superior seamanship, and as such skill is of no
avail without trustworthy rigging, the inference
redounding to the honour of the town is obvious.
If the fact about the rigging of the English
fleet be true, it would account for the myth with
regard to the power and the extent of ' the
statute,' as the Bridport burgesses called it, which
sprang up in the forty odd years between the
time it became law and the visit of Camden. It
is true he collected his information in the years
1575-86, i.e. before the great sea victory, but
he may have found the town all agog with
excitement over some order for rigging, as there
must have been continuous supplies from Brid-
port if it were responsible for so much rigging in
1588. His version of the myth is all the more
interesting, as it is quoted by almost every writer
who mentions the hemp industry in the seven-
teenth and eighteenth centuries. He wrote : —
In our time in respect of the soil using the best hemp
and the skill of the people for making ropes and cables
for ships, it was provided by a special statute to remain
in force for a certain set time, that ropes for the navy
of England should be twisted no where else."
" Leland, Itin. (ed. Hearne, I 7 10), vii, 48.
" Camden, Brit. (ed. Holland, 1610), i, 54.
But most probably the statute never did confer
this monopoly, and was never intended so to do.
The second clause of 21 Henry VIII, cap. 12,
reads as a general prohibition of rope-making
except at Bridport, but it is qualified by the first
clause, which forbids the sale of hemp grown
within five miles of the town except at the
Bridport market, and by the fifth clause, which
gives permission to people 'dwelling within the
said distance,' i.e. five miles, to make whatever
kind of rope they need for their own use and
occupation. Later writers have taken Camden's
description as a convenient high-water mark by
which they can ascertain the degeneracy of their
own days.
The close connexion between Bridport and
the royal navy was seriously affected in 161 o,
when a contract was signed with William
Greenwell and Thomas Still, 'merchants in
London trading for the East country,' by which
they undertook to erect a rope-walk at Wool-
wich, and thence supply the navy, delivering
their goods as required at the government stores in
Deptford. Later a royal rope-walk was estab-
lished at Portsmouth, and in the second half of the
seventeenth century hemp yarn was imported from
Holland.^ The choice of Woolwich and Ports-
mouth for the new rope-walks points at once to
Bridport's heaviest handicap in the industrial
race. Some trade had been driven away by rules
and regulations, but it is safe to say that much
more was lost through its position. The ropes
required for the navy were very bulky, and the
cost of their carriage must have been a consider-
able item. It was considered cheaper and more
convenient to set up rope-walks near the ships,
and to import the hemp, than to bring the
ready-made ropes, either by land or sea, from
Bridport.
The Dorset hemp was the best in England.
This is asserted by everyone, and is never dis-
puted. Drayton mentions the
Bert whose bat'ning mellowed bank,
From all the British soil for hemp most hugely rank.
Doth bear away the best.
And in his poetical journey round the coast of
Dorset he describes
Bert port, which hath gained
That praise from every place, and worthilie
obtained
Our cordage from her store, and cables should be
made
Of any in that kind most fit for marine trade."
But whether poet laureates or country clergy-
men, the panegyrists never discuss the relative
quality of English and foreign hemp ; and,
judging from the climatic conditions which
are required to bring the plant to perfection,
'" Pepys, Diary, i, 330.
" Drayton, Polyolbion, Song 2.
347
A HISTORY OF DORSET
English hemp was probably always somewhat
inferior to that grown in Holland and Russia.
However, despite the growing import of
foreign hemp, and the fact that government
orders became less and less frequent, the industry
at Bridport continued to flourish, and in the
latter years of the sixteenth century a new source
of trade was opened up, and another and local
monopoly was established which lasted for about
two hundred and fifty years. The Newfound-
land fishing industry was founded by West-
countrymen in Elizabeth's reign and grew
steadily in importance. Ships were sent from
all along the Dorset coast ; but Bridport itself
was more interested in the new market for its
goods than in the fishing profits, though it took
its share in them when occasion arose. It sup-
plied most of tlie heavy cordage, nets, and tackle
to the fishing fleet. As time went on the town
seems to have specialized in nets and fishing
tackle and to have gradually left off supplying
heavy ropes except to Bridport-built ships. This
change seems to have taken place before 1770,
as from that time twine, nets, and seines are
always mentioned first in the lists given of the
hempen products of Bridport. Rope-walks fell
more and more into disuse, though ropes were
made at Bridport Harbour until the shipyards
were closed late in the nineteenth century.
There are still some rope-walks in Bridport
itself, but they no longer make the enormous
hawsers, about 25 in. in circumference, which
were once used for mooring vessels. This
branch of the trade was killed by the intro-
duction of chain cables, which after various
experiments were served out to the navy in
1810— II, and were universally adopted after
the disasters which befell the merchantmen
bringing supplies to the English soldiers in the
Crimean War. The men-of-war rode at safety
in the roughest weather, relying on their chain
cables ; but the merchantmen, with hempen
hawsers, continually broke away from their
anchors.
There are various references to the hempen
industry by writers in the first half of the eigh-
teenth century. Though the monopoly described
by Camden has come to an end, yet the ' town
is still in vogue for that sort of manufacture in
I720.'^- Twelve years later Coker found that
the people of Bridport ' reap their best commodity
from their skill in making up hemp, and their
trade in linen thread, which is sold weekly in
great abundance.'"'
But it is from descriptions of the Newfound-
land fishery that the clearest idea of the extent
and importance of the industry can be gathered.
The connexion between Bridport and New-
foundland, though it has passed through various
phases, has never been entirely broken, and cot-
tagers in Dorset still rejoice in the extra orders
for fishing tackle which follow a good season,
while ' hands ' are still thrown out of work by
the shortage in orders which inevitably accom-
panies a bad season in Newfoundland.
When their harbour was in good repair the
merchants of Bridport sent out cargoes of nets
in their own ships, until sailing vessels were
superseded by steamers ; but until 1741 there
are continual notices that the harbour was ruined
and choked up with sand. This harbour is
formed by the little River Brit, which is not
strong enough to make a safe channel through
the sand-bars which occur at its mouth.
There are constant references to building or
repairing Bridport Harbour, the piers which
were rebuilt in 1741-2 seem to have been fairly
effective, and by the end of the century a con-
siderable amount of trade was carried on. The
harbour accommodated vessels of 150 tons. The
ships which were sent to Newfoundland often
took out apprentices, to be bound to masters at
their journey's end, and after the fishing season
was over some of the ships themselves were sold
to inhabitants of Newfoundland, who employed
them for fishing, or for trading with America
and among the West Indies. Probably some
were used for smuggling rum, which was a
profitable source of income in the eighteenth
century.
The merchants at home arranged what ships
and what cargoes they would send out, and the
town was filled with the busy hum of work.
Besides their own ventures the merchants fitted
out most of the other boats that sailed to New-
foundland at the end of the eighteenth and be-
ginning of the nineteenth century .^^ And even
after the English fishing fleet was ruined, Brid-
port still supplied all the nets and fishing tackle
required in Newfoundland. But a factory was
set up on the island and protected by boun-
ties and import duties ; this gave the home-
made a distinct advantage over the English
goods. The factory in Newfoundland was
further benefited by the introduction of the use
of cotton for fishing purposes, as its nearness to
the United States lessened the cost of the cotton
which was used. Bridport still supplies a great
deal of fishing gear to Newfoundland, and the
bulk of goods exported is still very consider-
able, though the connexion is no longer so
important as it once was. Bridport has ceased
to put so many of its eggs in one basket, and
Newfoundland trusts to some extent to its own
skill.
About the middle of the eighteenth century
a branch industry was developed, and Bridport
began to emulate its Somerset rival, West Coker,
in making sail-cloth. Pococke is the first to
" Cox, Magna Brit. (1720), 313.
" Coker, Surv. of Dors. 23.
348
Harvey, Hist. ofNevifoundlond, 37.
INDUSTRIES
notice this new departure, and he mentions a
curious use to which inferior flax was put : —
They have (he writes) a great manufacture of
twine, cables, sail-cloth and coarse cloths not exceed-
ing I/, a yard, the county producing abundance of
hemp and flax ; when the latter happens not to be
good they thatch with it, and it lasts much longer
than any other material."
Coker sail-cloth was famed for its excellence,
which was said to be due to some particular
quality in its water. The Bridport manufac-
turers, not to be outdone, changed the style of
their town and labelled their goods as coming
from 'Bridport, near Coker,'^' though the towns
are about fifteen miles apart and have no con-
nexion with each other. At one time the
manufacture of sail-cloth seemed to be all-im-
portant, and to be much more profitable than
net-making ; but its importance has died down,
while that of net-making has developed and
increased. There are only a few sail-cloth
mills still working.
There are three very pessimistic accounts of
the condition of the hemp industry between
1760 and 1770, but the two published in 1769,
England displayed by a Society of Gentlemen and
the Description of England and JFales, published
by Newbury and Carman, echo each other word
for word, and with regard to Bridport are prob-
ably both based on the sixth edition of Defoe's
Tour through Great Britain, which came out in
1 76 1, but in some cases described the state of
affairs which existed in 1724. This would
account for the fact that all three describe
Bridport Harbour as choked with sand, which
was true in 1724 ; and that they agree in say-
ing ' there are scarce any remains ' of the once
flourishing hemp industry. Defoe was much
interested in the mackerel fishing when he
came along the coast road from Abbotsbury in
1724, and whether he was tired or whether he
was pushed for time when he reached Bridport
it is impossible to say, but his description of it
is meagre, uncomplimentary, and, as far as
concerns its industry, contradictory to every
contemporary writer. Probably the only in-
formation supplied by the three pessimistic
accounts is the fact that Bridport derived a
certain amount of profit from its position on
the great western road between London and
Exeter. There may have been some temporary
depression in the industry as it is peculiarly
liable to such depression, but it is much more
likely that all the descriptions are derived from
a mistaken view of the condition of the trade
in 1724.
The rector of Wareham, Mr. Hutchins, col-
lected his information at the same time as the
* Society of Gentlemen.' Pococke says that
'* Pococke, Travels through Engl. (1750), ii, 87.
"' From local information.
Hutchins had begun working at his county his-
tory in 1750 when they met at Wareham,
though it was not published until 1774. He
alludes to 'the resort of travellers' as one of the
'supports' of the town, but says that 'the staple
trade is large seines and nets used in the British
fishery and other hemp manufacture ; ' "'' this is
corroborated by the references to Bridport goods
which occur in histories of Newfoundland.
The next forty years mark the zenith of
Bridport's connexion with Newfoundland as
they mark the zenith of the fishing industry
on which that connexion so largely depended.
A description of the industry in 1802 is the
first to mention the circle of dependent villages
in which netting as a home industry kept pace
with the increase of the demand for nets : —
I'he manufacture at Bridport is at present varied,
but perhaps flourishes more than in any former time
and furnishes employment not only for the inhabi-
tants of the town, but for those likewise of the neigh-
bouring villages to the extent of ten miles in circum-
ference.
It consists of seines and nets of all sorts, lines, twines,
and small cordage and sail-cloth. Upwards of 1,500
tons of hemp are worked up annually and nearly
1 0,000 hands are employed."
Mr. Britton does not state how he arrived at
this last number, and it seems curious in view
of the fact that in 1 821, when a census was
taken of the families engaged in handicrafts,
there were only 10,811 in the whole of Dorset.
A rough calculation of the families so engaged
in the division and borough of Bridport and the
various hundreds in which the industry flourished
gives a total of 2,164 families, but this would
include all the masons, smiths, carpenters, and
cobblers. If these families were deducted the
total would probably fall below 2,000, and it is
highly improbable that a family would have
averaged five persons capable of making up
hemp. Allowance should also be made for the
fact that according to the report on the census
of 1821 the population of Dorset had increased
from 119,100 in 1801 to 147,400 in 1821.
However, the whole description was considered
so good that it did duty for sixty years, and is
reproduced verbatim as an accurate contemporary
account in 1864.
There are various other references to the
industry throughout the nineteenth century, but
its history is really a history of the reorganiza-
tion of the trade under the new conditions in-
volved by the use of machinery, and of its de-
velopment under the spur of competition ; it
can therefore best be gathered from a descrip-
tion of this reorganization.
The handicraft continued unchanged from
early days until the introduction of machinery
"Hutchins, Hisl. Dorset (1774), i, 233.
^' Brayley and Britton, Beauties of Engl, and Wales
801), iv, 519.
(1801)
349
A HISTORY OF DORSET
at the end of the eighteenth century. This view
of the industry is not contradicted by the evi-
dence afforded by the Bridport records. Prob-
ably an account, pieced together from oral
tradition, of the way the work was done to-
wards the end of the eighteenth century would
give a fairly accurate picture of the work at any
given time in the preceding centuries. The
only changes necessary would be in the costumes
of the workers.
Originally, the ropes were made of the hemp
grown in the neighbourhood and sold in the
Bridport market."' A rough division of labour
was usually practised, the work was divided
between the 'combers' and 'spinners,' names
which still survive ; the spinners were assisted
by ' turners,' boys or girls who turned the
spinning-wheel ; these have been replaced by
steam. The raw hemp was given out to the
' combers ' to be combed, and when thus prepared
was spun into yarn by the ' spinners,' and finally
was twisted into the required thickness of rope.
This last operation seems to have taken place in
the master spinner's rope-walk. Both the spin-
ning and the twisting were carried on in the
long gardens behind the workers' houses ; and
the yarn, twine, and ropes were dried on hooks
called ' waggles ' which were fixed in front of
the houses. These processes have given to the
town of Bridport its distinctive features — the
two main streets are curiously broad, and the
gardens lying behind the houses which front
these streets are very long in proportion to their
breadth. The custom of drying the twine, &c.,
on ' waggles ' in the main street was maintained
until within the last thirty years. The rope, yarn,
and raw hemp were all subject to inspection by
an official appointed by the town council.
The rope-walks and spinning-walks were all
open, and old inhabitants say that they were
very picturesque. Most of the rope-walks still
in existence have been roofed over. Longfellow's
description of rope-making is most vivid and ac-
curate : —
In that building, long and low.
With the windows all arow,
Like the port-holes of a hulk,
Human spiders spin and spin.
Backw.^rd down their thread so thin
Dropping each a hempen bulk.
At the end an open door,
Squares of sunshine on the floor,
Lights the long and dusty lane.
And the whirring of the wheel
Dull and drowsy makes me feel,
All the spokes are in my brain.
