Memorials of Old Dorset

The editing of this Dorset volume was originally undertaken by the Rev. Thomas Perkins, the scholarly Rector of Turnworth. But he, having formulated its plan and written four pa...

The Celts were not slain or driven out of their land, but lived on together with the Romans, gradually advancing in civilisation under Roman influence. They had already adopted...

Monmouth was the last invader to land in Dorset; but there was in the early part of the nineteenth century very great fear among the Dorset folk that a far more formidable enemy...

There is this also to be said in favour of Mr. Warne’s conjecture. An attacking force must find out and capture the strongholds of the defenders, which would naturally be made m...

Perhaps, however, the most remarkable relic of the Roman occupation is the amphitheatre, said to be the best preserved in Britain. It is larger than the so-called “Bull Ring” of...

This sketch of the Dorset churches would be incomplete without reference to some of the noteworthy features to be met with in the fittings of some of them. The cast-lead font of...

_Bere Regis._—J. Skerne and Margaret, his wife. This monument consists of two kneeling figures, fourteen inches high, cut round the outline, and represented as kneeling on the p...

The rebuilding of the Abbey Church choir in the fifteenth century recalls to our mind the great quarrel between the Abbey and the townsfolk, which came to a head in the year 143...

The original minster built by Athelstan was a noble stone building of its time, and was very rich in shrines and relics. The King gave a piece of our Saviour’s Cross, a great cr...

The sports in old Milton were badger-baiting under the cedar trees in the Abbey churchyard; cock-squailing, cock-fighting, and “fives,” outside the west end of the church; bowls...

There are several monuments worthy of notice, but by far the most interesting is the Beaufort altar-tomb on the south side of the presbytery. This was erected, to the memory of...

Now, while there is no doubt that Chard united in his own person the offices of Abbot and Suffragan Bishop, the above account is at fault in attributing “the stag’s head cabosse...

A still darker experience than that of war awaited Dorchester not long after. When Monmouth fought at Sedgemoor (1685) our Dorset peasants were among the bravest of his rude but...

Notwithstanding that their largest vessel was only of 120 tons, the Weymouth contingent captured two of the galleons and brought them as prizes into the harbour. The only other...

The East Weirs, again, were an ideal place for a day’s ramble, with their wild undergrowth, dog-roses and honeysuckle sending their fragrance along the sea-laden breezes. Set of...

From Worth Church to Swanage there is a track or path known still as Priestway, originally used by the priests of Worth passing backwards and forwards between Swanage and Worth...

On the death of Sir Edward Coke, his widow and daughter found themselves at liberty to dispose of a mansion whose gloomy grandeur and position, remote from the busier scenes of...

Lady Bankes’ death, as recorded on a monument of white marble at Rislip, took place on April 11th, 1661. So little was her death expected, that her eldest son was married on the...

Older than the piece of wall, older than the almshouses, and older, indeed, than anything else in Poole, is that much-battered, much-altered building now known as the Town Cella...

Left high and dry upon its hill-top it can watch the trailing steam of the locomotives in the deep valley to the north as they hurry by, taking no heed of the once royal burgh,...

There are scarcely any historical events connected with Shaftesbury besides those already mentioned; but it is worthy of notice that once for a short time two royal ladies were...

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 lit...

At Rushay, William Barnes spent his early days, and he was educated at the day school at Sturminster Newton. Somewhere along the road from Bagber to Sturminster was a haunted ho...

When attempting to trace to their origin some of the stories current, one cannot help feeling that in many cases the so-called witch stood more in need of pity than condemnation...

Cross-legged Effigies in— Bridport, 57 Dorchester, St. Peter’s, 58, 59 Frampton, 58 Horton, 57 Mappowder, 58 Piddletown, 57 Stock Gaylard, 57 Trent, 57, 58 Wareham, 57 Wimborne...

Edited by H. J. DUKINFIELD ASTLEY, M.A., Litt.D., F.R.Hist.S. Dedicated by kind permission to the Right Hon. Viscount Coke, C.M.G., C.V.O., Lord-Lieutenant of Norfolk. The contr...