Winchester College Archives – new findings

Posted on October 14, 2024 by miltonabbashistorygroup

©Bryan Phillips Oct 2024

A huge thank you to Winchester College and their archivist, Suzanne Foster, for helping the Milton Abbas Local History Group with its medieval research. There are early manorial documents concerning many of Milton Abbey’s manors. These manors seem to be quite stable from the foundation charter of King Athelstan Easter 943 through Domesday Books 1086 until its Dissolution in 1539 quite unlike many other monasteries who were buying, selling, leasing and being given land.

The Winchester College archive is also comprehensively catalogued and it is easy to find the relevant documents.

and it is so exciting to look inside these rolls to see the treasures they contain:

We are finding new information in these archives, for example, there is a fine original of the Customary of the Manor of Sydling St Nicholas 1322 (WCM 18382) which fills in some gaps in the Custumal of Milton Abbey which has been mutilated over the seven centuries since its first writing. One of our members is currently translating this from the Latin. These wonderful documents tell us so much about the lives of the ordinary people living on a monastic manor. Of course, finding new information inevitably leads to more questions to answer!

You can find more information on the medieval Milton Abbey manors on our webpage.

Do please get in touch if you are interested or would like to help us unravel the meanings hidden in these records.

Posted in document, history, local history, Medieval history, Milton Abbey | Leave a comment

WW1 Research

Posted on October 10, 2024 by miltonabbashistorygroup

©Bryan Phillips Oct 2024

Pamela Phillips has been busy downloading newspaper articles for the period 1911 to 1920 concerning Milton Abbas people before, during and after WW1. Around 150 new articles have been transcribed and added to our Records. These articles are a name rich source and many familiar names are included in this research – HAMBRO, SPILLER, JESTY, VACHER, DR DOMINY, LOVELL, CHURCHILL, PENTIN, FOOKES, etc. Interesting topics include the farmer’s club meetings, the Slate Club, egg collection for the war effort, cricket matches, Hambro dinner parties for all, jobs wanted, situations vacant,  dogs lost etc giving a view of the goings on in a rural agricultural village.

These articles can now be searched for names and events, which will be the task of the WW1 research group. All this research is part of their work towards a book which will be published in due course. If you have information or relatives from Milton Abbas during this period please get in touch.

Posted in Hambro, local history, Milton Abbas, WWI | Leave a comment

DORSET FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY OPEN WEEKEND

Posted on September 25, 2024 by miltonabbashistorygroup

©Bryan Phillips Sep 2024

Welcome all Ancestor Hunters!

On Saturday 5th October and Sunday 6th October 2024, 10am – 3pm both days, our Treetops Research Centre will be open for anyone to call in, meet our volunteers, see what we have to offer and find out how we can help with your family history research.

All are welcome; experienced family history researchers, those just thinking of starting their family tree,  and those who have started but need some helpful advice to continue their research.

The Centre has access to all the major Family History websites, Parish Register transcriptions for Dorset and miscellaneous information from other counties, Monumental Inscriptions, an extensive library and a Sales area. Experienced volunteers are available to give one to one help and guidance, not only to those with Dorset ancestors but from wherever your ancestors came from – worldwide.

Both members of the society and non-members are welcome – no booking necessary.

Posted in family history | Leave a comment

New Season – we’re ready!

Posted on September 20, 2024 by miltonabbashistorygroup

©Bryan Phillips Sep 2024

The Milton Abbas Local History Group is about to embark on its new season of talks and research.

The talks will be focused on the history of Milton Abbas and they will mostly be given by members of the group who have been busy researching. The next talk on Wed 2 October 19:30  in the Reading Rooms will be on the Milton Abbas men who served at Waterloo. Also this season there will be talks on the New Town Houses, Researching Local History, the Churchwardens of Milton Abbas, and the Move of the Old Town to the New Village.

New documents are being found all the time and we now have a catalogue of over 5300 which can be searched by our members.

