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Portesham

Portesham Hellstone

Aug 3rd, 2012
by Dorset Ancestors.
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The Hell Stone is an example of a Long Barrow with stone interior; it was the entrance to a Neolithic long barrow burial chamber that was originally covered by a mound of earth and consists of nine upright sarsen stones supporting a single capstone. There are several other long barrows in the vicinity; these were used before the round barrows of which there are about four hundred in the Bride Valley area west of Dorchester.

As the centuries passed the burial chamber collapsed and on the 11th of June 1886 a team of men came from Portland to restore it, incorrectly it seems, and failed to reposition the massive capstone. This was placed in position three years later on the 14th of August 1869 when eight quarry men came and completed the task using screw jacks.

Hutchins in his ‘History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset” says: “The common people call it Hellstone, and have a tradition that the devil flung it from Portland Pike, a north point of that island full in view, as he was diverting himself at quoits.” The opening of the barrow faces towards Portland. Hellstone is a local variant of the Old English ‘Heelstone’  or the Saxon word ‘Helian’  meaning to cover or conceal and refers to the capstone. The name has nothing to do with the Devil or his domain.

We have placed a photograph of the Hellstone in the photo area.

Chesil Churches

Mar 3rd, 2010
by Dorset Ancestors.
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Dorset’s Chesil Bank is a 15-mile (25-km) shingle bar, which has impounded a coastal lagoon, The Fleet. This geographical feature has a long tradition as a beachhead for smuggling and as a danger to walkers and shipping. The belt of coastal country up to about 5km inland encompasses a number of parishes, which have been protected from the sea by the Chesil. The churches of five of these parishes are described here. From north-west to south-east these are Puncknowle, Abbotsbury, Portesham, Langton Herring and Fleet.

Puncknowle lies about 1km east of Swyre and possesses a predominantly Norman parish church dedicated to St. Mary. The church stands on raised ground beside the manor overlooking the one-sided Village Street and the Crown Inn. St. Mary’s incorporates the Bexington Chapel in the south aisle. This commemorates St. Giles, the original chapel of the Saxon village, which was sacked and raised to the ground by French pirates in 1440.

Since the 8th of September 1451, Puncknowle has been unified with neighbouring Bexington, a move carried out by the Bishop at the behest of patrons. The chapel was built for the use of visitors and for some time before the Dissolution it had been in the possession of Bindon Abbey. Following unification with Bexington it was decreed that the Rectors should celebrate in the chancel of Bexington once a week and on St. Giles Day. The chapel was restored in 1660 and later presented to Puncknowle as the Bexington Chapel (or Aisle.) Since 1966 it has been in use as the church’s vestry.

The nave of St. Mary’s is modern, and the memorials to be seen here and elsewhere are mainly those of the local manorial family. The north aisle in particular features many Napier memorials, such as a helmet, gauntlet and spurs of the early 17th century, and tablets dated to 1616 and 1620. There is also an undated tablet, which is thought by some to date from when Sir Robert Napier, a former High Sheriff of Dorset, died in 1615. An unusual feature of this inscription is that it consists only of initials in English, Latin and Greek. It could refer to Robert Napier of Puncknoll (1617-1686,) Sir Robert’s grandson, or his son Robert Napier (1642-1700.) There is a further undated memorial to William Napier in the Bexington Aisle. The north aisle of St. Mary’s was added in 1891. Outside, there is a moss-covered slab at the foot of the tower, believed to be the lid of a stone coffin dating from the 14th century. Near the back of the burial ground an iron gate leads to a turreted and gabled early Jacobean manor in grey weathered stone, widely regarded, as the county’s most charming. Chestnuts; popular with rooks enclose the churchyard.

The village of Abbotsbury is noted for the large swannery, which the Fleet lagoon has naturally created, and is the largest of the five occupying the coastal hinterland described here. The Church of St. Nicholas is built of local buff sandstone with Portland dressings. It is mainly 15th century, but was rebuilt in Perpendicular style in the 16th century with portions of the older building incorporated. The church was restored in 1885. There is a fine embattled tower with six bells. The lintel of the west tower doorway bears an emblem of the Trinity.