'^ Stevenson gives the following list of hemp-
growing parishes in the county in 1812 : Bridport,
Loders, Bradpole, Powerstock, Symondsbury, Chid-
eock, Bothenhampton, West Milton, Walditch, Stoke
Abbott, Beaminster, Netherbury, and Abbotsbury.
■^gric. of Dors. 287.
There was one rope-walk of which the tale
is still told that for some reason it was so dark
that the spinners had to walk to and fro with
lighted candles on their shoulders to enable them
to see what they were doing. The story sug-
gests Rembrandtesque effects of light and shade.
Old workers living in Bridport report curious
customs in connexion with the open rope-walks,
which seem to point to some corporate organiza-
tion of the details of the work. Trees grew in
most of the walks, these were usually ' witheys,'
i.e. willows, and they were all cut on Christmas
Day. In autumn and winter, as the days drew
in, the work was done by artificial light, but
despite the natural differences of different walks
with regard to the date when artificial light
became necessary, the lanterns were all put up
in the first week of October amid general re-
joicings ; and they were all taken down on the
last Friday in February.
Besides the lantern festival in October the
workers rejoiced in various other especial feast
days. On Shrove Tuesday they received ' Pan-
cake money,' which amounted in the case of
' Spinners ' to yi. a head, and in the case of
'Turners' to half as much. On Easter Tues-
day all hands ceased to work at four o'clock, and
some, at any rate, betook themselves either to
cock-fighting or to jumping in sacks for Easter
cakes. Whitsuntide they celebrated by eating
treacle rolls. ^^
Among the Bridport documents is an inden-
ture dated 20 June, 1683, by which the over-
seers of the parish apprenticed 'a poor fatherless
and motherless child,' John Baillie, to John
Keich, spinner, who undertook to teach and
instruct his apprentice ' in the craft and mistery
and occupation of a spinner.' The apprentice-
ship was to last until the boy was twenty-four
years old, and on his discharge the apprentice
was to be given two suits of apparel.'^
This system of binding out the 'parish ' chil-
dren may, or may not, have worked well in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries ; it scarcely
ever led to open revolt, as very few cases between
apprentices and masters came before the quarter
sessions for Dorset. There is a good deal of
hearsay evidence as to what happened in the
early nineteenth century. The children were
bound by indentures to the age of twenty-one,
and worked as their masters thought proper,
sometimes working from 4 a.m. to 9 p.m.
They did not earn wages until after they were
twenty-one years of age, when they could work
for whatever master they chose, and earned %d.
a day. The employers of apprentices recei\ed
money from the parish.'^ This account is
perhaps biased, since the people who remember
'" Local information.
" Bridport Doc. K. i 3.
" Local information ; my informant thought the
facts only applied to women.
350
INDUSTRIES
are the workers and not the masters, but the fact
about the long hours is most probably true.
Children, other than apprentices, employed as
' turners ' began to work at six, seven, or eight
years of age, turning the spinning-wheel from
6 a.m. in the summer and 7 a.m. in the winter
until 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. They received is. ()d.
to 2s. per week.''
The making of twine, whether for immediate
sale or for use in nets, followed the same lines as
rope-making. The hemp was prepared by the
'combers' and then given over to the 'spinners.'
Nets seem to have been made in the same way
from time immemorial, and the description of a
woman netting to-day would probably be equally
true as a description of her ancestor working in
King John's reign as far as the actual netting went,
but the woman of to-day works far fewer hours
and earns more in coin, if not in kind, than her
ancestor did.
Present Organization. — This is dependent
partly on the goods made and partly on the
materials used. To recapitulate, the goods that
are made in Bridport are : —
Rope : Of this a little is now made, but not of
the heaviest kinds.
Twine, thread, and small cordage of every de-
scription : The speciality of the town is a particu-
lar kind, which is known as Bridport laid twine.
Nets of every variety made by machinery and
by hand : Machine-made nets are chiefly used
for drift nets for herring, sprat, mackerel, and
pilchard. Among the various nets made by
hand are : — seines — these are very long, but not
very wide ; one side is loaded with lead, the other
buoyed with corks ; some of them are as much
as 1 90 fathoms long ; trawl nets — these are
dragged along the bottom by fishing boats ;
minnow nets and trouting nets. Besides fishing
nets, all sorts of nets for games, sports, and
practical purposes are made, for cricket, tennis,
billiard-table pockets, forage, hammocks, hatch-
ways, laundries, &c.
Sail-cloth : Of this a small quantity is still made.
The materials used are hemp, Manilla fibre,
flax, and cotton.
It is obvious that Bridport manufacturers can
no longer depend on home productions to supply
the raw material they need, and as a matter of
fact, hemp is no longer grown in Dorset, but
is imported from Russia and Italy. The Russian
hemp is sometimes shipped direct to Bridport, at
other times it is sent to an East-coast port by sea
and then is transported by rail. The connexion
between Russia and Bridport is so close and so
firmly established that at Riga there is a special
brand of hemp which is called the ' Bridport
selection,' and this is said to be the best of all the
Russian hemp. The Italian hemp is imported
through London or Liverpool.
" Loc.ll information.
A small quantity of Manilla fibre is imported
from the Philippines; this is the only fibre which
is now spun by hand ; it is used for the trawl
twine for which Bridport is so justly famous.
Flax is imported from Russia, Belgium, Hol-
land, and a little from Ireland, though Irish flax
is generally kept for finer manufactures. A very
small proportion is still produced locally. There
was a flax market at Yeovil until within the last
twenty years, and still from time to time a farmer
grows a field or so of flax and sells his crop to
Bridport manufacturers, though the knowledge of
the proper way of ' retting,' i.e. soaking and pre-
paring, the flax is becoming more and more rare.
A feature of the last half century has been the
introduction and increasing use of cotton in the
industry. This is imported in the form of cotton
yarn. It is made up into nets, lines and twines.
The majority of machine-made nets are composed
of cotton.
The introduction of machinery marked the
beginning of the reorganization of labour which
was involved by the gradual substitution of mills
and all that they imply for the old system of
home-work. This process was very slow. The
first step was taken when water-power was ap-
plied to turn the spinning-wheels. Up to that
time a boy or girl supplied the power required
by the single wheel, and each man span alone,
usually in his own premises. Water was in its
turn superseded by steam ; sometimes water-power
was not used at all, but the change was made
directly from human power to steam-power ; in
other cases the water-power was retained until
late in the nineteenth century. The introduc-
tion of water or steam necessarily implied that
the spinning-wheels were brought together and
driven by one force, usually at the head quarters
of each manufacturer for which the individual
men had worked. Despite the use of steam or
water to turn the wheels the spinning was almost
all done by hand ; this continued to be the case
until within the last fifty years, although spinning-
machinery was introduced between 1789 and
i8oi.
The 'combers' followed the 'spirmers' to the
mill. This move was probably dictated by a
desire to economize in space and to institute
some method of supervision, for a good deal of
the combing is still done by hand. Some of the
hemp is ' balled or rolled ' before it is ' combed
or heckled,' then it is roved and spun, and finally
twisted into threads. Cotton yarn also under-
goes this last process. All this is done in the
mills. The men work by time and by piece.
The wages are so influenced by the kind and
quantity of the work done and by the individual
skill and industry of the worker that it is almost
impossible to give any figures about them which
would not be called in question. The aristocrat
among the workmen is the man who makes
small cordage, as this branch of the industry
351
A HISTORY OF DORSET
is highly specialized and successful results depend
on the individual skill of the worker.
The use of machinery has brought into the
mills most of the home workers on rope, twine,
thread, and sail-cloth, but in netting it has only
affected certain kinds of work. At present there
is no satisfactory machine for making nets with
square meshes or making nets which decrease
and increase in size, consequently there is a large
field open to the home worker.
Nets are fabrics in which the threads cross each other
at right angles, leaving a comparatively wide open
space between them. The threads are also knotted
at the intersection. The open spaces in the net are
called meshes."
The machinery by which nets are made is
very ingenious, but it is the same at Bridport as
at Musselburgh or in the United States. The
art of net-making by hand is also universal, and
has been practised from the earliest times by the
most savage as well as the most civilized nations,
but its organization as a by - industry seems
peculiar to this neighbourhood.
Net-making is called 'braiding' in Dorset;
it is chiefly carried on by women. There is a
great deal of competition for the work, which
can be done at home in the intervals of house-
work. The twine is given out from the mill ;
some mills have special net foremen. It is
generally brought by the carriers to the various
villages where the women live. Different
arrangements are made by the different mills
as to the payment of the carriage of the twine
and the nets. At one time there existed a set
of middlemen who carried the work to and fro,
and many of these thoroughly understanding the
business were able to render considerable services
both to the manufacturers and the braiders.
A few black sheep among the middlemen used
their position to trade on the ignorance of the
women ; but this has now been effectually
stopped, and when a woman receives twine she
receives also full particulars of the work required,
the length and breadth which the net is to be
made, and the rate of pay which will be given
her.
The work is paid either by the length of net
made, or by the weight or length of the twine
worked up, and varies in accordance with the
size of the mesh. The ordinary measure of pay-
ment is so much per ' ran,' a local standard of
length. The industry is said to circulate a large
sum of money annually in the cottage homes in
the neighbourhood of Bridport.
Braiding is in itself pleasant, healthy, and
clean, and is a very popular form of work. It is
very picturesque in the summer in those villages
where the women work out of doors, securing
their nets to a hook in the wall and talking busily
as they braid. When the work is carried on
** Chambers, Encyclopedia.
indoors in the general living-room of the family,
the larger nets take up too much room to be
very convenient, but they can be easily put aside
and packed away into a very small space.
Though braiding is only a branch of the hemp
industry, it is itself very much subdivided and
localized. The lines of division follow the
mesh which the women net, and are in no
way dependent on the firms which may chance
to employ the women. Thus small-meshed
netting is made in one district and large-meshed
in another. There is not much change in the
kind of mesh which any particular village makes.
This is handed down from mother to daughter,
and any innovation is regarded with disfavour.
This rule is so universal that if a firm which
usually supplies large - meshed nets chances to
want small -meshed nets, or vice-versa, it is
obliged to send to a village where the nets it
may require are made, even if it has had no
previous connexion with that village and has
employed a totally different set of women.
The successive generations of workers are
trained from childhood. They are quite young
when they begin to take their turn in helping
their mothers to braid. The elder women com-
plain that the present school regulations prevent
the children from learning to work as well or
as fast as the previous generation ; but then,
even before school regulations were invented,
the same complaint was made, though some
other reason was given to explain the inferiority
of the younger generation.
The hemp industry is fixed in this neighbour-
hood by the hand-made nets, as the produc-
tion of these is dependent on home-workers.
Machinery and factories might be trans-
planted ; but one can scarcely conceive any-
thing more immovable than the inhabitants of
small Dorset villages, the houses of which
seem to have become one with the hillsides on
which they are built. And this impression is
true despite the apparently contradictory fact
that many of the workers have changed their
homes annually, as their husbands, who are
usually agricultural labourers, have seen fit to
change their masters, for the custom of engaging
men by the year is not far-reaching, and often
it only involves a re-apportioning of houses and
families on 6 April, when the change takes
place. The establishment of a by-industry is
often suggested as an adequate method of pre-
venting the exodus from the country to the
town, but people who are of the opinion that
such a course of action is sure to succeed will
do well to shut their eyes to the facts about
the country districts of South and West Dorset,
where braiding is carried on, as there the popula-
tion is rapidly decreasing, and it would be hard
to say that the by-industry had any counter
effect.
According to the census of 1 901, 597 men.
352
INDUSTRIES
733 women, and 33 children are employed in
the hemp industry,'^ but this is probably an
understatement. All Bridport is directly or in-
directly dependent on the mills, except for the
few people attracted there to supply the needs of
the agricultural district round the town, while
the women in the surrounding villages habitually
or occasionally supplement their husband's or
father's wages. The handicraft is also practised
by the widows of agricultural labourers who
wish to keep themselves and their children out
of the workhouse, but their earnings are usually
augmented by outdoor relief. In the town the
workers earn their living at the mills, but in the
country the earnings are only supplementary to
agricultural wages, and though the netting in-
dustry is of great value to the villages it has no
pretension to being anything more than a by-
industry.
The goods which are made in Bridport and
its neighbourhood are sent all over the world.
Perhaps the most important are nets and fishing-
tackle, but other twine and goods are also ex-
ported, and numbers of government contracts
are executed in the town. The industry neces-
sarily fluctuates with the fishing seasons, and the
workers are usually busier from January to June
than from July to October. Bridport receives
every kind of order, from government contracts
to orders for twine from the old-fashioned fisher-
men who make or mend their own fishing or
rabbit nets.
Some of the present houses of business have
almost continuous records from 1813 to the
present day, and before 1813 occasional records
which carry the practical history of the industry far
back into the eighteenth century. Briefly the his-
tory of the nineteenth century seems to have been
that when the manufacturers lost their monopoly
in Newfoundland they opened up other markets
all over the world, so that Bridport twine is used
everywhere. When they were hard pushed bv
machine-made nets they developed the industn'
of hand-made nets, which already existed in the
thirteenth century, and as competition has be-
come more and more severe they have tended
to develop each in an individual direction, so
that while they all supply twine and nets of
every description, each has a branch of the
manufacture to which he devotes special atten-
tion. The whole industry is flourishing and
seems to owe its success to its old-fashioned
methods which can be maintained, but scarcely
initiated, in the twentieth century.
FISHERIES
The fisherman's craft has had a numerous
following among Dorset men from a very early
date,^ although the records of the industry have
been somewhat overshadowed by the neighbouring
fisheries of Devon and Cornwall, one branch
at least of the ancient Dorset fishing, that of the
pilchard, formerly caught in considerable quanti-
ties off the coast, having actually passed almost
exclusively to the last-named county.^
The returns^ belonging to the year 1340,
known as Inquisitiones Nonarum, show that the
Dorset fishing industry was of considerable im-
portance. In Portland * the fisheries were worth
/lO, 'in qua proficuum dicte ecclesie maxime
consistit,' and the surveyor, forsaking for a
moment his dry official fashion of setting down
the returns, tells us further, ' also the said parish
" Population Returns, Dors. 190 1, p. 8.
' We are told in Domesday Book that at Lyme, which
belonged to the church of Salisbury, the fisheries
tenants rendered 1 5/. to the monks in respect of
their fish {ad pisces). An early grant of King Athel-
stan to the monks of Abbotsbury of certain ' waters '
adjoining their monastery, seems to a Weymouth
historian to suggest the ancient repute and abundance
of the fishing there. Ellis, Hist. Weymouth, 5.
