Wanderings in Wessex by Edric Holmes

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Perhaps the most interesting item in the great church is the doorway
on the north side of the west wall, which is said to be an actual
portion of the ancient Saxon cathedral of St. Aldhelm. The extension
of the Abbey westwards of this wall was known as Alhalowes and was the
town church until the break-up of the monastery rendered it
superfluous. It had a tower of its own in which the secular priests
caused a bell to be rung during the devotions of the monks, to the
great annoyance of the latter. The Chapel of Our Lady of Bow and the
portion of the Lady Chapel itself that escaped demolition at the
Dissolution was at that time separated from the Abbey and made part of
the adjoining school buildings. The great tower is one hundred feet in
height and holds a peal of eight bells with two extra--the sanctus and
the fire-bell. The latter is inscribed:

LORD, QUENCH THIS FURIOUS FLAME
ARISE, RUN. HELP. PUT OUT THE SAME.

The tenor bell was given by Cardinal Wolsey, once rector of Limington,
eight miles away in Somersetshire, and recast in 1670. Around the rim
runs the following:

BY WOOLSEY'S GIFT, I MEASURE TIME FOR ALL,
TO MIRTH, TO GRIEF, TO CHURCH, I SERVE TO CALL.

The school referred to above is believed to date back to the year 705,
that of the foundation of the Cathedral. Those portions of the
monastery buildings that had fallen into private ownership were handed
over to the school authorities in the middle of the last century. They
comprise the Abbot's Hall, Guest Hall, Kitchen and Abbot's apartments.
The Abbey Conduit at the end of Chepe Street dates back to 1360. It is
a charming survival with groined stone roof and open arcade around,
and it gives a very picturesque and special character to this end of
the street.

The Hospital of SS. John Baptist and John Evangelist was founded on
the site of a much older establishment by Henry VI in 1437. The modern
buildings were erected in 1866. The Chapel, Governor's Room, and some
of the ancient dormitories remain. A fine screen divides the chapel
from the ante-chapel and some beautiful and ancient glass still exists
in the south window. A tryptych, depicting the miracles, that once
stood in the chapel, may be seen in the Governor's Room.

[Illustration: SHERBORNE CASTLE.]

During the Civil War Sherborne decided for the king, and consequently
the old castle, which stood beyond the suburb of Castleton, was
dismantled, and its ruins used for building the present castle, the
home of the Digbys. The original building was erected by Roger of Caen
and had seen some history from the time of its siege in 1139 by King
Stephen. It became for a short period the home of Sir Walter Raleigh.
In the fine park the infant Yeo is dammed and broadened into a
graceful sheet of water. Here also is the eminence known as Jerusalem
Hill and the seat where Raleigh is said to have sat smoking to be
discovered by a scared retainer, who threw a pot of ale over his
master, thinking him on fire. Pope was for a time the guest of one of
his patrons--Lord Digby; and the Prince of Orange stayed here on his
progress from Devon to London. The Gate-house of the old Castle is a
picturesque ruin, Norman in style with inserted Perpendicular windows.

Sherborne is a pleasant and healthy town with many quaint nooks other
than the immediate precincts of the Abbey. Although perhaps not as
central as Yeovil for the exploration of the more interesting villages
of South Somerset, it is a good place in which to stay for a few days
or even longer. Perhaps the most lasting impression made by the town
will be that of hush and silence; not that it is stagnant or utterly
decayed, but even the main streets are saturated with the grave air of
a cathedral close, a fitting atmosphere for a place which retired from
active city life over eight hundred years ago.

