Articles
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The Shaftesbury & County Golf Club
Fontmell Magna is dominated by the hill known as Foretop. Back in the 1960’s, I spent my childhood in that village and recall my Father and others telling me about a golf course that used to be situated up there on the hill, and of local farmers who used to play golf there. So, more…
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Land Use in Medieval Fontmell Magna AD 932 – AD 1539
Before AD 932. DNA mapping suggests that many of the people in Dorset today are substantially the direct descendants of the people who colonised the land in the bronze age after the ice sheets melted. That would imply a continuity of farming ideas, methods and boundaries that goes back much further than the Roman period. It is important…
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Hartgrove
Hartgrove Although considered to be part of the parish of Fontmell Magna for civil purposes; during the 19th Century Hartgrove was originally a division of East Orchard, which itself was a chapelry of Iwerne Minster. The scattered settlement, the irregular field shapes and the existence of Blackven Common, all indicate late occupation of the area, which…
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Fontmell Magna and General Elections
Before 1832, only male landowners could vote. The Reform Act 1832 extended voting rights to adult males who rented property of a certain value but, even so, only about 440,000 men in the whole country could vote (about 1 in 7 men), and no women. Some of the old (“rotten”) boroughs had survived in 1832…
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A Local Hero
Samuel Lemon DCM (1875-1953) Samuel was the 2nd son of George Thomas and Eliza Lemon of East Orchard. George Thomas was born in West Orchard and was baptised there on 17th, September, 1843. He was the illegitimate son of Jane Lemon, through what appears to have been an incestuous relationship with her brother, Thomas. George…
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Middle Mill – a short history
Middle Mill was a grain mill powered by a millpond downstream from Springhead (Higher Mill). Middle Mill was operated at various points in the 19th century by the Bishop, Hussey, Lawrence and Ralph families. In about 1797, Samuel Bishop moved to Fontmell and rented both Higher Mill and Middle Mill from Mrs Alexander. In 1801,…
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St Andrew’s Parish Church Clock
Some information about the 18th century Clock….. …..and Carillon The Clock The church clock was made in 1732 by William Monk (1689-1753) of Berwick St John in Wiltshire, a prolific clockmaker. It replaced a previous clock made before 1675. The clock has the distinctive Monk ‘tulip’ finials on each corner post and characteristic clock frame,…
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More of Fontmell in the news
Life, death, Crime & punishment in the 19th & 20th Centuries SERIOUS ACCIDENT TO A BOY (16th, September, 1866) On Saturday, the 3rd inst., an accident of a serious nature happened at Piper’s Mill, Fontmell, to a boy named Thomas Steel (probably Still) of the same place. It appears that the boy’s brother was working…
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The Dorset Clubmen
The Dorset Clubmen (This article formed part of the Archive Society Exhibition August 2013) Clubmen’s Down Between Compton Down and Fontmell Down, on the very edge of the north east boundary of Fontmell Magna Parish, is Clubmen’s Down. Its exact location is unclear: at different locations at the top of the downs are three information…
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Life & Death, Crimes & Punishment – News of Fontmell in the 19th century
Life & Death, Crimes & Punishment – News of Fontmell in the 19th century The following represents just a small sample of reports and articles published in the Dorset County Chronicle & the Western Gazette during the 19th century. 28th, May, 1863. The Chronicle reports of the 26th anniversary celebration of the Fontmell Magna Friendly…