Part 6

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 St. Mary’s, Wareham, on which figures of the Apostles are still distinguishable from each other, despite the rough usage to which they have been subjected, may possibly date from Saxon days, and from the resemblance it bears to the font in Dorchester Abbey, Oxfordshire, they may well have been contemporaneous. If so, it gives countenance to the belief that this font dates from the time when, as yet, the whole Wessex kingdom was one diocese with its Bishop-stool at the Oxfordshire Dorchester—that is, sometime between the conversion of Cynegils by St. Birinus in 635 and the division of the diocese into the two separate sees of Winchester and Sherborne in 705; as after this event the Oxfordshire Dorchester would have little to do with Dorset.

The church at Piddletown has escaped the drastic restoration that has destroyed the interest of so many of our Dorset churches. Archæologists may well rejoice that the gallery and pews have not been swept away with ruthless zeal, and will pray that they may, for many years to come, stand as witnesses of what was being done in Dorset at a time when the storm was gathering that was destined for a while to overthrow the power of king and priest.

In Bloxworth Church there still remains in its stand the hour-glass by which the preacher regulated the length of his sermon. This probably was placed in its position about the middle of the seventeenth century. The people in those days liked sermons, and expected to be able to listen to one for at least an hour, though sometimes the preacher, when all the sand had run into the lower half of the hour-glass, would give his congregation another hour, turning the glass; and sometimes yet once again the glass was turned. As we look on this relic of sermon loving days, we cannot help thinking of the eyes of the weary children, doomed to sit under these long-winded preachers, turned on the slowly trickling sand, and the sense of relief they must have felt when the last grain had run down, and the hour of their enforced listening was at an end.

To this same seventeenth century may be ascribed many of the elaborately carved oaken pulpits which are to be found in Dorset, as, for instance, those at Beaminster, Netherbury, Charminster, Iwerne Minster, and Abbotsbury. In the last may still be seen two holes caused by bullets fired by Cromwell’s soldiers when the church was garrisoned by Royalists under General Strangways.

At Frampton a stone pulpit, of fifteenth century date, much restored, still exists. At Corton Chapel a fine pre-Reformation stone altar stands, which escaped destruction when the order for the removal of stone altars was issued in 1550, because Corton was one of those free chapels which had been suppressed and deprived of its revenue three years before by the Chantry Act of 1 Edward VI.

In the neighbouring church at Portesham a window on the north side of the nave shews signs of the influence which on the Continent led to the Flamboyant style. A fine Jacobean screen may be seen at West Stafford Church, which was removed from its original position and put further to the east when the church was lengthened a few years ago.

In Hilton Church there are twelve noteworthy mediæval panel paintings, each more than six feet high, representing the Apostles. These once belonged to Milton Abbey.

When Tarrant Rushton Church was restored, on the eastern face of the chancel arch were found two earthenware vases. Their use is a matter of doubt, but an idea formerly prevailed that such vessels gave richness to the voice, and from this idea they were sometimes let into the walls, and were known as acoustic vases.

Dorset is fairly rich in monumental effigies in stone and alabaster. One of the most beautiful and best preserved of the latter is that erected in Wimborne Minster by the Lady Margaret, in memory of her father and mother, John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, and his wife. Cross-legged effigies are to be seen in Wareham, Bridport, Piddletown, Wimborne Minster, Dorchester, Trent, Horton, Wimborne St. Giles, and Stock Gaylard. The first four bear a close resemblance to one another. The knight wears a sleeved tunic or hauberk of mail, a hooded coif, and over this a helmet. This costume indicates a date before the middle of the twelfth century. The feet rest upon an animal. At one time the fact that the legs were crossed was held to indicate that the person represented was a Crusader; if the legs were crossed at the ankles it was supposed that he had made one pilgrimage to the East; if at the knees, two; if higher up, three. But all this is probably erroneous, for on the one hand some known Crusaders are not represented with their legs crossed, while others who are known not to have gone to the Holy Land are so represented. And even a stronger proof may be adduced, namely, that some of the crossed-legged effigies represent knights who lived after the Crusades were over; for example, that found on the tomb of Sir Peter Carew at Exeter, who died in 1571. In Mappowder Church there is a miniature cross-legged effigy, about two feet long. This is often spoken of as a “boy crusader”—a child who is supposed to have gone with his father to the Holy Land, and to have died there. But this is probably a mistake. Similar diminutive effigies are found in divers places; for instance, that at Salisbury which goes by the name of the “Boy Bishop,” and Bishop Ethelmer’s (1260) at Winchester. Many authorities think that, as it was customary in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries to bury different parts of the body in different places, these effigies mark the spot where the heart was buried. The figure at Mappowder holds a heart in its hands, and this certainly lends countenance to this theory. A similar monument formerly existed at Frampton, but it has disappeared. At Trent is a crossed-legged effigy of a “franklin”—a civilian who was allowed to wear a sword. There are two figures in St. Peter’s, Dorchester, laid on the sills of windows; it is said they were removed from the old Priory Church. These are of later date, namely, the end of the fourteenth century. They wear plate armour, and on their heads pointed bassinets, while the great helms that were worn over these serve as pillows for their heads to rest on.

