STEEPLE IN HUTCHINS
Transcribed and donated to the Dorset OPC Project by Kim Parker
Extract from the third edition of “The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset” by John HUTCHINS, edited by W. SHIPP & J. W. HODSON, published by J. B. Nichols & Sons, Westminster, 1860-74
Steple
“seems,” says Hutchins, “to derive its name from its situation under a steep
hill about two miles and a-half south-west from Knoll, near the church; and
at present consists only of Mr Clavell’s and the parsonage houses, and two
or three cottages, and is said to be in the tithing of Knoll Street.” It is
in reality a tithing of itself, the tithingman of Steple attending regularly
at the court held annually for the hundred of Hasilor. There is now only one
cottage occupied as two dwellings, besides the farm-house, formerly Mr. Clavell’s,
and the parsonage-house near the church.
The whole parish contains 3082 acres, which at the general commutation of the tithes in 1842 were of the following description, viz. 984a. arable, 364a. meadow, 589a. pasture, and 830a. of down, furze, and heath.
The principal manor in this parish has always followed the same course of devolution as the parts of Knoll and Creech which, together therewith, formed but one manor under the designation of manor of Knoll, Steple, and Creech. Occasionally, but rarely, the manor of Steple is spoken of without the addition of the other names, but in these cases the same manor seems to be indicated. The union of Knoll, Steple, and Creech dates from the time of Domesday, when “Glole,” Stiple” and “Criz” belonged to Roger de Belmont. Leuuinus held “Stiple” in the time of King Edward, and it was then taxed for two hides. There was land for two ploughs there; pasture six quarentens long and as many broad; the wood was six quarentens long and three broad, and the value both then and before the conquest was 50s.
After this the Earls of Gloucester became chief lords of the manor, and they held it in demesne. It is not improbable that it passed from Roger de Belmont to his descendant Henry de Newburgh, and was sold by the latter to Richard de Clare Earl of Gloucester, at the same time that he sold to him two parts of the hundred of Hasilor. Advowsons in those days were nearly always appendant to manors, and in tracing the descent of the one we generally work out the devolution of the other. On an extent being made of the lands of Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, before mentioned, in 47 Hen. III. his lands in Purbyk with their appurtenances and liberties were valued at 13l. 19s. 0d. and he also held the churches of Steple and Cnoll. On assessment of the aid for marrying the King’s daughter, 31 Edw. I. the Earl of Gloucester held “Stupel” in the hundred of Hasilore, by service of half a knight’s fee. On the death of Gilbert de Clare Earl of Gloucester, son of Richard Earl of Gloucester, his lands were extended, when it was found by inquisition 24 Sept. 8 Edw. II., inter alia, that he held in fee simple the manor of Stupel with its appurtenances of the King in capite as pertaining to his earldom of Gloucester; that there was there one capital messuage value 4s. per an.; 60a. of arable value per an. 20s. at 4d. per acre; four-score acres of land value per an. 20s. at 3d. per acre; four-score and three acres of land value per an. 13s. 10d. at 2d. per acre; 25a. of meadow value per an. 29s. 2d. at 14d. per acre; four-score acres of pasture value 6s. 8d. at 1d. per acre. There were there two free tenants who paid at Michaelmas 18s. 4d. twenty-two customary tenants each of whom held half a virgate of land and paid 5s. annually in equal portions at the four principal terms in lieu of all services, also twenty two cottagers who paid annually 30s. in equal portions at the terms aforesaid in lieu of all services; the said Earl also held the advowson of the church of Stupel value per an. 100s. and the advowson of the church of Knoll value per an. ten marks. Eleanor, Margaret, and Elizabeth were his sisters and co-heirs. On a partition of the Earl’s estates amongst his co-heirs, this manor fell to Elizabeth his youngest sister, who married first John de Burgh son and heir of Richard de Burgh second Earl of Ulster, secondly, Theobald de Verdun, and thirdly, Roger de Damory. The latter presented to the rectory in 1318, and Elizabeth de Burgh presented in 1324. Lionel Duke of Clarence younger son of King Edward III. married Elizabeth de Burgh daughter and heir of William de Burgh Earl of Ulster son of John de Burgh (who died in his father’s lifetime) and of Elizabeth de Clare, and by his attorney he presented to this rectory in 1361. Philippa daughter and heir of this Duke and Duchess of Clarence married Edmund Mortimer Earl of March, who presented to the church in 1381.
Roger Mortimer Earl of March, son and heir of Edmund and Philippa, held at his death 20 July 22 Rich. II. 1398, in capite by knight’s service, the manor of Stupel with its appurtenances, value 20l. Edmund, his son and heir aged 6. 3 Hen. VI. Edmund Mortimer Earl of March held, inter alia, the manors and advowsons of Knolle and Stupell. He was succeeded by his nephew Richard Duke of York, son of Anne one of his sisters and co-heirs. On assessment of the subsidy, 6 Hen. VI. the Duke of York held one fee in Stupull, which Elizabeth de Burgh formerly held, and in 1456 Richard Duke of York presented to the rectory. On the accession to the throne of King Edward IV, son on Richard Duke of York, this manor and advowson became united to the Crown, and was afterwards granted by King Henry VIII. to Queen Katharine as parcel of her jointure. King Edward VI. 23 July, a. r. 1, granted the manor of Knoll, Steple, and Creech to Edward Duke of Somerset, after whose attainder it reverted to the Crown, and was given by the same King, 27 April, a. r. 7, together with the rectories of Knoll and Steple, to William Earl of Pembroke, who on the 1st of July following, sold the manor and advowsons to Sir Oliver Lawrence, knt. in fee simple. For some further account of this manor see the description of Church Knoll.
The manor and advowson continued for several generations in the Lawrence family. In 1646 Sir Edward Lawrence’s farm here, value in 1641 100l., was sequestered. John Lawrence, esq. the last of this family, alienated all his estates, and, dividing this manor amongst several purchasers, the manorial tenures, as regards Steple and Creech, became by the severance extinct. Nathaniel Bond, esq. of Lutton, purchased the advowson of Steple of this John Lawrence in 1691, but we have very little account of the farm now called
Steple Farm
which no doubt formed part of the demesnes of the manor. It consists of
66a. 2r. 2p.; and the whole, or part of it, belonged in the seventeenth century
to a younger branch of the Clavells of Barneston. They appear to have originally
held their land here as a copyhold of the manor, for in an old list of Steple
copyholders, apparently written before 1657, Ann Clavell, widow, and Roger
Clavell, are mentioned as holding a tenement worth 40l. per annum. Hutchins
states, “John Lawrence, esq., the last of his family, sold the manor in fee
to the tenants; and a branch of the Clavells, who had some concern here before,
by degrees purchased these tenements, and threw them into a farm, by which
means the vill became depopulated, and the manor extinct.” These Clavells were
seated here at the Heralds’ visitation of the county in 1623, when a pedigree
of them was recorded, which will be found incorporated with the pedigree of
Clavell of Smedmore, at pp. 570, 571. Roger Clavell, the last of the Steple
branch, died in 1741, having by his will, dated 6 Dec. 1740, devised his estates
here and at Fordington, Wareham, Currenden, Knightson, Ailwood, Bushy, Woolston,
and Corfe Castle to his “kinsman William Clavell the elder, then of Kimeridge;”
and he gave a messuage and tenement at Church Knoll to his “kinsman William
Clavell of Winfrith.” William Clavell, son of William of Kimeridge, left Steple
farm to his son, the Rev. Roger Clavell of Manston, by whom it was sold in
1811 to Mr. John Garland. Mr. Garland died in 1818, having devised it to his
nephew Mr. John Garland Hammond, who, dying shortly afterwards, left it to
his widow. She gave it by will to her third husband, the Rev. David Davies,
afterwards incumbent of Long Sutton in Hampshire. Mr. Davies sold it in 1860
to the last Mrs. Mansel of Smedmore, by whose trustees and executors it was
sold, 12 Jan 1864, to Thomas Bond, esq. its present owner.
There is a small neat hous here, built by Roger Clavell, now the farm-house. Over the door,
C.
1698
R. R.
initials of Roger and Ruth Clavell, surmounted by a crest, a stag’s head erased, pierced with an arrow;
HAMLETS, FARMS, &c. IN THIS PARISH
Steple Lease
A farm of 215a. 3r. 37p. about a quarter of a mile south-west
of Steple church, of which we have no early specific account. It was no doubt,
however, part of the demesnes of the manor of Knoll, Steple, and Creech, and
as such came eventually to the Lawrences of Grange; for in Treswell’s map the
name of “Mr. Lorance” is written against it, as well as against Steple farm,
West Creech, and Knoll. After this it passed to the Turbervilles of Bere Regis,
and was purchased with the rest of the estates of that family by Henry Drax,
esq. who sold it 29 Sept. 1736, to John Pitt of Encombe, esq. His son, William
Morton Pitt, esq. sold it in 1806 to William Clavell, of Smedmore, esq.; on
the death of whose brother, the Rev. John Clavell, it fell to his co-heirs.