' Ibid. 242.
' For this and the five following paragraphs Mr.
C. H. Vellacott is responsible.
' Inj. Non. 50<J.
has been burnt and destroyed by the enemies of
England and the sheep and other belongings
{catalla) carried away.' Again, in the adjacent
district of Wyke and Weymouth, ten fisheries
were valued at ^^3, and at Preston also the sea
fisheries were considerable. Further east, in the
Isle of Purbeck, the tithes of the fishery at Corfe
Castle reached 12^., in Studland 2j., and the
same amount at Worth with Swanage. At
Wareham fisheries also flourished,' but the tithes
are classed with those of other products. In Holy
Trinity parish, however, tithes of fish and salt
together reached half a mark. It is a fair in-
ference from these returns that the vigorous
export trade in marble and stone from Ower
naturally attracted the best enterprise and skill of
the Isle of Purbeck. The fisheries at Port-
land and Wyke were then of more economic
importance than the quarries — for the heyday of
the Portland stone trade was yet to come. As
the marblers' craft declined in the late fifteenth
century, Corfe, which had been famous all over
England for its marble, found new associations
for its name, and the Customs Accounts often
' We know that Wareham herrings were of great
repute. Many of the tenants on the manors of the
abbey of Shaftesbury were bound to carry herrings
from Wareham as the rental of that house clearly
shows. See Introd. re ' Salt.'
353
45
A HISTORY OF DORSET
mention Corfe herrings,' and occasionally Corfe
hake.
Now and again Cornish fishing boats came
sailing into Poole, maybe bound on a deliberate
trading venture, perhaps driven up Channel be-
fore a sou'-wester, or fleeing from the pirate or
alien privateer. Early in February,' 1467, such
a squadron of the Cornish fishing fleet arrived
together, the George and Michael of Fowey, the
Catherine and Margaret of Mousehole, and the
Saint "Jamei {Sen 'Jame') of ' Ive.'
The George carried 20s. worth of hake, 'mill-
well,' and ling, and half a last of herrings valued
at 1 01., and is. bd. subsidy was paid to the
king's officers. The Michael, of Fowey, may
have been a slightly bigger boat, and brought
2 marks' worth of fish called ' hakis,' half a mark's
worth of ' puUokes,' 3 burden of ' milwell,' and
ling valued at the same amount, and of less im-
portance, 2,000 herrings * in rowme ' worth
20d.y and 2 cades of herrings priced at 10^.
The master paid in subsidy 2s. i^d. Rather
less than a month before, on 16 January, Wey-
mouth had also received a like visit from the
Andrew and Peter of Fowey, and the Thomas
and Michael of [St. Michael's] Mount.
Ships from the Netherlands, Normandy, and
the Channel Islands brought in salted fish, con-
gers, and broad fish, and took away much cloth
on their return voyages. In February,* 1467,
a Zeeland ship, beside hops, brought in 3 lasts of
herrings worth ^9, on which qs. subsidy and
2s. id. customs duty were paid, 6 barrels of
salmon worth 5 marks, on which a quarter of
a mark subsidy and lod. in customs were due,
and half a hundred of salt fish at 6/. ^d., on
which the customs duty was only id. and the
subsidy ^d.
Some of the local ships also did a large trade
carrying cloth, salt, and other commodities
abroad and bringing back fish. For instance, on
5 February, 1 468, the ' creyer ' Mary^ of Poole,
with Robert Johnson as master, brought in as
cargo 45^ lasts of herrings valued at ^^18, 8 cades
of red herring at a quarter mark the cade, 3 bar-
rels of red herring at half a mark the barrel, and
1 7 barrels of herring at \s. the barrel, besides
700 hake at i mark the hundred, a barrel of
salmon value 6i. Sa'., and 300 dry hake at 3;. i^d.
the hundred. The subsidy paid amounted to
jTi 95.3;^. Manyyearslater, 23 October, I503,we
hear ^^ of a local skipper, German Walsche, landing
from his boat, the Peter, of Poole, ten congers ^^
worth 35. 4^., on which he paid 2d. subsidy,
and also 4 dozen ' breyms, couners and why-
* See K.R. Cust. Accts. late fifteenth century, /jw/ot.
' K.R. Cust. Accts. bdle. 119, No. 8.
» Ibid.
' Ibid. No. 9. '" Ibid. bdle. 120, No. 10.
" In a thirteenth-century grant from Mary, abbess
of Shaftesbur}-, to her butler, congers are mentioned
as well as plaice, rays (skate ?), and salmon.
tynges,' worth 20a'., on which only \d. was
demanded.
In the Isle of Purbeck the local fisheries were
very active in the sixteenth century, and the
exercise of the craft was regulated by ancient
customs enforceable in the local courts. A ver}-
frequent presentment ^' is that made by the
tithings of Studland, Ower, and Swanage, on
17 October, 15 13, that certain persons are
' common fishers on the sea coast {costream maris)
in their boats, and do not keep their tides [tldas)
as of ancient time they are bound to do.' The
offenders were amerced j^d. each. Other com-
mon ofiFences" detrimental both to the health
and pockets of the lieges were visited with an
amercement of 3a'., when Richard and Thomas
Weryng and Robert Symondsold ' pisces fetosos
ac male olentes,' and likewise took excessive
gain.
In 1538 Leland described Lyme as 'having
good ships and using fishing,' " Lulworth and
Swanage being also mentioned as ' fisher towns.' '*
Lyme was ' frequented with fishermen ' in Cam-
den's time.'*
The fisheries of Dorset, in addition to that of
the pilchard, have been the mackerel fishery,
which still flourishes along the coast from Abbots-
bury to Bridport, the oyster fishery of Poole,
and the Newfoundland fisherj', to which Poole,
Weymouth, Lyme Regis, and sometimes Brid-
port, formerly sent their ships. This fishery,
however, has long passed into the hands of
Newfoundland fishermen.^'
The fisheries were largely drawn upon for the
conventional offerings to great personages, which
invariably took the form of local products.
Shrlmpls (prawns) of Lyme were thus presented
by the mayor in 1557, at a cost of 4^. per
hundred, crabs ' given to Mr. Poulett,' costing
from 2d. to ^d. each.'* In the same year
Sanders Davy was paid 2s. 2d. to carry a broad
(flat) fish to my Lord St. John, the manner of
taking this fish, it may be mentioned in passing,
being with baited hooks set along a ground-line
called a trot.'^ From a bill for shellfish bought
for an entertainment offered to the judges on
circuit at Lyme, in 1674-5, some idea may be
gleaned of market prices at that date. Thirty
lobsters cost j^i ioj., six crabs, 6x., 100 scallops
5J., 300 oysters 45.°" According to Bohn,
" P.R.O. Ct. R. bdle. 169, m. 13 (5 Hen. VIII).
" Ibid. (38 Hen. VIII).
" Leland, Itin. iii, 48. '' Ibid.
'^ Camden, Brit, i, 51.
" The chief traffic of Poole in 1826 was said to be
the Newfoundland fishery. Paterson, Roads, 380.
" Roberts, Soc. Hist. Southern Counties, 10.
" Ibid. 10.
'" Ibid. 2 5 . Brownsea Island was noted for crabs
and shrimps in the seventeenth century, Swanage en-
joying the like reputation for lobsters and crabs.
Fiennes, Through Engl, on a Side-saddle, 6, 7.
354
INDUSTRIES
Dorset dorsers (peds or panniers) were either
first found out or generally used in this county,
the fish-jobbers using such contrivances, he adds,
to bring up their fish above lOO miles from
Lyme to London.^^
The manufacture of lobster-pots, baskets with
a small hole on top, was extensively carried on
along the coast in 1812.^^
Poole has always had a thriving fishery, the
plaice of that port being esteemed ' peculiarly
excellent.'^' In 1550 the Admiralty Court of
Poole was ordered to inquire if any fished on
Sundays, or suffered any engines to be in the seas
that day to take fish withal.^^ All fishermen
within the bounds of the port might sell fish
taken there, and not elsewhere, at competent
prices.^' ' Beyond the memory of man,' it was
a custom in the Poole fish-market that all fish was
to be exposed for one hour therein before being
carried to be sold at any other place.^^ The
burgesses of the town received for one last of
herrings ^d., and the same for every hundred of
salted fish." The fishermen of Wareham claim
the right of fishing in Poole Harbour on payment
of a nominal fine to the lord of Corfe Castle.^*
Although the herring fishery on the Dorset
coast has never attained to the dimensions of the
similar industry on the east coast, there have
been times of abundance in its history, as, for
example, in 1793, when Mr. Davies of Swyre
bought a shoal of herrings for manuring his land
at IS. per load."' Several curing-houses were
started about this date by Mr. William Morton
Pitt at Swanage for smoking and curing these
fish, numbers being dispatched to the London
and Portsmouth markets.'"
The most thriving of eighteenth-century Dor-
set fisheries was the mackerel fishery of Abbots-
bury, which gave employment to the greater part
of the inhabitants at that date.'"" By ancient
custom id. every day was paid for every kind of
fish taken, and 6d. for three turbots, mackerel,
however, being exempt from impost. The tax
was afterwards compounded for at 40/. per
annum.'"'' From 1746 to 1758 very few
mackerel were taken, the scarcity being attri-
buted to the scouring of Bridport Harbour.'"''
The season lasted from about the middle of
March to Midsummer, and the catch was with
nets and seines. Stevenson writes in 18 12 of
" Coll. Proverbs, 202.
" Stevenson, Agric. of Dors. 449.
'' Pigot, Dir. 1823, p. 270. In the eighteenth
century Poole sent fish to Devizes, whence it was
carried to Oxford. Aflalo, Sea-Fishing Ind. 286.
'" Roberts, Soc. Hist. Southern Counties, 239.
" Hutchins, Hist. Poole, 31. '* Ibid. 19.
>■ Ibid. 30. »« Ibid. 44.
" Claridge, Agric. of Dors. 18.
'° Hutchins, Hist. Dors, i, 259.
^' Engl Displayed (1769), 63.
'»'' Hutchins, Hilt. Dors, i, 538.
""= Ibid.
30,000 to 40,000 being caught at a draught
near Abbotsbury, and sold at id. per loo.'"*^
In the summer of 1724, Defoe, travelling
along the coast road from Abbotsbury to Brid-
port, 'all the way on the sea shore,' saw 'ships
fishing for mackerel, which,' he explains —
they talte in the easiest way imaginable ! for they fix
one end of the net to a pole set deep into the sand,
then the net being in a boat, they row right out into
the water some length, then turn and row parallel
with the shore veering out the net all the while until
they have let go all the net, except the line at the
end and then the boat rows on shore, when the men
haling the net to the shore at both ends bring to
shore such fish, as they surrounded in the little way
they rowed, this at that time proved to be an incredible
number in so much that the men could hardly draw
them on shore. ... In short such was the plenty of
fish that year, that the mackerel the finest and largest
I ever saw, were sold at the sea side a hundred for a
penny. ^'
A traveller of to-day would see practically the
same sight if he chose a prosperous summer for
his journey. The pole spoken of by Defoe is
nowadays dispensed with, as there are generally
enough loafers on the shore to hold one end of
the rope attached to the seine while the net itself
is being towed out to surround the fish ; an
anchor is sometimes used, and when this is the
case it is deeply rooted in the sand. The seine
is paid out as the boat is rowed through the
school of mackerel. Then both ends are hauled
in ; the net is preceded by a glimmer of white-
bait as these leap madly on land to avoid the
voracious mackerel, who take no heed of the
encircling net in their eager pursuit of food.
The whitebait are left on the sand, and the
mackerel are sold at a very low rate, though not
at a 'hundred for a penny.'
The mackerel approach the coasts in the
spring ; some fishermen say that they are bent
on finding suitable ground for spawning ; others
that they are hunting for food, which is more
abundant near the land. This second theory is
more usually accepted as correct.
In and just before the season men are stationed
with telescopes on vantage ground all along the
coast — for instance by the remnants of the old
village cross at Swyre, on the cliff-head at Burton
Bradstock. Their duty is to report the first ap-
proach of the mackerel. This is shown by a
darker patch on the sea, by curious ripples, and by
the company of greedy birds. Usually the crew
are waiting in a neighbouring public-house, or in
a convenient cottage with a hogshead of cider.
Report states that three hogsheads of cider have
been consumed by men waiting for long-delay-
ing fish. The payment for this makes a great
hole in the money earned when the fish do
come ; while as Dorset cider is a quarrelsome
'"'' Stevenson, /igric. of Dors. 72.
" Defoe, Tour through Great Brit. (1724), iii, 327
355
A HISTORY OF DORSET
drink, its consumption leads to rough language
and rougher behaviour. Sometimes when two
crews crossed their seines in pursuit of the same
school of fish they ' larrupped ' one another with
their tongues while their friends on the beach
assisted in the quarrel with pebbles ; '^ but such
behaviour and drinking is exceptional, and not
typical of the industry.
When the fish are seen the look-out signals
or shouts, and at once the men run down pell-
mell to the beach, their heavy boots thundering
and their coats flapping as they run. The nets
are snatched up from the beach where they were
drying ; the boats are hastily launched, and the
school is pursued — often fruitlessly, often with
moderate success, and occasionally with results
similar to those described by Defoe.
A man may wait night after night for a week
or more and earn nothing, and then if he
happens to stay at home one night it may
chance that his partners earn ;^I or £1 each.
The money earned is divided into shares, of
which the boat has two, the seine two, and each
of the crew one. The loafers who help to pull
in the net are usually paid with a few of the
inferior fish.
All the mackerel-fishing by day and by night
is carried on in the same way. The fish are
inclosed in a seine the ends of which are attached
to long ropes, and these are gradually drawn in
until the seine is brought to the shore. The
end of the rope left on shore is called the ' long
arm,' and the end taken in the boat the 'ship
arm,' and sometimes the ' short arm.' The best
idea of the picture made by the fishermen and
their nets can be obtained by imagining Raphael's
cartoon of * The Miraculous Draught of Fishes '
with typical English fishermen clothed in sea-
boots and jerseys instead of Italians in conven-
tional draperies.
At Abbotsbury a farmer, whose son now
farms in his stead, had an especially long seine
and a larger boat (pulling six oars instead of the
usual four) ; with these he was able to make
larger sweeps and to inclose larger hauls. As
he had horses at his disposal he was in the habit
of hitching one to the ' long arm,' so that the
horse with one man could pull the net in, saving
both labour and expense. His name and the
name of his boat still live on the beach and
among old fishermen, but his practice has not
been followed.
