Dorset Ancestors Rotating Header Image

June, 2013:

The Lyme Tapestry

Jun 21st, 2013
by Dorset Ancestors.
Comments are off for this post

On the north side of the nave of the parish Church of St. Michael the Archangel in Lyme Regis there is a piece of craftsmanship in embroidery on display which has been the subject of much controversy ever since it was acquired for the church in the latter 19th century.

This possession is the Lyme Tapestry, widely supposed to be the work of Flemish weavers around 1490, but still veiled in uncertainty over the identity of the people involved in the marriage or betrothal the tapestry portrays. Some authorities hold that it depicts the marriage of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, while others consider it could equally represent that between Henry VIII (or his brother Prince Arthur) and Catherine of Aragon. However, the work shows a pomegranate – the emblem of the recently conquered Granada and a clerical figure presumed to be Cardinal Wolsey – a high churchman unknown in Henry VII’s reign.

Whichever is correct this textile has had a chequered history. The connection with Lyme began on the day in 1886 when the vicar, the Revd. Edward Peek bought it for the church from an obscure source for £20. The story goes that until the time of the purchase the tapestry had been concealed behind a false wall at the Somerset home of a Royalist anxious to secure such a treasure from plunder by Cromwellian forces during the Civil War. The tapestry hidden for over 200 years; the house however, has never been traced.
In January 1912 the Revd. W. Jacob was informed after consultation with a valuer that the tapestry was worth between £1,500 and £2,000. Over the next 41 years there followed a long series of correspondence and consultations between the Church Council and a curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum about the possible acquisition of the tapestry for the Museum.

Then in 1953 the President of the Royal Academy of Arts wrote to the vicar of Lyme asking if the tapestry could be loaned for an exhibition to mark the Coronation. As the piece was only insured against fire and the church had no money for its upkeep, the tapestry was not released on this occasion; the exhibition was cancelled. Twenty-two years later the Revd. Nicholson, concerned about the tapestry’s condition and maintenance costs, sought to donate it to a museum, but the tapestry did not come to be moved on this occasion either.

Following this the Church Council decided unanimously to place the work with a museum or art gallery in the southwest, and in 1977 an arrangement was made to place the tapestry in the custody of the National Trust at its Barn Restaurant property at Trerice in Cornwall. Here it remained until 1996 when, following negotiations with the Trust and some preparatory conservation work undertaken at Hampton Court, the Lyme Tapestry was returned and re-hung in St. Michael’s.

Wareham – Attack and Counter Attack

Jun 16th, 2013
by Dorset Ancestors.
Comments are off for this post

The population of the town of Wareham during the Civil War was predominantly for the Royalist cause, while Poole was almost to a man for Parliament. In 1643 the Poole garrison was commanded by Capt. Lay; he decided to attack Wareham by boat and landed 200 men at Redcliffe taking a small party of Royalists by surprise. The Roundheads chased the Royalists along the river path to the quay, where battle raged for most of the day, the fierce and bloody fighting leaving many dead, some from drowning. As the Poole men departed they seized ammunition, took many prisoners and carried off much of the produce intended for the following day’s market.

The people of Wareham were inspired by the loyal sermons of their Rector the Reverend William Wake, who was not shy of involving himself in military matters and is described by a contemporary writer as “a jolly soldier like cleric.” Reverend Wake was taken prisoner on nineteen occasions during the Civil War and was at the Siege of Sherborne Castle.
 
Wareham remained in Royalist hands during the winter of 1643 but on 27th February 1644 Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper for Parliament launched a full scale attack on the town. The assault came from all sides and the Royalists were greatly outnumbered. A fierce battle took place on Holme Bridge where forty five men, both horse and foot, beat off three hundred Roundheads for five hours, killing forty of them. It was reported that Captain Purton was wounded and “bled to death while encouraging his men with great cheerfulness” After a day of relentless attacks by the Roundheads from Poole the outnumbered Royalists surrendered the garrison.

 As the 13th of April 1644 dawned a force of Royalist Cavaliers under the command of Colonel Ashburnham attacked the town, a savage encounter resulting in total victory for the Royalists. Thirty-nine Roundheads were killed and one hundred and fifty were captured including six Captains; the remainder fled back to Poole by water. Many guns and muskets were taken off the enemy.  Whitelocke in his History writes of the Roundheads: “they obtained places by treachery and when in occupation committed many rapes and diverse acts of cruelty” It is likely the people of Wareham were glad to see the back of them.

In the months of June and July there were skirmishes round the town but the Royalist garrison held firm even on the 18th of June, ignoring a call to surrender made by the Earl of Essex, the Parliamentarian Lieutenant-General, to surrender.

On the 8th of August the tide of events at Wareham was to turn again and for the Royalists the day of reckoning had arrived – Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, newly promoted to the rank of Field-Marshall-General, was back and intent on revenge. He came with two thousand men, more than enough to overwhelm the small Royalist garrison. Battle was engaged: the old Walls had been fortified with palisades and every male stood behind them bravely defending the town. By the end of the day the town was no longer a Royalist stronghold and the Rector again found himself a prisoner.

