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Sydling St. Nicholas

The Long History of Sydling St. Nicholas

One of Dorset’s many and most interesting parochial histories concerns that of Sydling St. Nicholas, situated on Sydling Water a tributary of the Frome about 8 miles north-west of Dorchester. There has been settlement in and around this valley for almost 5,000 years, though the present shape of the village owes its origins to Saxon settlers of the 6th or 7th centuries AD.

In 1936 two Neolithic hand-axes were found at Magston Farm in the village. On the summits of the hills there are round barrows, the graves of tribal elders cut into the chalk soil when embalmed high-born Egyptians were being laid in great stone tombs. Bronze and Iron Age pottery has been recovered in the area and in 1958 a Celtic roundhouse was excavated on Shearplace Hill; a prehistoric village has also been discovered on Buckland Down. A valley-stream, lush water meadows and downland heights were and are the geographical elements for the setting of the story of Sydling St. Nicholas, and the farming tradition so typical of Dorset.

The first mention of Sydling in documented history dates from 933AD when the Winchester Archives record that King Athelstan built a Benedictine abbey at Milton, which endowed thirty hides of land at Sydling. The Domesday Book survey of 1086 found the village to be part of the Hundred of Modbury. Traces of Saxon Strip farming were found at Sherrins Farm in the 1950’s, and this practise may have left its mark in some long narrow rear garden plots to be found in the village.

The valley floor setting has largely determined the linear shape of the settlement, though not just along the single street, as in many other villages of this type. Today the parish extends 4.5 miles from north to south and two miles from east to west and incorporates the hamlets of Hillfield, Magiston, Up Sydling and Huish, but the High Street and East Street form the nucleus of the village. The residential development has traditionally been of high density, but with some dispersal. Homes are typically of thatched stone cottages or brick houses, commonly terraced, with slate roofs and built abutting the main road and stream. Most of the surviving buildings date from before 1800, outstanding examples of which are the Vicarage, East House and Court House.

Court House is a Tudor mansion with later additions. This building has been the administrative centre for the Manor and Rectory from very early in Sydling’s history, and Winchester College records mention tenancies of the Abbot of Milton up until the monastic dissolution under Henry VIII in 1538. In 1544 Henry, through his agent, entered into an arrangement with Winchester College which established leasehold status at the Court, with one Sir Giles Strangewyshe as the first tenant. In 1554 Mary Tudor “desiring favour for her physician Thomas Hughes” arranged with Winchester College for his tenancy at the Court after Sir Gile’s death. Interestingly, the tenancy fell into the hands of Edmund, John and Francis Hardye in 1599 who are mentioned in ‘Concerning Thomas Hardy, a Composite Portrait from Memory’ (ed. D.F.Barber;published by Charles Skilton,1968.) But the first of the great names associated with the Manor is that of Sir Phillip Sydney, who took the lease in 1582. Between 1582 and 1590 it passed to Dame Ursula Walsingham, the widow of Sir Phillip’s Father in law Sir Francis Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth’s secretary of State.

Another archive in Winchester College records that in 1655 Cromwell demanded the surrender of the Sydling Manor Court Rolls. Following the time of Dame Ursula, the Smith family dominated the Manor for 150 years from 1700. A descendent, John Smith Marriott, introduced fox hunting between 1865-6.

The Old Vicarage had improvements made in 1640 by the then Vicar, Ralph Taylor and there was further major restoration in 1778. In 1795 a local man, John Barber, bequeathed money to the Vicar for establishing a school in the village, with provision for a schoolmaster. The building was converted from the former Dissenter’s Meeting House and had 120 places for children aged five upward to be taught arithmetic and needlework. It is recorded that in 1836 there were 116 pupils on the register, with an average daily attendance of 70. The local authority closed the school in 1966.

There were water mills at Ham Farm and Huish Farm powered by water which once flowed in an open course down the High Street. This, when in speight, caused severe flooding on more than one occasion. Indeed, a local man, Tom Churchill, was carried away and drowned during a great storm on June 6th 1889. The school also had once to close because of flooding. But the waterways and meadows have also given the village the traditional activities of cress growing and trout fishing.

Other buildings of architectural or historical interest are the Bakery (1733) and East House (1780). The family of Samuel Newman, the village’s clock and organ maker, who died in 1840, owned the Brewery. With the 1939 Village Hall and Rock’s Farm, these
buildings are grouped around the junction of Dorchester Road, Church Lane, High Street and East Street. There is also a Congregational Chapel of 1834, now a private home and an inn, The Greyhound.

