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September, 2011:

Fleet

Sep 28th, 2011
by Dorset Ancestors.
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This little place is assured a continuing stream of visitors, thanks to a story published in 1898: the thrilling adventure story Moonfleet written by J Meade Faulkner, is set here. The author makes no attempt to disguise the setting under a cloak of fictional anonymity and even goes so far as to weave the real life lords of the manor – the Mohun family – into his tale of smuggling during the mid – 18th century. In 1955 the story was made into a film starring Stewart Grainger.

Nowadays, Fleet is a quiet hamlet but it was once a thriving village community that made their living from agriculture and fishing subsidised by smuggling and the salvaging of cargoes of ships dashed to pieces on the Chesil, a business the villagers were well positioned to exploit.

That was all in the good old days before the dreadful storm of 1824 that wreaked havoc throughout the area, notably washing away Weymouth’s promenade. The people hereabouts relied on the Chesil beach to provide a natural defence from the treacherous seas that run off this part of the coast. The storm that blew in on the night of the 24th of November 1824 cut the Chesil down to size as it carried a tempestuous sea crashing over it, flooding nearby  Abbotsbury to a depth of twenty feet.  The inhabitants of Butter Street in Fleet watched as their homes were completely destroyed and the church all but washed away; only the chancel was left standing. The Countess of Ilchester came to the aid of villagers sending food and clothing.

Butter Street was rebuilt, but a century later disaster was to call again.  In the 1930’s fire took all but one of the homes and again they were rebuilt. In 1826 work got underway on the building of a new church located further inland. The first stone was laid on the 25th of April 1827 and two years later on the 25th of August 1829, the Revd. Robert Gray, the Bishop of Bristol, consecrated the church which is dedicated to the Holy Trinity. The new church comprises a chancel, nave and west tower and is in the style of the 18th century Gothic Revival. A wall plaque in the tower records the destruction of the earlier church.

The name Fleet comes from the lagoon-like stretch of water beside which the hamlet stands. It has been suggested that the name may be a reference to West Bay, as the Saxon name for a bay or gulf was flot, fleot or fleet.

In medieval times the village was the property of Edward the Confessor, who gave it to Earl Harold. The Crown held Fleet at the time of Domesday but it was later granted to The Priory of Christchurch at Twynham, probably when the Priory was established in 1150. After the dissolution of the monasteries it was given for a period of twenty one years to William Cocke, Valet of the Pantry. During the reign of Elizabeth 1st the manor passed to Robert Freke and John Walker and then to Robert Mohun.

Coker’s Survey of Dorset, written early in the 17th century, mentions a large mansion here known as Fleet House, the property of Maximilian Mohun. It was the seat of the Mohun family whose arms can be seen to this day on the two columns at the entrance to the village. The Mohun’s came to England with William the Conqueror. The house has survived a succession of alterations eventually being converted into a hotel. It is located a short distance from the hamlet in a spot facing the calm waters of the Fleet lagoon, sheltered from the north by the rising downs. It is a holiday sun-trap and, not surprisingly, it is named the Moonfleet Manor Hotel.

The chancel of the old church is still standing. Inside on the north wall is a brass plaque commemorating the lives of Robert and Margaret Mohun. They are depicted kneeling at a desk; behind Robert are nine sons and behind Margaret eight daughters. Another plaque has  been placed in the old church in memory and recognition of J Meade Faulkner.

Near to the old church a tunnel was discovered, which, it is believed, was used to move contraband secretly and away from the prying eyes of the Revenue men.

John Hutchin gives this pedigree of the Mohun family. The Mohuns of Fleet were descended from Robert Mohun, his brothers being the ancestors of branches of the family in Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. They were: Robert’s son Maximilian (1564-1612) who married Anne daughter of John Churchill of Corton, in 1593; their son Maximilian (1596-1673) married to Elizabeth the daughter of Francis Chaldecot of Whiteway; their son Francis Mohun (1625-1711) married to Eleanor Sheldon; their son Gilbert Maximilian Mohun (1675-1721) who married firstly Elizabeth Squibb who died in 1701, and secondly Sarah daughter of Thomas Cooper of Sherborne. They had several sons, the last surviving, Robert, died without issue in 1758.
 