Our website is still expanding and now has 200 blog posts as well as 110 pages of detailed historical facts about this amazing place. You can use the search box on every page of the website to find information which you are interested in. Any suggestions are always welcome, of course. Please come along to our meetings or contact us on our website Contact page and tell us of your interests.

The history group also has a Research Group who meet four times a year to discuss their progress. Some of the topics being actively researched are the people and community of Milton Abbas just before, during and after WW1, histories and occupations of important Milton Abbas families, the lives of the people of Milton Abbey’s manors in the fourteenth century, the building and contents of the manor house from the Dissolution to the present, the life and letters of Caroline Damer, 

If you have other topics which pique your interest please come along and meet us.

Next meeting in the Reading Rooms is Wednesday 2 October, 19:30. We look forward to meeting you.

Posted in document, Dorset, history, local history, Medieval history, Milton Abbas | Leave a comment

More Mysteries – can you help?

Posted on September 12, 2024 by miltonabbashistorygroup

©Bryan Phillips Sep 2024

There are still plenty of mysteries to solve in the history of Milton Abbas, click on the drop-down list on our web page.

One of our new members, Derek Robinson, has sent us an intriguing picture of the Milton Abbas District. 

We have definitely not seen it before and we don’t as yet know what the Milton Abbas District was. We have not seen the banner before, nor any references to it. Whatever group it was, it is unusual in having both men and women. 

It should be possible to date the photograph quite accurately. Our current estimate is c1912. Note some of the men are wearing society badges (not medals). We love the very smart outfits and the hairdos.

We don’t recognise any of the people either.

Could this be a Methodist District? Ancient Order of Foresters? Friendly Society?

If you can help please contact us here.

Posted in Dorset, family history, local history, Milton Abbas | Leave a comment

Reverend Herbert Pentin

Posted on September 3, 2024 by miltonabbashistorygroup

©Bryan Phillips Sep 2024

was vicar here 1901 to 1914 and he was interested in the history of Milton Abbas, writing several articles for the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Society as it was then, now called the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society. 

Here is a list of articles he published in the Proceedings, the Milton Abbas Local History Group have all these as pdf files available to members for their research:

The Old Town of Milton Abbey, 25 1-7

Liscombe: its Chapel, Monastic House and Barn, 26 1-5

Some Milton Antiquities, 26 195-203

Old Dorset Songs, 27 24-43

Old Portland, 37 228-253

Dorset Children’s Doggerel Rhymes, 38 112-132

A Dorset Parish during the Commonwealth, 65 108-111

Orme Agnus: a Forgotten Dorset Novelist, 69 108-111

Indeed he was vice-president of the Society in 1904. 

He was well known in Dorset and knew many people including Thomas Hardy as this photograph testifies.

Thanks to Ann Fookes for sharing this photo with us from her collection which she had donated to our history group.

Posted in local, local history, records | Leave a comment

The Hawkins family of Milton Abbas

Posted on August 21, 2024 by miltonabbashistorygroup

©Bryan Phillips Aug 2024

Want to know more about the lives of people who once lived in Milton Abbas? Do you have BARNES, HARVEY, HAWKINS, HAM, MITCHELL, or STANDFIELD ancestors?

Our member Clive Barnes gave a presentation to the Milton Abbas Local History Group at our meeting on 1 May 2024 entitled ‘Lawrence Hawkins, Blacksmith. A Craftsman’s Family in Milton Abbas’. Clive has now written this up into a superb piece of research and this is available to our members here.

Clive’s research is a great example of how the lost stories of people from previous centuries can be revealed using all the resources available to us today, as well as how the trades such as blacksmith was once so important to rural life and how it prospered and shrank with the changing times.

It also typifies the contacts and intermarriages amongst trades and families in a closed rural village.