On the partition of the property of Mr. John Clavell, this farm was allotted
to Lieut.-Col. Mansel, of Smedmore, who had purchased one of the undivided
shares, and by this means it has become reunited to the Smedmore estates.
West Creech
This farm and hamlet lie on the north side of the hill between Creech
Grange and Povington, about two miles and a half from East Creech.
Roger de Belmont held “Criz” at the Domesday Survey, and Colebrand held it in King Edward’s time, when it was taxed for two hides. There was land for two ploughs, four acres of meadow, pasture six quarentens long and the same broad, wood six quarentens long and three quarentens in breadth. It was worth 40s. both before and after the Conquest.
It has been shown in the description of Church Knoll that the parcel thus mentioned in Domesday was in all probability West Creech. It is certain that in after ages West Creech formed part of the manor of Knoll, Steple, and Creech, for in some old court-rolls of 1625, still extant at Smedmore, various tenements here are mentioned as held of that manor. Its early history therefore is involved in that of the manor (see pp. 578, 579). It will be there seen that the manor of Knoll, Steple, and Creech came eventually to the Lawrences of Grange. John Lawrence, the last of this family, sold the farm of West Creech to Nathaniel Bond, esq., of Lutton, 19 Oct. 1686. He had previously sold what was on that occasion called the “manor of Knoll” to William Collins in 1679, and on 30 Oct. 1685 he sold the manor of Creech, as it was styled in the conveyance, to William Culliford, esq., thus erroneously treating the two places as two distinct manors. On the 13th of April, 1687, Mr. Culliford sold the property which he had thus purchased, to Nathaniel Bond, esq. who thus became possessed of the whole of West Creech, and from him it has descended to the Rev. Nathaniel Bond of Creech Grange, its present owner.
Besides the principal farm there are several smaller tenements in West Creech, anciently parcels of the manor. One of these, called Hurst’s Mill, consisting of about 67a., derives its name from a Henry Hurst who had a mill here in 1636. All these tenements now belong to Mr. Bond of Grange.
Creech Grange
The tract of land bearing the name of Creech lies on the north
side of the range of chalk hills which forms a conspicuous object in the Isle
of Purbeck. It is about 3-1/4 miles long, and extends from the boundary of
the parish of Corfe Castle on the east, to that of Tyneham on the west. It
is divided into East Creech (in the parish of Knoll), West Creech, and Creech
Grange. The latter, which lies between East and West Creech, was anciently
a manor, and is in the liberty of Bindon, having been parcel of he demesnes
of the monastery established at that place. The farm consists of 425 acres;
besides which there are several smaller tenements, as well as extensive plantations,
and a large extent of unenclosed heath.
It has already been shown in the account of East Creech (page 585), that Creech was surveyed in Domesday Book in four parcels, and that three of these, viz., “Criz,” “Criz,” and “Cric,” seem to be pretty clearly identified with East and West Creech. The remaining parcel, therefore, which was surveyed by the name of “Crist,” immediately before “Tigeham” (Tyneham), may perhaps be Creech Grange. It was the property of Robert Earl of Moreton, maternal brother of King William the Conqueror. His sub-tenant was Bretel, who also held “Tigeham” (Tyneham), and six other lordships in this county, under the same lord. Sirewold held it in King Edward’s time, and it was taxed for two hides. There was land for one plough, and there were four acres of meadow. The pasture was six quarentens long and the same broad; and there was one house in Wareham. The whole was worth 20s. before the Conquest; but its value had since doubled, for it was then worth 40s.
After this is became divided amongst various sub-tenants, who held it in separate parcels, all of which seem to have been given to the abbey of Bindon, either at or shortly after the foundation of that monastery on its present site. Beatrix and Albren, daughters of William Pylye of Crich, gave to the abbey all the land which they had in Crich. Roger de Crich, son of William Palmer, gave all the land which he had of the gift of Beatrix, daughter of William de Crich. Lary and Marelina, daughters of Walter de Crich, gave all the lands which they had in the same vill. Walter de Olsey gave all the right, service, and lordship which he had in Cryk; and Geoffry Prior of Wareham, with consent of the abbot and convent of Lire, relinquished whatever right he had in the lands, tenements, heaths, hills, pools, and other things within the manor of Crych. All these donations were confirmed to the abbot and monks at Bindon, by charter of King Edward I. 25 Nov. a.r.9, and reconfirmed by inspeximus 6 Edw. II.
In 1293 the abbot’s lands here were valued at 7l. 14s. 4d. This farm was anciently chargeable with a yearly payment of thirteen bushels of wheat to the castle of Corfe, towards its reparation; and at the time of the dissolution of Bindon Abbey it was worth 7l. 2s. per annum.
After the Dissolution, King Henry VIII. 21 May, a.r.31, granted “the grange or manor of Creech, together with seven acres of meadow in Eastholme mead, two acres in Westholme mead, and two acres in Rushton mead, late parcel of the possessions of the said abbey, to Sir John Horsey of Clifton, knt. who, 20th of May in the following year (1540), sold it (“manerium sive grangian de Crich”), to Oliver Lawrence, gent., who afterwards became Sir Oliver Lawrence, knt. He died 1 Jan. 1 Eliz. seized of the mannor and advowson of Affpuddle, with lands, and the impropriate rectory there; lands and tenements at Chesford in the parish of Mordon; the manor of Sandpitts in Broadwindsor; the manor or Grange in Crich, called Crich Grange, with seven acres in Eastholme mead; two acres in Westholme mead, and two acres in Rushton mead; certain messuages and hereditaments in Crich and Stypul; a moiety of the manor of Egliston; lands in Bloxworth; and the manor of Knol, Steple, and Crich.
Edward Lawrence, esq. son and heir of Sir Oliver, in contemplation of an intended marriage of Edward his second son with Margaret daughter of William Denton and sister-in-law of William Napper of Middlemarsh Hall, settled, inter alia, the manor of Creech Grange, by deed dated 24 Jan. 32 Eliz. to the use of himself and Joyce his wife successively for their lives, remainder to his said son Edward Lawrence for life, and the the heirs male of his body; remainder to George eldest son of Edward the father for life; remainder to Austyn Lawrence brother of the said Edward the father and to Edward Lawrence of Tisbury, co. Wilts, successively in tail male; remainder to his own right heirs.
In 1645 Sir Edward Lawrence’s farm here, value, 1641, 200l. per annum, was sequestered.
Creech Grange continued in the Lawrence family till 21 March, 1686, when John Lawrence, esq. sold the reversion of it to Nathaniel Bond of Lutton, esq. one of the King’s Serjeants at Law, reserving to himself and Mary his wife estates therein for their lives, which life estates they subsequently surrendered 22 Dec. 1691.
In 1732 twelve tenements belonged to this manor, the lord’s rents of which were 3l. 3s. 4d. In Hutchins’ time the farm was worth 110l. per annum. Form Mr. Serjeant Bond, Creech Grange has devolved to his descendant and representative the Rev. Nathaniel Bond, to whom it now belongs.
Hutchins says, “The late Edward Lawrence, gent. had a pedigree of his family, which was unattested and without dates. It began with Robert Lawrence of Ashton Hall, co. Lancaster, knighted at the siege of Acon in Palestine, by King Richard I. a.r.3. After him followed six descents; in the seventh Sir James Lawrence was styled of Standish, temp. Hen. VII. His third brother, Nicholas, was styled of Agercroft, co. Lancaster, and was father of Sir Oliver, who was his seventh son.” The foregoing pedigree is grounded on one in the original visitation book of Dorsetshire of 1623, MS. Harl. 1166; signed by Oliver Lawrence for the Dorsetshire branch, and Ed. Lawrence for that of Wiltshire. The descents from Oliver Lawrence downwards have been amplified and continued from original evidences. The pedigree alluded to by Hutchins, being without dates or vouchers, was of course of little value, and no contemporary evidence has been met with in proof of the descents in the visitation book which precede Sir Oliver. There is, however, a pedigree in the College of Arms dates 1531, in which these early descents are given, but it make no mention of Sir Oliver, nor yet of Nicholas, who in the foregoing pedigree is stated to have been his father.
The Lawrences seem to have been connected with Creech Grange before it was purchased by Oliver Lawrence in 1540, for in a Subsidy Roll of the 16th Hen. VIII. 1524, Martyn Lawrence and Christopher Lawrence were assessed within the liberty of Bindon, which includes Creech Grange. An Oliver Lawrence, probably the same person who afterwards became Sir Oliver, was collector of customs in the port of Poole 19 Hen. VIII. Sir Oliver was brother-in-law to lord chancellor Wriothesley, and must have accumulated considerable wealth, for he purchased extensive landed estates in the county.