An interesting excursion may be made to Cadbury Castle, five miles
north of Sherborne. A round of about fifteen miles, to include the
villages of Marston Magna, West and Queen's Camel, Sparkford (with a
station on the Great Western) North and South Cadbury, Sutton Montis
and Sandford Orcas, would take the explorer through a delightful
countryside dotted with beautiful old houses--some of them fallen from
high estate to the status of comfortable and roomy farmhouse, but
usually with a fabric well cared for--and quaint and ancient churches.
Of these North Cadbury, Marston and Sandford claim the most attention.
The first is a large and dignified Perpendicular building with finely
carved tabernacles in the chancel and several interesting features,
including a curious brass to Lady Magdalen Hastings. Close by is a
beautiful old manor house. Marston is much older than the generality
of Somerset churches and has the scanty remnants of "herring-bone"
work in the outside wall of the chancel. At Sandford is a delightful
manor house with the loveliest of terraces and gardens and an old
gate-house with an upper chamber. The interesting church contains a
curious tablet depicting a knight in white armour and two ladies, one
holding a skull. This is Sir William Knoyl and his two wives, the one
with the skull being his first. The goal of the journey, Cadbury
Castle, is, according to strong local tradition, no less a spot than
Camelot, the palace and castle of the king of romance and hero of the
British--Arthur. It will be remembered that to Camelot came the sword
Excalibur "that was as the light of many candles." In the moonlight,
the twelve knights, led by their prince, ride round the hill on horses
shod with silver and then away through the trees to Glastonbury. As
they disappear, the thin notes of a silver trumpet came back on the
midnight air. Some are of opinion that the hill is hollow, and that
Arthur and his company sleep within, awaiting the day of impending
doom for Britain. Then they will break the chains of slumber and come
to her aid. Some say that of late the Prince and his followers _did_
come forth. Every intelligent native for miles round knows that the
hill is indeed hollow, for this can be proved by calling to your
companion through the opening of Arthur's Well high on the eastern
face of the hill while he stands at St. Anne's Well away on the other
side. Another legend has it that the hill is not full of men but of
gold, the treasure house of the fairies, but this is a belief that
will only appeal to grosser minds.

The marvellous earthworks that crown the hill were undoubtedly
prehistoric in their origin and, like the walls of Maiden Castle, they
have been faced at a later date with stone. There are four lines of
wall and ditch, and they enclose an area of nearly twenty acres. Old
Leland becomes enraptured at the sight: "Good God! what vast ditches!
what high ramparts! what precipices are here!" It will be seen at a
glance how well adapted this eminence was for defence. There is
nothing to the north but the great expanse of the Somerset plain
broken by the isolated Glastonbury Tor. In the wide and beautiful view
from the earthworks the Mendip range runs away toward the Severn Sea
on the right; to the left front are the broken summits of the
Quantocks and to the extreme left the beautiful hills of the
Somerset-Dorset borderland.

The Shaftesbury road passes through pleasant country, with no
particular features but with occasional good views, to Milborne Port,
not quite three miles to the east. A few new buildings on the
outskirts of the little town have failed to rob it of its medieval
air. It can actually boast of a Norman guildhall, or at least the
building has a doorway of that period, which is near enough. The poor
battered and despoiled remains of a market cross stand in the centre
of the street. This mere village once sent two members to Westminster,
and its former importance as a market town and county centre is shown
by its magnificent and ancient church. Although the nave has been
rebuilt and the chancel is not the most perfect form of Perpendicular,
the centre of the church will repay scrutiny, for it is of peculiarly
solid and majestic appearance. It is even thought by some authorities
to be Saxon. The Norman details to be noticed include the fine south
door, the arches of the transepts and the windows in the south arm.
The old font and the piscina in the wall of the nave, as well as other
piscina in the chancel, are noteworthy.

The Shaftesbury road goes by the parklands and early
eighteenth-century mansion of Venn, the seat of the Medlicotts, and
then bears south-east towards the village of Caundle Purse. There are
several Caundles in this part of Dorset, but "Purse" is the only one
of much interest. It lies just off the road to the right, under the
wooded Henover Hill. Its sixteenth-century manor house bears the name
of "King John's House," as do several others over the length and
breadth of England. It is probable that a hunting lodge used by the
Angevin kings once stood hereabouts, as this countryside was in their
time the great forest of the White Hart. The church is small and
over-restored, but it contains a few interesting brasses.