Posted in family history, local history, Milton Abbas, occupations, Old Town of Milton Abbas, Overseers of the Poor, Parish Registers, records | Leave a comment

Sheep and Wool in medieval Milton Abbas

Posted on August 11, 2024 by miltonabbashistorygroup

©Bryan Phillips Aug 2024

Take a look at our new page on this website devoted to sheep on the Milton Abbey monastery’s manors.

This is part of our exploration of life as a peasant worker in Milton Abbas when wages were around 1 penny a day and your annual rent 2 shillings and you had to work quite a lot of days for nothing at all on the Abbot’s farm (demesne) or if you were lucky you might get some hay to take home or a loaf of bread. Then you had to look after your own crops and livestock and sell them in the Abbot’s market (for which he probably took a toll too) to make a living for you and your family.

It does seem that Milton Abbey was particularly mean to its tenants when compared with other large Benedictine manors and other manors in general. We get the impression that life was hard for the poor peasant.

Posted in farming, landscape, local history, Medieval history, Milton Abbey | Leave a comment

Hilton Gold Bracelet

Posted on July 30, 2024 by miltonabbashistorygroup

©Bryan Phillips Jul 2024

GREAT NEWS! DORSET MUSEUM HAVE RAISED THE FUNDS TO PURCHASE THIS.

photo © Somerset County Council 2.0 Generic.

This late Bronze Age gold bracelet was found in Hilton. It has been declared treasure and has been valued at £1200. The Dorset Museum is in the process of acquiring it but need our help in raising a little more. Please donate here.It would be great to know that it will then be available for everyone to view instead of being locked away by a private collector in some safe deposit box.

The full Portable Antiquities Scheme description of this bracelet.

This is an important piece of our history. We know of a gold torc that was also found in Hilton in the 19th century and handed to Lady Caroline Damer. What happened to it then we do not know, it may still be with the Dawson-Damer descendants. 

It would be great to know what was happening in Hilton in the late Bronze Age, the gold objects raise so many questions. Where is the gold from? How was it traded? Why was it buried? For a funerary rite? Are there more gold objects to be found? Only archaeology and more research could tell us.

Posted in archaeology, Damer, local, Metal Detecting | Leave a comment

Will of Edward Damer, 1703

Posted on July 22, 2024 by miltonabbashistorygroup

©Bryan Phillips Jul 2024 

Wills and inventories are a marvellous source of information for local and family historians. Our super transcriber Shirley Chick has just completed the will of Edward Damer 1703. This gives a wealth of information on the Damer family fifty years before Joseph bought the Milton Abbas estate in 1752.

Here is just a fraction:

“…. my Cousin John Trevillian, my son in Law Thomas Pittman and Joseph Damer the son of my rother George Damer, joyntly and to the survivor of them in trust, for the use and behoofe of Edward  Damer my grandson when he shall attain the age of Twenty one years or is marryed by the consent of the said trustees for his life, and ~ the Issue Male of his body lawfully to be begotten; and failing such ~ issue I give and bequeath my said house to my said Trustees and the survivor of them to the use and behoofe of my grandchild Edw(ard): Pittman in like sort, and to the heirs male of his body lawfully to be begotten ~ and fayling such issue; I give and bequeath my said house to my said Trustees to the use of my grandchild Joseph the son of my Son Joseph Damer deceased and to the Issue male of his body a ~ lawfully to be begotten and failing such issue then to the use and behoofe of my right heirs for ever Item give unto my Sister Mary Yeat twenty Shillings 20 and to be paid to her during her life also I give unto y cousin Samuell Damer and my Cousin Robert Colmer to each of them Five pounds; also I give to my sister in Law Joan Jefferyse   “

We were hoping that a descendant of the Damer family might help us by writing a history of this important and wealthy Dorset family. We have already gathered a huge quantity of information.

If anyone is interested please contact us here.

Posted in Damer, document, family history, local history, Old Town of Milton Abbas, transcription | Leave a comment