On a piece of Purbeck marble lately dug up in Steple churchyard, apparently part of a cross, the following portions of an inscription in black-letter characters are distinguishable: “……th Wyllya Lawrence……have mercy.”
The first Sir Edward Lawrence gave lands in Affpiddle to Oliver his younger son, who seems to have been the progenitor of the branch of this family afterwards seated at that place. Hutchins says that branch “became extinct by the death of Edward Lawrence, gent. 1770.” There is a monument in the church there to the memory of Edward Lawrence, gent. who died 2 Oct. 1751, aged 67.
Mr. Bond, of Creech Grange, has a very long pedigree of his family in the handwriting of his ancestor Denis Bond of Lutton, esq. who died in 1658. It deduced their descent from “Bond, a Norman,” who came into England with the Conqueror and married the heiress of Bond of Penryn, in Cornwall, from whom were eleven descents of the Bonds of Penryn, ending in an only daughter and heir married to Sir William Mardolfe, knt. From her uncle Richard Bond sprang eight descents, described as of Yearthe (Earthe, near Saltash), in Cornwall, the last of whom, Robert Bond, is said to have had three sons: 1. Thomas of Yearth, who left an only daughter and heir married to John Halwell of Devonshire; 2. Robert of Yearth, ancestor of the Bonds who were living at that place in 1623, when their pedigree was recorded by the Heralds in their visitation of the county of that year; and 3. Robert, ancestor of the Bonds of the Isle of Purbeck, who was living 9 Hen. VI. This pedigree was given to Elias Bond by a person named Sanque, described as one of the heralds, whom he met with at Rouen, in Normandy. Mr. Denis Bond, brother of Elias, says he had himself met this person in Spain, whither he fled on discovery of the Gunpowder Plot, for he was “a popish fello and one of the gunpouder treason.” He affirmed the pedigree to be true, but Mr. Denis Bond gave it no credit. It is very erroneous, has no dates, and is unsupported by original evidences.
A more reliable account of the Bonds of the Isle of Purbeck shows them to have sprung from Hatch Beauchamp, in Somersetshire, where the name is met with as early as the commencement of the reign of Edw. III.
On the collection of “the twentieth” granted to the King by Parliament 1 Edw. III. 1327, John Le Bonnde was assessed in the parish of Hache Beauchamp, and he was again assessed in the same parish by the name of John Bonde for “the fifteenth” granted by Parliament in the 6th of Edw. III. Coker, writing in the seventeenth century, says “the ancestors of John Bond, sonne of Denis Bond of Lutton, esq. came into this Island (of Purbeck) out of Somerset, in the 9th year of Henry VI.”
There was a Robert Bonde connected with Dorsetshire in the 2nd Rich. II. 1378-9, when an inquisition was taken respecting his lands; but, as the jury found that he held none in this county of the King in capite, no particulars of them were recorded.
At the Herald’s visitation of Dorsetshire in 1623, 21 Jac. I. a pedigree of the family of Bond of Lutton was proved by Mr. Denis Bond, and is recorded in a book marked C22, now remaining in the College of Arms. It commences with Robert Bond, who was living in 1431, and who married the heir of Lutton. Mr Denis Bond describes him as of Hache Beauchamp, where his son also at one time resided. This pedigree is continued to the time of the visitation above mentioned, but it does not include any of the collateral branches besides that of William Bond of Blackmanston. This deficiency has been amply supplied by Mr. Denis Bond, who, besides compiling a detailed and elaborate pedigree of his family, also kept a chronology in which he recorded a great number of dates of births, marriages, and deaths of his several relations and connections down to within about two months of the time of his death, which occurred on the 30th August, 1658. These collections are comprised in four manuscript volumes, in each of which the pedigree is repeated; and on the blank leaves of one of them – an octavo of parchment richly illuminated with armorial bearings – the successive descendents of its author through whose hands it has passed have continued to register nearly all the births, marriages, and deaths which have severally occurred in the family down to the present time. Various pedigrees and much genealogical information relative to other families in this county are also contained in these manuscripts, and the chronology records many historical facts and anecdotes, particularly such as relate to the very interesting period in which its author lived. The collections are frequently referred to by Hutchins under the designation of “Mr. Bond’s MSS.” They are now in the possession of the Rev. N. Bond of Grange. From the above-mentioned sources of information the accompanying pedigree has been chiefly compiled, but many additions have been made from deeds, wills, and parish registers, and from other unquestionable legal authorities.
Mr. Denis Bond thought the Bonds of London, whose pedigree is recorded in the Herald’s Visitation of that cit in 1633, and whose descendant, Sir Thomas Bond, controller of the household of Queen Henrietta Maria, was created a Baronet by King Charles II. a.r. 11, were descended from a younger son of the first Robert Bond of Hache Beauchamp. It is evident, however, from a calculation of dates, that they could not have been connected with him in the way supposed, though it is highly probable they were a branch of his family. Both branches sprang from villages in Somersetshire, not far distant from each other; and William Bond of Crosby Palace, in Bishopsgate Street (the magnificent gothic hall of whose residence there still remains standing), gave a legacy in his will, dated 10 Oct. 1574, to John Bond of Ingatestone, Essex, younger brother of Denis Bond of Lutton. This, though no evidence of relationship, helps to strengthen the probability of its existence. Sir Thomas Bond, the first baronet, was son of Sir William Bond of Highgate, Middlesex, son of Sir George Bond, knight, lord mayor of London, who was brother of William Bond of Crosby Palace, before mentioned. He built Old Bond Street in London, which proved an unfortunate speculation, for Evelyn in his diary says, he built it “to his great undoing”. Some interesting old monuments of these Bonds remain in the church of Great St. Helen’s, Bishopsgate Street, adjoining Crosby Hall.
There was a William Bond of Buckland Newton in this county, one of the yeomen of the guard of King Henry VIII. He was lessee of the rectory at Buckland Newton, and in consideration of the faithful service which he had done unto King Henry VIII. the latter, on the 10th July, in the thirtieth year of his reign, granted to him the Bailiwick of Charleton Camvil, co. Somerset, and certain rights of pasture there, together with the wages and fees for the said office. In his will dated 17 March, 15 Elizabeth, 1573, proved 10 June following, he names his son William, then under 24 years of age, his son John Bond, and John the son of the said John; also his wife Isabell Bond, and his son-in-law Sir Thomas Harris.
Hutchin’s notice of the Bonds above-mentioned who are not included in the accompanying pedigree is very incorrect. He adds, that “Leland, in his Itinerary, vol. Vi. p. 119, mentions a rich merchant of that name at Coventry, who annexed a hospital to Babelake College;” but this person was certainly not related to the Bonds of Dorsetshire.
Hutchins, in describing Creech Grange, says: “Mr. Bond has an elegant and convenient seat here, built by the Lawrences, but greatly improved by the present owner. The grounds, gardens, lawns, and pieces of water that adorn it exhibit a very agreeable contrast to a dreary heath that almost surrounds it.”
The original mansion was probably built by Sir Oliver Lawrence, as the style of architecture was that which prevailed in the reign of King Henry VIII. and his two immediate successors. The royal arms in stucco ornamented one of the apartments. The ancient east front was partially modernised and greatly disfigured, about 1739, by Denis Bond, esq. who at the same time added to the south front the façade in Italian style which is now standing. The older parts of the building being much decayed, nearly the whole of the house, with the exception of the south side, was taken down and handsomely rebuilt by the Rev. Nathanial Bond in 1846-7. The new building was erected on the original ground plan, with some little additions and slight modifications, and the general architectural features of the old façade were copied, so as in a great measure to reproduce the original design, which had been mutilated and transformed by the alterations made a century before. The two principal gables, in one of which an original oriel window has been preserved, are surmounted by lions sejant bezanté, the old crest of Bond, and a similar lion in a panel over the front door holds a shield with the arms of Bond, viz. Quarterly, 1 and 4 a fess; 2 and 3 on a chevron three bezants. The same arms and crest are sculptured between the upper and lower windows of the oriel. The windows of the hall and drawing room contain some good heraldic and stained glass.
The surrounding heath, which was so dreary in Hutchins’ time, has since been much diversified by plantations made by succeeding owners of the estate; and the grounds, as well as the house, have been greatly improved by the present proprietor.
Hutchins says this was “a grange, or retiring place, of the Abbot of Bindon,” but there is no reason to suppose that it was ever a residence, or “retiring place,” of the Abbot. The word “grange,” which in French simply means a barn, was commonly applied to a farm, held in hand by a monastery, where the abbot and monks deposited their corn. The monks of Bindon were of the Cistercian order, and as such were privileged to hold exempt from tithes such lands as they kept in their own hands. Grange Farm, in Chaldon, was similarly circumstanced, and thus there was the grange of Chaldon and the grange of Creech, or the farms, or in other words, in Chaldon and Creech the produce of which was appropriated to the sustenance of the inmates of this monastery. In some monasteries there was a “grangearius,” a granger, or grange-keeper, whose office it was to look after the granges held by the monks.
