and stood in the neighbourhood of the Grammar School, before the dawn
of a summer day, and has looked eastward at the long ridge of the
downs silhouetted against the sunlit sky, and then a little later has
turned to the south-west to look at the line of the houses that run
along the crest of the Rock, ending in the two towers of St. Peter’s
and Holy Trinity, flushed with the rose of morning, while the soft
blue shade holds the valleys below, has seen a sight of surpassing
loveliness. Sometimes the hollows are brimmed with thick, white mist,
from which the tops of the surrounding hills rise like islets from the
sea. Again, the view is splendid when, at noon on a wild, gusty day,
heavy masses of clouds are blown across the sky, and their shadows and
glints of sunshine chase each other over vale and down. But possibly
the most lovely view of all may be obtained by going to Castle Hill on
a summer evening when the sun is sinking behind the Somerset hills to
the north-west, for the sunsets are “mostly beautiful here,” as Mr.
Hardy makes Phillotson say, “owing to the rays crossing the mist of the
vale.”[60] But there are other aspects of nature that may sometimes
be observed in the hill town and around it—grand and wild when the
north-east blast roars over the hill-top, driving before it frozen
snow, sweeping up what has already fallen on the fields, and filling
the roads up to the level of the hedge-tops, cutting the town off
from all communication with the outer world, until gangs of labourers
succeed in cutting a narrow passage through the drifts, along which a
man may walk or ride on horseback, with the walls of snow rising far
above his head on the right-hand and on the left, and nothing to be
seen save the white gleam of the sunlight on the snow, the tender grey
of the shadows on it, and the bright blue of the sky above—if, indeed,
the snow has ceased to fall and the winds to blow, and the marvellous
calm of a winter frost beneath a cloudless sky has fallen on the earth.
Many may think that such aspects of nature could never be met with in
the sunny southern county of Dorset; but the writer speaks of what
he has seen on several occasions, when snow has been piled up to the
cottage eaves, when the morning letters have not reached the town till
after sunset, when even a wagon and its team have been buried for hours
in a snow-drift, and the horses rescued with difficulty.
PIDDLETOWN AND ATHELHAMPTON
BY MISS WOOD HOMER
The parish of Piddletown, or Puddletown, is said by Hutchins to take
its name from the river Piddle, which flows to the north of the
village, though it is supposed to have been formerly called Pydeletown
after the Pydele family, at one time owners of much property in the
neighbourhood.
It was once a large parish, and the capital of the hundred; but it
now numbers only about nine hundred inhabitants, having fallen from
fourteen hundred during the last forty years. About the year 1860 the
village contained as many as twenty boot-makers, twelve blacksmiths,
twenty carpenters and wheelwrights, five pairs of sawyers, two coopers,
and some cabinet-makers. Gloves and gaiters were tanned and made there,
as were many of the articles in common use. Beer was brewed in the
public-houses; and there were three malt-houses, about one of which we
read in Thomas Hardy’s _Far from the Madding Crowd_. Naturally, these
trades employed much labour, and a great decrease in the population
resulted when they were given up, after the introduction of the railway
at Dorchester, about the year 1848. Two business fairs were formerly
held in the village—one on Easter Tuesday, the other on October
29th—when cattle, materials, hats, etc., were sold. The October fair
still exists, but it has dwindled to a small pleasure fair only, though
pigs were sold as late as 1896.
Piddletown possesses a very fine church, dedicated to St. Mary. It is
a large and ancient building, consisting of a nave and a north aisle
of the same length, covered with leaden roofs, and a small south
aisle, called the Athelhampton aisle, the burial-place of the Martyns
of Athelhampton. This aisle is under the control of the vestry of
Athelhampton Church. The chancel has a tiled roof; it was built in
1576. The embattled tower contains six bells.
The chief features of this church are the monuments in the south aisle,
with some very fine brasses; the Norman font (some authorities on fonts
consider it to be of Saxon work); and the beautiful roof of carved
chestnut wood. This latter has been many times supported and restored,
and it will, indeed, be a loss to the antiquary when it is found
impossible any longer to keep it in repair.