In Defoe's time a ' guard or watch was placed
on the shore in several places,' and he found
these to be officers appointed by the justices and
magistrates of the towns about ' to prevent the
country farmers buying the mackerel to dung
their land with, which was thought to be dan-
gerous as to infection.'' Similar abundance and
" From local information.
" Engl. Displayed (1769), 75.
similar precautions are recorded in other histories
and descriptions of Dorset.
At the present time the fish is sent to London
from Bridport by the Great Western Railway.
1906 was an especially good year, and a great
deal of money was divided among the crews
along the coast.
Though the supply of mackerel is precarious,
the fishermen derive a fairly steady income by
catching herring, cod, whiting, rock salmon,
grey mullet, red mullet, and occasional lobsters.
These are usually hawked through the inland
villages by fishwomen, each of whom has her
own particular beat.
Many of the men do odd jobs on shore, and
nearly all possess or rent a potato ground, so
that they are able in some measure to supple-
ment their earnings from the fishery, while their
wives, daughters, and younger sons make nets
for the manufacturers at Bridport.
The pilchard fishery at Lyme Regis was new
in 1724.'^ It seems to have been fairly success-
ful. In 1769 merchants of Lyme were reported
to have ' engaged with good success in the pilchard
fishery;''* they are represented as taking up the
industry because the fishing in Newfoundland
had become less profitable. Yet, as Defoe
pointed out, the interest in the pilchard fishing
has never been so considerable as it is farther
west, * the pilchards seldom coming up so high
eastward as Portland and not very often so high
as Lyme.' This sound geographical reason still
holds good, though the movements of the pil-
chards vary from year to year, and a certain
number of Dorset men are engaged in this
fishery.
The commercial relations between Dorset and
Newfoundland, growing out of the early attrac-
tion of West-countrymen to the North Ameri-
can fishery, have been long and close, forming a
chapter in the economic history of the county
which no student of the subject can afford to
ignore. According to the evidence of mer-
chants, many of whom were Poole men, before
a Parliamentary Committee in 1793, the New-
foundland fishery was regarded as part of the
fishing industry of Dorset ; '^ whilst the inti-
macy of the commercial relations alluded to
above is clearly shown by an order of the Star
Chamber in 1633, whereby the mayor of Wey-
mouth, in conjunction with his brethren of
Southampton and other neighbouring seaports,
was to ' take cognisance ' of all offences and
" Defoe, Tour through Great Brit. (1724), i, 330.
" Ibid. 242.
" According to a letter quoted in the above evi-
dence, written by Mr. Antonie Parkhurst, and pub-
lished in Halduyt's Voyages, the Newfoundl.ind fishery
was firmly established in 1574, a fleet of thirty ships
sailing in that year to the colony, the number increas-
ing rapidly, until fifty were dispatched in 1578 ; Pari.
Rep. N etcfoundland Trade, 1793, p. 2.
356
INDUSTRIES
■crimes committed on the soil of Newfoundland,
the vice-admiral in Dorset being similarly em-
powered to proceed against offenders by sea.''
In 1649 Poole had eight ships engaged in the
trade with Newfoundland.'* No small profit
was reaped by those who took part in these
expeditions in the reign of James I, the mer-
chants of Lyme Regis, ' being engaged in trade
to Newfoundland, acquired large fortunes and
raised the town considerably.' This town, in
common with Poole and Weymouth, suffered
by the loss of this trade, temporarily caused by
the war of the Spanish Succession. Weymouth
seems to have recovered more quickly than the
other two towns, for even before the Peace of
Utrecht ' its trade began again to flourish, and
the merchants fitted out 20 ships for Newfound-
land in 1711.''^
At Poole, in 1724, Defoe found that 'a good
number of ships were fitted out every year to the
Newfoundland fishing in which the Poole men
were said to have been particularly successful for
many years past.'^" In 1732 Weymouth and tons
Melcombe Regis had as many as ' 80 sail of
ships and barks engaged in the Newfoundland
industry.' ^^ This number was probably excep-
tional, and refers to a record year rather than to
the average number of vessels sent out.
The editors of the sixth edition of Defoe's
Tour through Great Britain rival Defoe himself
in the clearness with which they describe this
industry, and their account is corroborated by
every writer in the eighteenth century.
The principal branch of the foreign commerce of
Poole's inhabitants is the Newfoundland fishery, to
which they send every spring in time of peace
upwards of seventy sail of vessels from the burden of
100 to 150 tons, laden with provisions, nets, cordage,
sailcloth, and all sorts of wearing apparel, with variety
of other commodities for the consumption of the
inhabitants and their servants. The smaller vessels
fish on the banks, and make two or three trips every
season. Their returns are in cod, oil, skins, and furs,
and in autumn they export their fish to Spain, Italy,
and Portugal. This is a trade not more profitable to
those concerned than beneficial in general to the
kingdom, as it subsists a prodigious number of hands,
occasions a great export of our commodities and
manufactures, and breeds excellent seamen ... In
time of war they have hitherto suffered extremely,
and as this is so exceedingly detrimental to a trade
which is so apparently serviceable to the Royal Navy
it deserves notice."
This description is as true of Dorset as a
whole as it is of Poole in particular, though
the industry seems to have had an especial attrac-
'' Reeves, Hist. 'Newfoundland, 9.
'' Hutchins, Hist. Poole, 39.
'' Cox, Magna Brit. 549.
*° Defoe, Tour through Great Brit. (1724), 319.
*' Coker, Sarc. of Dors. (1732), 35.
*' Defoe, Tour through Great Brit. (1761), 319.
tion for the adventurous and reckless sailors of
that town. Throughout the eighteenth century
the trade with Newfoundland was the most
important commercial venture in the county, and
Dorset seems to have been the largest adventurer
in this trade.
In the ' Report of the Committee appointed
to enquire into the state of Trade in Newfound-
land in 1793' an analysis is given of the
number of ships sent to Newfoundland between
1769 and 1792 by the various towns engaged
in the industry. In this analysis Poole and
Dartmouth are shown to have sent more ships
than any of the other towns. In the years
1774, 1787, and 1788 Poole sent fewer ships
than Dartmouth, though the total tonnage sent
by each town was almost the same. In the
remaining years Poole sent more ships or ships
of greater tonnage than Dartmouth, e.g. in 1 791
Dartmouth sent eighty-three ships whose total
tonnage was 7,254 tons, while Poole sent
seventy-eight ships whose total tonnage was 9,528
These ships were usually built in the towns
in which their owners lived, and shipbuilding
was a considerable business in Poole " and Lyme
Regis,^' Poole being famed for ' Leith smacks '
and revenue cutters, while Bridport received
most of the orders for cordage, sails, and nets
for Newfoundland-bound ships at the end of the
eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth
centuries.^'
The history of the industry is bound up with
the history of Newfoundland, and this consists,
as Chief Justice Reeves pointed out,^' in the
history of the quarrel between the adventurers
and planters. There are numerous descriptions
of the origin and growth of these two classes,
and one of the best seems to be that given
by Mr. George Garland to the Select Com-
mittee on Newfoundland Trade on 19 June,
1817 :—
When the trade was first established the merchants
and their immediate servants were the only classes of
persons engaged in it. The merchant residing in
England made his outfit in the spring of the year,
both as it represented the number of servants he
engaged and the quantity of provisions and tackle he
provided on a scale proportioned to the extent to
which he intended to carry on the fishery. The fish
was wholly caught, cured, and exported by his own
servants, and a very small establishment (if any) was
left in the island through the winter. In process of
time, however, a third class of persons sprang up con-
sisting of servants and sailors who had chosen to
" Rep. Select Com. Newfoundland Trade (1793), 4.
*' Pococke, Travels, i, 87. See Introduction.
" Handbook of Travel round the Southern Coast of Engl.
(1849), 301.
" Harvey, Hist, of N ewfoundland, 37.
" Reeves, Hist, of the Govt, of the Island of New-
foundland (1793), 21.
357
A HISTORY OF DORSET
remain in the island after the period of their servitude
had elapsed, and of their descendants born in New-
foundland. These persons, denominated planters,
procured supplies of all the necessaries of life and
implements for the fishery from the merchants, engag-
ing to pay for the same in fish and oil.*'
The quarrel between these two classes arose
from their different views as to the government
of Newfoundland, and was complicated by trade
disputes. The merchants or adventurers wished
to treat Newfoundland as a ' great ship moored
to England ' ; and pointed out how an industry
organized on the original lines was an excellent
preparatory school for the Royal Navy, how two
or more 'green men' (i.e. men who had not pre-
viously sailed to Newfoundland) were trained on
every ship, and how the industry fulfilled every
condition required by the patriotism and political
economy of the eighteenth century, besides
incidentally being very profitable to themselves.
Every requisite of life and labour was sent from
England, and was paid for by fish, &c., or by
foreign gold from the Mediterranean.
The planters clamoured for peace, justice, and
security in the long winter months when the riff-
raff on the island did what was right in its own
eyes, and the respectable people were powerless,
since the fishing admirals were in England and
the governors, usually naval officers, were in
winter quarters. The adventurers thought good
government too expensive a luxury, and were
bitterly jealous of any rights acquired by the
planters, and of any steps which tended to
make colonization of the island normal. Their
commercial instinct was right ; the planters
were necessarily their most dangerous rivals.
Though long delayed by the strenuous opposi-
tion of the men of Dorset and Devonshire, a
Supreme Court of Justice was established in
Newfoundland in 1793, and the first resident
governor was appointed in 18 16.'"
After England became mistress of the sea the
fish-markets of the world were in her hands.
But with the end of the French war the Dorset
industry flagged. The merchants who petitioned
for relief in 1817 explained that most of
their fish had been sold in Spain and on the
coasts of the Mediterranean, at the close of the
war the price of fish had fallen, and both
France and the United States paid considerable
bounties on the fish caught, which still further
lowered the price.'" Despite the merchants'
appeal to the precedent of the help given by
Mr. Pitt, the government decided to ignore
their petition, and England was to a large extent
driven from the industry. But the stimulus
given by the bounties of France and the United
States was not sufficient to keep the fishing out
" Rep. Select Com. ^Newfoundland Trade (1 8 1 7), 4,
" Harvey, H'ut. of Newfoundland, 49.
Ref. Select Com. N eufoundland Trade (1817), 39-
40.
of the hands of the planters, whose advantageous
position placed them beyond the reach of arti-
ficial competition, so that what England lost, her
colony gained. The connexion with Dorset is
still maintained, and the fish, no longer caught by
Dorset men, are still in many cases captured in
Dorset nets.
There are two oyster fisheries on the Dorset
coast; one known as the Fleet Oyster Fishery at
Wyke Regis, the operations of the company
being almost exclusively concerned with the
fattening of ovsters in the waters of the Fleet,
quantities of French oysters being laid down for
this purpose. ''
The fame of Poole oysters, now chiefly culled
by the Poole Oyster Fishery Company, Ham-
side, Poole,'- was already established by the
seventeenth century, when an order was issued
by the corporation that the shells, formerly
thrown into the sea after the oysters were opened
for pickling, should be piled up on the strand.'*
So extensive was the bank thus formed that at
the present time many warehouses on the har-
bour are built upon a foundation of oyster shells.'*
In 1720 Poole oysters were 'of great esteem in
all places where they could be had,' " whilst
Defoe's testimony is to the effect that —
this place is famous for the best and biggest oysters in
all this part of England which the people of Poole
pretend to be famous for pickling, and they are bar-
relled up here and sent not only to London, but to
the West Indies and to Spain and Italy and to other
parts."
Poole oysters, moreover, were reputed to contain
the largest pearls found in English waters." In
1802 forty sloops and boats were engaged in the
oyster industry,'** bringing in an income of from
;^6,ooo to j^7,ooo per annum. '^ According to
a long-standing regulation in this fishery the last
day's catch was thrown into the channels in the
harbour, where the oysters were left to fatten
during the winter.^" Owing to the want of
proper regulation of the fishery the beds became
gradually exhausted,*' although in 1849 Poole
oysters were still maintaining their good
name.*^ It was not until 1885 that authority
was given to the corporation to oversee the
fishery, 200 acres being granted in 1887 to a
local company in Wareham Channel,*^ the beds
once more becoming productive.^'' The cor-
" Local Govt. Bd. Ref. 1896, p. 62.
" Kelly, Dir. 1903, p. 320.
" Hutchins, Hist. Poole, 41.
" Kelly, Dir. 1903, p. 140.
" Cox, Magna Brit. 557.
' Defoe, Tour through Great Brit, i, 318.
" Ibid. '* Hutchins, Hist. Poole, 81.
" Brayley and Britton, Beauties of Engl, and Wales,
iv, 413.
'■"' Ibid. «■ Kelly, Dir. 1903, p. 140.
" Handbook Travel Southern Counties, 296.
" Kelly, Dir. 1903, p. 140. «* Ibid.
358
INDUSTRIES
poration now possess jurisdiction over the greater
part of Poole Harbour, save in certain portions of
the Wareham Channel, held by the Poole Oyster
Fishery Company, and the fishery known as
South Deep, which is apparently common ground.
The corporation employ a water-bailifF, whose
duty it is to control the fishing, especially with
regard to infringements of the rule forbidding the
taking of oysters under the prescribed dimen-
sions. Licences to dredge are issued yearly at
fixed sums. In 1 893-4 only seven such licences
were applied for, fees and tolls in that year
amounting to _|^5 15J., the oysters taken amount-
ing to 8,346. In 1894-5 the numbers were
33,702. There are no storage pits in connexion
with the company's fishery, the oysters being
promptly disposed of in the best and most acces-
sible markets. The best grounds for dredging
are considered to be near Saltern's Pier, Brown-
sea Quay, and Stone Island.^' The operations
of the company are largely those of laying down
oysters in Wareham Channel brought from East
River, Caen Bay, and the Solent, a ' Several '
Oyster and Mussel Order having been obtained
from the Board of Trade. There are a few
private storage pits at Poole for the growing,
fattening, and storage of oysters laid down in
spring for the following autumn.^'
Oysters are hand - dredged at Wyke from
October to March.''