In the mid 18th century the estate consisted of manor of East and West Fleet with farms, the glebe of the parsonage, the advowson of the church, and the water known as The Beach – presumably the lagoon.

The manor passed to Robert’s sister, Sarah, and her second marriage was to John  Gould of Upwey. Sarah died in 1774 and her husband left the estate to his eldest son by his first marriage to Mary the daughter of the Revd. William Glisson, rector of Marnhull, George Gould of Upwey and Fleet.

George married twice. His second wife was Abigail the daughter of Robert Gooden of Over Compton and the couple had two sons, John and George and the manor passed to them in succession. It was the latter George Gould who became rector of the parish of Fleet. He provided the money and was responsible for building the new church after the storm of 1824; he died in 1841 without marrying.
The estate passed to Miss Catherine Jackson who died in 1847 when it was passed to George Gooden, he later became vicar of Fleet.  George was the son of Robert Gooden, the brother of Revd. George Gould’s mother.

This place can feel very sinister. Could it be the ghosts of smugglers past, both real and imagined are just a step away still playing hide and seek with the Revenue Men?

January 1748 – Ten Days of Mayhem on the Chesil

Sep 22nd, 2011
by Dorset Ancestors.
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On the 17th of April 1747 the ship Hope set sail from Amsterdam for Curacao, then belonging to the Dutch. She would sail on to the Spanish Main to sell her cargo to the Spaniards, who, because of the war with England, were in some distress in the American provinces. In command of the ship was Captain Boon Corneliz, who had at his disposal a crew of 73 men and 30 guns, although on the outward voyage only 21 guns were mounted ready for action against pirates or the English Navy, should they seek to engage. The ship was owned by the Dutch merchant firm Hendrick Hogenberg and Co, who had loaded the ship with cloth and bale goods.

Business done and nearing the end of her voyage home the Hope of Amsterdam was off Portland on the 16th of January 1748, having sailed through storms and tempestuous seas the previous fourteen days. All 30 of the ships guns were mounted, perhaps because the cargo of gold, jewels and other valuable commodities it was bringing home was, by the most conservative estimate, worth at least £50,000. Its guns would have been sufficient to fight off any attacks from pirates but against the elements they were no help and off Portland that night Captain Corneliz and his crew needed all the help they could get.
 
No light was visible from the Portland lighthouse, perhaps because of the mist or possibly due to the neglect of duty by those responsible. It was about one or two o’clock in the morning and very dark when the Hope ran ashore on the Chesil beach. When she struck land the mast fell with the force of impact, the ship shattered into three parts. The upper deck was thrown upon a ridge of pebbles and the cabin was buried in the sands; the hull was never found and was thought to have rolled back into the sea. Amazingly, all of the men aboard got safely to the shore.

Word of what had happened quickly spread. A mob soon flocked on to the Chesil from the adjacent villages and from all parts of Dorset and the neighbouring counties. The men of Portland, Wyke and Weymouth were first on the scene and seem to have had a well rehearsed drill for dealing with these events. They formed themselves into a body with colours to secure the goods that floated along the coast. They split into groups of 20, which united as necessary under a leader. A report written latter suggests there were between three and four thousand local men employed in this endeavour and as others arrived from farther afield the numbers on the beach swelled to several thousand.

For ten days the mob held the beach. One report described “a scene of unheard of riot, violence and barbarity.” Another report described the scene thus: “a crowd swarmed about the water’s edge grubbing for gold, tearing up the shingle with their bare nails, fighting over gleaming coins like starved wolves.”

On January 18th the crew set-off for Holland, except for the Captain, his First-mate and another officer. The Captain was forced to leave the beach; the officers of Customs and the Justice of the Peace officers were overawed by the mob that carried on digging and turning-up the beach. On January 20th several bags of money were found six feet under the pebbles.