On the hill to the south west and situated 700 yards seaward of the church is the chapel of St.Catherine. St. Nicholas was defended for the King during the Civil War, and to this day the fine panelled Jacobean pulpit bears two bullet holes it sustained during the conflict. Standing in the porch is an effigy in Purbeck marble, (actually a grave slab from the earlier Abbey church) of a late 12th century abbot, possibly a general representation of the ecclesiastical figure after whose title the village takes its name. Two stone coffins can be seen against the wall opposite the north porch. The 15th century stained-glasswork is a notable feature of this church and the panes in the north and south aisle windows are noted for their subtlety of colour. Of special interest is the second window in the south aisle which shows the delicate face of a woman thought by some to represent St. Catherine, but is more likely to be the Virgin Mary from a Crucifixion window. The Chapel of St. Catherine, although it is only 45 feet by 15 feet, has walls 4 feet thick. Every part, including the panelled ceiling and roof, is of stone.

Portesham is a parish with a rich historical background, and further has responsibility for the hamlets and manors of Corton, Shilvinghampton and the Waddons. The Church of St. Peter already existed at the time of Domesday, though the Norman structure dates from the 12th century. Originally the chancel and nave may have been shorter, and the aisles further west than today. The chancel is 13th century and these are two blocked 12th century windows above the chancel arch. St. Peters was largely re-built in the 15th century. Indeed, it is the oldest building in the village. The lower part of the tower is Saxon, though traces of Norman work remain to be seen in the north wall of the nave and in the 13th century font. There is a 13th century piscina in the south aisle. The church is built in a limestone reflecting almost white in sunlight, with a well built, typically ‘Dorset’ tower incorporating the remains of an earlier tower on the north side.

As at Abbotsbury, the church and village suffered skirmishing during the Civil War, when some musket balls were discharged into the door of St. Peter’s, though these have since been removed. The interior is mainly re-ordered Victorian work. It displays the hatchment of Sir Andrew Riccard, a Portesham-born seaman and squire who was Lord of the Manor following the Restoration in 1660, and who granted many of his tenants 999 year leases. The inscription reads ‘Possum’ (I am able.) His father Walter Riccard is commemorated by a slab in the floor of the nave near the font. There are also memorial hatchments or plaques to members of the Mansfield and Thresher families, and to a former vicar, John Charles Molyneux.

Probably the most curious feature of the church is the grave of a local farmer, William Weare. Weare had the outlandish death wish of not wanting to be buried inside or outside the church. Accordingly he was buried beneath the wall of the south aisle in 1675, where a table-tomb and plaque mark the spot. The plaque bears an 8-line epitaph, which begins: “William Weare lies here in dust as thou and I and all men must…” There is a monument to Mary Weare inside the south aisle, abutting that of William. There is also a rough-hewn rock grave memorial to John Galpin, a former vicar, in the churchyard.

The principal commercial activity of the village of Langton Herring has been the production of lime, and the buildings are mainly constructed in the local yellow stone. The manor owns (or owned) a one-mile stretch of Chesil Beach. The Church of St. Peter is a building of local rubble with freestone dressings, possibly built or rebuilt in the 14th century. It is said to have been severely damaged in a fire in the 17th century, after which the west tower – one of the country’s smallest – was added in the 18th century. Major restoration also took place in 1827 & 1858. On these occasions the vestry and south aisle were added, and the nave was largely rebuilt with an arcade or two bays. The floor of the chancel features slab memorials to John Hazelwood, rector 1670 and his son Francis and William Sanford, rector in 1627. The font is an octagonal bowl with quatrefoil panel in each face, a stem with trefoil-headed panel in each face, and a stepped square base. In the chancel there is a stained glass window inscribed “In the Resurrection they are as the Angels of God.” There are memorials to Edward Cox Trenow (1851,) the son of a former rector who is buried with his wife in the churchyard, and to William Sparks who died in 1829 aged 70. The churchyard also contains the communal grave of four boys who were overcome by the fumes of a lime kiln they were playing near.