At West Chelborough there is a curious monument without date or name: a lady lies asleep on a bed with a child enveloped in the folds of her drapery; probably this indicates that she died in giving birth to the infant. Another curious monument is met with in Sandford Orcas Church, whereon may be seen William Knoyle kneeling with one of his wives in front, and one behind him, and behind the latter, four corpses of children; the knight and first wife have skulls in their hands, to indicate that they were dead when the monument (1607) was erected; the second wife is dressed in black to show her widowhood; her seven children are also represented, the four girls by her, and the three boys behind the father. It will be noticed that the recumbent figures of earlier time gave place to kneeling figures in the sixteenth century, when the husband and wife were often represented opposite to each other, with their children behind them in graduated sizes. These are far less pleasing than the monuments of earlier date; but worse was to come, an example of which may be seen at St. Peter’s Church, Dorchester, in the monument of Denzil, Lord Holles, so well known in the history of the reign of Charles I.

A bare mention must suffice for other monuments. In Marnhull, Thomas Howard (1582), a man of huge stature, lies between his two wives, small delicate women, who are absolutely alike in person and dress. It would seem as if their effigies were mere conventional representations. In the neighbouring church of Stalbridge lies an emaciated corpse in a shroud without date or name.

In Netherbury is a mutilated alabaster figure with “S.S.” on the collar; at Melbury Sampford the alabaster effigy of William Brounyng, who died 1467, wears plate armour and the Yorkist collar. At Charminster are several canopied tombs of the Trenchards, in Purbeck marble, of a form found in many Wessex churches, and the figure of a daughter of Sir Thomas Trenchard, wife of Sir William Pole, who died in 1636. She kneels before a book lying open on a desk, and wears a fur tippet. In Chideock Chapel may be seen a knight in plate armour, possibly Sir John Chideock, who died in 1450. In Came Church are the recumbent figures of Sir John Miller and his wife Anna (1610).

In Farnham, over the altar, is a plain stone in memory of one Alexander Bower, a preacher of God’s Word, who is said to have died “in the year of _Christes_ incarnation (1616).” This is interesting as showing the unabridged form of the possessive case.

Built in the wall over the door of Durweston Church is a piece of carving, which originally was above the altar and beneath the east window, representing a blacksmith shoeing a horse; and over the west door of Hinton Parva is a carving of an angel, a cross, and a butterfly.

The finest timber roof in the county is undoubtedly that of Bere Regis nave. It is said that Cardinal Morton placed this roof upon the church when he was Archbishop of Canterbury. He was born near, or in, this village, and after the battle of Towton was attainted. In the central shield on the roof the arms of Morton are impaled with the arms of the See of Canterbury; this gives the date of the erection somewhere between 1486 and 1500, but a Cardinal’s hat on one of the figures limits the date still further, as it was not until 1493 that Morton became a Cardinal. The figures, which project from the hammer beams and look downwards, are popularly known as the Apostles, but the dress precludes this idea, as one is habited as a Deacon, and one, as said above, wears a Cardinal’s hat. The painting of the roof is modern, done when the roof was restored.

One of the most remarkable buildings of the fifteenth century is St. Catherine’s Chapel, on the lofty hill which overlooks the sea near Abbotsbury. In the construction of this, wood plays no part—all is solid stone. The roof is formed of transverse ribs, richly bossed where ridge and purloin ribs intersect them, and each of the two rectangular compartments between every pair of ribs on either side thus formed is simply foliated like blank window lights. There is not a thin stone vault below a stone outer roof above with a space between them, but it is stone throughout, and on St. Catherine’s wind-swept hill the chapel has stood uninjured since the Benedictine Monks of Abbotsbury built this chantry nearly five hundred years ago. The massive buttresses, from which no pinnacles rise, the parapet pierced by holes for letting out the water, the turret with its flat cap, in which once the beacon fire used to be lighted in its iron cresset, render the chapel still more unique. Nowhere else in England, save on St. Ealdhelm’s Head, can such a solidly-built structure be found. The simple tracery of the windows remains, but the glass has disappeared. The windows are boarded up to keep out the rain and the interior is bare. Resting on a hill top, washed by the pure breezes, such a chapel is fitly dedicated to St. Catherine of Alexandria.