After ten days three neighbouring Justices of the Peace with a body of armed men dispersed the mob. An inquiry was held and the authorities set about tracing the possessors of the plundered goods, who were compelled to hand over to the agent of the ship’s owners gold, jewellery and other goods with a value of between 25 and 30,000 pounds. They were allowed something for salvage rights.

Some men were committed to prison and two men appeared before Judge Baron Heneage Legge at the assizes in Dorchester on July 15th 1749, to answer for their actions but they were acquitted. The jury accepted their rather far fetched claim that the Dutch were pirates who had argued amongst themselves over the division of their bounty and then deliberately ran the ship on shore and deserted her for fear of being taken and punished. The two argued that the Dutch had taken the goods from the Spaniards, who had bought and paid for them; thus they maintained it was lawful to plunder pirates. The jury also took into account that only two men were before them when all manner of disorders were committed by many of the reported several thousand men who were on the beach for those ten lawless days and nights.

At the time there were stories of men with “bulging pockets” being robbed and strangled on the beach but there is nothing to confirm this. Men did die on the beach but from the affects of the extreme cold aggravated by high winds.

There are modern day examples of similar occurrences. In 2007 the Napoli, on a voyage from Belgium to Portugal, ran aground off the Devon coast. Several containers loaded with consumer goods floated ashore. Hundreds of people flocked to the scene to see what they could get, some leaving with BMW motorcycles worth thousands. The authorities had to point out that people removing goods and not properly declaring them risked fines of up to £2,500 but this did not deter many people intent on seeing what they could get their hands on.

The Ralph Wightman Story

Sep 16th, 2011
by Dorset Ancestors.
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“A sound like heather, honey and goose-grease” was how one admirer once described the voice of Ralph Wightman, who could be said to have been Dorset’s first voice of radio. Wightman’s Dorset accent seemed ideally suited for one presenting a string of programmes catering for agrarian and country matters, and for which he will best be remembered.

But Wightman was much more than a consummate broadcaster. He was the first of his family, even among his siblings, to undertake higher education, although for four generations the Wightmans had eked a lowly living from the land, and one branch of his ancestry emigrated to continue the farming tradition in Canada.

Wightman was born on the family farm in Piddletrenthide in July 1901, the youngest of three sons of a farmer who was also the village butcher. As a boy he visited distant markets with his father while his elder brothers tended the farm. Like them, it was expected young Ralph would continue the business of his forebears. But although he found farm work satisfying he early resolved that becoming a serious farmer was not for him.

Early in the 20th century county councils routinely awarded bright pupils scholarships to elementary schools as a first step towards a secondary or grammar school place. Ralph took and passed the entrance exam for a scholarship to Beaminster Grammar, which then had agriculture on the curriculum. But by this time World War I was running its bloody course, and Wightman’s first year was not a happy one. By the end of his second year however, his interest in farming had been re-kindled after seeing how farmers were responding to the need for feeding the nation in wartime by improving their efficiency. With banks prepared to make money available, investment was possible in fertilisers and new equipment such as tractors, to replace horses.

Wightman passed his Oxford Senior in 1917, and following further exam successes won a place at Armstrong College, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, to study agricultural chemistry. At this time also he would cultivate an ability as a speaker and debater in discussion groups – skills which would be of the utmost value to him in his later professional life. In 1922 Wightman graduated with a BsC, and experience gained as an assistant lecturer helped secure his first job, for £10 less than he was then earning.

For the next four years Wightman lived the life of a travelling teacher on courses at various centres in Devon followed by another three years working in Wiltshire while maintaining a close contact with local farmers. Much of the work was done in winter evenings when Ralph often had to motorcycle along unsurfaced roads by the light of an acetylene lamp. But he relished the life, glad to be in familiar territory with countymen and women who spoke his dialect.

Wightman’s Wiltshire appointment in 1927 was on a higher salary and brought him into contact with Arthur G. Street, a writer and broadcaster who became a mentor and lifelong friend. In the years to come the two men would share many broadcast hours together.

