In a previous article we looked at the introduction and development of land enclosures in Fontmell Magna. There is, however, another aspect of agricultural economics that required legislation in the 19th century. It was the taxation system we know as paying tithes. The Saxon King Ethelwuld had granted English churches the right to collect tithes…

EXTRACTS FROM THE VESTRY BOOK 1800 – 1970 AND THE RECORD BOOK 1900 – 1916 Until Parochial Church Councils were born in 1921 the government and management of the church at parish level was entirely under the control of the Incumbent and the Churchwardens who were always male. Much interesting information relating to the nineteenth…

FONTMELL MAGNA, EAST ORCHARD AND WEST ORCHARD The civil parish of Fontmell Magna spreads in a long strip from east to west. The eastern end is on high ground at the edge of the chalk uplands of Cranborne Chase, while the western end is on the low ground of the Blackmore Vale and the tributaries…

ROMAN FINDS Over the past three years 72 Roman coins have been discovered along with 24 pieces of broken jewellery and fastenings in an area of about half the size of a football pitch. The owner of the field, to whom they have all been handed over, has kindly deposited them in our Archive. Initially…

Sir (Walter) Newman Flower (1879-1964) The study of local history requires patience and some determination. It is sometimes difficult to separate myth from reality and when there are many layers of varnish it becomes quite a challenge to reveal the true picture. You will find that there are already several articles on our website which…

The Church that Climbed Uphill Down to the east of the Barcelona-to-Glasgow-superhighway (sometimes called the A350), where the mist rarely rises from the valley before midday, lies the sleepy hamlet of East Compton. Here, in the midst of the tranquil Blackmore Vale, almost exactly a mile north of Fontmell Magna, is the home of the…

The village of Fontmell Magna is situated about mid-way between the two market towns of Shaftesbury and Blandford. Today the busy A350 joins these two towns, but in the 18th century the north-south routes were not at all direct, and it was only with the arrival of the toll roads in the mid-19th century that…

Sir Richard Glyn Visitors to Fontmell Magna are often lavish in their praise of its beautiful setting, of its pretty cottages, of its peaceful church yard, its crystal-clear stream and its comfortable history of long-established farms, mills and local tradesmen. The self-sufficient village of the mid-19th century is compared favourably with all the hustle-and-bustle of…

The name Mayo has long associations with Fontmell Magna. It is quite a complicated story, but worth pursuing if you have the patience. It is a good example of how families appear and then disperse, how they can dominate a community and then almost evaporate, as it were. What follows, therefore, is not a definitive…