On an elevated spot within the grounds, a little to the north of Mr. Bond’s house, is a small chapel, built by Denis Bond, esq. in 1746, out of the remains of the ancient priory church at East Holme, which he brought hither for that purpose; but, as he died before he work was completed, the building remained many years unfinished. At length it was fitted up by the late John Bond, esq. and opened for religious worship as a chapel of ease in connection with the church of Steple. His brother, the Rev. N. Bond, the present owner of the estate, and rector of this parish, has further improved it by adding a small north aisle, and erecting a campanile at the west end. He has also procured its consecration, and has devoted it permanently to the use of the parishioners residing in that part of the parish which is inconveniently distant from the mother church.
The archway leading into the chancel, and the hood moulding and abacus of another arch at the opposite end of the building, the exterior drip moulding of the chancel window, and an arch built into the exterior face of the west wall of the belfry, are all original Norman work. The side of the chancel archway which faces the west is a good example of early Norman architecture. It consists of double shafts with ornamented capitals and square abacus, supporting an arch of two members. The lower member is ornamented with the chevron moulding, the other with rosettes within lozenges. In reconstructing this archway old capitals have been reversed and used as bases for the shafts, and the eastern face of the arch has been made out (probably owing to a deficiency of ancient materials) with plain unornamented stone, but it is surmounted by an original hood moulding. The arch before mentioned in the west wall of the belfry seems to have originally formed part of a doorway, and has been placed here for ornament alone. It has the ball and lozenge moulding at the angle, and now surmounts a modern window in corresponding style which has been placed underneath it.
The east window of the chancel is filled with stained glass, representing the nativity of our Lord, his crucifixion, and ascension. Underneath is this inscription:
This Chapel was fitted up at the expense of JOHN BOND of Grange, esq. as a Chapel of Ease to the parish of Steple, A.D. 1840. He survived this good work only four years, and died March 18, 1844.
At the end of the north transept is another window of stained glass, representing the bringing little children to Christ, adapted from a painting by the artist Overbeck. Underneath is the following inscription:
This aisle was erected for the use of the children of the Sunday school, in affectionate remembrance of JOHN eldest son of NATHANIEL BOND, clerk, and MARY his wife. He was born Nov. 17, 1838, and died Feb. 8, 1849.
In a medallion in the upper part of the window:
Suffer little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of God.
Immediately to the east of Mr. Bond’s house, dividing Creech Grange from East Creech, rises the remarkable conical hill called Creech Barrow, resembling in form a volcanic mountain in miniature. From the peculiarity of its position it is interesting to the geologist, whilst it forms a conspicuous and picturesque object from the surrounding neighbourhood, and is visible from distant parts of the county. On its summit stood formerly a round tower, indicated in Treswell’s map of the island made about 1586, which he designates as “Creech barow Lodge;” and a similar erection to which the same name is attached is exhibited in an old map of the county engraved in 1575. In both these maps a church is represented as standing a little to the north-east of what is now Mr. Bond’s house. Hutchins, in speaking of Creech Barrow, says:
“It is partly in Creech Grange, and partly in East Whiteway. It yields a very extensive prospect over great part of the island of Purbeck and the north and west parts of the county, and even into some parts of Wiltshire and Somersetshire. The ruins of the principal lodge of the isle and forest of Purbeck are still visible on the top.” If such was the case in Hutchins’ time, these ruins have all since been removed, as none exist there now.
* * * * * * * *
“A blacksmith’s shop here, about 1700, being set on fire by lightning, the files acquired a magnetic virtue, which they retained about fifty years. Instances of this nature are recorded in the Abridgement of the Philosophical Transactions, vol. Viii. p. 506.
On top of the hill, south of and opposite to Mr. Bond’s house, a very remarkable phenomenon was pretended to have appeared in 1678. One evening in December was imagined to be seen a vast number of armed men, several thousands, marching from Flower’s Barrow over Grange Hill; and a great noise and clashing of arms was supposed to have been heard. Nothing appeared on the south side of the hill. They were pretended to have been seen by Captain John Laurence, then owner of the Grange, who lived there, and his brother, and 100 more, particularly by four clay-cutters just going to leave off work and by all the people in the cottages and hamlets thereabout, who left their supper and houses, and came to Wareham, and alarmed the town, on which the boats were all drawn to the north side of the river, and the bridge barricaded. Three hundred of the militia were marched to Wareham; Captain Laurence and his brother went post to London, and deposed the particulars on oath before the Council, and, had not he and his family been of known affection to the government, he would have been severely punished, the nation being in a ferment about Oate’s plot. This account I had from one Thomas Bolt, a native of Wareham, who then lived there, and perfectly remembered the particulars; he died in 1758, aged 59.
I have in my possession an original letter written by Mr. Thomas Dolman, I suppose then clerk to the Council, dated Dec. 14, 1678, directed to George Fulford and Robert Coker, esqrs. officers of the militia, wherein he tells them that Mr. Secretary Coventry had communicated their letter of the 10th instant, touching the number of armed men pretended to be seen in Purbeck, to the Lords of the Council, who commanded him to let them know that they took in good part their care in putting themselves in a posture of defence; and that the contrivers and spreaders of this false news were ordered to be sent for, to be dealt with according to their deserts. The council books were examined at my request by Henry Bankes, esq. 1756, but nothing relative to this affair appeared.
In a collection of State Tracts, 1706, vol. ii. pp. 582, 583, is a pamphlet, published in 1679, containing arguments against a standing army. It has a few hints of this affair, which the author sometimes treats with contempt, calling it the Purbeck apparition, yet makes it an argument for the militia, and says above 40,000 armed volunteers assembled in two or three days time to have me the French had they been there, but that the court disliked it, and questioned the sheriff about it. This looks as if the posse comitatus was then raised. In 1756 this trifling story was revived, and made an argument for the necessity and usefulness of a militia.
This phenomenon seems to have been owing to the thick fogs and mists that often hang on the hills in Purbeck, and from grotesque appearances of large craggy rocks and ruins of buildings. As this time the evening sun might glance on these, which, assisted and improved by strong imagination, caused the spectators to fancy what never existed. A like phenomenon is said to have been seen, 1707, in Leicestershire, and on Midsummer Day, 1735,1737, 1745, on Souterfield Mountain in Cumberland, which made a great noise in the north.”
Lutton is the largest and best farm in this parish. It now consists of 414a. 3r. 12P. in which are included 30a. 3r. 39p. called Hasilor Grounds and Jacks Hayes, not originally part of Lutton. It adjoins the parish of Tyneham on the west, and extends from the top of the chalk hill on the north to the sea shore on the south. On the east it is bounded by Steple Lease. Occasionally, though rarely, it was called a manor, but in reality it was parcel of the demesnes of the manor of Povington, in the parish of Tyneham. Povington was given to the abbey of Bec in Normandy by Robert Fitz-Gerald, who held it at the Domesday survey. Whether Lutton formed part of the last-names manor at that early period there is no evidence to show, but it is most probable that it did, for it is not mentioned by name in Domesday Book, and Povington was at that time rather an extensive lordship.
In the 18th year of King Edward II. the possessions of the alien priories in Dorsetshire were extended; and on Friday next after the feast of St. Symon and St. Jude it was found by an inquisition taken at Povington, a manor of the about of Bec Herlewyne, that there was in the grange of Lutton, a manor of the said abbot, forty quarters of wheat, twenty quarters of barley, and ten quarters of beans, peas, and vetches; the stock there consisted of two heifers, two oxen, one bull, seventy sheep, and fifty-five hogs, “hogastri”.
We meet with no mention of Lutton before the seventeenth century, except in connection with and as parcel of the manor of Povington. Its early history therefore is involved in the description of that manor, to which the reader is referred.
“Here,” says Hutchins, “was an ancient seat of the Bonds, who came out of Somersetshire into this island 9 Hen. VI., who were at first lessees under the prior of Povington or Okeburn;” but that they held of the prior is inaccurate, as the manor of Povington was then in lay hands, alien priories having been suppressed in the second year of Hen. V. Coker in speaking of “the onlie river of the island, being indeede noe more than a brooke,’ says, “whose fountaine you shall see to arise in the lands of John Bond, sonne of Dennis Bond of Lutton, esquire, in the parish of Steple, towards the heart of the isle, whose ancestors came into this island in the 9th year of the reign of King Henry the Sixth, out of Somerset.” The pedigree of Bond in the Visitation Book of Dorsetshire in 1623, in the College of Arms, intimates that the connection of that family with this place arose from a marriage of Robert Bond, who was living 9 Hen. VI., with the daughter of …… Lutton, whom Mr. Denis Bond and the Visitation Book both treat as the heiress of a family of that name. We are unable, however, to offer any contemporary evidence in confirmation of this fact.