The monuments are all much defaced. One of them, of the fifteenth
century, consists of a knight and lady in alabaster on an altar-tomb,
probably Sir Richard Martyn and Joan his wife; this has traces of much
gilding and painting, but no inscription. To the west of this there
is the figure of a knight, probably placed there about 1400. West of
this again, an unknown “crusader” and lady lie on the floor under
an altar-tomb, with a canopy upon four pillars, which was erected
to the memory of Nicholas Martyn; under the canopy there is a fine
brass, representing Nicholas Martyn, his wife, three sons, and seven
daughters, dated 1595, and bearing an inscription. There is also
a smaller brass, on which is a monkey holding a mirror—the Martyn
crest—while above the whole are three sculptured martins or monkeys.
To the north of the aisle there is a figure of a knight in alabaster,
his feet resting on a chained monkey, the whole supported on an
altar-tomb of Purbeck marble. On the west wall there is a large tablet
to the memory of the Brunes, who owned Athelhampton in the seventeenth
century.
[Illustration: PIDDLETOWN CHURCH.]
On the east of the aisle there is a brass to the memory of Christopher
Martyn, with the following inscription:—
Here lyethe the body of Xpofer Martyn Esquyer
Sone and heyre unto Syr Willym Martyn knyght
Pray for there Soules with harty desyre
That they bothe may be sure of Eternall lyght
Callyng to Remembraunce that every wyght
Most nedys dye, & therefor lett us pray
As other for us may do Another day.
Qui quidem Xpoferus obiit XXII^{o} die mens’ M’cii an^{o} D’ni
millmo quingentesimo vicesimo quarto.
Above this there is the kneeling figure of a man in armour, and a
partial representation of the Trinity. The figure is holding a scroll,
on which the following inscription is much abbreviated: “_Averte faciem
tuam a peccatis meis et omnes iniquitates meas dele_”; while before
and behind the effigies are the Martyn arms. And on the floor of the
church, north of the pulpit, there is a brass to the memory of Roger
Cheverell.
A short staircase of thirteen steps opens out of the south aisle; this
formerly led to a rood loft.
A musicians’ gallery of the seventeenth century runs across the west
of the church, and there are porches on the north and south. The south
door has a ring attached to the outside, which is popularly supposed
to have been a sanctuary ring, though probably this tradition has no
foundation.
It is an interesting fact that the church clock, which was in the tower
till about 1865, was made by a village blacksmith, Lawrence Boyce by
name, about 1710. This clock had a three-cornered wooden face on the
north side of the tower, stone weights and one (hour) hand. It struck
the hours and quarters and chimed at 8, 12, and 4, except on Sundays,
when the chimes were silenced, so that they might not disturb the
worshippers. A clock made by the same man, for Bere Regis Church, is
now in the Dorchester Museum; but, unfortunately, the Piddletown
clock was not preserved, though it was in good going order when it was
removed to make room for the present one.
In 1820, and probably for long before, it was the custom of the members
of the choir to write their own music; some was actually composed by
them, while some was borrowed from other villages, although the rivalry
which often existed between village choirs not infrequently prevented
the exchange of tunes. In two vellum-covered volumes, the property of
Mr. W. Gover, of Piddletown, dated 1823, the music and words of the
Psalms are most beautifully written. The books were given by a certain
Mrs. Price to the choir. The larger book belonged to J. Holland, a
clarionet player; the smaller to W. Besant. In the latter may be
found music headed, “John Besant’s Magnificat,” which was probably
composed by one of his ancestors. At this time the choir consisted of
two clarionets, two bass viols, a flute, and a bassoon; while before
this a “serpent” was used, and the music is written apparently for
all these instruments. The violin was prohibited by most clergymen as
being “Devil’s music,” on account of its being played in public-houses
and for dancing. The instruments were given up about 1845 on the
introduction of a barrel-organ. At this time the village also possessed
a band, which had been in existence for nearly two hundred years, and
of which the inhabitants were justly proud.
Piddletown is perhaps better known as the “Weatherbury” of Thomas
Hardy’s _Far from the Madding Crowd_. On the south-west of the church
is the gargoyle (the head of some beast, with the legs of a child
projecting from its mouth), which destroyed Sergeant Troy’s work at
Fanny’s grave. The old malthouse mentioned in the same book stood in
what are now the gardens of Ilsington House, while Bathsheba’s house
stood on the site of Ilsington Lodge, although it is sketched from the
house at Waterson. The latter is a fine old building about two miles
from Piddletown, and was the residence of the Martyns before they went
to Athelhampton, and remained their property for long after. It was
much damaged by fire in 1863, but was carefully restored by the owner,
Lord Ilchester, to whose family it still belongs. It is interesting
to note that a certain Mr. Bainger, who lived at Ilsington Lodge, was
the moving spirit in causing the lowering of Yellowham Hill, between
Piddletown and Dorchester, about 1830.