The main road soon forks, the right-hand branch winding over a
two-mile stretch of tableland and then dropping to Stalbridge. The
main route goes directly over Henstridge Down and descends the hill to
the large village of Henstridge on a main cross-country road and with
a station on the Somerset and Dorset Railway, making it a convenient
point from which to take two interesting side excursions--northwards
to the hill-country beyond Wincanton and south to the upper valley of
the Stour. The old Virginia Inn at the cross roads claims to be the
actual scene of the "quenching" of Sir Walter Raleigh. Henstridge
church is much restored, or rather, rebuilt, but still contains the
fine canopied altar tomb of William Carent and his wife.

Proceeding northwards first we may take the road by Templecombe that
was once a preceptory of the Knights Templars and now has a station on
the main line of the South Western Railway, to Wincanton, a small
market town on the Cale ("Wyndcaleton") at the head of the Vale of
Blackmore. Though of high antiquity it does not seem to have had much
place in history, apart from its relation to Sherborne in the Civil
War, when it became a base for operations against the Royalist
garrison there. An old house in South Street is pointed out as the
lodging of the Prince of Orange on his journey towards London. A sharp
fight took place between his followers and a small body of Stuart
cavalry, resulting in the utter rout of the latter. A poor and
uninteresting old church has been altered out of all likeness to the
original (much to the advantage of the building) and there is very
little of antiquity in the town.

The station next to Wincanton is Cole, within easy reach of the old
towns of Castle Cary and Bruton. A public conveyance meets the trains
for the latter, a little over a mile away. The situation of Bruton, in
the picturesque valley of the Brue between Creech and Redlynch Hills,
is extremely pleasant. A goodly number of ancient houses survive and
the church, at one time a minster, is of much beauty and interest. Its
west tower is of great splendour and its nave of the stateliest
Perpendicular. The contrast of the chancel to the rest of the building
is more peculiar than pleasing. At the Dissolution the monks' choir
seems to have been allowed to fall into ruin, and the present
restoration was made in 1743 in a debased classic style. Effigies of
Sir Maurice Berkeley, Constable of the Tower (1585), and his wives are
in a recess. He became the owner of the abbey after the Dissolution. A
portion of a medieval cope is shown in the nave and two chained books
(Erasmus and Jewel). The ancient tomb at the west door is that of
Gilbert, first Abbot after the status of the Priory was raised (1510).
The small north tower, an uncommon feature, is a relic of the older
portion of the Priory, originally founded by William de Mohun in 1142.
All that remains of the conventual buildings are a columbarium or
stone dove-cote on a hillock just outside the town and the Abbey
Court-house on the south side of High Street. On the front will be
seen the arms of de Mohun and the initials of Prior Henton.

[Illustration: BRUTON BOW.]

Close by Bruton Bow, an extremely picturesque medieval bridge over the
Brue, is the school founded by Fitz-James, Bishop of London. It was
suppressed with the abbey and refounded by Edward VI. The Sexey
Hospital was established by a native of Bruton who was penniless when
he left the town and rose to be Auditor of the Household to Queen
Elizabeth and James I. The beautiful Hall-chapel is panelled in black
oak, and the buildings make a quaint and pleasing picture.

Castle Cary, nearly three miles west of Cole station, does not fulfil
the expectations raised by its name. Until 1890 the very site of the
castle had been lost. The lines of the keep are now marked by a row of
pillars in a meadow at the foot of Lodge Hill. A fortress of the
Lovells, it was attacked and taken by Stephen. Soon afterwards it
seems to have been dismantled or destroyed. The church is well placed
on an eminence but has been practically rebuilt and is of little
interest.