THE MEMORIAL BRASSES OF DORSET

BY W. DE C. PRIDEAUX

Dorset is by no means rich in the number of its monumental brasses. Haines, in his list (1861), gives their number as thirty-three, distributed over twenty-four churches; but recent researches and alterations in the county boundaries have rendered his list no longer strictly accurate. Yet only about one hundredth of the brasses to be found in England are preserved in Dorset, though its area is about one fiftieth of the area of England; and so it will be seen that the number of its brasses is considerably below the average, although it must be remembered that brasses are very unequally divided, the Eastern counties having by far the largest proportion.

The earliest known brasses in England date from the latter part of the thirteenth century; and for three centuries this form of memorial was in great favour. Brasses had many advantages over carved effigies in stone; they occupied less space, formed no obstruction in the churches, were more easily executed, and possibly cheaper. Fortunately, also, they have lasted longer, and have preserved a wealth of valuable detail relating to costume and heraldry far in excess of any other form of monument.

Monumental brasses may be divided roughly into two classes: those in which the figure is engraved on a rectangular plate, the background being plain or filled in with diapered or scroll work, which is seen to such great advantage on many Continental brasses, and those in which there is no background, the plate being cut around the outline of the figure, and fastened down into a similarly shaped shallow matrix or casement in the stone slab. Examples of both kinds are found in Dorset; but none of our examples are of very early date. One of the oldest, commemorating Joan de St. Omer, dated 1436 (an engraving of which may be seen in Hutchins’ _Dorset_, vol. ii., p. 380, and a rubbing by the late Mr. Henry Moule in the library of the Society of Antiquaries, London[18]), has disappeared from St. Peter’s Church, Dorchester, although the matrix still remains. The Oke brass at Shapwick, if of contemporary workmanship, may be older.

Sometimes brasses were pulled out and sold by the churchwardens for the value of the metal.[19] Sometimes, indeed, brasses which had commemorated some warrior, priest, or worthy of former times were taken up, turned over, re-engraved, and made to do duty in honour of someone else, as may be seen in the retroscript brasses at Litton Cheney; but in several cases the brass, after weathering the stormy times of the civil wars, and escaping the greed of those whose business it was to guard their church from the mutilation, were lost through the gross neglect of the nineteenth century restorer. The writer knows of several specimens now loose and in danger.

The following is a list of all the known brasses in Dorset:—

_Beaminster._—Ann, the wife of Henry Hillary, of Meerhay, 1653.

Elizabeth, the wife of William Milles, and daughter of John Hillary, of Meerhay, 1674.

Mrs. Ann Hillary, died 1700.

William Milles, Esq., of Meerhay, and Mary, his wife. He died 1760, aged 82; she died 1771, aged 95.

And outside the wall of south aisle, inscriptions to—

Elizabeth Smitham, 1773, aged 61.

Rev. Edmund Lewis, 1766, aged 40.

Joseph Symes, gent., 1776, aged 75; also Frances, his wife, 1737, aged 47.

And on a large slab in the floor of south aisle, formerly on an altar tomb—

Pray for the soule of S^{r} John Tone,[20] Whose bodye lyeth berid under this tombe, On whos soule J’hu have mercy A Pat’nost’ & Ave.

All small inscriptions only.

_Bere Regis._—J. Skerne and Margaret, his wife, 1596. Kneeling figures, with heraldic shield and an eight-line engraved verse, on altar tomb.

Robert Turberville, 1559. Inscription only.

_Bryanston._—John Rogers and Elizabeth, his wife, 1528. Inscription below matrices of their effigies and heraldic shields.

Cecilia Rogers, wife of Sir Richard Rogers, of Bryanston. A ten-line verse below matrices of her effigy and heraldic shields, 1566.

_Bridport._—Edward Coker, gent. Inscription only, 1685.

