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January, 2014:

Weymouth – Sandsfoot Castle

Jan 21st, 2014
by Dorset Ancestors.
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This Tudor fort was completed around 1541 and is part of Henry VIII’s network of coastal defences to protect against attacks from Roman Catholic enemies, both French and Spanish, following the change in the established religion in England. Sandsfoot Castle stands opposite Portland Castle and between them their artillery protected shipping in Portland Harbour from foreign attack.

A century later the country was moving toward civil war and from 1642 the castle was held for King Charles I until 1644-45 when Colonel Ashburnham, governor for the king, surrendered it to Parliamentary forces.

From 1642 the Parliamentary authorities had full control of the Royal Mint within the Tower of London, which was able to supply all the currency demands of its new masters. Interestingly, the king’s opponents continued to use King Charles’ portrait and titles on their coins until 1649, when he was executed.

Charles I issued currency of equal intrinsic value mainly from his headquarters in Oxford, the mint there being in New Inn Hall, but also from various places throughout the country including Sandsfoot Castle, where the dungeons were used as a mint. Its use as a place for striking coinage gave the castle more importance than it had as a strategic military asset. After the Royalist surrender of the castle it was held for the government by Humphrey Weld but as its condition deteriorated it appears to have been abandoned until a use for it was found as a storehouse and this continued until 1691. The castle was in a ruinous state by the end of the 18th century and in 1837 parts of it fell into the sea.

The castle had suffered damage from coastal erosion quite soon after its completion, repairs being undertaken in 1584; further repairs were necessary in 1610 and 1623. A Grade II listed building since the mid 20th century, it has in more recent times benefited from Heritage and Lottery grants that have facilitated restoration works, making it safe for free access to the public.

 

Archbishop William Wake

Jan 14th, 2014
by Dorset Ancestors.
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Cardinal John Morton was not the only clerical figure with Dorset connections to have become Archbishop of Canterbury; the position of Protestant Primate of England was also attained by another man of the county. But William Wake, born 348 years ago this January (2005) probably had the more distinguished pedigree of the two men.

Wake was born on January 26th 1657 in the village of Shapwick near Badbury Rings, the only child of a family of five children to survive to adulthood. His father was Colonel William Wake senior, a distant descendant of the Saxon warlord Hereward the Wake, who led an insurrection against William 1 in 1070 (not, as is widely believed, that he came over with the Norman conqueror).

William senior (the Colonel) had joined a Cavalier regiment when still young and had suffered much for the Royalist cause during the Civil War. This included being imprisoned more than twenty times and even being condemned at Exeter to be hung, drawn and quartered for complicity in the western insurrection, but was later pardoned. Colonel Wake married Amy Cutler, daughter of Edward Cutler, a prosperous Stourpaine farmer. Said to have been strong and hard-working, Amy brought he husband considerable wealth, but was nevertheless to die of tuberculosis when young William was only 16.

When he was six William attended his first school in Blandford. At 16, by then a gifted scholar, his father sent him to Oxford where he matriculated as a Commoner in 1673. Two years later he became a student, going on to gain a BA in 1676 and then an MA in 1679. Colonel Wake, keen to see his son follow a clerical career, advised him to take holy orders when he reached Canonical age, and consequently in September1681 William was made a Deacon. The following year he was ordained as a Priest, then becoming Chaplain to Louis X1V court in 1682. Wake remained at the French court until 1685.

In 1688 Wake married Ethelreda, daughter of Sir William Howell of Norfolk, and by her raised a family of 13 children. Their father became Canon of Christchurch, Oxford, also being presented to the Rectory of St James, Westminster. As a reward for his support of the Accession of William and Mary, the King and Queen appointed Wake Canon of Exeter Cathedral in 1701. Following a brief period at the Bishopric of Lincoln (where he was made Clerk of the Closet) William was installed as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1715.

But by this time the Archbishop had been pursuing a parallel career as a Parliamentarian for 10 years. Wake had taken his seat in the House of Lords in 1705, but found its demanding workload too much for his somewhat frail constitution to endure. The additional demands upon him left William with almost no time to indulge his other intellectual interests of researching, translating and collecting.

In his latter years he was able to take up work again, but a decline in his mental faculties and other health problems hampered his efforts. His many friends rallied to help him produce several valuable manuscripts which he bequeathed to Christchurch College, together with his expansive collection of books, coins and medals. As a writer he gained a reputation for outspoken-ness and many of his theological works became controversial. At one time a concern over what he regarded as bad language and moral laxity caused him to attempt to force a blasphemy bill through Parliament to punish offenders.

Like so many other Dorset men Wake had the greatest affection for his native county. On one occasion members of the Society of Dorset Men even invited him to preach at Mary Le Bow Church, a proposition which brought him much delight and satisfaction. Whenever he was staying at the family home in Shapwick Wake would preach at St Andrews in Winterborne Tomson. This 12th century church was the Archbishop’s favourite and would be visited repeatedly whenever Wake was on his native patch of soil. He generously covered the cost for providing St Andrews with ten more box pews. He said he found the calm atmosphere refreshing after the great cathedrals.

The Archbishop was also a great champion of free education, considering that every child, regardless of status, should have an equal opportunity to learn. In his day this generated opposition, but in his will, Wake made provision for £1,000 to be paid to the Corporation of Blandford for the schooling of 12 pauper boys. This paid for a schoolmaster, who would supply books,writing materials and accommodation for the boys. The trustees were required to supply the boys with a blue gown, breeches, yellow stockings, shoes, cap, belt and bib at Whitsun.

