Is now available to view at the Dorset Museum.
This unique Anglo-Saxon pendant was found in Milton Abbas by one of the members of the Milton Abbas Local History Group, Charles Bullock, who reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme where it was declared as treasure. Dorset Museum then raised the funds to purchase it.
It was dated by British Museum staff at 6th to 7th century AD.
For more information see our previous reports on its significance for Dorset.
For Members
Perhaps not as exciting as Charles Bullock’s find of the Milton Abbas Pendant, but telling us more about the history of Milton Abbas are some of Charles’ recent finds which he is reporting to the UK Detector Finds Database are such as the following –
These and many other artefacts show the occupation of the people of Milton Abbas from the Bronze Age to the Medieval period, and not anywhere near the village which was known to be just south of the Abbey church from the mid tenth century to the late 18th century when it was moved by Joseph Damer, Lord Milton.
One thing is abundantly clear – a lot of horses were here in the medieval period with many horseshoes and nails and bronze high status harness fittings found. It is likely that the abbots had stables for the horses and kennels for dogs with which they fraternised the great and the good of Dorset.
Published OoP Accounts books are as rare as hen’s teeth. I remain astonished by this fact since not only are they a name rich source for family historians but they are also a prime example of showing the living and working conditions of ordinary people. They can be used by both family and local historians to tell the stories of how families moved in and out of poverty, in and out of the parish, what illnesses and accidents they had and lots more besides.
The following are the only published sources that I have found so far. Please let me know if you know of any others –
Hooton Pagnell 1767-1820
Chalfont St. Peter, 18th century
Ashwell, Hertfordshire, 1676-1722 and 1753-1769
Paris Garden, Southwark, 1608-1671
and not all of these are fully transcribed, most just giving some titillating extracts, and only one recently published.
The Milton Abbas Overseers of the Poor Accounts 1771-1836 are a continuous record of the payments to named individuals every four weeks, both regular and extraordinary payments are recorded and the reasons for the payments throughout this critical period in our history. Our transcriptions deserve to be published in full. Please contact us if you would like to help.
©Bryan Phillips Dec 2023
The Blandford races had been held since 1603 at Race Down and attended by the worthies of Dorset. It is remarkable that there exists a list of those arriving in 1786 and Lord Milton with his ‘Coach and six Bays’ heads the list. The Blandford Races were accompanied by plenty of other entertainment for the lords, ladies and others who could afford the entry fees, for example wrestling matches, cudgel playing, cock fighting, balls, concerts and dinners. Below Lord Milton in the list were Lord Shaftesbury of Wimborne St Giles, Lord Arundel of Wardour Castle, Mr Portman of Bryanston, Mr Drax of Charborough, Mr Morton Pitt of Winterborne Kingston, Colonel Michel of Dewlish, Mr Blair of Whatcombe, Mr Pleydel of Milborne and Captain Bingham of Melcombe Bingham.
©Bryan Phillips Nov 2023
Although the Right Honourable Thomas Coke, Earl of Leicester, decided to move the village of Holkham to allow the building of his new stately home in the 1730s, it might have been an example of an earlier moved village, but not as many houses were destroyed as Lord Milton did in Milton Abbas. An interesting comparison of the empathy of the two lords of the manor can be gauged in the quality and style of the new houses that they built for their estate workers. This was shown very clearly in the BBC programme ‘Villages by the sea’, series 4, episode 4, Holkham, presented by Ben Robinson recently.
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’.
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.
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.
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.