The original church of the small community of Fleet, only half a kilometre from The Fleet, is only one of the five to have just the chancel remaining after the rest of the church was severely damaged in a great storm in 1824. The manorial Lords were the Mohun’s, a family who came to England with William the Conqueror, and who are remembered in two brass plates in the chancel.

However, a new Holy Trinity with chancel, nave and west tower, was built a quarter of a mile further up the valley at the expense of the vicar George Gould, in memory of his son John who died in 1818. This church is built in the style of the 18th century Gothic Revival, though today the ashlars are reddened by lichen. In the tower there is a wall plaque recording the destruction of the first church and the building of the new. Its first stone was laid on the 25th of April 1827, and the Rev Robert Gray, the Bishop of Bristol consecrated the church, on the 25th of August 1829. Several beech trees grow in the grounds, which are fenced off by railings.

In the old church there is a brass memorial to John Meade Falkner, the author of Moonfleet. But it was in this churchyard, not Holy Trinity, that the John Trenchard of the story sat on a tombstone above the Mohun vault, where the smugglers hid their contraband.

Thomas Masterman Hardy

Feb 1st, 2010
by Dorset Ancestors.
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“I have done my duty, thank God, Kiss me Hardy.” The last words have resonated across two centuries, and were there ever any, spoken by an Englishman, more famous than these? Then Admiral Nelson expired, mortally wounded by a musket shot fired from the French warship ‘Redoubtable.’ Thomas Masterman Hardy, his first officer, had the honourable distinction of having Britain’s greatest naval hero dying in his presence, if not his very arms. The place was the surgeon’s quarters of the flagship HMS Victory; the occasion, the last phase of the most famous sea battle in British history.

But the Battle of Trafalgar, fought over two hundred years ago, probably owes its triumphant outcome as much to Hardy as to the admiral under whom he so lovingly served. Writing after the event, Hardy noted “it has cost the country a life no money can replace, and whose death I shall forever mourn.” Hardy was a witness to Nelson’s last will and testament, and bore the colours at his funeral. He was made a baronet in recognition of his gallant service at Trafalgar, receiving also the gratitude of parliament, a gold medal, and swords of honour from the City of London and the Patriotic Fund.

Such accolades would likely not have surprised Nelson had he lived to see them bestowed. There had been a long tradition in his family that young Tom told his parents as soon as he could talk that he was determined to be a mariner. He grew into a well-built man with the potential to be a fine sailor of officer material and of good character. He was also courageous and daring, at least once setting off in rough seas in a lifeboat in an attempt to rescue a man overboard. Hardy had an instinct for doing the right thing at the right time, and took great pains to master every technical detail of proficient seamanship.

Hardy’s paternal ancestors were minor squires of the Melcombe area, descendants of the le Hardi’s, Norman French immigrants from the Channel Islands who spread into south Wessex in the 16th century. We find a Joseph Hardy in possession of the principal house in Portesham in the mid 18th century; it was his son Joseph Jr. who married Nanny. They were Thomas Masterman Hardy’s parents.

On his mother’s side Thomas was descended from the Masterman family, then tenanting Kingston Russell House near Long Bredy. Indeed, Joseph and his wife occupied this home for some years and it is generally believed it was here, on April 5th 1769, that Thomas was born, though obituary information credited to his elder brother states that he was born at his maternal grandfather’s home in Martinstown, near Maiden Castle. Thomas was the sixth of his parent’s nine children and their second son. The children’s grandfather, the elder Joseph, died in 1778, the family then leaving Kingston House to take his place in residence at Portesham.

Few details of Thomas’s childhood survive, though it was noted that he would often climb the hills above Portesham to gaze across the Channel that some twenty years later he would be helping to defend. With the Portesham house now crowded out with many children the Hardy boys were packed off to Crewkerne Grammar School over the border in Somerset. Here, under the headmasterships of Dr Patch and Dr Aske, Thomas received his spartanly disciplinarian, though not inefficient education.