Sydling has held a Fair to St. Nicholas every December 6th and possessed a blacksmith until quite recently. Other interesting facts that Sydling can lay claim to is the curious one that it once possessed the only petrol pump between Dorchester and Yeovil and that during the Second World War many servicemen were billeted in every home that had room for one. The village was well known to Thomas Hardy, whose short story ‘The Grave at the Handcross’ was inspired by it. Furthermore, the church wedding scene in John Schlesinger’s film version of ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’ was shot on location at St. Nicholas Church. Any person named Caddy may also find some significance in the story of a certain Mrs Caddy who, upon leaving the service of Thomas Hardy as his cook, took up that position for the Hawkins family at Sydling Farm in the 1930’s. Also, given the geographical proximity, it would be surprising if there were not an ancestral link between Hardy the writer and the Hardye family occupying the Manor in the 16th century.

In 1819 the village was enclosed, which ended farming arrangements by the Court Baron. Since then farming has declined, and holdings have diminished since Winchester College sold off land and houses in the 1960’s. Sydling saw many social and other changes during the 20th century. Today the college retains two houses and twenty acres of land in the village, which is now in the diocese of Salisbury. Since the 1960’s two new estates have been built, and the influx of new commuter dwellers has imparted a more diverse socio-economic function for Sydling. The 1971 Census revealed that the population at that time was only 321 for the parish. Yet in 1859 the population stood at 675 and included 11 farmers and three carpenters, 2 bakers, 2 grocers, 2 cobblers, 2 thatchers and 1 blacksmith, a bricklayer, tailor, brewer, mason and miller. Since 1973 however, the number of inhabitants had recovered to 425 and more have been added since.

Sydling’s colourful history and rich architectural legacy have made its preservation a high priority and with the new estates the village now comes under the umbrella of Conservation Area status. There are for instance now about fifty listed buildings in the village, of which 14 are in the High Street alone. It is therefore a policy of the planning authority to restrain development so as to keep the village at its present size.

Dorset’s Ancient Fields

Generally speaking, Dorset is notably a bonanza for the archaeologist or landscape historian.

Prominent among its prolific remains of early human habitation are the ancient field systems popularly known as Celtic fields, a term used to indicate all fields of regular shape. These are much smaller than the fields of modern intensive arable farming and appear as clusters of square or oblong plots separated by boundary banks. Often, remains of  the farms, settlements and trackways associated with these field systems can still be seen. In one respect the term ‘Celtic’ is misleading, as these field systems also include some laid out later than the Saxon conquest, whereas true Celtic fields are of Iron Age origin or even Roman at the latest, while a large proportion will date from the preceding Bronze Age. 

By the late Bronze Age, the early arable agriculturalists had developed the ard, a light plough that made only shallow furrows in the soil and drawn by oxen along and across the squarish fields. However, where ploughing resulted in downhill creep of the soil, more pronounced linear banks called lynchets often formed. These fields continued in use and increased in number on the chalk downland throughout the Iron Age. Although the number of people was slowly increasing, it should be born in mind that in pre-Roman England the population was much smaller than it is today, so only a small area of land was needed for subsistence crops.

Dorset is an especially fine area in which to see ancient field systems and theassociated settlements and trackways that served them. This is because it is in this county that archaeological field research into these features has been more intense than elsewhere. We can therefore regard Dorset’s field systems  as establishing the model for lowland Britain as a whole. In the highland zone of Britain, however, where soils are better suited for pasture and sheep farming, the field pattern still closely resembles the ancient lowland type. The croft system of the western isles of Scotland may be regarded as a vestige of this elementary subsistence system for sparsely populated areas surviving into the present day.
  
South and south-east Dorset are particularly rich in these field remains, where they cover an area of approximately 4,000 acres. Most are on chalk orlimestone, but some are on the clay-with-flints where this caps the chalk hills or on sandy or gravelly areas. One very clearly defined example of a Celtic field system is visible off to the east side of the Yeovil to Dorchester stretch of the A37 opposite the point in the road known as Breakheart Hill. The field system lies on the flank of a downland spur slightly west of Church Bottom near Sydling St Nicholas and, as in other similarly orientated examples, is particularly well-defined in early morning or evening on a clear day when the sun is low on the horizon. Also, in the presence or absence of sunshine a light dusting of snow can produce a similar effect, the topography being etched out in relief by the casting of shadows.