The Vicarage possesses a very fine staircase and an oak-beamed study,
while an old farmhouse, now used as a cottage, in “Style Lane,”
formerly contained a fine carved mantelpiece. In the churchyard is the
headstone of Peter Standley, King of the Gipsies, with the following
inscription:—
In memory of Peter Standley, who died 23rd November, 1802, aged 70
years.
Farewell my dear & faithful wife
My sons & daughters too
Tho’ never in this mortal life
Again you must me view
Close in our Saviour’s footsteps tread
Of Love divine possessed
And when you’re numbered with the dead
Your souls will be at rest.
He is said to have died of smallpox in Style Lane, and to have been
buried by night. Gipsies still visit the grave.
The old coaching road from London to Dorchester runs to the west of
the village, and “Judge’s Bridge,” near Ilsington Lodge, is said to
have taken its name from being the meeting-place of the judge and the
“javelin men” on the occasion of the Dorchester Assizes.
The Court Leet House, wherein was transacted all the local business,
and which was also used as a school, formerly stood in the “Square”;
the stocks, the old village pound, and pump were near. The house
now occupied by Mr. W. Gover was the residence of the Boswells, who
owned land in the parish, and introduced the system of irrigating the
meadows.
Athelhampton Hall is a fine old building east of Piddletown. There is a
tradition that it took its name from some of the Saxon Kings, and was
originally called Athelhamstan; but Hutchins thinks it more probable
that it derived its name from Æthelhelm, one of the Saxon Earls in
Dorset, who was killed in an engagement with the Danes A.D. 837.
The first owners of Athelhampton of whom there is any record were the
de Loundres and Pideles. From them it came by marriage to the Martyns,
who held it till 1595. At the death of Nicholas Martyn it was divided
between his four daughters, who married respectively Henry Brune, Henry
Tichborne, Thomas White, and Anthony Floyer. Gradually the shares of
the Whites and Tichbornes came into the hands of the Brunes, and were
sold by them in 1665 to Sir Robert Long. It then came by marriage to
the Hon. William Wellesley Pole (afterwards Earl of Mornington), whose
son sold it in 1848 to Mr. George James Wood, from whom it came to
his nephew, Mr. G. Wood Homer. It is now the property of Mr. A. C. de
Lafontaine, who purchased it in 1890. The Floyer share of the house
remained in their possession till an exchange was effected by Mr. Wood,
when the whole came into his hands.
The house itself consists of two sides of a quadrangle facing south
and west, and was in a very bad state when bought by Mr. Wood, having,
it is said, been used as a farmhouse, and the fine old oak-roofed
stone-floored hall as a cattle-shed. Mr. Wood entirely renovated the
oak roof, taking great trouble to preserve the original style. He
re-floored the large drawing-room, and made various other extensive
repairs. He removed the gatehouse, which darkened the house, and partly
re-erected it in the form of a summer-house. This has, however, been
again removed by the present owner, who has made many alterations.
The house is built of Ham Hill stone. The east wing is said to be the
oldest part of the present building, and was probably erected by Sir
William Martyn, who died in 1503; while the north wing is thought to
have been built by Nicholas Martyn later in the sixteenth century.
[Illustration: ATHELHAMPTON HALL.]
A small chapel stood on the lawn when Mr. Wood bought the property, but
as this and Burlestone Church were both out of repair, he pulled them
down and built the present church, to a great extent at his own cost.
The chancel of old Burlestone Church is still standing in its overgrown
churchyard, the tombs having all fallen into decay. No churchyard
belonged to the Athelhampton Chapel, Piddletown having always been the
burying-place of the owners.
In a field about a quarter of a mile from Athelhampton, on the land
of Mr. G. Wood Homer, are the grass-grown mounds—the remains of the
hamlet of Bardolfeston, the seat of Drogo de Bardolf, from whom it
came hereditarily to the Martyns. It consisted of a manor, hamlet,
and church; the latter stood at a little distance from the cottages
and manor on what is now known as Church Knap or Knoll. The field in
which the hamlet stood is now known as “Dunditch,” and there is a local
couplet which runs:
Dunditch was a thriving town
When London was a vuzzy down.