When he had been at Crewkerne for three years a wish of Thomas’s – that he should be able to go to sea at the first opportunity – was fulfilled. Captain Francis Roberts of Burton Bradstock, long an acquaintance of the family, agreed to take Thomas on as an apprentice aboard his brig, HMB Helena on November 30th 1781. From then on Hardy’s general education took second place to his naval apprenticeship, though protracted periods of shore leave did enable him to return to school, as Roberts intended, “to learn navigation and all that is proper to a sailor.” Later, Roberts and Hardy transferred to the Seaford until April 1783 when Thomas returned to shore, first to attend Milton Abbas Grammar School and then to undertake a short period of training in the Merchant Service.

Hardy’s induction into seamanship in the Merchant Service continued until 1790 when he re-entered the Navy as a midshipman under Sir Alexander (Lord) Hood on the Hebe. That year he was promoted to Master’s Mate and went on to serve on the sloop Tisiphone with Captain Anthony Hunt. In 1793, still a midshipman, Hardy transferred to the Amphitrite, a ship of Lord Hood’s fleet, for operations against the Spanish in the Mediterranean.

By mid-November 1793 Hardy was a Lieutenant serving on the Meleager frigate, a vessel of Nelson’s squadron then under Captain Tyler, but replaced in June 1794 by Captain Cockburn. It was therefore about this time that Hardy was introduced to Nelson. By then he had matured into a slow, cautious and tranquil naval officer of genial humour, both fearless and tenacious.

Hardy’s next significant posting came in August 1796 with Cockburn on the Minerve. This year there was an engagement with two Spanish frigates during which Hardy courageously raised his colours to draw the Spaniard’s fire upon himself, thus enabling Nelson to withdraw to safety. However, Lieutenants Culverhouse and Hardy, with 40 other crewmen, were taken captive aboard the Santa Sabina. The next morning the Spanish fleet was reinforced, compelling the admiral to make his escape. The prisoners were later transferred to the Terrible, from where they disembarked at Gibraltar on 29th of January 1797. Here, Hardy and the crewmen were able to re-join Nelson on Minerve, which sailed from Gibraltar on February 11th, pursued by Spanish ships.

Nelson was taking the Minerve to rendezvous with Admiral John Jervis when a crewman fell overboard. Hardy immediately had himself lowered in the jollyboat to attempt a rescue, but the current took the boat astern towards a Spanish ship. Nelson averted Hardy’s capture by ordering the mizzen topsail to be backed. This bold action caused the Spaniard to shorten sail, enabling Hardy to be picked up, though the crewman could not be saved.

The Minerve reached Jervis in time for the Battle of Cape St. Vincent on the morning of February 14th. Nelson and Hardy’s conduct in the battle earned high praise. On June 16th Hardy, now a Flag-Captain, captured and was appointed to command the Mutine at Santa Cruz, then sailed for Aboukir Bay, Egypt, where Nelson drew up his plan to impound the French fleet for the Battle of the Nile in 1798. Here 13 of the 17 French ships were destroyed or captured.

That August Hardy was promoted to Captain of the Vanguard, in which he served before transfer to the Foudroyant under Nelson in Naples and Sicily in 1799. Two years later Nelson gave the French another mauling at Copenhagen, forcing the French commander Villeneuve to flee with the Vanguard in pursuit.

The 1802 Treaty of Amiens wrought a brief and fragile truce between the three powers, but Napoleon had styled himself Emperor and had trampled the whole continent underfoot. Only the British navy stood between him and the imperial domination of all Europe. He conceived a plan to cajole Spain into an alliance, and then build up a coalition armada in the West Indies, which would then re-cross the Atlantic and deliver a decisive blow against an outnumbered British fleet.