Other shell fisheries"" on the coast are for
cockles, which are picked all the year round at
Poole, where periwinkles are also gathered from
September to April. Swanage has pots for crabs
and lobsters from April to October, and for
prawns from January to April. The latest re-
ports from this station, however, are to the effect
that * crabs were scarcer, and are apparently be-
coming more so each year.' ''' Crabs, lobsters,
and prawns are caught at Chapman's Pool by
pots and set nets ; crabs and lobsters at War-
barrow in pots all the year ; crabs and lobsters
at Lulworth all the year, prawns from September
to the end of the year ; crabs, lobsters, and
prawns at Weymouth are taken by pots from
April to September, escallops being dredged from
December to March.'' At Portland the crab
and lobster fishing season is from February to
October ; at Portland Bill, all the year. Fishing
at this station, it may be mentioned in passing,
is said to be on the decline, owing, it is thought,
to the presence of octopi, and the carrying on of
gun practice in the vicinity.™ Burton has a
fishery for crabs and lobsters in pots from April
to August, Lyme Regis from May to July, and
from April to September, whilst prawns are
caught all the year round."
The quantity and value of fish landed at each
fishing station in Dorset in 1905 is as fol-
lows : — '''
Quantity
Value
Wet Fish
Wet Fiah
Stations
w -0
c 2
■^ «
•:: a.
■^ S
■Z 0.
to
aM S
S"
^■S s
j«
a
S--S 1.
«•§
2.-^ i.
K-g
3
n=^«
K n
a'^^
_r '^
"u
'^ «r
u ^
C
ther th;
Herring
and
ther thi
Herring
and
0
B.
0
0.
h
South Coast
Cwt.
Cwt.
£
£
£
Poole ....
855
6,956
1,526
1,504
3,464
Swanage . .
8
55
8
19
440
Chapman's Pool .
—
—
—
—
224
Warbarrow . .
•9
32
24
30
216
Lulworth . .
S
4
5
3
331
Weymouth . .
499
207
424
198
«,39o
Portland . . .
290
947
3^9
5+1
1,211
Portland Bill . .
30
24
—
228
Wyke ....
144
1,475
144
685
844
Abbotsbury . .
10
2,9°3
4
962
966
Burton
—
829
—
296
302
Lyme Regis .
122
639,
63
166
548
The latest reports to hand regarding the Dorset
fishery may fitly bring this article to a close : —
In the case of most of the fishing stations the
industry is a 'declining' one. 'Unsettled
weather ' also has had an unfavourable influence
upon the fishing, whilst the withdrawal of the
herring from these waters continues ; in the case
of Lyme Bay, for instance, herrings ' did not
seem to enter in any large shoals.' Very few
herrings were caught at Poole with drift nets."
The modern Dorset fisherman, according to
Mr. Aflalo,
displays an apathy in fishery matters which can only
be attributed to the paucity of fish in these waters, as
well perhaps as to the paramount agricultural interest
and the desire to cultivate the summer visitor.'*
" Loca/ Got't. Bd. Rep. 1896, p. 63.
^ Ibid. " Ibid.
"* For information contained in this paragraph and
the following table the author is indebted to Mr.
Martyr, of the Bd. of Fisheries and Agric.
'^ ^nn. Rep. Sea Fisheries, 1905, p. 60.
'' Ibid. 59.
'» Ibid. 60.
" Ibid.
" Ibid.
" Jnn Rep. Sea Fisheries, 1905, pp. 59-60.
" Aflalo, Sea Fisiing Industry, 266-7.
359
A HISTORY OF DORSET
CLOTH
Dorset of the downs, commercially concerned
with agricultural pursuits, and with the manipu-
lation of its abundant earth products, its hemp
and flax, presents, with regard to its cloth trade,
none of those features of industrial romance
which characterized the history of the craft in
other counties. Easy access, moreover (even in
times when the problem of the highways pressed
heavily upon the mediaeval commercial traveller),
to the neighbouring great clothing centres of
Wilts., Devon., and Somerset, rendered the Dorset
housewife and husbandman independent of the
local loom.^ The wool of Dorset took but a
secondary place in the kindred values of the same
commodity in other parts of the kingdom, the
price in 1343 being only 8 marks, one of the
lowest rates, as pointed out elsewhere in this
volume,^ in the kingdom.' Twenty years later,
Melcombe Regis, which possessed a cocket of
wools prior to the reign of Edward I, was
made a staple town, a privilege which was taken
away by Henry VI, who bestowed it upon Poole.*
The price of Dorset wool in the reign of this
king was 66s. 8d. per sack.*
The early woollen industry of the county is
nearly always mentioned in connexion with the
kindred industries of Somerset and Wiltshire, as
for example in the reign of Richard II, when the
clothworkers of the west of England seem to
have incurred legislative censure, forasmuch
As divers plain cloths that be wrought in the counties
of Somerset, Dorset, Bristol and Gloucester be tacked
and folded together and set to sale, of which cloths a
great part be broken, hroused and not agreeing in
the colour neither be according to Breadth nor to no
manner to the part of the same cloths shewed outwards,
but be falsely wrought with divers wools to the great
deceit, loss and damage of the people, in so much that
the merchants that buy the same cloths and carry them
out of the realm to sell to strangers be many times in
danger to be slain, and sometimes imprisoned and put
to fine and ransom by the same Estrangers, and their
said cloths burnt or forfeit, because of the great deceit
and falsehood that is found in the same cloths when
they be untacked and opened to the great slander of
' Dorset spinners, it would appear, were employed
by the clothiers of other counties, those of Cerne
Abbas being thus engaged in 1750 for the Devonshire
clothiers. Pococke, Travels through Engl, ii, 143.
' See ' Soc. and Econ. Hist.' for details of the state
of the trade in the fourteenth century.
' Rot. Pari. (Rec. Com.), ii, 138^.
'Ibid, i, 317^; ii, 28817, 30413. Edward III
appointed Gilbert de Portesham and William the
Marshal collectors and receivers of the customs of
wool at Melcombe ; Walter de Frampton and lohn
Baker being similarly appointed 35 Edw. Ill; Ellis,
Hist. IVeymouth.
' Rogers, jigrk. and Prices in Engl, iii, 704. The
wool-tax was assessed on Dorset in the reign of
Edw. Ill as follows : 480 sacks, 21 stone, 4f lb.
the Realm [of England]. It is ordained and assented
that no plain cloth tacked nor folded shall be set to
sale within the said counties but they be opened upon
pain to forfeit them so that the buyers may use them
and know them as it is used in the county of Essex.'
There were further regulations with regard to
the sealing of cloth by the workers, weavers, and
fullers, permission being given to buyers to fold
or tack their cloth as they chose to ensure easy
carriage. The necessity for the statute was
obvious when the penalties incurred by merchants
abroad were so severe, and the frauds practised
by the Dorset men among others so outrageous.
The statute shows clearly that cloth was made
in this county and exported even in the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries, when the greater part of
English trade consisted in raw wool, and not in
manufactured goods.
The cloth-making towns of Dorset have been
Sherborne, Dorchester, Lyme Regis, Wareham,
Shaftesbury, Beaminster, Bere, Sturminster, and
Gillingham.'
Dorchester ' formerly gained much by cloth-
ing ' ; * but the industry was almost entirely
destroyed by the disturbances caused by the Civil
War, and by a great fire.' The material first
made here was broadcloth, the manufacture of
serges being afterwards substituted for it. The
fame of the former fabric, however, still lingered
in the town in 1720, when Defoe visited it.^"
The fifteenth century saw the rise of Sher-
borne to importance as a cloth-making town.
Leland considered it ' the best town ' in his time
for the woollen manufacture in the county.^^
Both he and Camden attributed its exceptional
prosperity to this trade." The cloth made in
Sherborne was of the same character as that pro-
duced in the other towns in Dorset, namely the
fine Spanish medley or mixed cloths, which
Defoe explains to be
such as are usually worn in England by the better
sort of people and also exported in great quantities to
Holland, Hamburg, Sweden, Denmark, Spain and Italy.
describes the organization of the
He also
industry :
These towns are interspersed with a very great number
of villages .... hamlets and scattered houses in
which, generally speaking, all this manufacture is per-
formed by the poor people ; the Master clothiers who
generally live in the greater towns sending out the wool
weekly to their houses, by their servants and horses, and
at the same time bringing back the yarn that they have
spun and finished, which then is fitted for the loom.
' Stat. 13 Ric. II, cap. II.
' Defoe, Tour through Great Brit, i, 334.
' Coker, Surv. of Dors. 69.
' Hutchins, Hist. Dors, i, 373. " Defoe, op. cit.
" Leland, Itin. ii, 47. " Camden, Brit, i, 173.
360
INDUSTRIES
The spinning was usually done by women and
children, while the men tended the sheep or
tilled the land. The 'especially good turf
of the county fed an ' incredible number ' of
sheep, as writer after writer reiterates, and the
wool produced was ' fine to an extreme,' '' and
much coveted by clothiers,'* being in esteem for
broadcloths. '° The industry was first attracted
to this district by 'the infinite numbers of sheep,'
but owing to the agricultural changes, and to the
extent of the manufacture, wool had to be ob-
tained from all parts of England and occasionally
from Ireland, though no reliance could be placed
on the supply from the latter source. Wool
imported from Spain was, as its name ' Spanish
medley ' implied, mixed with the British wool to
make the broadcloth.
In 1725 the industry was flourishing and in-
creasing; and though a check was given to the
trade by the war on the continent from 1742-8,
by the Seven Years' War, 1756-63, and by the
energy of the French, who had succeeded in
capturing the trade in the East,'' the ' making
and vending fine serge and felling sheep, of
which they have great quantities,' " continued to
be sources by which the county was much en-
riched. The making of serge seems to have
been independent of the neighbouring counties,
and to have stayed longer in the county.
Although it could be described as not very
considerable in 1 751,'' and although the 'fine
serge ' had become ' linsey woolsey at about
14^. a yard' in 1754,'' it was still flourishing
in 1761,''^ and until late in the eighteenth
century.
This apparent contradiction usually holds good
of any Dorset industry. The whole industrial
population is inconsiderable, and the number of
men and women engaged in any one industry
would scarcely be enough to run a big Lancashire
factory, but the industries are in a healthy and
sound condition, and are far more important than
mere numbers would seem to warrant.
The most graphic and detailed account of the
woollen industry, as it was carried on in North
Dorset in 1725, is that given by Defoe,"" and
though he has been called the greatest conceiv-
able liar, his facts about Dorset are corroborated
by all the standard historians, and his descriptions
can be vouched for by eye-witnesses in cases
where the custom has come down to the present
day. The only exception to this is his account
of Bridport, as before mentioned.
" Defoe, Tour through Great Brit. (1725), 42.
'* Description Engl, and Wales (1769), zll.
" Tour through IVestem Counties (1807), 16.
" Tour through Great Brit. (6th ed. 1761).
" Cox, Magna Brit. 554.
" Postlethwayt, Diet, of Trade (175 i).
'" Pococke, Travels (1754), ii, 146.
'" Tour through Great Brit. (6th ed. 1761).
"Ibid. (1725).
The whole plain, embracing Somerset, Wilt-
shire, North Dorset, and Gloucestershire, was at
that time busied in weaving wool.
One of the effects of the diminution of the
demand for woollen goods was that the industry
gradually contracted in its area, and was no
longer carried on in this county.
Dorset sheep in the middle of the eighteenth
century were still famed as some of the largest
and finest brought ' to Smithfield Market both
for flesh and wool,' and 'surprising quantities
of wool ' ^1 were still produced, but the wool
was carried into Somerset and Devonshire,^^ and
less and less was woven in Dorset. In 1769 Sher-
borne had altogether given up competing in the
weaving of medley cloths,^' but the rest of the
county had a ' considerable manufacture ^* of
woollen goods, though it is stated to be less than
it had been in preceding years." From this date
onwards this industry is usually mentioned as one
of the vanished glories of Dorset, though cloth
is given as one of the products of the county in
1780.2'
In 1678 wool kerseys" were one of the chief
commodities of this shire."* Dorset cloth in
1689 was priced at 6s. per yard.^'
A Dorset woollen manufacture which flourished
in the eighteenth century at Shaftesbury and
Sturminster was that of swanskin, a coarse white
cloth largely utilized for soldiers' clothing, and
for that of the Newfoundland fishermen. Stur-
minster had 1,200 persons engaged in the
industry in 1793, the output from the town
being from 4,000 to 5,000 pieces of 35 yds.
each per annum.'" The cost of the material was
from IS. 6d. to 2s. per yard.'' In 181 2 Stourton
Caundle had a manufactory of swanskin made
from lambswool.'^ By 1823 the trade of Stur-
minster in this commodity, so long specially
associated with the town, was ' annihilated.* ''
" Description of Engl, and Wales {lyGq), 248.
" Postlethwayt, Diet, of Trade (i 75 1).
^ Engl. Displayed {\-j6ci), 65.
" Like other western and southern cloth-making
centres Sherborne owed the decadence of its woollen
manufacture to the development of the trade in the
north ; Hutchins, Hist. Dors, ii, 366.
"•Engl. Displayed {i-j6()), 65.
" ^ Brief Description of Engl, and Wales (i 780).
" Kersey, a coarse, narrow, woollen cloth ; Dillon,
Fairholt's Costume in Engl, ii, 264. Of this fabric
Professor Rogers writes : — ' It was early naturalized in
England, and widely manufactured, especially in the
west of England ' ; Agric. and Prices in Engl, v, 576.
" England'' s Remarques (1678), 40.
" Rogers, Agric. and Prices in Engl, v, 573.
"Claridge, Agric. of Dors. 39. Macpherson in his
Annals of Commerce, iv, App. 4, alludes to the existence
at Sturminster in 1805 of 'a manufactory of baize
called swanskin.'
" Claridge, Agric. of Dors. 39,
" Stevenson, Agric. of Dors. 450.
"Pigot, Z)/>. (1823), 276.