_Caundle Purse._—William Longe, 1500; Elizabeth Longe, 1527; Richard Brodewey, rector, 1536. All small effigies, the two latter with inscriptions; and all loose when seen by the writer, with the exception of a small plate to Peter Hoskyns, 1682, above Longe altar tomb.

_Compton Valence._—Thomas Maldon, rector, rebuilder of church, 1440. Half effigy, from which issue two scrolls, with words from Ps. li. 1.

_Chesilborne._—A small inscribed brass to John Keate, 1552, and Margaret, his wife, 1554.

_Corfe Mullen._—A small effigy of Richard Birt. Below this there is a mutilated inscription to Ricardus Birt and Alicia, his wife, 1437.

_Crichel, Moor._—Isabel Uvedale, 1572. An effigy with a ten-line engraved verse.

William Cyfrewast, Esquyer, 1581. Inscription and two six-line verses.

_Crichel, Long._—Johan’ Gouys. A small inscription only.

_Cranborne._—Margaret, daughter of Henry Ashelie, the wife of William Wallop, 1582. Inscription only. There is another inscribed plate bearing date 1631; otherwise illegible.

_Dorchester, St. Peter._—Inscription and scroll to the lost figure of Joan de St. Omer, widow of Robert More, 1436.

William and Johanna Sillon. Part of inscription. Inscription to John Gollop.

_Evershot._—William Grey, rector, 1524, with chalice and host. Inscription below effigy composed of quite a different alloy.

_Fleet Old Church._—Robert and Margaret Mohun, with seventeen children, 1603.

Maximillian Mohun, his son, showing his wife and thirteen children.

_Holme Priory._—Richard Sidwaye, gent., 1612.

_Knowle._—John Clavell, 1572, and two wives; the first with three sons and one daughter; the second wife, Susan, daughter of Robert Coker, of Mappowder, is kneeling alone.

_Litton Cheney._—Ralph Henvil, of Looke, 1644. Anne Henvill, daughter of Richard Henvill, of Looke, 1681. Inscriptions only.

There is also an interesting retroscript brass, in two pieces, having three inscriptions:—

1.—Johes Chapman, ffysch mōger, 1471.

2.—Alexandriam (?) Warnby, 1486.

3.—Johis Newpton et Thome Neupto.

_Lytchett Matravers._—Thomas Pethyn (_als._ Talpathyn), rector, in shroud, _c._ 1470.

Margaret Clement, “generosa, specialis benefactrix reedificacionis huius ecclesie,” 1505.

A matrix of a very large fret (the arms of Matravers), with marginal inscription, to Sir John Matravers, 1365.

_Langton._—John Whitewod, gent., and his two wives, Johanna and Alicia; three effigies, with inscription, bearing dates 1457, 1467, and portion of scrolls.

_Melbury Sampford._—Sir Gyles Strangwayes, 1562, in tabard. Two shields, with thirteen and fourteen quarterings respectively, and inscriptions to Henry Strangwayes, Esq., who “died at the syege of Bolleyne,” and his wife, Margaret, daughter of Lord George Rosse; and to Sir Gyles Strangwayes and his wife, Joan, eldest daughter of John Wadham, Esq. There are also strip brasses around recumbent marble effigies of Sir Gyles Strangwayes the elder, and William Brunyng, and a rectangular brass plate to Laurencius Sampford, _miles_, and another to John and Alicia Brounyng, with three coats of arms.

_Milton Abbey._—Sir John Tregonwell, D.C.L., 1565, in tabard, with heraldic shields and inscription.

John Artur, a monk of the Abbey. A small brass of about the middle of the fifteenth century.

_Milborne St. Andrew._—John Morton, Esq., 1521, son of Richard Morton, and nephew of John Morton, Cardinal. Brass plate on altar tomb, below matrix of a knight in armour.

_Moreton._—James Frampton, 1523. He is shown kneeling, with text on scrolls.

_Owermoigne._—John Sturton, Esq., 1506. Inscription, “causyd this wyndowe to be made.”

On a loose plate, now lost, Nicholas Cheverel, Esq., and Jane, his wife, who both died in the year 1548.

_Piddlehinton._—Thomas Browne, parson for 27 years, in hat and clerical habit, having staff and book, with a twelve-line verse and inscription, 1617.

There was formerly a brass inscription to John Chapman, 1494, in the north aisle.

_Piddletown._—Roger Cheverell, 1517. Half effigy, with inscription and two shields of arms.