The Bond family having thus for a long period held this estate as lessees for long terms of years, the fee simple was ultimately acquired by John Bond, esq., who purchased it of Edward Earl of Hertford, lord of the manor of Povington, 1 Nov. 1615. He was already in possession of the immediate beneficial interest under a subsisting lease, and from him the estate has passed to his descendants, the Rev. Nathaniel Bond of Creech Grange, who is its present owner.
There is a chief rent of thirteen bushels of wheat, or formerly 2l. 12s. 0d. in lieu thereof, being after the rate of 40s. a last, payable annually out of this farm to the lord of Corfe Castle.
The grounds called Hasilor and Jacks Hayes before mentioned, seem to have been parcel of the manor of Steple. The former was sold by Sir Robert Lawrence in 1659 to Christian Jolyff, widow of Humphry Jolyff of Dorchester, whose daughter and coheir Christian, with her husband Henry Bestland of Dorchester, sold it to Elizabeth Foyle of Steple, widow. The latter gave it by will in 1674 to her great-nephew John Minterne, son of John Minterne of Yeatminster, and of Elianor his wife, and she likewise gave Jacks Hayes to Elianor Minterne his sister. They sold these parcels of land in 1698 to Nathaniel Bond, esq., serjeant-at-law, since which they have continued united to Lutton farm.
Blackmanston
Blackington, Blackmixton. SAX. Blaec mans tun, or Blackman’s farmstead, In
Domesday Book “Blachemanestone” is surveyed in two parcels, both of which were
held by Aluric, one of the King’s thanes, who also owned them in the time of
King Edward. Each parcel consisted of one hide, and contained land for one
plough. The value of one of them at the time of the survey was 20s., but that
of the other is not mentioned. After this, Blackmanston became parcel of the
manor of Povington, and as such belonged to the abbey of Bec in Normandy. By
whom it was given does not appear, but its subsequent history is involved in
that of Povington.
The Bonds of Lutton were for a long time owners of it. They originally held it by copy of court roll of the manor of Povington; and at length William Bond, third son of Denis Bond of Lutton, who was a copyholder for lives, purchased the reversion in fee of Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, then lord of the manor of Povington, 12 Feb. 1613. He married Ann, daughter and coheir of Richard Long of Glastonbury, Co. Somerset, by whom he had three daughters: 1, Jane, married Barnaby Lewis of Wincanton, co. Somerset; 2, Elizabeth, married to William Stockman of Downton, co. Wilts; and 3, Edith, to Sir White Beconshaw of Moyle’s Court, co. Hants. The latter was mother of the unfortunate “Lady Alice Lisle”, whose trial and execution on the pretended charge of high treason has left one of the deepest blots on the blood-stained character of the infamous Judge Jefferies. William Bond lived at Blackmanston till 1636, when he died in the 83rd year of his age, and was buried in his own aisle on the south side of Steple Church. By his will dates 6 July, 1636, 12 Car. I., and proved 1 July, 1637, he recites that he had, by a deed dated 3rd Nov. last, vested in trustees, upon certain trusts for payment of his debts, and such legacies as he should bequeath by his will, his manor of Bradle in Church Knoll; his manor and lands in Bere Hacket; the capital messuage, farms, and demesne lands of Barneston; his water grist-mills in Knoll called Puddle mills; Barter’s tenement in East Creech; his manor, farm, and demesne lands of Stoke Collyard, and the church of Stoke in the county of Dorset; his capital messuage and lands in Weston Bamfield, co. Somerset; the moiety of the manor and borough of Wincanton, and the mansion house there in the possession of Benjamin Lewis, gent.; the rectory of Wincanton, and tithes thereto belonging, which were lately granted to him by Barnably Lewis the elder, and Benjamin Lewis his brother; and he then gives to his daughter Jane, wife of Barnaby Lewis, 50l. per annum for her life; to his daughter Elizabeth Stockman, wife of William Stockman, 95l. per annum for her life; to his grandchild Barnaby Lewis, eldest son of his daughter Jane, 50l. per annum during the lives of his father and mother; and 20l. per annum to his brother Benjamin Lewis, till the age of 24. He also recites that his daughter Lady Beconshaw, wife of Sir White Beconshaw, Knt., has an estate for her life in his house and farm at Blackmanston, and he then gives the reversion thereof to his granddaughter Elizabeth Beconshaw in tail, with remainder to Alice Beconshaw her sister in fee. He desires that his trustees shall permit his daughters Elizabeth Stockman and Jane Lewis to enjoy his mansion house of Barneston so long as either of them shall be pleased to live there, and gives a legacy to his granddaughter Alice Beconshaw, afterwards the unfortunate Lady Lisle, in remembrance of his blessing, and finally he constitutes Lady Beconshaw his executrix. Elizabeth Beconshaw his granddaughter married Sir Thomas Tipping of Wheatfield in Oxfordshire, who gave this farm to his daughters Ann and Frances Tipping. The former, with the trustees of the latter, conveyed it to Sir Thomas Tipping, Bart., her brother, who, in conjunction with other members of the family, having certain interests therein, sold the estate 24 Jan. 1699, to Edward Clavell of Smedmore, esq., and from him it has devolved, together with the other Clavell estates, to Louisa, now relict of Lieut.-Col. Mansel, who is the present owner.
Hide anciently called Long Hide, and so named from its form. It is a long strip of land comprising 157a. 1 r. 14 p., adjoining the east side of Blackmanston farm, with which it is now usually occupied. It was probably included in Steple or Knoll at the Domesday Survey, for in later times it was reckoned as a member of the manor of Knoll. We meet with no specific mention of it till 8 Edw. II., when Henry de la Hyde, in consideration of 40l. sterling, conveyed it by fine to Henry de la Bere and Agatha his wife, and the heirs of Henry de la Bere, a messuage and one carucate of land in Langhyde in Purbik. It came at length to the family of Gerard, who resided here, but when or by what means is unknown. In a pedigree amongst Mr. Dennis Bond’s MSS. they are said to have been descended from a William Gerrard of Brinhill, by Jane his wife, sister and coheir of Peter de Brinhill, of the county of Lancaster, knight. Their great-grandson, William Gerard of Frier Maine, co. Dorset, married Edith, daughter and heir of Thomas Meere of Osmington in this county, by whom he had issue two sons, viz. John Gerard of Frier Maine, living temp. Edw. IV., ancestor of the Gerards of Trent, co. Somerset, and Robert Gerard of the Isle of Purbeck, father of John Gerard of Longhide, living 9 Hen. VII. The accuracy of this descent is very questionable. It is more probable that the Gerards of Hide were descended from a family whose name occasionally appears in connection with places in the Isle of Purbeck, and the adjoining town of Wareham, from the time of Edw. III. Amongst the burgesses returned to Parliament by the Borough of Wareham were the following: Richard Gerard, 42 and 43 Edw. III; William Gerard, 2 Hen. V.; John Gerard, 13 Hen. VI; Roger Gerard, 1 and 2 Phil. and Mary; Christopher Gerard, of Wareham, gent., 31 Eliz. In the 18th Rich. II. Thomas Gerard was a witness to a charter relating to Orchard in the Isle of Purbeck; Brian Gerard was a witness to charters relating to Little Kimeridge, 7 and 12 Hen. IV., and to one relating to Smedmore, 2 Hen. V. The Gerards of Hide were also owner of Baltington in Tyneham, where see some further notice of them. In Mr. Coker’s time Hide belonged, he says, to Mr. Robert Gerard. Elizabeth, daughter and heir of John Gerard, brought it to Sir Nathaniel Napper, of Middlemarsh Grange, knt. from which family it descended to Humphry Sturt, esq., who sold it to George Clavell, 19 July, 1766.
Harpstone or Harpston The name of this place is sometimes written Hurpstone and Herpstone. Hutchins says “it was anciently a manor, parcel of and lying near Bradle, now a farm and hamlet in the tithing of Bradle, of which we have no early account. If it was a distinct manor in the time of Domesday, it soon ceased to be so, fo rin after times it was parcel of the demesnes of the manor of Bradle, and was held of that manor by copy of court roll. It is in the tithing of Steple, and now consists of one cottage and about 47 acres of land, though it may have anciently been more extensive.
“Herpere” was held at the Domesday Survey by Robert, of the wife of Hugh Fitz-Grip. In King Edward’s time it belonged to Aluuard, who also owned Wilceswde, Tacatone, and Suuanwic. It was taxed for three hides, and there was land for three ploughs; a mill paid 20d., and there were nine acres of meadow, four quarentens of pasture, and one of wood. One burgess paid 8d. and it was formerly worth 100s., then 4l. In the same vill Robert held of the same woman, de ipsa femina, half a hide, which Sauuin held for a manor in the time of King Edward; there was land for half a plough, and it was then worth 12s. 6d.