361
46
A HISTORY OF DORSET
In 1793 the textile industry of the county
was chiefly concerned with the manufacture of
sail-cloth, centering in the town of Beaminster,
where Messrs. Cox & Co. alone employed 600
persons, 2,000 people being employed in the
locality altogether.'^ The firm had another
establishment at Bridport, where 1,800 persons
were employed, out of a total of 7,000 engaged
in the industry in the town and neighbourhood.^
Women and children earned 8;^. a day, spinning
4 lb. at 2d. per lb., children being paid at the
rate of 2d. to 3^/. a day for turning a wheel.'*
Sail-cloth was made in pieces of 40 yds., selling
at from 1 5^. to I -jd. per yard." Sacks for grain
or flour were made at 37;. per dozen, capable of
containing 4 bushels or 9 gallons.'* Young
girls were largely employed in the manufacture
at Loders in 1 8 1 2,'' the woollen manufacture at
this date being spoken of as ' almost confined to
Sturminster and Lyme Regis,' *" the latter manu-
facturing broadcloth and flannels, whilst Stur-
minster had four or five clothiers and 300
weavers, chiefly engaged in the production of
swanskin, the amount, however, showing a
marked decline in the trade.*' Beaminster was
producing wool-cloth, Cerne Abbas had a small
manufactory of dowlas,*" Fifehead Neville of
swanskin, Gillingham of bed-ticking, Oborne of
cloth, Silton of ticking and dowlas, Stickland
had two serge weavers, Stoke Abbott made sail-
cloth, sacking, and narrow cloth.*' In 1823
Gillingham had five manufactories of tick and
dowlas ; ** at Lyme Regis, Stanton, England &
Glyde were employing more than 200 persons
in the manufacture of broad and narrow woollen
cloth.*' In 1830 plain and striped cottons were
being made at Poole and Abbotsbury ; ** at
Beaminster the Birt was propelling three mills
for spinning linen yarn for the sail-cloth manu-
facture.*' Linsey woolsey was being produced
at Shaftesbury.** Some linen was being manu-
factured at Sherborne in 1826.*'
The main part of the industry had always
been situated on the borders of the county, and
it is not wonderful that in a time of depression and
contraction of trade, it should have been drawn
to the larger centres in Devonshire, Somerset,
and Wiltshire. It never returned to Dorset,
because with the revival and expansion of the
trade came the introduction of machinery, and
then the bulk of the woollen industry migrated
northwards. There seems to have been no dis-
tress caused in Dorset by the decay of its
clothiers, perhaps because this was gradual, and
because several short-lived industries sprang up,
while long-standing manufactures such as brew-
ing, sail-cloth making, and lace-making received a
fresh impetus.
SILK
The silk industry of Dorset, which has always
been chiefly concerned with the throwing rather
than with the manufacture of the raw material,'
cannot claim a lengthy record. It is chiefly
carried on at Sherborne, where the settlement
of silk throwsters dates, according to Hutchins,
from 1740, when, he states ' they erected mills
on Sir Thomas Lombe's plan.' ^ Sir Thomas
Lombe introduced into England from Savoy a
machine for working organzine, for which he
obtained a patent in 1718, and a reward of
^^14,000 in 1732. Stalbridge and Cerne Abbas
were also engaged in the industry in the eighteenth
century,' 150 women and children findingemploy-
ment in spinning silk at the former town in 1 793-*
At both places the work consisted chiefly in
twisting and making up the raw silk into skeins.'
At this date no woven fabrics were actually
produced in London. The spun silk which was
^' Claridge, j^^c. of Don. 37.
'Mbid. 38. '"Ibid.
^' Ibid. 39. '» Ibid.
'' Stevenson, ^gric. of Don. 447.
" Ibid. 448. *' Ibid.
" Dowlas, coarse linen cloth ; Dillon, Fairholt's
Costume in Engl, ii, 150.
" Stevenson, .^grk. of Don. 450.
"Pigot,Z)/>. (1823), 268.
to form the warp and weft ot such fabrics was
prepared in silk-mills, all in country districts.'
In 1823 all manufactures, except that of silk,
had ceased in Sherborne. John Gouger and
Thomas Willmott were then engaged in silk
throwing in the town.' From the evidence of
tlie last-named manufacturer, given before the
Select Committee on the silk trade in 1831,
interesting details may be gathered relative to
the conduct of the industry at that date.
Mr. Willmott was then the sole manufacturer
of silk in Sherborne, his mills being three in
number, one erected in 1751, and the others in
1 8 13, the power in all three cases being water,*
whilst the silk thrown at the mills, on commission,
was Italian tram and organzine.' The number
" Ibid. 269.
"Ibid. 274.
" Paterson, RoaJs, 454.
' Green, Rural Industries of Engl. 73.
' Hutchins, Hist. Dors, ii, 366.
' Stevenson, A^ic. of Dors. 448.
* Claridge, jigric. of Dors. 39.
' Stevenson, Agric. of Dors. 448.
° Dodd, Days at the Factories, 4.
'Pigot, /)/>.(! 82 3), 274.
« Pari. Rep. Silk Trade (183 1), 278.
' Ibid. 282.
«Ibid. (1830), 273.
'' Ibid. 293.
36:
INDUSTRIES
of women and children employed had been 800
in 1793,'" but had declined by 1826 to 600,
working 8,000 spindles, ^^ whilst by 1 83 1,
150 persons, using only 3,000 spindles, were
employed.'^ The workers were divided into
mill-hands, whose average wages were 4$. bd. per
week,'' and winders, whose industry was a
cottage one, carried on in many instances in
conjunction with agricultural pursuits.'* In 1829
2s. 7,d. per lb. had been paid for winding fine
silks, the payment in 1 83 1 averaging is. per lb.''
The decline in prices was to be attributed,
according to the witness, to the introduction of
foreign thrown silk, and the severe competition
with foreign manufacturers.'*
According to the latest census returns, 116
women and 19 men are employed in the silk
industry." Silk 'throwing' is still a principal
feature of the craft, but silk weaving is now
undertaken at Sherborne, where many new looms
have been set up by Messrs. J. & R. VVillmott.
Further improvements are contemplated, but
the industry is handicapped by the sudden changes
of fashion and by the variations in the yield of
silk crops, these difficulties naturally pressing more
heavily on a small than on a large industry.
POTTERY AND TILES
Dorset is abundantly provided with the raw
material for the manufacture of bricks, tiles, and
pottery, clay of various qualities being yielded by
the different geological formations of the county,
more especially by the upper formation of plastic
potter's and pipe-clay and sand known as the
' Poole Trough.' ' From the earliest date, the
industry has centred around Poole, Wareham,
Norden, and Corfe.^
It is not known when the clays of Dorset
were first worked ; ' many roughly-made vessels
having been found near Wareham, evidently
constructed, according to experts, from this raw
material, and used for the ashes of the dead
before the Roman occupation of Britain. These
funeral urns alone have survived the passage of
time, no trace remaining of the earthenware
vessels which must have been in daily domestic use.
The Roman discovery and manipulation of the
Dorset clays will be discussed elsewhere in the sec-
tion of this volume dealing with the antiquities of
the county ; after the Roman withdrawal from
their area, the clays continued to be worked, with
more or less regularity, according to the stress of
economic conditions or the fluctuating demand
for earthenware vessels.*
'" Claridge, Jgr'ic. of Dors. 40.
" Pari. Rep. Silk Trade, 278.
" Ibid.
" Ibid. 280.
'« Ibid. 280.
" Ibid. 279.
" Ibid. 279.
" Pop. Ret. 1 90 1, p. 56.
' Kelly, Dir. (1903), I. De Luc, on his geologi-
cal travels through Dorset in 1826, noted 'a yellowish
clay, mixed with sand, commonly called loam, and
used for bricks,' and ' a pure bluish clay, of which
pottery and tiles are made.' Geol. Travels, ii, 29.
' Woodward, Geol. Engl, and Wales, 271. De Luc
notes in his geological travels the 'very deep excava-
tions at Corfe whence is taken white clay for pipes
and earthenware.' De Luc, Geol. Travels, ii, 193.
The character of ' pure potter's clay ' is ' soft, white,
and unctuous.' Mem. Geol. Surv. 1898, p. 191.
' ' The white and mottled clays of the Bagshot
series have been worked for centuries.' Ibid.
* From local information.
In early days the port of export for the clay
was Wareham,^ and around the traffic a long-
standing quarrel grew up between this town and
Poole, which is still unsettled, though an Order
in Council of 1666 directed that 'no dues were
to be paid on tobacco pipe-clay.' ° The real
commercial importance of the industry seems to
date from the eighteenth century, when the clay
however, was noted primarily as raw material
for export, rather than as forming the nucleus of
a local manufacture.'
Poole clay, so termed from being shipped
at Poole in Dorset, is chiefly raised in the
neighbourhood of Wareham, and is extensively
employed in the British Potteries ; it is an ex-
ample of a tolerably pure clay (that is, one con-
taining a large proportion of silicate of alumina,
with free silica, but without injurious ingredients)
which has been accumulated far from any de-
composing crystalline rocks such as granites, por-
phyries, and the like. It is known also in the
potteries as ' blue clay.' Its geological position
is in that portion of the Tertiary or Cainozoic
beds which occur above the chalk of Dorset.
' White Pipe clay ' occurs in the Bagshot
sands, and is worked round Poole Harbour and
in the district further west.^
In the same geological series occurs
a bed 20 feet or more in thickness of white or red
mottled pipe clay extensively dug for the manufacture
of earthenware, and used in the local potteries or
shipped from Poole Harbour.'
Besides these special clays there are various
local brick earths which are found in the Bag-
shot, Oxford, Reading and Wealdcn series.
' The pipe-clay of Wareham was ' esteemed the
best in England.' Engl. Disfilayed {\j6ci), 69. See
also Postlethwayt, Diet. 0/ Trade.
^ Hutchins, Hist. Poole, 38.
'In 1823 the export from Wareham annually was
10,000 tons to London, Hull, and Liverpool. Pigot,
Dir. 277.
' Woodward, Geol. Engl, and Wales, 2 7 1 ; Mem.
Geol. Surv. 1899, p. 139. ' Ibid.
363
A HISTORY OF DORSET
Brick-making is the less important of the two
industries connected with clay in Dorset, but
it is simpler to consider it first. The rapid
increase in building, especially in the sea-coast
towns and in Dorset's near neighbour Bourne-
mouth, has led to a considerable demand for
bricks. These are made in various places from
the different clays. In the district round Wey-
mouth almost all the bricks are made of Oxford
clay,^" while the mottled clays of the Wealden
beds are used near Swanage, and in the area
round Dorchester the best bricks are made at
Broadmayne, where a bed of clean loam ten or
twelve feet thick occurs in the Reading series."
This is used for the ' Broadmayne speckled
bricks,' which are employed for building in Wey-
mouth and Dorchester.^^
In 1728 the clay was worth 30^. a ton at
London, this value increased to 50J., but by 1 796
it had fallen to 14J or 1 51. a ton.'^
Hutchins' history gives a detailed account of the
extent and importance of the other branches of
the clay industry in his time : —
Nearly 10,000 tons are annually exported to London,
Hull, Liverpool, and Glasgow, etc., but the most
considerable part to Liverpool for the supply of the
Staffordshire potteries, and to Selby for the use of the
Leeds potteries. The principal pits are on the
Norden and Wital farms, the former belonging to
Wm. Moreton Pitt and the latter to John Calcraft,
Esq., and the clay taken from the same is in great
repute with the Staffordshire and Yorkshire potteries,
from its peculiar excellence, and being the principal
ingredient in the ware commonly called Staffordshire
ware so universally in use in this kingdom as well as
in many other parts of Europe."
From this time forward the export of clay has
always been considerable. In 1831 it
had extended to 34,290 tons, and in 1 85 1 it reached
69,286 tons according to the clearances at the Poole
'"Mem. Geo!. Surv. 1899, p. 237.
"Ibid. 1898, p. 46.
" Geo!. Dorchester {Mem. Geo!. Surz:), 1899, p. 46.
The speckled effect is due to the presence of minute
nodules of manganese oxide. The method of making
Broadmayne bricks is as follows : ' The work begins
by the heading of the clay or taking off of the top
soil. The clay is dug mostly in the winter months,
and cast back loosely or wheeled back into a heap to
soak for the coming season of brick-making which
begins about March or the beginning of April. The
clay is worked (tempered) in a pugmill turned by a
horse or donkey, or trodden by men's naked feet.
The new-made bricks are wheeled to the drj-ing
ground on long barrows and placed in rows (hacks),
and when dry enough sent to the kiln. It takes two
or three days to bum the bricks, and about as long to
cool them.' Barnes, Glossary of tl:e Dors. Dialect, 5 I .
" Hutchins, Hist, oj Dors. (1796), i, 172.
'• Poole clay, according to Jewitt, was sent to Selby
for the Leeds potteries in 1796. Ceramic Jrt, z6c).
It was also used in the body of Swansea ware. Ibid.
570.
custom house ; of this amount about 52,268 tons
were employed in the manufacture of the finer kinds
of earthenware, chiefly in the Staffordshire potteries,
and 16,018 tons for ordinary stone ware, tobacco
pipes, alum making, etc."
In 1878 the amount exported from Poole was
73,130 tons, while the total quantity of pottery and
other clays produced in Dorset during that year
amounted to 79,205 tons of the estimated value of
^19,800.'^
At the present time (1907) Messrs. Doulton
& Co. alone raise over 1 8,000 tons of clay per
annum from their Dorset pits (though this
of course forms only a portion of the supplies
necessary for the production of their wares at
Lambeth). In the raising and export of this
clay they employ on an average fifty men per
day.^' Besides this London firm, there are
Dorset firms which export raw clay, as well as
those which have factories in the county.
The clay is now used in almost every part of
the world for the manufacture of fine earthen-
ware goods,^* e.g. it is used for all kinds of stone-
ware pottery, for bottles, jars, chemical appara-
tus, sanitary fittings, electrical insulators, and
drain pipes." It is also employed in Dorset in
the manufacture of tiles and every kind of archi-
tectural potter)'.
Both Brown Island and Brownsea Island,
situated in Poole Harbour, contain clay similar to
that found on the mainland ; and both have been
the seat of experimental manufactories. Just
before 1750, a certain Mr. Brock began making
tiles on Brown Island."" This attempt to estab-
lish the industry was unsuccessful, as was an
attempt about 100 years later to make pottery
on Brownsea Island,^^ some specimens of this last
are preserved in the Geological Museum in
Jermyn Street.
The Architectural Pottery Company was
established at Poole in 1854 by Messrs. Thomas
Sanders Ball, John Ridgeway, Thomas Richard
Sanders, & Frederick George Sanders. In
1857 ^■'' Ridgeway retired, and in 1861
Mr. Ball, the firm then continuing as Messrs.
T. R. & F. G. Sanders. The output com-
prised patent coloured and glazed bricks and
mouldings ; semi-perforated and pressed, patent
mosaic, tesselated, encaustic, vitreous, and other
varieties of glazed wall tiles, embossed and
perforated tiles, quarries, and fire-clay goods.
" Catalogue of Specimens, Museum Practical Geology.
" Hunt, Mineral Statistics (1878), 139.
''" From information kindly supplied by Messrs.
Doulton & Co.
" From local information. Pipe-clay for local use is
obtained in the Dorchester area from Trigon Farm,
Sandford (where the beds are 10 ft. thick), and Station
Heath. Geo!. Dorchester {Mem. Geol. Surv. 1899), 57.