Ralph returned to Dorset in 1930, to become the county’s senior farming lecturer and advisor. He rented a Tudor house in Puddletown, which became his permanent home. After a period with the County Council Wightman was able to rent an office in the headquarters of the National Farmers’ Union Dorset branch, driving there each day from his Puddletown home. From this base he embarked upon a productive career as a correspondent for the local papers, the NFU, and writing material for a weekly farming talk broadcast from Bournemouth.

Very soon after, Wightman himself was broadcasting from the Bournemouth station – a ten-minute piece about worms in sheep. Never a qualified vet, he nevertheless had made himself an authority on the animal. He could therefore speak from experience about recommending new medication or methods of treatment. Through this and later talks the fledgling broadcaster earned the confidence and admiration of many farmers with a radio.

In June 1939, after several broadcasts in the pre-war years, Street asked Wightman to stand in to deliver a four-minute commentary on the Royal County Show from Bristol. This paved the way to greater things, and in his autobiographical Take Life Easy, he pays tribute to Street, Francis Dillon and Brian Vesey-Fitzgerald for their great help and advice.

On the outbreak of the Second World War, Wightman was once again involved in agriculture in Dorset and called upon to broadcast to the nation from time to time. Then the BBC launched County Magazine in May 1942. This programme became an immediate success and would continue throughout the war with presenter Ralph Wightman taking it to all regions except Scotland. Besides being anchorman of County Magazine, Wightman also participated in a number of other farming and country programmes as well as three appearances in Christmas Day programmes.

One Saturday night in 1943 a postscript Wightman broadcast brought a blizzard of letters from all over the country. There then followed an idea that he should broadcast to the USA on English country matters, leading him to notch up a staggering total of 290 weekly Trans-Atlantic talks – a record possibly only exceeded by Alistair Cooke.

Wightman left the Ministry of Agriculture in June 1948 to go freelance, giving all his time to interpreting Dorset and the West Country. To stay in touch with farming developments he took a part time job as a consultant with a seed firm. But the flood of broadcasting appointments for the BBC seemed relentless. There were unscripted appearances on Country Questions and Any Questions? the latter of course being live.
Wightman was by now a seasoned radio presenter, an affable character universally known for his russet voice and common sense, though TV appearances were few. Many of his friends themselves became household names, such as Stuart Hibberd, himself a Dorset-born broadcaster and fellow-member of the Society of Dorset Men.

Wightman’s last broadcast was in March 1971. His several books include Rural Rides and other works on farming and Dorset. In ‘I live in Dorset’ (Homes & Gardens, July 1960) he wrote: ” I had to leave home at the age of 18 because a strained heart was alleged to have made me incapable of physical toil.”

It was not a strained heart, however, that robbed the country of this popular presenter but something different entirely. In May 1971 Wightman fractured his skull in a fall at his home. He was admitted to Dorchester Hospital, but the broadcaster died soon after, aged 69. Though he had no children of his own, he left behind a farmer nephew, the son of one of his elder brothers.

Stourpaine

Sep 10th, 2011
by Dorset Ancestors.
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When Harold fell at Hastings in 1066 it was bad news for the Saxons throughout England. Over the following few years they saw their possessions sold, they were turned out of their manors and turfed off their land, which was then granted to the conquering Normans. The Saxon, Alward, owned the manor of Stures and he faired no better than the rest. The manor was situated at the foot of Hod Hill, where the Ewerne stream meets the river Stour. Twenty years on from the famous battle at Hastings it was granted to Humphrey the Chamberlain when, according to the Domesday Book, the combined population of Stures with the hamlets of Ashe and Lazerton was 28.

By 1135 the records show that Hilias de Oresculz held the manor and it was his son, Richard, who gave land and advowson in Stures to the Priory church of Christchurch in Twyneham. Richard’s daughter Matilda married William Fitzjohn and they had two sons and a daughter. One of their sons was named Payne and this son had a son named William Fitzpayne, who had three sons: Richard de Stures Payn, who became the first rector of the parish in 1291, and Nicholas who also became a priest, leaving the third son, Bartholomew, to inherit. By 1316 Bartholomew had been knighted and confirmed by the sheriff as Lord of Sture Payne and Edmondsham.