Six other examples of particular note are:

On the high downland at Turnworth, one can still see today vestiges of a prehistoric field system which once served a contemporary farmstead enclosed by a circular bank. The farm lies to one side of a holloway (sunken trackway) leading off through the fields, which here cannot be dated precisely, but which must have originated at some time between the early Bronze Age (1800 BCE) and the late Iron Age (c100 BCE).

Even more impressive by virtue of its extent is the complex of prehistoric fields that has been revealed from soil-marks on Dole’s Hill near Puddletown. Here a system of croft-like plots over 1000 feet across from west to east is bisected by a stream and penetrated by a winding system of service trackways. The fields and tracks straddle a narrow chalk valley. Not far away, at Winterbourne Houghton, a system of small fields is associated with two former settlements. What is particularly interesting at this location is that one of these settlements had a track leading from it in a north-east direction, which stops abruptly at the line of a modern hedge. Beyond this boundary all trace of the trackway has apparently been erased by medieval and modern ploughing, though the surviving un-eroded portion indicates that it formerly led off in the direction of “modern” Winterbourne Houghton village.

The South Dorset Ridgeway was an important geographical feature in the lives of the early farmers who left behind the traces of fields such as those on Crow Hill. Here, a small complex of plots of the Bronze Age lies at the head of a dry valley or combe, just off from the entrance of which there is a later post-Roman valley-floor enclosure (see photo in the gallery).

Relatively close to Dorchester, Shearplace Hill, again in the parish of SydlingSt Nicholas but this time lying east of the unclassified road to the village, is another site in the county where Celtic fields are associated with a Bronze Age farmstead, and field systems of the prehistoric period have been located and mapped at St Aldhelm’s Head, near the famous 12th century chapel.

The Family History of John and Hannah Bagg

John Bagg (1828-1900) and Hannah White (1834-1900) were both born in rural Dorset from working class families. Hannah, the daughter of Joseph and Sarah White was born in the village of Piddletrenthide. John the son of Joseph Roberts Bagg (1801-1882) and Ann Vincent (1799-1874,) was christened in the village of Cattistock. John and Hannah were married on June 24th, 1852 at St. Nicholas Anglican Church, Sydling. Their marriage was to be the start of a dynasty spreading across the world, with living descendants today in Canada, Australia, Wales and England.

John and Hannah had 12 children: Eliza Ann White Bagg (June 14th, 1852 – 1925) Eliza married John Denning of Weymouth, Dorset, where the couple operated a green grocer shop. They had 8 children.

 Emma Jane Bagg was born October 13th 1853; Joseph John White Baggs (March 6th 1856 Piddletrenthide – July 19th, 1930) Joseph emigrated to Newcastle, NSW, Australia where he worked as a coal miner and married Mary Jane Gills (1865-1940) they had 6 children.

George Bagg (July 15th, 1857 Piddletrenthide – May 12th 1951) George married Mary Jane Shaw (1858-1937) and farmed near Woolbridge, Ontario with their 4 children. And James Bagg born June 2nd, 1859 at Piddletrenthide married Catherine Morris and lived near Toronto Junction with their 5 children.

Elizabeth (Bess) Bagg was born July 15th 1861 at Weston, Portland. She married William Bull (1866-1920) at Beaufort in Wales, where they raised a family of 6 children. Bess died on December 30th 1950.

John and Hannah then moved to Weymouth where Frederick William Bagg was born on July 28th 1865. Fred had 4 children with his first wife Annie Dennis (1870-1897) and 3 more children with his second wife Jennie Bishop (1867-1949). Fred was a successful farmer near Guelph, Ontario. He died on September 28th, 1940.

In 1867 on November 28th, Harry (Henry) Bagg was born. Harry married Alice Dennis (1862-1942) and they had 7 children. They operated a successful farm in Downsview now in the City of Toronto.

Thomas Bagg was born in 1869 and married Margaret Graham (1873-1920.) The couple had 3 children. Thomas, who died on August 6th 1942, was a farmer and thresher at Downsview.

William George Bagg was born at Llagattock, Crickowell, Wales in April 1871 and died at just 7 months.

Walter Bagg born May 16th 1874 at Crickowell, Breconshire, Wales died in 1942. He married Charlotte Duncan (1872-1954) and had 7 children. They homesteaded on the unsettled Saskatchewan prairie near Springside, in 1900.