It is probable that Bardolfeston extended irregularly to Piddletown,
as it is known that cottages and a mill existed between the two, and
Bardolfeston was part of the Piddle Hundred, being sometimes called
Piddle Bardolf.
WOLFETON HOUSE
BY ALBERT BANKES
The present Wolfeton House, in the parish of Charminster, in the county
of Dorset, is known to have been built by John, father of Sir Thomas
Trenchard, during the reign of Henry VII.; but as the property was
acquired by the Trenchard family (through marriage) from the Jurdains,
and previously the Jurdains had obtained the house and land (also
through marriage) from the Mohun family, it is quite clear that a house
of some description must have existed on the same site as that of the
present residence.
Some archæologists consider that the gatehouse is decidedly of the
Norman period; so, should that be the case, probably the house
inhabited by the Jurdains, before them by the Mohuns, was built soon
after Norman Conquest.
A date is still to be seen on the north side of the north tower, but
whether that refers to the actual building of the towers, or only to
some portion that had been rebuilt or restored, is not known.
[Illustration: WOLFETON HOUSE.]
In a note attached to the pedigree of Trenchard it is stated that the
first Sir Thomas Trenchard rebuilt the house at Wolfeton as it now
stands, except some addition made by Sir George Trenchard; and there
seems no reason to doubt this statement, for a study of the existing
house shows very clearly two distinct dates of building. There are
evidences, also, that Sir Thomas Trenchard’s rebuilding incorporated
many portions of a still older edifice.
Mr. Hamilton Rogers, in his _Sepulchral Effigies of Devon_, says:
Their last heiress, Christian, daughter and heir of John de Mohun by
Joan his wife, daughter of John Jurdain, of Wolveton, Charminster,
married Henry Trenchard (_obit_ 1477), of Hordull, Hants, and
subsequently of Wolveton.
His descendant, Sir Thomas Trenchard (_ob._ 1505), rebuilt this fine
old mansion, and carved on escutcheons over the gateway; and first
among the noble series of genealogical shields in the hall windows were
the arms of Trenchard. Traces of the great Devonshire family of the
Mohuns are not infrequently found in Dorset.
The elevation of the south front of Wolfeton House remains very much as
originally erected, and is of two distinct styles of architecture—the
portion of the building to the east being in the Tudor-Gothic, probably
of the time of Henry VII., and the west portion in the Elizabethan,
or, more probably, Jacobean style. The latter portion is a picturesque
example of this pseudo-classical style of architecture and nothing
more. The older part of the building, however, possesses features which
are worthy of notice, as the rich labels over the windows are composed
of hollow mouldings filled with rolls of sculptured fruit and foliage,
and terminating in quaint corbels carved with great spirit.
Hutchins says:
The ancient seat of the Trenchards here is a noble building, and at
the time when it was built perhaps the best in the country; it is a
large fabric, its principal fronts to the east and south. On the north
it is sheltered by a grove of trees.
One enters on the east into what formerly was a small court, and
on both sides of the gate is a round tower. In this front are many
windows, almost all of them different from each other, as if the
architect had studied irregularity. This seems to have been the humour
of that age, for Dugdale remarks that:
At Tixall, co. Stafford, the seat of the Lord Aston, there is a
fine piece of masonry, built in the reign of Henry VIII.: though
the windows are numerous, scarce two of them are alike, and there
is the same variety of fretwork of the chimneys; so that the beauty
of the structure in that age did not, as in the present, consist in
uniformity, but in the greatest variety the artist could give.
On the north side of Wolfeton House there was a small cloister leading
to what was the chapel, in which some of the family were married
(within memory), but it has since been pulled down. To the west of the
chapel there was a little court.
From Powel’s _Topographical Collections in Devon and Dorset_ (A.D.
1820) we learn that a great deal of the back of the house had been
destroyed, and the whole of the fine glass (with the exception of five
or six shields) was taken down, amounting to 100 lbs., and sent to Mr.
Trenchard’s other house at Lytchett; but it was so badly packed that
when the case was opened almost the whole of the glass was pounded or
broken to pieces, so that very little was preserved.