Records reveal that in 1311 John Payne sued Roger Spurnhare and William Nots 100s for trespass and damage. The particulars of the case were recorded in some detail but on the day appointed for the hearing the clerk entered the words “They did not come.” It appears this happened three times and when the case came up for the forth time a despairing clerk wrote “Similar entry as above.”
 
The following year there was a dispute between the Abbess of Tarrant Crawford and Bartholomew Payne over the possession of some meadow land and grazing rights after the hay had been harvested.  The court decided in favour of Bartholomew Payne and said the Abbess takes nothing, but is “In mercy for a false claim.” The Knight was back at court again that year when he sued several people for trespass and damages, but the record reveals a disregard for the court was becoming usual as the words “they did not come” again appears in the record. During the reign of Richard II (1377-1399), Stour Payne was granted to Edward Payne.

The last Payne died without an heir and in Edward IV’s reign (1461-1483) the lands were transferred to the Hussey family of Shapwick. In1645, during the Civil War, a farm belonging to Joseph Hussey, ensign to Col. Phillips, a Royalist, was sequestrated by Parliament; Joseph was buried at Stour Payne in 1685. Another Hussey, Robert, also chose a military career and he was an officer at the battle of Quebec in 1759 and fell alongside his commanding officer, General Wolfe. Some of the troops who took part in the battle of Quebec had been trained near to Stourpaine. (See our story about Iwerne Courtney.)  Robert had two sons, both named Hubert. The youngest son was buried here in 1742; a second son was baptised here in 1744 or 1745 and when still a young man went off to London.

In the 19th century the inhabitants were in the main agricultural workers earning low wages and living in ill-kept cottages housing large families who would typically occupy one small room.  Children were deprived of their education, kept away from school to work on allotments and knit clothes for sale. A lot of girls as young as ten and eleven were employed making gloves, all to bring in a little more money.  It was a miserable existence, as the Vicar of Stourpaine reported to the Poor Law Commissioners in 1867. It was noted that the behaviour of some women was a problem: “There are more bastard children (in Stourpaine) than in any other (Dorset) village,” a report concluded. 

In the Domesday Book a gift of land to the church is mentioned but there is nothing else to suggest there was a church here in Saxon times. In 1190, on the site of the present church, building work started and was completed in 1300. In the 15th century the tower was demolished and the present tower was built.
 
In 1858 the church had deteriorated and T.H. Wyatt undertook the construction of a new chancel and nave. He saved a few features from the original church including the 15th century west tower and a kneeling effigy of John Straight in black gown with gathered sleeves and tall collar; he was vicar here from 1650-1659. The original font was lost. The pulpit was carved by the vicar, Charles Sweet and four parishioners, between 1911 and 1914.

Lazerton was a separate parish, its church dedicated to St. Andrew. In the late 12th century a charter states it was so poor that it was released “from all payments except synodals.” The parish of Lazerton was not taxed in 1428 when it had fewer than ten inhabitants. In 1431 Lazerton was joined with Stourpaine because “the church at Lazerton had so small profits that it had been and was then destitute of a chaplain.” Lazerton was uninhabited when the 1662 Hearth Tax returns were made.  Today there is nothing to show of Lazerton; what did remain was destroyed in 1962.

Today the village is divided by the main Blandford to Shaftesbury road, on the one side of which is an estate of modern housing and on the other side cob and thatched cottages and the church. With the views to the vale of Blackmore and its proximity to Hod Hill with its ancient British fort it is not surprising that many ramblers and tourists come this way.