" From information kindly supplied by Messrs.
Doulton & Co.
*" Pococke, Travels (1754), 87.
" Catalogue of Specimens, Museum Practical Geology.
364
INDUSTRIES
The clays used in this pottery were the Purbeck,
Cornish china, and Wareham clays ; for the plain
quarries, clay from the Canford estate was largely
utilized.^*
The Bourne Valley Pottery, owned by
Messrs. Sharp, Jones, & Co., produces glazed
stoneware sewage and sanitary pipes, terra-cotta
vases, figures, chimney-tops, and garden edgings,
&c.2^
The Kinson Pottery, Limited, was established
at Kinson, near Poole, in the middle of the last
century, with twelve kilns, a boiler, engine-
house, drying-sheds, stables, and offices. Closed
for a few years, it was acquired by the present
company in 1867, and since this date they have
manufactured stoneware drain pipes, also various
goods in terra-cotta. Twenty-seven acres of
clay of three different qualities are at the disposal
of the potter at this site, some of the beds being
40 ft. in thickness.^*
In i8i2 there were two potteries at Bea-
minster producing a coarse ware, which was also
manufactured at Cranborne.°°
It is hard to discover when tiles were first
made in Dorset in modern times ; probably the
Romans made them, but after that the mists
descend, and the glimpses that can be caught of
the industry are vague and unsubstantial. How-
ever, between 1770 and 1780, the oldest firm in
Dorset took over its present business from its
predecessors. This business was even then a
' going concern.' ^'
At the present time tile-making is one of the
special features of the clay industry in Dorset.
These tiles are used all over the world in shops,
restaurants, and bathrooms, in stations, hotels,
ocean-liners, and government offices. To ensure
perfect tiles, attention has necessarily to be paid
to the nature of the clay employed and to the
processes of manufacture. The clay pits now
worked are situated round Wareham, near Corfe
Castle, near Poole, near Corfe Mullen, and near
Hamworthy. The clay is not used by itself, but
is mixed with various other ingredients. It is
to a certain extent coloured naturally by oxide
of iron ; this gives to the clay, when burnt, tints
varying from light bufF to deep red, chocolate, or
even black. Clay has a peculiar property which
has to be reckoned with in making tiles ; unlike
most bodies it shrinks when exposed to heat
owing to the loss of moisture, so that a 6-in.
tile must measure say 6^ in. before being burnt.
Some clays shrink less than others because, among
other reasons, they contain a larger proportion of
silicate. These points must be noticed in
choosing the raw material, or the colour, shape
and size of the tile will be uncertain.
" Jewitt, Ceramic Art, 236. ^ Ibid. 238.
'^ Ibid. 239.
^' Stevenson, Agric. of Dors. 450.
'* From information kindly supplied by Messrs. Pyke
Eros., Wareham, and others.
When the material is chosen, the process of
manufacture is most interesting. The clay has
first to be changed into a meal-like dust suitable
for the tile-maker, and for this different clays, or it
may be different ingredients, such as ground flint
or china stone with clay, are carefully blended,
as experience may suggest, and are then « slipped,' ,
i.e. placed with water in a machine called a
* blunger,' where the mixture is tormented until
the solution is thoroughly diffused. It is then
passed through a set of sieves of extreme fineness
and finally forced through a filter-press of cloths
to expel the moisture, which drips from the press
into a tank, leaving the solid matter between the
cloths. This water is driven back into the
blunger, only to go through the round with a
fresh mixture. There are also other ways of
drying the 'slips' as the mixture is called.
When dry the solid matter is ground, and, after a
final sifting, becomes dust ready for the tile press.
This machine is, in its essentials, a steel box
of the shape and size inside of the required tile,
and a very powerful screw-press applied by means
of a large fly-wheel, worked by hand, as steam-
presses are often unsatisfactory. The box is
filled with the fine dust slightly damped, and
pressure is applied ; after this a compact tile with
a firm smooth face is taken out of the press. Of
course the dust is not of the same clay, nor of
the same ingredients for all tiles. The tiles
described are those in which blended clays have
been turned into dust, which may also be coloured
by a stain. For these tiles the upper die or
stamp must have a true, firm face, but if an
embossed tile be required the upper die has the
pattern in reverse like a seal. The tiles are dried
at a temperature of about 80 degrees for some
days after being made, and are then placed in
open fire-clay boxes called ' seggars ' or often
' saggers.' These, when placed in the kilns,
practically close one another. The ' seggars ' are
stacked in the kilns to be ' fired,' a process which
takes about a week, after which they emerge
hard and fit for use as unglazed or biscuit tiles.
Buff, red, and salmon tiles are produced by
blending naturally colouring clays according to
the proportion of iron they contain ; grey,
chocolate, and black tiles by using ironstone and
manganese as a stain. White tiles cannot be
obtained by burning a simple clay, but this has
to be mixed with white ball clay which is
found in Dorset and Devon, ground flint and
china clay, felspar and stone. The whole
mixture has to pass through the * slipping ' pro-
cess. The ' slip ' is coloured blue with cobalt
and green with chromium. Encaustic tiles which
have on them patterns of floral or other designs
in two or more colours are much more com-
plicated to manufacture. They were formerly
made of plastic clay, the pattern being stamped
on the partially hardened clay, and then filled
up with clay of a different colour, after which
365
A HISTORY OF DORSET
the whole was generally glazed. This was the
monastic method which came in with the Gothic
architecture about the end of the twelfth cen-
turj'. Until quite recently a somewhat similar
method was in use, and indeed some encaustics
are still made of the plastic clay. More com-
monly, however, the dust process is used and the
pattern is produced not by a stamp, but by
variously-coloured dusts laid on the body of the
tile by means of flat plates of metal having the
pattern cut in them.
A glazed tile is made in the same way as an
unglazed tile up to the biscuit stage, but then it
has to be ' dipped ' (i.e. partly immersed in
liquid glaze which covers the face and a slight
portion of the thickness) and again burnt in a
difiFerent kiln, generally at a lower temperature.
The ' dipper ' must be very careful, both of the
tile and of himself; of the tile, for anything
getting into the glaze on the tile would be fixed
by the firing ; and of himself because no portion
of the glaze must be allowed to enter the mouth
by any carelessness in cleansing the hands or
otherwise. Lead or borax, Cornwall stone and
flint, various oxides for colouring, all enter into
the composition of different glazes. The most
useful, but also the most dangerous ingredient, is
the lead, but so many precautions are now taken
both in the handling and preparation of this
mineral that the danger of lead-poisoning is
reduced to a minimum. Many experiments
have been made with leadless glaze, but as far
as experience yet goes the results are hardly satis-
factory. The tiles, when dipped, are exposed
to a less heat than in the biscuit kilns, in order
to melt the glaze only, the watery portion of
which has been absorbed in the porous biscuit
tile. Generally this takes place in a muffle-kiln,
in which the process resembles baking in an
oven, the tiles being exposed neither to the
flames nor to the gases produced by the fires.
Glazing requires great knowledge and skill in
the mixing of the glazes and in the degree of
heat for the firing, the surface of the tile being
very liable to ' eraze ' or make little cracks from
the unequal expansion of the glaze and the body
of the tile. If more than one colour is required
the glazes are applied with a brush, and this is
termed decorating. Sometimes the pattern is
obtained in another way. It is printed in colours
either by lithography or copper-plate process, and
these colours are fixed by firing.
The glazed and unglazed ' tesserae ' for
mosaic patterns are made in the same way as
the glazed and unglazed tiles, and are then
carefully gummed face downwards on paper
which has the pattern marked on it and are
finally laid in a prepared bed of cement.
Besides tiles and tesserae, hand-painted panels
and faience pilasters, fitted for the decoration
of shops, tube stations, and house fronts, are
prepared in Dorset. They are especially suitable
for out-door use as the glaze on their surface
renders them impervious to frost and to the
action of all but extremely powerful acids.*'
Tiles and faience are at one extremity of the
handicraft in Dorset ; at the other are the
pitchers and bread-pans of partly porous,
partly glazed, red and yellow clay which are
carted round the country by their makers, or
exposed for sale in small local shops. Their
weight and the ease with which they break are
obvious disadvantages, but their old-fashioned
shapes appeal to some people as much as their
cheapness does to others. The greater number
of them come from Gillingham, where, according
to the county gazetteer, every second man is a
potter.
BREWING
In the Middle Ages brewing was a general
and necessary industry, and hardly a manor or
township court roll but contains some reference
to it. Entries in enrolments of proceedings in
the courts of Melcombe Regis, 1396-8, contain
frequent notices of transgressors, both men and
women, repeatedly fined for brewing contrary to
the assize, for selling ale in cups [in ciphis), or in
vessels without seal {signo), or for tapping [tappare),
without due supervision. In 1397 John Shudde,
who, it may be mentioned in passing, appears
from these records to have been the incorrigible
rogue of the community, was presented for
breaking the arrest of a cask of ale which had been
arrested by the under-bailifR ; for they had tasted it
{tastavere), supposing (rightly) that the said ale was
bad, not good and sound for the body of man.'
" Information kindly supplied by Messrs. Carter &
Co., Poole. ' Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v, App. 576.
At the Law Court of ' Hokke ' Term, holden
15 May, 1397, Edith Ketys with five others
was amerced in the sum of 3^/. for breaking the
assize, also for using cups and other false
measures.' In 1456 the ale-tasters presented
that Geoffrey Sammyse had brewed twice and
Alianor Houpere once, and sold ale against the
assize. He was amerced 2d. and she id.^
At a Law Court held 15 April, 1583, at
Weymouth, it was ordered that
the beer and all brewers and sellers within this
liberty shall sell their drink under the range at jd.
the gallon, and being stale at ^d., and to use just
measures upon pain for every that make default to
forfeit 21. 6d.*
On I May, 1627, Avice Locke, widow,
offended ' against the form of the Statute ' by
' Ibid. 577.
' Ibid. 578
Mbid. 586.
366
INDUSTRIES
selling smaller beer (mlnorem cervisiam) than at
the rate of one ale-quart {unum le alequarte)
for li.'
The brewing industry was of early import-
ance at Lyme Regis, where the abbot of Sher-
borne claimed the assize of beer in 1280.° In
35 Henry VIII Isabella Stansby and another,
common brewers, were presented for brewing
ale ' not mighty of the corn,' that is, too thin
and unwholesome, and also for selling the same
in unlawful measures, and were fined bd. In
1572 brewers were ordered to brew with fuel,
not with hard or faggot wood, on pain of 51. In
1578 six common brewers only, including re-
tailers of ale and beer, were licensed in the
town, besides the brewer ' who doth and shall
keep the Beer House.' ' None were to sell beer
in 1582 except in hooped pots, jugs and cups
being expressly forbidden.*
Municipal regulations were many with regard
to the conduct of the industry. Tipplers or
retailers were forbidden to sell to any craftsman
or servant except in company with a stranger.'
In 1 61 2 none were to tipple more than one hour
in one house. By a decree dating from 1599
beer was forbidden to be sold during Divine
service. Mr. Hooker of Lyme at a later date
was fined 2J. td. for brewing on a fast-day.^"
The alewife here, as elsewhere in mediaeval
times, an important member of the community,
gave frequent trouble to the authorities, who, at
Weymouth, in the reign of Charles I, forbade
brewing to be carried on by women ; they were,
instead, to buy of the common brewers at the
following rates : —
Weymouth Lyme
The better sort under
the range ... 3./. . . . 31?'.
Middle id. ... id.
Small \d. . . . Id.''
At Lyme in 1653 *^^ Widow Brooks was
dismissed from brewing and selling ale ' for
divers disorders.' ^^ Bodily punishment was fre-
quently inflicted on offending alewives, as in the
case of Mary Somers, who was whipped at Lyme
in 1653 for selling ale without a licence.'^
It is desirable ^* to note here the earliest indi-
cations of the change of taste by which the old
English ale {cervisia) was gradually supplanted by
beer in the strict sense, that is, the hopped
liquor. It is probable from notices of a con-
siderable import trade in hops which we find
elsewhere," that beer was brewed in Dorset
' Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v, App. 586.
' Roberts, Hist, of Lyme Regis, 1 1 .
' Ibid. 453. Mbid. 454.
'Ibid. 453. "Ibid. 254.
" Roberts, Soc. Hist. Southern Counties, 456.
" Ibid. 454. " Ibid.
'* For this paragraph Mr. C. H. Vellacott is
responsible.
" V.C.H. Suss, ii, 261.
before the middle of the fifteenth century, but
however this may be, it is certain that by the
reign of Edward IV regular supplies of hops were
arriving in the port of Poole from the Nether-
lands. In the sixth year of his reign, '^ the Mary
Knyght, of ' Tergose ' in Zeeland, master Adryan
Cornelis, brought in 6 ' pokis ' of hoppes valued at
;^i, which paid is. in subsidy and 2,d. in customs
duty. On the 16 September, a ' scowte ' called
the Katherine '' of Bergen op Zoom {Barowe),
William Van Aeon, master, entered with 2 sacks
of hops on board worth 30J. The alien master
paid on these is. 6d. subsidy and ^.^d. customs
duty. In the following year the same vessel
brought in again 2 sacks of hops as well as a
great quantity of Flemish tiles. This time appar-
ently the hops were valued at loj. 10^., and the
2 ' pokes ' of hops brought in by the James,^^
another Dutch 'scowte,' of ' Tergoos,' on 24
February, 1468, were entered at loj. only. But
such fluctuations in price will be understood by
any person conversant with the history of the
hop market. The export trade in ale from Poole
to the Channel Islands was very considerable in
the fifteenth century, and early in the reign " of
Henry VII we hear not only of ordinary ale, but
of an export of no less than 22 casks {dolia) of
'byre' worth ;{^22. Malt also had long before
this been exported from Dorset, since, on 30
September, 1467, the Mary, of Poole, took out,
amongst a miscellaneous cargo, 12 quarters of
malt valued at 45. the quarter.
As regards the Irish trade,'" it may be well
worth notice that a Youghal vessel which entered
Poole late in the reign of Henry VII with fish,
as well as mantles and 98 yds. of frieze, took
back a store of food stuffs, bacon, corn, and oat-
meal, and also canvas and malt.