The quantity of land comprised in the vill of Herpere at the time of Domesday is much more extensive than that which constitutes the Herpeston of the present day. It probably, however, included some part, if not the whole, of West Bradle, for, in investigating the origin and descent of a portion of lay tithes, now called Lord Salisbury’s tithes, issuing out of some undefined part of West Bradle, we obtain evidence which seems to place the Herpere of the Domesday in this locality. Most of the property of the wife of Hugh Fitz-Grip came by some means or other to the family of de Lincoln. Alfred de Nicola, who was more commonly called Alured de Lincoln, gave to the church of Tewkesbury, of which the priory of Cranborne was a cell, two tithes in Purbeck, viz. the tithes of “Tachetona” and of “La Harpine,” which gift was confirmed by King Hen. I. 1106, and by Roger Bishop of Salisbury. The latter seems to have been the same portion of tithes which belonged to the priory of Cranborne on its dissolution, being then described in the ministers’ accounts as issuing out of Knoll and Steple. These tithes appear to have been included in a grant to Robert Cecil Earl of Salisbury, 5 Jac. I., of the manor and advowson of Tewkesbury, together with, inter alia, tithes in Steple, in the Isle of Purbeck, Knoll, and elsewhere, late belonging to Cranborne Priory, and parcel of the monastery of Tewkesbury. Hence they have descended to the present Marquess of Salisbury.
In the bank which divides Harpstone from Hide is a remarkable stone placed at right angles to its natural bed, and rising 9 ft. above the ground. Its greatest width is 2 ft. 6 in. It retains its natural form, except that it is much honeycombed by the weather, and is probably of great antiquity, though with what object it was placed on this spot it is now impossible to determine. Large stones as well as barrows and springs were often objects of special notice in very early times, and this stone may perhaps have derived its distinctive appellation from its locality. Thus the Herpere stone or Harpine stone may easily, in common parlance, have become Herpestone or Harpestone, and then the name, when once established, may in time have modified the original denomination of the adjacent lands. It seems pretty certain, however, that Harpstone is the Herpere of Domesday.
The estate came to William Bond of Blackmanston and his descendents, the Lewis’s and Farrs, as parcel of the manor of Bradle; and in the same way it has since passed to the Earl of Eldon, to whom it now belongs.
The Church stands in Steple, on an elevated spot near the middle of the parish, as it extends east and west. It is dedicated to St. Michael, and consists of a nave, chancel, and small north aisle near the end of the body belonging to the Grange, formerly the burial place of the Lawrences, and another small aisle on the south side of the chancel belonging to Blackmanston farm. It has a plain, large, well-built tower, with a stair turret at the north-east angle, and contains three bells, on which are the following inscriptions:-
“1. Sancta Anna ora pro nobis.
“2. and 3. Anthony Bond made me in 1634.”
Churches dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel were usually situated on a high hill, or had a higher steeple than ordinary.
The architectural character of the building is plain, and of little interest. The south door is Norman, without ornament; the nave Perpendicular. The north aisle which is attached to Grange is of late date, the south aisle belongs to Blackmanston, and is still more recent. There is some reason to suppose that the latter was built by William Bond of Blackmanston, who died in 1636. His arms were formerly in the window. The chancel and porch have lately been rebuilt by the Rev. Nathaniel Bond, the present rector, who has also placed a new ornamental timber rood on the north aisle. Over the door of this aisle, on the outside, is a panel of stone with the arms of Lawrence quartering Washington; under it “E.L. 1616.” Above the shield is a smaller one with a helmet bearing the crest of Lawrence, the tail of a fish erect. In the window were the arms of Lawrence impaling Brune; under the former “Laurence,” under the latter “Bruen.” This glass, being much broken, has lately been removed to Grange. The interior of the roof of the nave is semi-circular, with wooden ribs intersecting each other at right angles. Along the centre rib are several shields bearing the arms of Lawrence and Washington quarterly. The same arms, with a crescent for difference, were in a panel of stone over the entrance of the old porch. When the latter was rebuilt, this panel was placed against the interior face of its east wall. Over the shield are the initial letters L. E. on the right of which is carved a device not easy to comprehend; on the left another device, which, though cramped, and very badly drawn, is no doubt intended to represent the badge which accompanies the woodcut of the arms in the pedigree of Lawrence. The badge there engraved is copied from one drawn with the arms of Lawrence quartering Washington in a copy of the Visitation of Lancashire of 1567, MS.Harl. 891; but no pedigree of the family accompanies it. It seems to represent a fetterlock, to which is attached a rope having a peg at the other end, an apparatus probably used for tethering a horse, the fetterlock confining its leg, whilst the peg was fastened into the ground. Within a coil of the rope is the crest, the tail of a fish erect.
On the south wall of the chancel, on a monumental slab of black marble set in a frame of alabaster:
The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance. Ps cxii. 6.
In this chancel under a marble stone doe lye the bodies of FRANCIS CHALDECOT, esq. and EDITH his wife, younger daughter and coheire of William Chaldecot of Quarrellston, in Dorset, esq. who were liberal constant housekeepers; bountiful relievers of the poore; carefull breeders of their children in piety and vertue; diligent and devout comers to the church, though it were very painfull unto them in their latter times, by means of age and other infirmity: 53 years and upwards, they lovingly lived in chast wedlocke, and had issue 15 children, whereof 3 sons and 7 daughters came to mature age, and were most of them in the life times of their parents matched into ancient families of worship, most of them having fayre issues.
Thus having lived to see their children to ye third generation, they
meekly dyed in ye feare and favor of their God.
He on Thursday ye 19th May, 1636, aged 85. She on Thursday ye 23
August, 1638, aged 75.
Ex sumptu suo proprio, WILLELMUS CHALDECOT, corund’filius
minimus, hoc erigi fecit an° d’ni 1641.
Above, the arms of Chaldecot, three arrows erect, impaling a similar coat.
On the pavement within the altar rails are the following inscriptions:
Hic jacet SARAH COLLENS, uxor GULIELMI COLLENS, filia J. C. R. obiit 5to Decembris, anno Dom. 1675.
She was daughter of John Churchill, rector of this church.
Hic jacet ELIZABETHA, uxor NATHANIELIS BOND, armigeri (cum filio nuper nato), que inter acerbos puerperii Dolores animam efflavit 18 Dec. 1674.
MARIA, uxor 2da NATHANIELIS BOND de Grange, armigeri, ob. 10e Aug. A.D. 1728, ætatis suæ 87.
There is also the matrix of a brass now removed.
On the pavement outside the altar rails:
DENIS BOND, esq. of Grange, died 30 Jan. 1746, aged 69.
On the pavement at the upper end of the body, on a grey marble stone, was formerly inscribed:
Here lyeth the body of ROGER CLAVELL, gent. who died the 15th October, 1687, at 63. Here also lyeth the body of RUTH CLAVELL his wife, who died the 22nd day of March, 1720, ætat 76.
Here also lyeth the body of ROGER CLAVELL, esq. son of the said ROGER and RUTH, who died Jan. 18th, 1741, aged 74.
These inscriptions have become wholly illegible.
In the churchyard, on the south side of the tower, is the burial place of the Bonds, in which are several altar-tombs and monumental stones, bearing the following inscriptions:
On the north side of the churchyard is a tomb with the following inscription:
JOHN, eldest son of NATHANIEL BOND, clerk, and MARY, his wife, born 17 Nov. 1838, died 8 Feb. 1849.
Underneath the south wall of the nave, on the east of the porch, is an altar tomb for
JOHN COVERT, gent. who died the 6th of February, 1754, aged 67 years.
The Parish Register begins 1548. The first part, down to March, 1600, is in the same handwriting, and was “conscript’ et in hoc volumine digest’ per Edwardum James rectorem ecclesie predicte.” He became rector in 1569, and died in Nov. 1600. The rest of this volume is in the handwriting of his successors, William Betterle and John Churchill, the later of whom was instituted in 1637, and died in 1682. The several volumes of the register contain ninety-eight entries relating to the family of Bond, viz. 39 baptisms, 17 marriages, and 42 burials, notices of which are incorporated in the pedigree, pp. 602, 603. There are also many entries relating to the families of Lawrence, of Grange, Chaldecot, of Whiteway; and Clavell, of Steple; which, being incorporated in the pedigrees of their families, it is unnecessary to reproduce here.
BAPTISMS
Roger, 16 July, 1550; Henry, 15 April 1552, sons of Roger Clavell.
Olyver, son of Thomas Jerrard, 21 Jan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1557[/8]
John, son of Thomas Clavell, 10 Sept. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1568
Gaulter Clavell, son of Henry Clavell, 5 March. . . . . . . . . . . 1579[/80]
Ann, dau. of Roger Newberi, gen. 7 Nov.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1604
Edith, 10 Oct. 1606; Elizabeth, 7 Feb. 1607[/8]; Bridget, 24 April, 1609; daughters of Roger Newborough.
Gerard, 19 Oct. 1606; Magdalen, 6 Dec. 1607; children of Nathaniel Napper.