Thus Blandford’s Blue Coat School was born. The boy’s education was conducted under strict rules to prepare them for work in the trades and industries of the town – and to follow Protestantism. Under the Education Act of 1944 and 1946 the charity was wound up, and in 1974 a new Primary school in Blandford was dedicated as “The Archbishop Wake Junior School” by the Bishop of Sherborne.

Finally, one might think that an Archbishop of Canterbury born in Dorset, would have been buried either in that Cathedral or Dorset, but this was not the posthumous fate of Archbishop William Wake. When he died, on his 80th birthday in 1736, he was laid to rest in the parish church in Croydon.

Wool: The Wool Bridge and Woolbridge Manor

Jan 7th, 2014
by Dorset Ancestors.
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Wool lies on the banks of the River Frome at the eastern end of the area Hardy called Egdon Heath, the dark background for some of his novels. The parish developed considerably during the early 20th century to serve as a gateway for the throngs of sightseers heading for the ruins of Bindon Abbey and a view of Woolbridge Manor, which was the inspiration for Hardy’s Wellbridge House where Tess and Angel Clare spent their ill-fated honeymoon. The arrival of the Nuclear Research Station at nearby Winfrith Newburgh required additional housing supply in the area but long before that Treves in his Highways and Byways described Wool as “once pretty enough.”The Dorset coast around Lulworth Cove can be accessed from Wool.

At an enquiry in 1343 it was settled that “the Woolbridge is and always has been maintained and repaired by alms and nobody is bound to maintain or repair it.” There are records of repairs being carried out on a bridge here in 1607 and 1688. The present bridge is probably from the 16th century. It was built in five arches, its massive piers with cutwaters providing recesses for foot-passengers using its narrow 12ft road should a wagon or van come along. A new bridge for motor traffic was opened in 1953 and now the old bridge is limited to carrying only pedestrians and cyclists.

There is a local legend that says a phantom coach crosses the bridge by Woolbridge Manor at night, but only those with Turberville blood can see it. The legend appears in several versions including one that links it to the elopement of John Turberville and Anne, the daughter of Thomas Howard, 1st Viscount Howard of Bindon. Hutchins says there were over the door in the hall the arms of Turberville impaling Howard of Bindon. John Turberville who died in 1623 married Lady Anne Howard.  Hardy makes mention of the legend in Tess of the D’Urbervilles.

Woolbridge Manor is just outside of Wool on the northern bank of the river. It earned praise from Pevsner who says of it: “the survival in a mellow unspoilt condition, in spite of being a hotel is a triumph.” It formerly belonged to the Turbeville family and can be approached by using the historic crossing point over the Frome, the old Wool Bridge.
 
Thomas Turberville acquired the manor of Woolbridge early in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Before the Dissolution of the Monasteries the manor had been a possession of Bindon Abbey. What we see today is probably only a part of the original Elizabethan house. The front of the house faces north and on its porch is a stone with the letters I.T. and a date, which is unclear but could be 1635 or 1655. If it is the later date it might refer to rebuilding possibly as a consequence of damage caused during the Civil War; the house is said to have been garrisoned during the Civil Wars while it was owned by Sir John Turberville, who was Sheriff of the County in 1652.

The Manor House has three storeys of red brick and stone, the roofs have clay tiles with stone slates to the eaves. Many windows around the building have been removed at some time, possibly due to the window tax in 1696. The front is a good example of 17th century brickwork but the stone gables at either end are certainly older but the fine brick chimneys date from the 17th century.

Stories persist that a tunnel runs from the house under the river to Bindon Abbey.

 

Shillingstone – The Church of The Holy Rood

Jan 5th, 2014
by Dorset Ancestors.
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The Parish Church at Shillingstone is north of the village, where it stands on a hill overlooking the Stour valley. It is thought a wooden church stood on this site during the reign of Edward the Confessor, when the manor here was held by Harold Earl Godwin who became King Harold II, the last Saxon king of England. The manor was granted to the Norman Schelin family by William the Conqueror;  they were recorded as the Lords of the Manor in the Domesday Book and it was during the family’s tenure of the manor that a stone church was built.

The Church of The Holy Rood reveals its Norman ancestry in parts of the walls and some of the windows that have survived since the 12th century. The building then consisted of a small rectangular nave and a narrower chancel.

The walls of the building are of flint rubble, banded flint and rubble and ashlar; the roof tiles are modern. Its nave is in the Perpendicular style but the original Norman building had narrow rounded windows and some of these were brought to light during restoration works in 1858 and 1888. During these works the two galleries (one above the other), the founder’s tomb, an ambry and an ancient priest’s door were cleared away and the north aisle and north chapel were added.

The chancel arch is of the 14th century and the embattled west tower was built late in the 15th century and houses five bells – one dated 1622 and another of that date recast in 1892 as well as one of 1634 and two of 1734. The south porch was added during the 16th century. Further works in 1902/3 included the rebuilding of parts of the chancel and that included a new roof with a blue ground inset with stars, new choir stalls and an oak screen surmounted by a large wooden cross.  The 17th century pulpit was a gift to the church from a London merchant in recognition and thanks for the shelter from the Plague provided to him by the village.

In the churchyard is the base of an old cross, probably a preaching cross from the early 15th century. Another is on a small green in the village and has an ancient base but the slender weathered pillar is deceptive; that was added in 1903. There is a third cross in the village: a War Memorial.