In May 1803 Hardy in the Victory attempted to blockade Villeneuve in Toulon harbour, but a strategy of keeping his distance enabled the French to break the blockade in April 1805 and leave the Mediterranean to head for the West Indies. Nelson gave chase, but contrary winds slowed the admiral’s progress. By June the French were nowhere to be found in the Caribbean, having re-crossed the Atlantic to put in at El Ferrol in Spain.

Nelson learnt that on September 2nd the French and Spanish fleets had assembled at Cadiz. Two weeks later Nelson and Hardy joined the rest of their fleet off Cadiz. The Napoleonic armada put to sea on October 18th in an attempt to head into the Mediterranean. Off Cape Trafalgar, on Nelson’s orders, the British fleet split into two columns, one led by Admiral Collingwood on the Royal Sovereign, the other by Nelson with Hardy on the Victory.

Engaging the Redoubtable, the Victory’s yardarm entangled in the enemy’s rigging. Sharpshooters on the Redoubtable took aim at figures on the deck. What happened next could so easily have turned out differently, since the French were firing semi-blind through a smokescreen; if Hardy had been hit instead of Nelson, his story would have ended here. After Nelson fell, Hardy took command of the Victory until Collingwood could relieve him. Amazingly no British ship was lost at Trafalgar – the French lost 18 destroyed or captured. There were 1,700 British casualties; 6,000 of the enemy were killed or wounded.

Clearly Trafalgar was a resounding British victory, but for Hardy it came at the expense of a great personal loss. Nelson, a Norfolk rector’s son, and the Wessex countryman would seem unlikely duo for a binding friendship. They had in common a ‘lust for brine’ from an early age but were in most other respects opposites. Hardy was tall, broad, robust in health and came through 58 years of naval service unscathed; Nelson was physically unimposing, prey to several minor ailments (including sea-sickness!) and had lost an eye, an arm and most of his teeth. Hardy was of strong character, humorous, and had many sterling qualities; Nelson could be morose, sexually over-passionate, despondent and suicidal.

For the rest of his life Hardy remained active in the service, though he would raise his colours at sea for the last time in 1827. He went on to captain the Triumph in the North American Station in 1806 and on November 17th the following year married Anne Louisa Emily Berkeley. From 1809-12 he was Commander-in-Chief at Lisbon, with the rank of Commodore of the Barfleur of the Portuguese service. From 1812-13, when Britain and the USA fought a naval war, Hardy commandeered a squadron from the Ramillies on the North American Station.

For three years from 1815 Hardy captained the Royal Yacht Augusta, and that year was awarded the KCB. In 1816 he fought a duel with the first Duke of Buckingham. From 1819-24 he was Commander-in-Chief of the South American Station, during which time (1821) he served as a Colonel of the Royal Marines. He was Rear Admiral of the Blue in 1825. In 1826 he escorted an expeditionary force to Lisbon and commanded an experimental squadron in 1827.

1830 saw Hardy as Rear Admiral of the White and then First Sea Lord. In September 1831 he was awarded the GCB. In April 1834 he was appointed Governor of Greenwich Hospital and on 10th January 1837 was made Vice-Admiral of the Blue.

Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy died on September 20th 1839, and was buried at Greenwich Hospital. There is a memorial at St. Paul’s, but his native county did not forget him. In 1844 an octagonal tower 70 feet high was raised upon Blackdown Hill near his beloved Portesham, 770 feet above the level of the English Channel he had so often gazed across with eager eyes when just a boy.

Footnote:

On a day in August 1805, 2 months before Trafalgar, a crowd has gathered by Gloucester Lodge in Weymouth. A man wearing a blue uniform of a naval officer, gilt epaulettes, cocked hat and sword, acknowledges the cheers of those who have come to see this local hero. He is Captain Thomas Masterman Hardy, the Captain of Nelson’s ship Victory and he is in Weymouth at the King’s command to tell his Majesty of Nelson’s latest voyage. A few days later Capt. Hardy boards a coach at Dorchester for Portsmouth where he joins Nelson on board the Victory.