John and Hannah’s youngest child, William Charles Bagg, was born on July 29th 1877 at Crickowell. Bill married Blanche Hadden and they had 7 children. Bill and Blanche also homesteaded near Springside, Saskatchewan, and operated some grain elevators. They eventually retired in the Rocky Mountains near Trail, British Columbia. William died on October 21st, 1953.

The Bagg family moved frequently in search of work. They originally lived near the rural villages of Sydling and Piddletrenthide. Here, like many of his family, John worked in the fields as a general farm labourer. This was a time in British history when mechanisation was replacing the need for farm labourers. The agricultural based economy of rural Dorset County provided fewer and fewer employment opportunities. Industrialisation was underway and many people were forced to move from farm cottages to city slums in search of employment. The working class struggled to survive.

In search of employment, John moved his family to Portland, Dorset, where manual labourers were required to work in the limestone quarries. Long hours, low wages, harsh working conditions and child labour were the norm. The Census taken on April 7th, 1861 has John listed as a labourer living at the top of the steep slope above Fortuneswell on Yeats Road with his younger brother George Bagg (1835-1916) and his family. George is described as a “carter,” which means he worked with teams of horses or mules and a cart used to move materials in the limestone quarry. Hannah (6 months pregnant) and their young children Emma (7), Joseph (5) and James (1) were living about 20 miles away, on the Doles Ash Estate, near Cerne Abbas. Hannah is listed as a “farm servant.” Eight year-old Eliza was sleeping over at her White grandparents’ home at Lower Sydling.

A short time later, Hannah and the children joined John in Portland. Hannah gave birth to daughter Elizabeth (Bessie) at the small Portland village of Weston on July 15th 1861. They later lived for a few years at nearby Weymouth, where John likely worked at the harbour.

Their first-born son Joseph left home with a friend at 14 years of age, about 1870, and emigrated to Australia. He married and settled in Lambton, Newcastle, New South Wales and worked as a coal miner. Joseph worked in the mines for the rest of his life and many of his descendants are still living in Newcastle today.

Times were still very difficult for John and Hannah and their family, so about 1870 they moved to Wales to look for work in the coal mines and steel foundries. They worked in the coal mine at Llangattock, Breconshire for what was likely subsistence wages in chronically dangerous conditions. It was still very difficult to get ahead financially. Even the young children were expected to work. When she was 12 years of age, Elizabeth (Bessie) went to work as a domestic for the Ebbw Vales Ironworks Company Shop.

John’s younger brother George Bagg (1835-1916) had previously left Portland limestone quarries and moved his wife Mary Ann Porter (1832-1907) and two children, James (1854-1932) and Martha (1856-1941) to Ontario, Canada. They had emigrated in 1871 and were already doing quite well farming near Toronto. George encouraged John and the family to leave Wales and come to Canada. Their decision to do so was a turning point in their lives.

In 1880, John, Hannah and seven of the sons (George, James, Fred, Henry, Thomas, Walter and William) emigrated to the Weston area, near Toronto. George and his “little brother” Walter came to Canada first with their friends, the Mellings family. The family bible states “March 28 1880, leaving for America.” The rest of the family followed several months later. John and Hannah farmed in Downsview on Jane Street and Wilson Avenue. John also kept the tollgate at Wilson Avenue and Weston Road. These areas are now part of the City of Toronto. With the help of their seven sons, John and Hannah lived a happy and prosperous life. They were able to watch their many grandchildren grow up and establish their own farms, businesses and professions.

In April 1900, just as William and Walter were preparing their move to homesteads on the Saskatchewan prairie, John and Hannah died within a week of one another. They are buried together in the Weston Riverside Cemetery. The large “Bagg” tombstone is shared with George and Mary Ann Bagg. Also memorialized on the tombstone are John and Hannah’s grandson Arthur Bagg (1892-April 9, 1918,) who was killed in France during World War 1, and their great-grandson, Sgt Murray John Henry Bagg (1918-July 12, 1944,) who was killed at Caserta, Italy during World War II.

On July 1st 1930, 50 years after John and Hannah’s arrival in Canada, the first Bagg Family Reunion was held at the farm of Harry Bagg in Downsview. This was attended by 130 of the Ontario descendants of John and his brother, George. It is amazing to see how prolific and successful the family of John and Hanah Bagg has been in the last 150 years. There are now over 700 known descendants in Ontario, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Australia, England and Wales. Like their 19th century ancestors, these Bagg descendants possess a strong work ethic, and a close sense of “family” that includes providing improved opportunities for the following generations.