Ditcheat and Evercreech, respectively two and five miles to the north,
are beautiful and interesting places. The latter has a church with one
of the most glorious towers in Somerset, but here again we are leaving
our arbitrary boundary and wandering too far afield. The road from
Cary to Wincanton runs through Bratton Seymour and keeps to the summit
of a ridge of low hills, commanding here and there lovely views,
especially near "Jack White's Gibbett" at the cross roads above
Bratton. The Bruton-Wincanton road is even more interesting, as it
passes within a short distance of Stavordale Priory. The church, which
is still intact, and also a good portion of the conventual buildings,
are exquisitely situated under the great hill of Penselwood, part of
the line of hills that runs from above Bourton almost to Longleat and
that forms the high boundary of Somerset and Wiltshire. The ridge is
crowned by a number of entrenchments, and prehistoric remains are
frequent. Ballands Castle and Blacklough Castle are succeeded by Jack
Straw's Castle close to "Alfred's Tower" on Kingsettle Hill. This
tower was built by a Mr. Hoare in 1766 and commemorates the historic
spot where in 879 the cross was raised against the pagan Dane.

ALFRED THE GREAT A.D. 879
ON THIS SUMMIT ERECTED HIS STANDARD AGAINST DANISH INVADERS
TO HIM WE OWE THE ORIGIN OF JURIES AND THE CREATION OF A NAVAL FORCE
ALFRED, THE LIGHT OF THE BENIGHTED AGE
WAS A PHILOSOPHER AND A CHRISTIAN
THE FATHER OF HIS PEOPLE
AND THE FOUNDER OF
THE ENGLISH MONARCHY AND LIBERTIES.

The eye ranges over a magnificent expanse of western England. If the
tower is ascended one may stand just a thousand feet above the sea.
The door is usually locked, but the key may be obtained from a lodge
near by, down the slope to the east. This walk can with profit be
extended to Long Knoll (945 feet) over two miles north-east; beyond is
Maiden Bradley, an interesting village not far from the confines of
Longleat, the famous and palatial seat of the Marquis of Bath; but
this country must be left for another chapter.

After this long divergence a return must be made to Henstridge, where
a walk of less than two miles takes one over the Dorset border to
Stalbridge, a sleepy old town that is not troubled by the fact that it
has a station on the Somerset and Dorset Railway and that fast
expresses from the north roar down the Blackmore Vale to Bournemouth
and the sea. The church will not detain the visitor, for it was
rebuilt in 1878. The old cross on four steps in the centre of High
Street, with its rough carvings, is of more interest. It dates from
about 1350. Above the town on a hillside is the mansion at one time
inhabited by Sir James Thornhill, and not far away an obelisk erected
by the painter in honour of his patron George II, which used to be
known as "Thornhill Spire."

The Blandford high-road makes a wide loop to the south-west by
Lydlynch. A shorter route following the line of the railway takes us
in less than five miles to Sturminster Newton, where the Blackmore
Vale ends and the Stour flows in a narrow trough between low hills.

[Illustration: MARNHULL.]

Sturminster is a small and ancient town on the eastern bank of the
Stour. "Newton" is on the west side of the river and looks as old as
its neighbour. The two are connected by a medieval bridge of six
arches. Sturminster Church was almost entirely rebuilt, except for the
tower, nearly a hundred years ago. Newton Castle was once a stronghold
of the Kings of Wessex. A few scanty remnants of the fortress can
still be seen close to the road and river. A road to the north passes
by Hinton St. Mary, with a rebuilt church high up on a breezy hill,
and reaches Marnhull, the "Marlott" of Thomas Hardy. The Early English
church has some remains of an early Norman building and some later
insertions. The tower is a landmark for many miles around. A careful
restoration some years ago brought to light several interesting
details that had been hidden for some two hundred years or more;
including a stairs to the rood-loft, a squint, and the piscina. The
alabaster effigies on a cenotaph are believed to represent Lord Bindon
and his wives (about 1450). The following remarkable epitaph on a
former clerk is said to have been written by his rector:

HERE UNDER THIS STONE
LIE RUTH AND OLD JOHN
WHO SMOKED ALL HIS LIFE
AND SO DID HIS WIFE:
AND NOW THERES NO DOUBT
BUT THEIR PIPES ARE BOTH OUT
BE IT SAID WITHOUT JOKE
THAT LIFE IS BUT SMOKE;
THOUGH YOU LIVE TO FORESCORE
TIS A WHIFF AND NO MORE.