The Hamlet of Steeple and Creech Grange

Sep 2nd, 2011
by Dorset Ancestors.
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Steeple is a small hamlet surrounded by heathland in the sparsely populated parish of the same name. Comprising a church, fine manor house and a few cottages, it is about four miles south west of Wareham between Lulworth and Corfe Castle at the foot of the Purbeck Hills. This rolling Dorset Down separates the hamlet from Creech Grange, the mansion and estate of special interest to American visitors because of the association with Sir Oliver Lawrence, an ancestor of George Washington. The Lawrence coat-of-arms featuring the stars and stripes is in the porch of the church and is repeated in the barrel roof and is the same as the coat-of-arms on a signet ring belonging to George Washington. Could this little place and nearby Affpuddle, which has similar features, be the birthplace of the stars and stripes?

The Lawrence and Washington families were from Lancaster and united through the marriage in 1390 of Edmund Lawrence to Agnes Wessington. Sir Oliver Lawrence came to Steeple and John Washington a descendent of Agnes, travelled to Virginia; his great grandson was George Washington, who became the first President of the United States of America.

In Domesday this place is referred to as Stiple a reference to the steepness of the hills. It was a part of the manor of Glole, Stiple and Criz or, as we would say today, Church Knowle, Steeple and Creech. We can see from the terrain surrounding the church that in medieval times Steeple was a large village. Now the church is quite isolated from the few cottages of limestone construction that make up Steeple today.

Before the Reformation the land hereabouts was owned by Bindon Abbey, but all that changed when Henry VIII ordered the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539. Sir Oliver Lawrence, the brother-in-law of King Henry’s Lord Chancellor, acquired the land and built Creech Grange here, completing it before his death in 1559. The house was bought by Nathaniel Bond in 1691, when the Lawrence line died out. Thomas Bond was made a baronet by Charles II and later turned an area of London known as Conduit Mead – at the time nothing more than a rubbish tip – into a habitable place. Today we know it as Bond Street the famous London Street synonymous with fashion and luxury shopping; many ladies will know that for many years Conduit Street was home in the UK to the Christian Dior label.

In 1682 the then Rector Samuel Bolde, dared to declare in a sermon that “everybody had a right to their own beliefs.”  When word of this reached King James II he was not well pleased and Rector Bolde found himself in prison.

The parish church is dedicated to St. Michael. Built from rubble and ashlar and roofed with stone slates it comprises nave, chancel, south chapel, north pew, south porch and west tower. Much of the nave survives from the 12th century; it has a 17th century plaster barrel vault, which was renewed in 1954. Edward Lawrence sponsored several alterations and additions during the 17th century including the building of the west tower. The chancel and south porch were rebuilt between 1852 and 1861.

The Manor House was built at the start of the 17th century and later enlarged probably in 1698. On the front of the building there is the Clavell family crest probably commemorating the additions to the building by Roger and Ruth Clavell and they made further additions at the beginning of the 18th century. The extensive additions made to the north east of the house are modern.

To see the other important buildings in the parish we have to climb some 700 feet to the top of the downs and Grange Arch. Built in the 18th century by Denis Bond “to form an architectural focus to the view southward from the Grange” says the RCHM. From this vantage point we can look down on the mansion known as Creech Grange.

The impressive house we see today owes little to the original building, which was badly damaged by the Parliamentarians during the Civil War. The front of the building was completely rebuilt in 1846 by the Bond family.

Near to the grand house is the Chapel of St. John the Evangelist built in 1746 by Denis Bond, who died before it was completed; for a century the unfinished building was used as a workshop. Originally it consisted of a west tower and nave with a small sanctuary entered through a 12th century archway, brought from the priory church at East Holme and according to the RCHM is a “notable Romanesque feature.”  It was 1840 when work was recommenced by John Bond who died in 1844. His brother the Revd Nathaniel Bond rebuilt the nave and tower and added the north transept in 1849. 1868 saw the addition of the chancel, the vestry and organ chamber.

Every parish, village and hamlet has a history deserving to be told and Steeple, with its associations with America’s founding fathers, its outspoken clergy, and the transfer of its grand mansion from a distinguished Royalist family to another prominent family is no exception.