Sir Anthony, proud of his success, went to Parliament and delivered an account of the storming of the town of Wareham, for which he received more honours. The King’s supporters were being beaten in their castles and towns and it was not long before the Parliamentarians were triumphant everywhere. In Dorset there was one last fight at Wareham. A Royalist, Colonel Cromwell (a cousin of Oliver) stormed into the town with a troop of horses, captured the Roundhead Governor and two Committee men, and carried them off to Corfe Castle, which was still holding out.

A vindictive Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper asked Parliament: “Query, whether it not be absolutely necessary to pluck down Wareham, it being impossible to victual; if Sir William Waller ever drew away his Foot the town it is left naked to the pleasure of the enemy, who will certainly posssess it unless it can be made no Town. There can be no arguments against demolishing it, being extremely mean built and the inhabitants almost all dreadful malignants; besides the keeping will certainly starve more honest men than the destroying will undo knaves. A few Foot in Lulworth will keep Corfe Castle far better than Wareham…If they are unwilling to destroy the town of Wareham it may be left for a horse quarter with instructions that when they are forced to quit it; to set it on fire.” Wareham survived but Corfe Castle was demolished.

Writing a century after the events the Reverend John Hutchins says: “No evidence can be stronger as to the loyal feelings of the Good Townsmen of Wareham towards the Crown”.

 

The Great Town of the King

Jun 9th, 2013
by Dorset Ancestors.
Comments are off for this post

In the north of the county, commanding superb views over the Blackmore Vale, Stour Valley and distant hills is the parish of Kington Magna, which means “the Great Town of the King”. Extending to nearly 2,000 acres the parish is divided into two parts: by the River Cale to the north-east is Kington and to the south-west is Nyland. Within the parish boundaries are the hamlets of Higher Nyland, Bye, Hartmoor and Bowden. The village is at the foot of the steep west slope of Stour Hill with the Parish Church of All Saints standing in an elevated position overlooking the village, where some of the cottages date from the 17th and 18th century. In the 19th century bricks were made here.

The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book. During the reign of King John (1199-1216) John de Ingham died, having owned the manor. William de Boterelles is recorded giving two coursers and a Norway goshawk for licence to marry Aubrey, John de Ingham’s widow; she paid a fine of 300 marks for licence to marry.

The church has walls built from local rubble with ashlar dressings; the roofs are tiled. Its massive embattled west tower has stood since the late 15th century; it has five bells and a clock. It is quite likely that the men of Kington Magna were busy working on the tower as their king was being slain on Bosworth Field. Before 1862 the church had been described as “small and antique” but then the Revd. William Dugdale had the Chancel, Nave, North and South Aisles and the South Porch rebuilt.  The church registers for baptisms and marriages survive from 1680 and the burial register from 1686; they are held at the Dorset History Centre in Dorchester. A National School was built in 1854 and there is a Methodist Chapel with a stone in the gable inscribed ‘1851 Primitive Methodist Chapel. T Tanner, Mason’  Near to the church is Kington Manor Farm, a 17th century structure that retains many original features.

We have placed a photograph of the church in the gallery.

Woodsford Castle

Jun 3rd, 2013
by Dorset Ancestors.
Comments are off for this post

From the 11th century to the early years of 14th century the manor of West Woodsford was held by the Belet family. It then passed in 1335 to William de Whitefield it was then that a licence was granted to crenellate the manor house, in other words to furnish it with battlements or loopholes ie parapets with notches or tooth-edges to shoot through. The work of fortifying the house was probably completed by Guy de Brian, to whom the manor passed in 1367. Thomas Gerard in his 17th century work says: ”it became the possession of Hugh Stafford by one of whose heires it came to Thomas Strangeways”. The Strangeways held it for three hundred years. The manor house is one of the oldest inhabited buildings in England, the oldest part of it being erected in the reign of Edward III.

Known as Woodsford Castle, though there is little here now to suggest a castle, it was a strongly fortified house arranged with the principal accommodation to the north on the first floor, served from below. The servants were housed on the ground and south side of the first floor.
 
Commenting on the house in the early 20th century Sir Frederick Treves described it as an unkempt farmhouse with fowls strutting in and out of its arched doorway. Treves observed there is little left of the castle and remarked on its broken off walls, poorly maintained thatch, drab chimneys and its bricked up windows. It would seem little had changed since 1630 when Thomas Gerard (author of Coker’s Survey of Dorset) described it as being “almost ruinated”.

Originally a square building with five feet thick walls that had arrow slits and towers at each corner topped with machicolated parapets that have long since disappeared. It had vaulted rooms, a chapel, a haunted chamber and a kitchen with a fireplace having a 14 foot span; there was a beacon tower too. Just one side of the original quadrangular stone building survives. Around 1660 it was converted to a farmhouse.
 
This impressive building is Grade I Listed. In recent years it has been restored and is now owned by the Landmark Trust.

There is a photo of the ‘castle’ in the gallery.