John, son of John Chamnis, 26 Dec. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1606
William, son of Thomas Powlet, 8 Nov. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1610
Walter, son of Nicholas Pitt, 31 Oct. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1612
Philip, 9 Dec. 1612; Catharine, 4 Feb. 1615; children of Richard Chanon, gent.
Francis, 21 Aug 1613; John, 20 Sept. 1614; Katharine, 14 Sept. 1615; children of Henry Chettle.
William, son of William Samwise, 25 Dec. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1616
Barnabas, son of Barnabas Lewis, gen. 26 Feb. . . . . . . . . . .1617[/8]
Susan, 8 Nov. 1618; William, 24 Dec. 1623; Edith, 14 Sept. 1627; children of Nicholas Pitt.
Maximilian, son of Maximilian Moore, gen. 2 March. . . . . . . . 1622
Lawrence, 4 March, 1639; Robert, 26 Aug. 1640; children of Robert and Elizabeth Culliford.
Anthony, son of William and Margaret Floyre, 21 May . . . . . . .1642
Sarah, 3 Feb. 1642[/3]; Mary, 6 May, 1646; Elizabeth, 08 Feb. 1648[/9]; daughters of John Churchill, rector.
John and Mary, children of John and Mary Lewis, 4 June . . . . . .1649
Robert, son of Robert and Eleanor Swaine, 24 May . . . . . . . . 1649
MARRIAGES
Thomas Shott and Alsye Jerard, 3 Nov. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1561
George Jerard and Edith Wills, 25 Jan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1566
Thomas Clavell and Dorothe Jerard, 8 July . . . . . . . . . . . . 1567
Gaulter Franck and Warbara Baker, 19 Aug. . . . . . . . . . . . .1579
Jacobus Yeroth verbi divini predicator et Alicia Coles, 3 July . . . . 1582
Christopher Jerard and Alice Loverie, 17 July . . . . . . . . . . . 1587
Maria Chaldecot agens annum decimum quartum nupta fuit Rogero
Newborowgh, gen’, decimo octavo die Aprillis [18 Apr] ambo incolæ
hujus parochie [both of this parish] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1598
John Bradshewe and Alice Jerord, 25 Sept. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1603
Elizabeth Gerard and Nathaniel Napper, of Grange, in Blackmore,
married in London 26 Dec. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1605
Alice Betterlie and Nicholas Pitt, of Wareham, 22 Dec. . . . . . . . 1607
Henry Chetle and Susanna Chaldecote, gen. 23 Oct.,
ambo incolæ hujus parochie [both of this parish] . . . . . . . . . 1610
Millicent Gerard and Richard Quintin, of Wiltshire, 20 Jan. . . . . . 1612
William Farr and Anna Haiward, 6 April. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1619
Thomas Broune and Jane Hayward, 9 Oct. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1626
Richard Margent and Saray Hayward, 15 June. . . . . . . . . . . . 1629
Henry Dackcum and Dorothea Hall, 4 June. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1640
William Collins and Sarah Churchill, 19 Sept. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1664
John Scovile, gen. and Mary Churchill, 8 Sept. . . . . . . . . . . . 1665
George Yeats, gent. and Elizabeth Williams, 18 Oct. . . . . . . . . 1725
William Filliter and Maria Clavell, June 13. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1742
BURIALS
Dionis Bond, buried 18 Feb. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1560
Agnes Jerard, 6 March . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1560
George Marsh, rector, 20 May . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1568
William Jerard, gent., 16 Oct. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1596
Gertrude, wife of John Jerard, of Hyde, gen., 20 April. . . . . . . . 1587
Alicia Bond, vidua, agens annum ætatis septuagesimum nonum,
viduitatis tricesimum quantum, sepulta fuit vicesimo quarto
Octobris a° D’ni 1595, anno Reginæ Elizabethæ 37mo. Hæc erat
mulier pia et pudica, omni genere bonorum operum abudans,
precipuè autem charitatis officiis quibus sublevabat ægenos et
pauperes. [i.e. 24 October 1595]
Roger Pitt, 29 May. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1596
Edward James, Rector of Steple, 17 Nov. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1601
Maria Gerard, 21 June. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1604
Mathew Pitt, 20 Jan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1608
Elenora Pitt, 25 Jan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1611
John Gerard, gent., 30 May . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1633
William Betterley, rector, 25 April . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1637
Ann Gerard, widow, of Hide, 2 April. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1638
Robert, son of Robert Culliford, esq., 17 Sept. . . . . . . . . . . 1640
John, son of John and Mary Lewis, 16 June . . . . . . . . . . . . 1649
William, son of Robert and Elnor Swaine, gent., 14 March . . . . . 1660
Elenor, wife of Robert Swaine, gent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1661
John Pumfray, gent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1664
Sarah, wife of Mr. John Churchill, clerk, 23 Oct. . . . . . . . . . . 1678
John Churchill, rector, 28 March. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1682
Mr. John Vincent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1733
Mr. John Covert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Samuel Bold, rector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1737
The Rectory In 1291 a portion of the prior of Okeburn was paid out of it of 3s. 4d. The patrons were anciently the lords of the manor; now the Rev. Nathaniel Bond.
Valor, 1291 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 marks
Present Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9£ 15s 5d
Tenths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0£ 19s 6-1/2d
Bishop’s procurations . . . . . . . . . . . 0£ 1s 7d
Archdeachon’s procurations . . . . . . . . 0£ 13s 6d
The return to the commission, 1656, was, that the parsonage was worth 100l. per annum, John Churchill, M.A. rector; that there was in the parish some tithe, payable to the priory of Shene, which the Bishop of Sarum did enjoy, and was not collected, and worth 30s. per annum.
The tithes of the whole parish now belong to the Rector, with the following exceptions. There is a modus decimandi of the tithes of Blackmanston farm, whereby 2d. is paid in lieu of tithes of milk and calves for each cow; and the farm of Creech Grange is exempt from payment of any kind of tithes when in the occupation of the owners thereof; the said lands having formerly belonged to monks of the Cistercian order, and having been so enjoyed by them at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries; but the said lands are subject to the payment of all manner of tithes when they are not in the occupation of the owner thereof.
8 Geo. I. an Act passed for consolidating and uniting the rectories of Steple and Tyneham.
INQUISITIO NONARUM
Parochia de Stupel
Henr’ Smedmore, Rob’ in le Lane, Th’m’ Funtemel, Joh’ Cole, Th’m’ Borgeys, Will’ Whytloc, Joh’ Cook, M’rtin’ Terry, Will’ de Herpston, Joh’ Ricard, Henr’ Foghel, et Aug’tin Corsheygh, p’och’ ibid’ jurati presentant quod ecclesia ibidem taxatur ad iiii l. xiii s. iiii d. Et quod ixna pars garbarum, vellerum, et agnorum valet per annum lxiii s. et non plus. Et sic minus extenta xxix s. iiii d. pro eo quod Rector Ibidem habet xv acras terræ et ii acras pratii ut de dote ecclesiæ predictæ, que valent per annum vi s. Item pastura iii s. decimæ feni vi s. viii d. decimæ moldendini vi s. oblations, obventiones et aliæ minutæ decimæ valent xvii s. viii d.