A short distance to the north, through the hamlet of Flanders, is the
fine sixteenth-century mansion called Nash Court.

An alternative road to the Blandford highway follows the river and
rail through Shillingstone, an interesting village that had a year or
two since (and may still have) a maypole; a beautiful village cross;
and a much restored Norman and Early English church containing a
pulpit presented by a Londoner who sought sanctuary from the great
plague. The road then goes by Broad Oak and over Sturminster Common to
Okeford Fitzpaine, Banbury Hill Camp being passed on the right about
half way. Okeford has a church interesting to the antiquary. It has a
Decorated west window that is said to have been turned inside out.
Part of the ancient screen and rood-loft still remain, together with a
piscina in the chancel. It is said that the upper part of the pulpit
was at one time used as a font. The old font, restored, for many years
formed part of the wall of the churchyard. The road continues up the
long tongue of Okeford Hill with wide retrospective views. At the
summit a by-way turns to the right along the ridge, which gradually
increases in height until it reaches its summit three miles away at
Bulbarrow Hill (902 feet) just above Rawlsbury Camp. The magnificent
view up Blackmore Vale and northwestwards toward Yeovil is worth the
journey to see. Rawlsbury is a prehistoric circular entrenchment with
a double wall and ditch. Stoke Wake village is just below and
Mappowder is about two miles away by the fields, but much farther by
road. This last is an old-world hamlet eight miles from a railway,
where curfew is still rung in the winter. In the church is an
interesting miniature effigy that probably marks the shrine of a
crusader's heart.

Continuing over Okeford Hill the road presently drops to Turnworth
House at the head of a long narrow valley leading down to a string of
"Winterborne" villages (or more correctly--Winter_bourne_). The
situation of the mansion and village is very beautiful and very
lonely. Few seem to wish to brave the long ascent of the hill and one
can pass from Okeford to Turnworth many times without meeting a
solitary wayfarer. Turnworth Church is Early English, rebuilt on the
exact lines of the old fabric and retaining the ancient tower.

The first of the Winterbournes--Strickland, lies a long mile beyond
Hedgend Farm, where we turn sharp to the left and traverse a very
lonely road, sometimes between close woods and rarely in sight of
human habitation until the drop to the Stour brings us to Blandford
Forum, a pleasant, bright and clean town built within a wide loop of
the river that here begins to assume the dignity of a navigable
stream, crawling lazily among the water meadows, with back-waters and
cuts that bring to mind certain sections of the Upper Thames. The two
fine thoroughfares--Salisbury and East Streets--which meet in the wide
market place are lined with buildings, dating from 1732 or later, for
in 1731 a great fire, the last of a series, destroyed almost the whole
of the town and its suburbs. The old town pump, now a drinking
fountain, records that it was "humbly erected ... in grateful
Acknowledgement of the Divine Mercy, That has since raised this Town,
Like the Phoenix from its Ashes, to its present flourishing and
beautiful State." Several lives were lost in this disaster and the
great church of SS. Peter and Paul perished with everything that
previous fires had spared. The present erection is well enough as a
specimen of the Classic Renaissance, but need not detain us. At one
time Blandford was a town of various industries, from lace making to
glass painting, but it is now purely an agricultural centre.

[Illustration: BLANDFORD.]

Blandford St. Mary is the suburb on the west side of the Stour. The
Perpendicular church has a tower and chancel belonging to a much
earlier period. A former rector was an ancestor of the great Pitt, and
one of the family--"Governor" Pitt, is buried in the north aisle. The
family lived at Down House on the hills to the westward. A more
ancient family, the d'Amories, lived at Damory Court near the town.
The famous Damory's Oak is no more. Its hollow trunk served as shelter
for a whole family who were rendered homeless by the great fire. An
old barn not far from the Court is said to have been a chapel
dedicated to St. Leonard; it still retains its ecclesiastical doors
and windows.

[Illustration: MILTON ABBEY.]