Malt mills were forbidden to be built within
the town or manor of Sherborne in mediaeval
times, ' whereby the corn mills,' the property of
the bishop, ' should be hindered.'^'
The thriving export trade in beer which Poole
carried on with the Channel Islands during the
reigns of Elizabeth and James I involved the
brewers in litigation with the corporation, who
levied an impost of 41. per brewlock of 3 tuns,
or id. per kilderkin, on all beer thus exported. ^-
The brewing industry was turned to account
for the employment of —
Idle persons committed to the House of Correction
at Sherborne in 1623, vifhen it vi'as ordered that they
should be set to the grinding of malt, which was to be
'• K.R. Cust. Accts. bdle. 119, No. 8 (6 Edw. IV).
" Ibid.
" Ibid. No. 9 (7-8 Edw. IV).
" Ibid. bdle. 120, No. 3 (3-4 Hen. VII).
»» Ibid. No. 10 (19-20 Hen. VII).
" Wildman, Hist. Sherborne, 54. See ' Soc. and
Econ. Hist.'
»' Roberts, Soc. Hist. Southern Counties, 455.
367
A HISTORY OF DORSET
supplied by all alehouse-keepers brewing in their own
houses, the master of the House of Correction being
authorised to take not above id. for a bushel ground
in the said House."
In 1630 'there were great fears ot a scarcity'
in the malt supply ; it was therefore ordered
that no person in the county of Dorset should
presume to convert any grain into malt, except
farmers on their own land, until the licence
should be renewed.**
Strong beer was to be sold at this date at 1 2s.
the hogshead, the small beer being priced at gs.
the hogshead.''
At the General Sessions at Blandfordin 1639,
every innkeeper selling one quart of best beer and
two of ordinary beer for more than id. was
fined j^l, a similar fine being inflicted on
unlicensed innkeepers."^
In 1650 complaints were lodged by the
brewers of Weymouth against the importation
of ' foreign beer,' that is, beer brewed out of
the borough, the said beer being bought by the
innkeepers to the prejudice of the brewers. A
tax of i2d. was levied on every hogshead, * to
go to the poor.' *'
Welsh coal was being largely employed in
drying the malt made in Dorset in 1793, when
the demand for that commodity in the county
reached a total of from 10,000 to 12,000 bushels,
10 to 14 bushels going to a hogshead of 63
gallons of strong beer.-*
Cerne Abbas had a good trade in malting
and brewing in 1823.^'
Dorchester ale has been enthusiastically praised
for two centuries^'* by county historian, novelist,
and poet. It is still well-known in the south
and west of England, though its export to London
is no longer so important as formerly. The
industry has suffered various vicissitudes, but is
at present in a flourishing condition and is
rapidly increasing.
References in the Minute Books of the
corporation of Dorchester show that the brewers
were very busy in the seventeenth century.
The traffic of their wagons was so great and
the pavement of the town so damaged by the
' brewers' cart-wheels by reason of their iron
bonds' that on 13 June, 1631, they were for-
bidden to ' carry any beer abroad in the town
with iron bonds.' But it was not until early in
" Somen, and Dors. N. and Q. i, 212.
" Roberts, Soc. Hist. Southern Counties, 456.
" Ibid. 457. " Ibid. 178.
" Ibid. 458.
*' Claridge, Jgric. of Dors. 19, 20.
" Pigot, Dir. 1823, p. 266.
"^ It is of interest to note that as early as 1 3 40
the 'consuetudo cervisie ' at Fordington was esti-
mated at 20/., so that even then a considerable quantity
of ale was brewed in the neighbourhood of Dor-
chester. Inq. Non. 49^.
the eighteenth century '" that their beer became
famous, then as Mr. Cox explained,
since by the French wars [The war of the Spanish
Succession] the coming of French wine is prohibited,
the people here [i.e. Dorchester] have learned to brew
the finest malt liquors in the kingdom, so delicately
clean and well tasted that the best judges not only
prefer it to the ales most in vogue as Hull, Derby
Burton &c., because 'tis not so heady, but look upon
it to be little inferior to common wine, and better
than the sophisticated which is usually sold."
Here the ale is praised because it was not heady,
but this quality became one of its especial char-
acteristics less than a hundred years later. In
1754 Pococke found Cerne Abbas was 'more
famous for beer than in any other place in this
county.' '' This town, together with Shaftesbury,
Blandford, and Dorchester, traded in malt ; and
the ' incomparable ' '' beer of Dorchester, great
' quantities of which are sold in London,' ^ is
mentioned again and again by the eighteenth-
century writers.
Hutchins agrees with Cox in giving the French
War as the reason for the extension of malting
and brewing, and further states that the towns-
people sent ' great quantities of excellent beer to
London and to foreign parts, but since 1725
this trade is decayed.' '' However, beer still
continued one of the best-known products of
Dorchester ; in 1788 it was described as having
' ever been esteemed excellent and sent to various
parts of the world.' "
In the early nineteenth century the beer and
ale were as highly praised as in the eighteenth,
but their characteristics seem to have somewhat
altered. In 1802 the strong beer of Dorset was
' famous,' the ale was ' also particularly celebrated
and in some respects unequalled.' '^
Some blight seems to fall later upon the
industry, and less is heard about the Dorset ale.
The only explanation suggested is the excessive
cost of transit ; the ale and beer being usually
conveyed in wagons, as there were no navigable
rivers and no canals near Dorchester.
The largest brewery now existing was estab-
lished early in the nineteenth century and is
famous for the excellence of its water for brewing
*' William Gawler praises the beer of Dorchester in
the following terms in 1743 : —
' What town such British nectar can produce ?
'Boston and Nottingham in vain compare,
* Whilst foreign kings delight in Dorset Beer ! '
Somers. and Dors. N. and Q. x, 87.
" Cox, Magna Brit. 1 720, p. 67.
" Pococke, Travels (1754).
" Engl. Displayed (1769), 67.
" Description of Engl, and Wales (1769), 229.
^' Hutchins, Hist of Dors, ii, 338.
'« Shaw, ^our to the West of Engl. (1788), 469.
" Britton, Beauties of Engl, and Wales (1802),
324.
368
INDUSTRIES
purposes. This water has been obtained by
sinking an artesian well through some 600 ft.
of solid chalk to the lower greensand.
Most of the barley for the malt is grown and
purchased in the neighbourhood, which is a great
advantage to the farmers attending the Dorchester
markets.
The Dorchester beer is brewed as follows : —
The barley is taken to one of the various making-
houses and is there malted, screened, cleaned,
and bushelled ; after that at the brewery the
malt is crushed and conveyed to a twin grist
hopper by a Jacob's ladder. When required for
mashing, the ground malt and water is passed
through a Steel's masher, whereby the malt is
saturated at a mixing heat of 150 deg. or there-
abouts according to the lightness or heaviness of
the beer required to be brewed. The general
proportions are about one and a half to two
barrels of water to a quarter of malt, finishing
with a little more water of a higher temperature.
From the Steel's mashing machine the mixture,
in its saturated condition, falls into the mash
tun, when the revolving rakes are set going until
the 'goods' rise to the proper heats, the object of
the operator being to prevent coagulation or
setting of the ' goods ' ; hence the rakes are kept
going until the goods are seen to touch the line
of saccharification. The operation lasts from five
to six hours, and about two hours after the
mashing process is completed the draining of
the wort from the goods (or grain) takes place.
The draining is accomplished, slowly at first, by
several cocks placed in the bottom of the mash
tun, and the wort is carried to the coppers
through main pipes constructed of copper and
lined with tin. The object of boiling the wort
is not only to break it up, but to eliminate a
large quantity of albumen, which from its
changeable nature is best out of the beer. It is
at this stage that the hops are added, which not
only give flavour to the beer but impart to it a
keeping quality. It is then cooled in open
coolers and refrigerators ; after this follows
fermentation. The skimming system as prac-
tised in London and elsewhere is the method of
fermentation which has been in use since the
Dorchester brewery was founded. Finally the
liquor is conveyed to slate racking or settling
tanks, from which it is racked into the casks. '*
According to the census of 1901, 293 malt-
sters and brewers carry on their trade in Dorset,
and besides these there is a large staff of clerks,
travellers, and managers who are employed by
the different brewers. Tiiere are various other
breweries in the county besides that at Dorches-
ter, one being at Bridport ; Dorset ale indeed
seems to have regained the proud position it
occupied in the eighteenth century, whilst Dor-
chester is still famous for ' health and beer.' ^'
CIDER
There is no doubt that even in the Middle
Ages cider was made in Dorset as in Sussex, to
meet local requirements, but unfortunately
specific notices are hard to come by. However,
as early as 1291 cider [cisera) is referred to in
an enrolled account of the abbey of Shaftesbury.'
In the Inquisitlones Nonarum of 1340 the tithes
of cider are probably included under the stereo-
typed form ' other small tithes,' and only excep-
tionally, as in the case of the parish of Bea-
minster,^ is cider mentioned by name. By
the reign of Edward IV we also hear of cider
being brought into Poole from abroad. A
vessel (batalla) named the Mavye of ' Reyle,'
Wrenche Herbert master, brought in amongst
its cargo I pipe of 'sidre,' valued at 35. 4</., and
Stephen Cressyn, a foreigner, paid thereon \d. in
customs duty and 2d. in subsidy.' Again at the
beginning of the next century, the Barharay
of 'Reverjobles,' entered Poole Haven under the
command of her master,Thomas Viron. Amongst
the cargo, besides great store of apples, pears,
'" From local information.
'' Clarke, A Tour through the South of Engl. (1793).
' Pipe R. 19 Edw. I; Cf. V.C.H. Sussex, ii, 263.
' Now. Inq. (Rec. Com.), 5 Ii5.
' K.R. Cust. Accts. bdle. 1 19, No. 20.
nuts, and other fruits of the earth, were 3
' poncheons de pery,' containing i cask [dolium),
valued at icj. On this consignment of liquor
the foreign merchant, James Seron, paid i^d. in
customs duty and bd. as his share of the subsidy.^
After disembarking her cargo she loaded up with
English goods and returned home, but reappeared '
at Poole two months after with more apples and
nuts, but instead of perry brought a hogshead of
dry wine [vini non dukii\ a barrel of verjuice
(^erg\ and two butts of Runnay or Roumey
wine,^ which contained i cask and I hogshead of
dry wine.
An orchard of cider apples has long formed part
of every Dorset farm, but the cider made in the
county has been almost exclusively manufac-
tured for home consumption. The process was
frequently superintended by a travelling brewer,
who was an authority on the proper flavouring
and clearing of the liquor. The Vale of Black-
moor has always been the pre-eminent cider-
producing district in the county. In 1788 apples
' Ibid. 19-20 Hen. VII, bdle. 120, No. 10.
' Ibid.
' Possibly the Romaney wine mentioned by Mr.
Andri Simon, Hist, of Wine Trade in Engl, i, 2 1 3, 2 i S,
282, &c.
369
47
A HISTORY OF DORSET
were raised ' in abundance ' on the land lying be-
tween Charmouth and Bridport, the cider from
which sold at 71. to 12s. a hogshead.' In
1793 a hogshead of 63 gallons was valued at
a guinea to 305.* In 1802 the Vale of Black-
moor still maintained its reputation for cider
apples.' At Dalwood in 1812 the best cider
was made from bitter apples, the following
varieties being specially suitable ; Jersey, Buck-
land Marylebone, and Langstone.^" Near Sher-
borne the practice was to mix 6 bushels of sweet
apples with 3 bushels ofa sharp or bitter variety,'^
and it was generally considered that 20 bushels
would make a hogshead of cider.*^ At Power-
stock a single tree was known to yield 7 hogs-
heads in one season."
One well-known orchard " in the beginning of
the last century was that of Mr. Ottan at
Wootton Fitzpaine. It was in extent about
20 acres, and the trees were on an average 20 ft.
apart. The yield varied considerably, but in
general it was thought to be about 10 hogsheads
per acre. As to the methods employed in manu-
facture Mr. Ottan observed that when cider fer-
ments too much
it should be checked as much as possible ; and this
may be done by straining the sediment which is left
after racking off through a canvas bag, and putting the
clear liquor thus obtained among the cider.
He also pointed out that sour-bitters and cluster-
apples were useful to make cider keep well, and
sometimes one pound of hops was added to each
hogshead for the same purpose.
Cider often known by the name of liquor or
drink was constantly given to the labourers at hay-
' Shaw, Tour to West of Engl. (1788), 454.
* Claridge, Agr'tc. of Dors. 25.
° Britton, Beauties Engl, and Wales {iZoz), iv, 322.
'" Stevenson, Agric. of Dors. 321.
" Occasionally a few crabs were substituted for the
bitter apples.
" Stevenson, Agric. of Dors. 322.
" Ibid. ' Ring-houses ' were formerly to be found in
some places where the owners of orchards could have
their apples made into cider. Roberts, So:. Hist.
Southern Counties, 454. " Ibid. 321.
time and harvest, and enormous quantities were
consumed. At the beginning of the last century
at Netherbury labourers had 2s. 6d. a day and
12 pints of cider. At Wootton Fitzpaine the
men often drank 2 gallons of liquor a day, and at
Dalwood the harvesters got half a pint of cider
each for every ridge they went down.^*
The picture of the Dorset orchard, drawn in
1897 by one observer, is a gloomy one.
Of the many counties I have critically inspected, Dor-
set has proved one of, if not the most disappointing.
In all directions small and occasionally large orchards
are to be seen, no holding or farm being apparently
complete without one ; but the trees are truly in a
wretched plight, to be matched for their draper}" of
moss and lichen in other parts of the county, but surely
not out of it."
The same authority found the trees unpruned and
the land uncleaned ; whilst the cider was ' poor
stuff,' much of it being unfit to drink.'' Again,
it must be confessed that the late Mr. Farquhar-
son, at one time member of Parliament for a
division of the county, declared that although he
made cider on his estate he could never get it of
prime quality, and this he attributed to the char-
acter of the soil. On the other hand that excel-
lent judge Mr. C. W. Radcliffe Cooke tasted
draught cider near Corfe Castle almost equal to
the best Herefordshire.^' Indeed, round Wareham
the making of cider was at one time regarded as
so important according to a correspondent of
Mr. Cooke's that people were allowed to be called
out of church to attend to it. The truth seems
to be that only certain soils in the county are
really suitable for vintage fruit, and that sufficient
enterprise and care have not always been used in
the management of the orchards and the making
of the liquor. Yet with improved methods of
cider-making Dorset should maintain her place
beside her Western sisters Somerset and Devon in
this ancient and characteristic industry.
■' Ibid. 436.
'* ' The Wasted Orchards of England,' Gardenet't
Mag. 1897.
'^ Ibid.
" Cooke, Book about Cider and Perry, 9.
370
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