The only remaining portion of the eastern front is the old gateway, the
most distinctive feature of the house. The entrance gate is flanked by
large circular towers capped by conical stone roofs. That on the south
side is somewhat larger than its fellow, as well as standing a little
further eastwards. The arch of the entrance gateway has continuous
mouldings east and west, with a label over. The eastern label contains
a shield bearing the following arms:—Quarterly, 1 and 4, Trenchard; 2,
Mohun; 3, Jurdain; and an inescutcheon, Quarterly 1 and 4, 3 lozenges;
2..., 3.... The western label terminates in figures holding shields on
which are two T’s combined with T. E. united by a tasselled cord. Above
the apex of the arch similar initials appear interlaced, and over all
T. T. combined.
Over the door within the gateway are three escutcheons on stone: (1)
An angel holding a T [transcriber; fractur script], and at the points
T. E. (2) The arms of Trenchard. A little to the south of the gateway
is a building, on which is this inscription: “_Hoc opus constructum
fuit An’ Dni._—MCCCCCXXVIII.” The tower, together with the series
of rooms connecting the gatehouse westwards to the main house, are
comparatively modern, as also is the entrance porch. These buildings
form the present north front of the house, and over the porch are
sculptured the arms of Weston.
The chapel mentioned by Hutchins as having formerly stood on the
north side of the house has long since vanished, but traces of its
foundations were discovered during some excavations made about fifty
years ago.
Turning to the inside of the house, we find much to interest both the
antiquary and the architect.
Before the hall was destroyed and replaced by the present dining-room,
over the large chimney-piece there were carved representations of
fourteen Kings of England, which, says Hutchins, “are said to resemble
the figures in the first edition of Rastell’s _History of England_,
ending with Charles I.” Aubrey, in his _Miscellanies_, states that on
November 3rd, 1640 (the day on which the Long Parliament began to sit),
the sceptre fell from the figure of Charles I. while the family and
a large company were at dinner—an ill omen, the full import of which
could not have been realised at the time. Opposite to these sculptured
monarchs were the figures of an abbot, a soldier, and some esquires. On
the screen were the arms and quarterings of the Trenchard family.
From the hall a large stone staircase led to the dining-room, a noble
apartment, adorned, says Hutchins, “with a noble bay window, in which
stood an octagon marble table on four wooden lions.”
The interior of the western portion of the house—_i.e._, of the part
built by Sir George Trenchard, is composed of two storeys, of which
the lower seems originally to have constituted a single apartment.
Both storeys were very richly decorated; the flat ceiling of the first
storey is covered with an arabesque of plaster, embracing foliage and
various devices, finishing with large central pendants.
The upper floor had a lofty vaulted ceiling, corresponding with the
high pitch of the roof of a similar character. Unfortunately, this
ceiling has been utterly destroyed—a dreadful piece of vandalism, as
the tracery of the pendants and ceiling must have equalled, or even
surpassed, that of the lower rooms. This upper apartment now forms a
series of bedrooms, in the centre of which is the original sculptured
stone chimney-piece, having under the cornice a large panel, whereon is
depicted a figure reclining on a couch surrounded by dancers.
The magnificent carved oak doorway and chimney-piece in the east
drawing-room were sent to Sir Thomas Trenchard by Philip and Joanna at
the same time that they presented him with their portraits and a china
bowl. The following description of the chimney-pieces in the east and
west drawing-rooms is given by the county historian:—
Chimney-piece No. 1, in the east drawing-room, the height of the room,
consists of an arrangement of entablatures one within the other, the
upper and outer cornice being supported by lofty Corinthian pillars
with rich capitals; immediately beneath this are two large sunken
panels, respectively containing figures of Hope and Justice, separated
by male caryatides, which by their different costumes are intended
perhaps to typify a citizen, knight, and esquire.
Within the innermost cornice, and immediately surrounding the
fireplace, is a series of panels of great interest, displaying
rural and hunting scenes, trades, satyrs, heads, etc., quaintly but
faithfully carved.
Chimney-piece No. 2, in the west drawing-room, is similar in its
general character; the principal subject amongst its decorations
represents the contest of the goddesses in the garden of the
Hesperides.
One of the most beautiful examples of carving is an inner door-case in
the east drawing-room, the arch over which has a richly moulded soffit,
and carved heads in the spandrils; over the door, rich Corinthian
pillars, flanked by sculptured figures of a king in armour and a queen,
support a cornice surmounting a large sunken panel.
In the front of the cornice is a shield bearing the following
arms: _Quarterly_—1 and 4, _Trenchard_; 2, _Mohun_; 3, Semée of
cross-crosslets, a lion rampant, _Jurdain_.
[Illustration: THE EAST DRAWING-ROOM, WOLFETON HOUSE.]