Christopher Martyn, Esq., 1524. Kneeling effigy, in tabard, with shield of arms and partial representation of the Trinity.

Nicholas Martyn, Esq., and wife, 1595, with three sons and seven daughters, with armorial brass and inscription between effigies, on back of altar tomb.

_Pimperne._—Mrs. Dorothy Williams, wife of John Williams, curate, 1694. A very curious effigy, with skeleton below. “Edmund Colepeper fecit.”

_Puncknowle._—William Napper, Esq., brother of Sir Robert Napper, in armour; by his wife, Anne, daughter of Wm. Shelton, Esq., of Onger Park, he had six sons. Brass engraved _c._ 1600, before his death.

_Rampisham._—Thomas Dygenys and his wife Isabel. Two figures, with inscription at their feet, “gud benefactors to this churche.” Both died in 1523.

_Shaftesbury, St. Peter._—Inscription to Stephen, son and heir of Nicholas Payne, steward of the Monastery, 1508. On the slab are matrices of four brass shields. This was removed from the Abbey.

In Holy Trinity churchyard is half a large blue slab, having thereon the matrix of a large brass which local tradition says was to King Edward the Martyr.

_Shapwick._—Inscription to Richard Chernok, _als._ Hogeson, vicar, 1538.

A fine effigy of Maria, heiress of Lord de Champneys, and wife of John Oke. The inscription is to the latter; the former has a dog at her feet. Her first husband was Sir William Tourney, and she married William Oke in the reign of Richard II.; so it is quite likely that this brass is of the fourteenth century.

_Sturminster Marshall._—An effigy of Henry Helme, vicar, in gown, with moustache and pointed beard. He was the founder of Baylye House (the vicarage), 1581. The inscription is a ten-line verse. The brass is fastened on a black marble slab.

Also, “Here lyeth Wylla’ Benett, on whose sowle Gode have merci.” (No date.)

_Swanage, als. Swanwich._—William Clavell (effigy lost), with Margaret and Alicia, his wives, _c._ 1470.

John Harve, 1510. Inscription only:—

Suche as I was, so be you, and as I am, so shall you be, And of the soule of John Harve God have mercy.

Henry Welles, of Godlinstone, 1607, and Marie, his first wife, 1560. Inscriptions only.

Susan Cockram, wife of Brune Cockram, parson of Swanw^{ch}, 1641.

Thomas Serrell, the sonn of Anthony Serrell, of Swanwhich, 1639.

_Swyre._—John Russell, Esq., and Elizabeth, his wife, daughter of John Frocksmer, Esq., 1505. Inscription, with arms.

James Russell, Esq. (son of John Russell), and Alys, his wife,, daughter of John Wise, Esq., 1510. Inscription, with arms.[21]

George Gollop, of Berwick, tenth son of Thomas Gollop, of Strode, Dorset; brass, _c._ 1787. Long inscription only, to many of this family.

_Tincleton._—Inscription to Thomas Faryngdon, _armiger_, 1404.

_Tarrant Crawford._—In the year 1862, a small brass plate was found on the Abbey site in memory of “d’ns Joh’es Karrant.”

_Thorncombe._—Sir Thomas and Lady Brook. Two fine effigies, with long inscription. Sir Thomas died 1419; Lady Brook, 1437; “on whose soules God have mercy and pite that for us dyed on the rode tree. Ame’.”

_Upwey._—William Gould, 1681. Inscription only, on outer side of north wall of chancel, opposite altar tomb.

_West Stafford._—Inscription to Giles Long, 1592, “then Lord of Frome Bellett and patrone of the parsonage and Stafford.”

_Wimborne Minster._—St. Ethelred, King of the West Saxons, martyr, “Anno Domini 873 (871?) 23 die Aprilis per manus dacorum paganorum occubuit.” Half effigy, engraved _c._ 1440; inscription restored _c._ 1600.

_Woolland._—Mary, daughter of Robert Williams, of Herringston, and wife of Robert Thornhull, and then of Lewis Argenton, 1616. The inscription of twelve lines is curious and descriptive, beginning:—

Here lyeth our landladie loved of all, Whom Mary Argenton last wee did call.

_Yetminster._—John Horsey, Esquire, 1531, Lord of the Manor of Clifton, and Elizabeth, his wife, Lady of the Manor of Turges Melcombe. Two fine effigies, with scrolls at sides and inscription at foot.

Of the foregoing brasses, the following deserve a longer notice:—