The seven miles of undulating and dusty road westwards from Blandford,
that we have partly traversed from Winterbourne Strickland, leads to
Milton Abbas, a charming village surrounded by verdured hills and deep
leafy combes. Here is the famous Abbey founded by King Athelstan for
Benedictines. The monks' refectory, all that remains of the conventual
buildings, indicates the former splendour of the establishment. The
abbey church, built in the twelfth century, was destroyed during a
thunderstorm after standing for about two hundred years; the present
building is therefore a study in Decorated and Perpendicular styles.
It is, after Sherborne and Wimborne, the finest church in Dorset. The
pinnacled tower is much admired, but the shortness of the building
detracts from its effectiveness. It is not certain that the church
ever had a nave, though the omission seems improbable. The interior is
usually shown on Thursdays, when the grounds of the modern "Abbey" are
open to the public. Within the church the fifteenth-century reredos,
the sedilia and stalls, and the pre-Reformation tabernacle for
reserving the consecrated elements (a very rare feature) should be
noticed. Two ancient paintings of unknown age, probably dating from
the early fifteenth century, and several tombs, complete the list of
interesting items. The ancient market town that once surrounded the
Abbey was swept away when the mansion was erected in 1780, so that the
present village is of the "model" variety and was built by the first
Earl of Dorchester soon after his purchase of the property over one
hundred and fifty years ago. Church, almshouses and inn, all date from
the same period. Time has softened the formality of the plan, and
Milton is now a pleasant old-world place enough, somnolent and rarely
visited by the stray tourist, but well worthy of his attention. The
church contains a Purbeck marble font from the abbey, but otherwise is
as uninteresting as one might expect from its appearance. Milton was
originally Middletown from its position in the centre of Dorset.

Three miles down stream from Blandford, near Spettisbury, is the
earthwork called Crawford Castle. An ancient bridge of nine arches
here crosses the Stour to Tarrant Crawford, where was once the Abbey
of a Cistercian nunnery. Scanty traces of the buildings remain in the
vicinity of the early English church. This village is the first of a
long series of "Tarrants" that run up into the remote highlands of
Cranborne Chase. Buzbury Rings is the name of another prehistoric
entrenchment north of the village; it is on the route of an ancient
trackway which runs in a direction that would seem to link Maiden
Castle, near Dorchester, with the distant mysteries of Salisbury
Plain.

For the traveller who has the time to explore the Tarrant villages a
delightful journey is in store. Although there is nothing among them
of surpassing interest, the twelve or fifteen-mile ramble would be a
further revelation of the unspoilt character and quiet beauty of this
corner of Dorset. Pimperne village, on the Blandford-Salisbury road,
where there is a ruined cross on the village green and a rebuilt
church still retaining its old Norman door, is on the direct way to
Tarrant Hinton, just over four miles from Blandford. Here a lane turns
right and left following the Tarrant-brook that gives its name to the
seven hamlets upon its banks. Hinton Church is beautifully placed on
the left of this by-way which, on its way to Tarrant Gunville,
presently passes Eastbury Park, a mile to the north. Only a fragment
of the once famous house is left. The original building was a
magnificent erection comparable with Blenheim, and built by the same
architect--Vanburgh--for George Dodington, one time Lord of the
Admiralty. The property came to his descendant, the son of a Weymouth
apothecary named Bubb, who had married into the family. George Budd
Dodington became a _persona grata_ at court, lent money to Frederick
Prince of Wales, and finished, at a cost of L140,000, the building his
grandfather had commenced. This wealthy commoner, after a career at
Eastbury as a patron of the arts, was created Lord Melcombe possibly
for his services to the son of George II. At his death the property
passed to Earl Temple who was unable to afford the upkeep and
eventually the greater portion of this "folly" was demolished. The
lane that turns south from the Salisbury high-road goes through
Tarrants Launceston--Monckton--Rawston--Rushton and Keynston and
finishes at Tarrant Crawford that we have just seen is in the valley
of the Stour.

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