| PATRONS | RECTORS |
| Roger de Damori, knt. | Ralph Blatchesdon, clerk, inst. 6 July, 1318. |
| Elizabeth de Burgo | Thomas de Meroston, pbr. on the resignation of Blatchesdon, inst. 1 May 1324Robert Miche, pbr. inst. 12 cal. May, 1325Galfrid Courtois |
| Henry Mutlot, &c. attornies of Lionel earl of Ulster | John Hullard, pbr. on the death of Courtois, inst. 15 Dec. 1361 |
| Edmund earl of March | William Pregest, pbr. inst. 28 July, 1381 |
| The King, guardian of the heir of Edmund earl of March | John Marnham, clerk, inst. 17 Feb. 1383, exchanged with |
| The King, pro hac vice | John Botham, cl. on the resignation of Marnham, instit. 6 May, 1413 |
| Edmund earl of March | Robert Osanne, cl. on the resignation of Botham, 12 May, 1414William Talbot, exchanged withRobert Leycest, rector of Woolveton, dioc. Winton, inst. 12 Jan. 1414Robert Lyndringham, cl. inst. May 30, 1421 |
| Richard duke of York | Robert Dunley, chaplain, on the death of Robert Hendringham, instituted 12 April, 1456William Browne |
| The King | Matthew ap David ap Vaughan, cl. on the resignation of Browne, inst. 29 Aug, 1464 |
| Cecilia duchess of York | William Jonys, cl. on the death of the ap David, instit. 4 April, 1468Richard Toppe, LL.B. on the resignation of Jones, bachelor in degrees, presented to this parish church of St. Michael of Stypele, alias Stypulle, and Cryche, inst. 23 Dec. 1485.Nicholas Ingleshent, chap. on the resignation of Toppe, to the rectory of Steucle and Crich, alias Stepul, instit. 16 Dec. 1489. Roger Lightfote |
| Queen Catharine | Richard Williamson, chaplain, on the resig. Of Lightfote, inst. 25 Dec. 1511.George Marshe, inst. 1546, occurs 1554.Edward JamesWilliam Betterley, inst. 1600 |
| William Churchill of Muston, co. Dorset, esq. pro hac vice | John Churchill, M.A. inst. 22 June, 1637 |
| Nat. Bond of Lutton | Samuel Bold*, M.A. inst. 22 April, 1682. |
| John Bond, esq. | Christopher Twyniho, M.A. to the united rectory of Steple cum Tyneham, on the death of Bold, inst. Jan 12, 1737Denis Bond, M.A., on the resignation of Twyniho, instituted July 3, 1742. |
| William Richards, esq. pro hac vice | William Bond, M.A. on the death of Denis Bond, Aug. 19, 1795 |
| Rev. Nathaniel Bond of Creech Grange | Nathaniel Bond, B.A. inst. June 26, 1852, on the death of William Bond |
Eminent Rector
* He was one of the ablest advocates for Mr. Locke, and wrote a defence
of his “Essay on the Understanding and Reasonableness of Christianity.” See
a letter from Mr. Locke to him in the life of Mr. Locke, prefixed to the quarto
edition of his works, and n. p. 608, vol. iv. See also in Notes and Queries,
first series vol. xi. p. 137, another long and interesting letter addressed
to him by Mr. Locke. He appears to have been unknown to Locke previous to the
publication of the above defence. See Preface to a “Second Vindication on the
Reasonableness of Christianity,” where the great author characterises Bold’s
part in the controversy as having been conducted “with the calmness of a Christian,
the gravity of a divine, the clearness of a man of parts, and the civility
of a well-bred man;” and describes him as “a man that did not take all things
upon hearsay, nor afraid to own the truth, whatever the clamour or calumny
it might lie under.” He published also in 1696 “Meditations concerning Death,”
suggested by “a distemper which lately prevailed very much in these parts,
and cut off multitudes every week in the neighbouring parishes.” He published
also the following sermons: “Man’s great Duty,” from 1 Peter, i. 15, 1675,
4to. One from Revelations, iii. 20, 1687, 12mo. “An Exhortation to Charity,”
from Rom. Viii. 18, 1689, 4to. “On the True Knowledge of Jesus Christ,” from
Phil. iii. 8, 1697, Svo. Two on the Accession of George I. 1715, from Psalm
cxxxvi. 23, and 1716, from Deut. xxxiii. 29 He died in August 1737, at the
age of 88, having held the living 56 years, and the vicarage of Shapwick 14
years, which last he resigned, or was ejected from, 1688. He was imprisoned
in the reign of James the Second for a sermon against persecution in favour
of the French refugees, from Gal. iv. 29, 1682, 4to. And for his “Plea for
Moderation.” The first was intituled “A Sermon against Persecutions, preached
March 26, 1682; and now published to the consideration of violent and headstrong
men, as well as to put a stop to false Reports. The second Edition. By Samuel
Bolde, vicar of Shapwicke in Dorsetshire.” Text, Galatians iv. 29, and in the
prefixed address to the reader are the following passages:
“It hath been my constant course for some months to preach every Sunday, either on the whole epistle for the day or some part of it. And, finding what I was commanded in the brief for the persecuted Protestants in France (which was brought to me the week before the fourth Sunday in Lent) to publish it the next Sunday, I found there was no need to alter my wonted course in order to my pitching on a subject which might suit with that occasion. The famous Dr. Patrick, in his epistle dedicatory before his sermon preached before the lord mayor, &c. the 21st Sunday after Trinity, 1680, ascribes his being directed to the subject he then preached on not so much to his own prudence as a kind of divine providence; because, having observed this same course that year, he did not on that occasion go out of his way to meet with a fitting argument. Whether people will put the same construction on this discourse, or not, I neither know nor care. But I think I may truly say, I have discoursed on this text with a freedom which becomes a Christian, and particularly a true son of the Church of England.
“It may be, some who pretend to the Church will take exception at this sermon; for there are some so shallow and of so short disclosure they cannot understand how a man can except against their violent proceedings against some Dissenters, and yet he himself a thorough Conformist. Indeed, it is not of any moment what such may either say or think, but yet to give them some satisfaction, if they ever happen to be favoured with any sober and lucid intervals, I will, amongst the many instances I might mention for this end, offer these few for their consideration.”
The underwritten is the fourth instance suggested:
“I have had the opportunity to be acquainted both with Conformists and Non-Conformists, and as I acknowledge I have great cause to bless God for the worthy labours and exemplary lives of very many in the Church of England, so I ought to give others their due. And thus I must say, that those of the Dissenters whom I have been acquainted with have been men of great learning, exemplary piety, strict devotion, and extraordinary loyalty; men who have been diligent attenders on God in his public ordinances, eminently religious in their families, who have had a great regard to conscience in all the parts of their conversation with men. They have neither been haunters of taverns, nor obscene and loose in their discourse, nor have they been guilty of sitting days and nights at cards and dice. Indeed, they have been persons that could not be justly blamed for anything, but that they had straiter notions concerning humane impositions in the service of God, than we Conformists have.”
The conclusion of the address is,
“If, after all this, any remain unsatisfied, they may seek satisfaction where they please for
“Sa. Bolde.”
No donation given for the benefit of the poor of this parish.
D. Bond, rector.
Oct. 10, 1786. Sworn before us,
Lionel Damer.
Wm. Richards.
Antiquities
In 1854, during the course of breaking up some rough heath land for cultivation about half a mile from the Grange, it was found desirable to remove a barrow, and on the north-east side the labourers came unexpectedly upon three urns placed triangularly about a yard apart, with not more than eighteen inches of earth covering them. They were about the same size, about 22 inches in height, composed of black sundried pottery, and were full of burnt bones. Between the urns was a deposit of bones unburnt, principally the leg and arm bones, which were covered with thin Purbeck paving stones laid flat over them. The whole rested on a rough paved floor of large flints, laid carefully over the space occupied by the urns. The barrow was about six feet in height, and of considerable size.
In the Purbeck volume for 1860, Mr. Austen describes a variety of fragments of pottery found at the Grange and elsewhere in this island, which he appears to consider almost conclusive evidence as to the existence of a manufacture of this kind during the Roman period and subsequently the following are extracts from his interesting paper. “The many fragments of pottery which have been found at the Grange are chiefly of two colours, red and grey. Much of the latter bears a black glaze, the former a red in imitation of Samian ware, and upon one fragment it is white. On the inside of some fragments are the markings of a brush, on others of the fingers of the potter. Most are exceedingly well burnt, and the vessels have been formed upon the lathe; many are ornamented with the cross-lined pattern so common upon Roman pottery. The whole present the character of the Upchurch ware; they are in the full sense of the word fragments, and of vessels of almost every imaginable size and shape. Pateræ, pocula, and lagenæ are perhaps the most abundant. The ware is generally coarse, and contains a large proportion of sand, though some is fine and hard. The vessels appear to have been of that class which were manufactured and used for domestic purposes, but it is very difficult to recognise their original forms.”
In addition to the pottery which has been brought to light at this spot, is a considerable quantity of stones of various lithological characters which would seem to be the remnants of ancient buildings, and amongst them three which have been hewn into the forms of pillars or pedestals, tapering towards the top, and measuring two feet six inches in height. Six inches at the bottom is left rough, evidently intended for insertion in the ground, so as to leave the exact height required at which the perforated floor of a kiln should be supported. Mr. Austen thinks these latter may have assisted in forming a hot air chamber, whence the heat was evenly distributed to the pottery stacked above for drying, preparatory to being baked in a clamp kiln.
“There are also two or three pieces of hard-baked clay an inch and an inch and a half in thickness, which appear to be fragments of perforated fire-bricks, of which the floor of the kiln may have been made.”
“Pottery of the same character as the above occurs at Povington associated with ‘coal money,’ as also at Encombe and Kimmeridge. And at Eggleston, in a mound which was partially removed some years since, was discovered a quantity of clumps of clay which bore the impressions of the fingers during the process of moulding or plastering down with the hands the alternating layers of clay, in stacking the ware preparatory to burning.”
“One fragment only of true Samian ware has been discovered, but it must be mentioned with especial interest from the circumstance of its bearing the mark of GENITORF, as it is mentioned in Mr. Neville’s list of potter’s marks. It is the same in Mr. Wright’s list, in “The Celt, the Roman and the Saxon,” and in Mr. Roach Smith’s list of marks found in London, “Collectanæ Antiqua,” i. p. 152.
Another article found at the Grange is the quern or handmill for grinding corn frequently met with on Roman sites, and, although beyond the limits of Purbeck, it may be here mentioned that a complete specimen has also been found at Poole, which consists of two stones precisely similar to those from the Grange, and others at Dorchester, and at Hamilton Hill, in the parish of Child Ockford.