Old Parish Life: A Guide for the Curious

Posted on November 7, 2023 by miltonabbashistorygroup

This excellent book by Justin Lovill published by Bunbury Press 2022 is perfect for understanding the role of the parish church in the life of the village after the Civil War. It puts into context many of the records that the Milton Abbas Local History Group have transcribed, especially the Churchwardens Accounts, It includes the ritual year, the communion (wine and bread!), the bells (always being repaired), the feasts and festivals, catching vermin and much else besides. An essential resource for local history, and at 600 pages, sufficiently detailed and comprehensive.

For the period of the Reformation I would recommend Eamon Duffy ‘The Voices of Morebath’ and Ronald Hutton ‘Stations of the Sun’ and ‘The Rise and Fall of Merry England’.

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William Woodward – surveyor and map maker

Posted on October 18, 2023 by miltonabbashistorygroup

The Milton Abbas Local History Group have used the survey and maps which William Woodward drew up for Lord Milton around 1779. The originals are in the Dorset History Centre D-919/5 and they have an interesting history in themselves, besides giving us so much valuable information on the Old Town of Milton Abbas, including the names of all the tenants and their holdings.

Clive Barnes has been researching the life of William Woodward and the extraordinary work which he carried out. His detailed research is on our website.

Clive writes:

William Woodward is well known to members of the Milton Abbas History Group as the man who drew up a survey of Lord Milton’s Milton Abbas estate in 1769-1771, on the eve of the destruction of the old town and the building of the new village. But, while we know a lot about the survey itself, we know nothing about the man who drew it up. 

Sometimes research can take you in unexpected but fascinating directions, and you may end up a long way from Milton Abbas, so it is with William Woodward.

Posted in Damer, local history, Milton Abbas, Old Town of Milton Abbas | 1 Comment

Evidence from local Parish Registers

Posted on October 6, 2023 by miltonabbashistorygroup

Turnworth 1747

Whipping boys at Rogationtide perambulations

There is a great deal of evidence of how people lived and played in records, sometimes in surprising places. It is always good practise to view the original documents rather that transcriptions by Ancestry etc. You never know what you will find. Often the vicar made comments on people or occasions which provide evidence of the goings on.

In many rural parishes it was traditional, and had been for many centuries, for villagers to ensure that their parish boundaries were marked out so that disputes over land could be avoided. In the days before maps this was done by walking or processing around the boundary. The church became involved and made this a festival by carrying a cross and banners and feasting and drinking at some points of the circuit. In order for people to remember since ‘time out of mind’ in some parishes some boys were taken along and whipped at certain points so that would remember forever. They were rewarded with food or money. Evidence for this is thin on the ground, but as late as 1747, long after the Reformation, it was still taking place.

In the parish register of Turnworth, Dorset, not far from Milton Abbas there is an revealing entry –

.

Transcription Bryan Phillips:

‘Memorandum This year on Ascension day 1747. after morning prayer at Turnworth Church, was made a publick Perambulation of the bounds of the parish of Turnworth, by one Richd. Cobbe, vicar, Wm. Northover, churchwarden, Henry Sillers and Richard Mullen, overseers, and others, with 4 boys ; beginning at the Church Hatch and cutting a great T on the most principal parts of the bounds. Whipping the boys by way of remembrance, and stopping their cry with some half -pence ; we returned to church again, which Perambulation and Possessioning [Processioning] had not been made for 20 years last past.’

None of the Milton Abbas records mention whipping boys during perambulations, but that is not to say it was not done here too.

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Milton Abbas Local History Group meetings

Posted on October 2, 2023 by miltonabbashistorygroup

Don’t forget that the AGM and a presentation will be taking place in the Reading Rooms, Milton Abbas on Wednesday 4 Oct at 7:30pm

The meeting will also be taking place on ZOOM. A link will be sent to member’s shortly.

Notices of Meetings are always available on every page of this website.

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Chris Fookes

Posted on September 14, 2023 by miltonabbashistorygroup

It is with great sadness that I relate the news that Chris Fookes passed away Friday 8 September 2023.

We offer our condolences to his extensive family.

Chris was a great supporter of our history group and was always interested in the people and events of his beloved Milton Abbas. Of course he was also a vital contributor to the village history by writing the guide book, and more especially collecting and holding on to so much memorabilia. He was steeped in the village history at his father’s knee, and the family’s artefacts collected since the early 19th century in Milton Abbas were the core of his museums at Park Farm and the Fookes Brewery for many years.

I well remember going to his ‘shed’ on many occasions with Ellie Payne to sort, catalogue and photograph the hundreds of documents and photographs. That took some doing! Chris later donated his archives to the history group and they now form the basis of our collections.

The funeral service will take place in the illustrious Milton Abbey and will be a grand occasion attended by his many, many friends.

Thank you Chris, for your enthusiasm, inspiration, collecting and sharing your knowledge with us.

You will be sadly missed by many people in Milton Abbas and beyond. I had so many more questions still to ask – now there is no one left who knows the answers.

With love and sadness,

Bryan Phillips

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Charles Bullock – Metal Detectorist extraordinaire.

Posted on July 22, 2023 by miltonabbashistorygroup

The Milton Abbas Local History Group are delighted to have at last an active and very knowledgeable metal detectorist as a member. It was Charles who found and reported the Milton Abbas Pendant, which should now be on display in the Dorset Museum.

Charles is very kindly sharing the records of his finds in Milton Abbas with us and we are looking forward to sharing our maps and records with him. Together this new information will be adding greatly to the history of Milton Abbas. From the pendant we have the first tangible proof that high status Anglo-Saxons were here.

From this horse harness fitting found in March this year we have the first tangible evidence of pilgrimage in Milton Abbas. 

It features the pilgrimage image of St James of Compostela. Milton Abbey church was of course dedicated to St James.

We are looking forward to a presentation by Charles to our group at our Meeting in the Reading Rooms, Milton Abbas, 19:30, Wednesday 1 November 2023.

Posted in Anglo-Saxon, archaeology, landscape, Medieval history, Metal Detecting | Leave a comment

The Hilton Controversy 1848

Posted on July 18, 2023 by miltonabbashistorygroup

Thanks to Samantha Fiander for finding some thirteen letters and editorials published in The Times between 26 October and 29 November 1848 concerning the typhus epidemic in Hilton during that year. This search was prompted by the article in the Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society Vol 129, 2008, by Martin Ayres, ‘The Hilton Typhus Epidemic of 1848, Poverty, Public Health and Social Relations in Early Victorian Dorset.’

Thanks also to Pamela Phillips for searching the British Newspaper Archives and finding about 20 articles in the Western Gazette, Dorset County Chronicle and Evening Mail. It is interesting to note that these newspapers frequently carried the very same letters so there is much duplication,

The facts are that the fever raged in Hilton for most of 1848, and by the end of June there had been 58 severe cases of which six had proved fatal. By November there had been a total of 115 cases and 17 deaths, predominantly of children and young adults under the age of 40.

It is amazing to see the enormous difference in views of the three reverend correspondents, the Earl of Portarlington and the Overseers of the Poor and Churchwardens of the parishes of Milton Abbas and Hilton. But who was telling the truth? 

A Sanitary Inspection was carried out in Hilton on 6 November 1848 and clearly shows the neglect of the farmers and waywardens in not keeping the roads, wells, ditches and ponds clean and hygienic. They of course did not consider the very low wages of agricultural labourers of just 7 shillings a week, and the food that the poor were eating. Nor why Dorset had the lowest agricultural wages in the country. 

These wider issues were explored by the reverend correspondents however in vituperative tones. An anonymous writer under the name of CRITO shows himself to be ignorant and only interested in his own pomposity and verbosity. The attitudes are particularly striking to audiences today..

We also know that Winterborne Stickland was affected by the typhus at the same time.

Now we have all these letters transcribed it would be good to do some further research on this epidemic, the characters involved, and compare the Census and burial records of the local parishes to see how bad the overcrowding was and where the fatalities occurred. 

Please get in touch with us if you would like to help or find out more.

Posted in Damer, document, local history, Parish Registers, social history, transcription | Leave a comment

Milton Abbas Grammar School

Posted on July 10, 2023 by miltonabbashistorygroup

We have collected all the leases for the grammar school in Milton Abbas which are in the Dorset History Centre. These 34 leases from 1616 to 1774 prove that the feoffees of the school were active in the management of Little Mayne Farm which provided the funds for the payment of the master, maintenance of the buildings, and free schooling for local boys.

Thanks to Shirley Chick who has now completed the huge task of transcribing all these leases. We are now in a position to write up the history of the grammar school and demonstrate that for over 150 years the records show that the feoffees took an active role in providing sufficient funds for the school.

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

Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society

Posted on July 6, 2023 by miltonabbashistorygroup

The Milton Abbas Local History Group recently have been given some 30 volumes of this publication. They are now available for members to borrow from our library. A catalogue of all the articles is already available online.

Most of the information relevant to Milton Abbas has has already been extracted and added to our Records spreadsheet which is available to our members.

This is in addition to those we hold digitally which are searchable.

A full list of those we hold is available on a tab on our Records spreadsheet.

Posted in Anglo-Saxon, archaeology, history, Medieval history, Milton Abbas, Milton Abbey | Leave a comment

The Place Names of Milton Abbas

Posted on June 8, 2023 by miltonabbashistorygroup

Bryan Phillips’ presentation given to the history group on 7 Jun 2023 is now available for members on this website. The pdf contains the full speaker notes.

The MALHG have a spreadsheet of more than 1000 field names contained in maps and documents of Milton Abbas. Thanks to several members who have contributed by examining our maps.

We would welcome any member to research these field names and locate them. Please get in touch using the Contact form for further information.

Posted in Anglo-Saxon, Domesday, landscape, local, local history, Medieval history, Milton Abbas, records | Leave a comment