Dorset

Peta Whaley

Description

Thomas Hardy was born there, Sir Walter Raleigh chose to live there, and Lawrence of Arabia is buried there. Dorset has so many great figures shaping its history, from eminent leaders such as Alfred the Great to notable writers such as Wordsworth, it could have nothing but an impressive and fascinating story.

Sujets

• Historical Geography
• HISTORY
• Histoire
• Cultural Studies

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 01 mai 2002
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781841508405
• Langue: English

Extrait

WESTCOUNTRY HISTORY

D O R S E T

PETA WHALEY

Also available from Westcountry History:

Somersetby Muriel Searle

WESTCOUNTRY HISTORY

Dorset

Peta Whaley

venton

New paperback edition ©2002 byventon, an imprint of: intellectbooks, PO Box 862, Bristol BS99 1DE

A previous edition of this book was published as Dorset Through Historyby Colin Venton ©1977 Peta Whaley.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission.

Electronic ISBN 1841508403/ISBN 1841508039

Designed, edited and typeset by May Yao and Daniel Carpenter Cover photograph ©2002 May Yao and Daniel Carpenter

Printed and bound by Antony Rowe Ltd, Eastbourne

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Contents

Shaftesbury and Alfred the Great

Corfe and Edward the Martyr

Sherborne and Sir Walter Raleigh

Corfe Castle and Lady Banks

The Western Coastal Towns and the Stuarts

Dorchester, Judge Jefferies and the Bloody Assizes

Marshwood Vale and the Wordsworths

Portesham and Nelson’s Hardy

Tolpuddle and its Martyrs

Sturminster Newton, Winterborne Came and William Barnes

Wimborne St. Giles and the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury

Stinsford, Higher Bockampton and Thomas Hardy

Lawrence of Arabia

Bibliography

7 15 21 41 47 59 71 81 87 101 111 125 135

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Shaftesbury and Alfred the Great 1 SHAFTESBURY stands 700 feet above sea level on a high ridge of upper greensand, which thrusts itself above the beautiful Vale of Blackmoor and the famous Cranborne Chase.

Shaftesbury is unique in Dorset. Most of the county’s towns are built along her river valleys or at their mouths, but Shaftesbury stands high above the countryside. The town, as we know it, was founded by Alfred the Great who built its ancient Abbey — now in ruins — and installed his daughter as its first Abbess. Within the Abbey were found the bones of St. Edward the Martyr, murdered, it is rumoured, by his stepmother.

The site of Shaftesbury is far older than the Saxons, however, because here there are remains of earlier earth walls, which may date back 2000 years. It was Alfred who laid the beginnings of the modern town, though all the buildings of his day have long ago disappeared.

Most of the old houses are built of limestone and many of the streets are narrow, winding and very steep. There are some fine old houses, Georgian or older, in St. James Street and Bimport. The main items of interest, beside the Abbey, are its four churches, the oldest of which is St. Peter’s. There is also King Alfred’s Kitchen, a medieval house with plastered, timbered walls. The town hall, next to St. Peters’, contains some interesting relics, including a silver seal older than the Spanish Armada and Charters of James I and Charles II.

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Westcountry History: Dorset

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Alfred the Great, perhaps the most famous of all the Saxon kings, was born at Wantage in Berkshire in 849. He was the youngest son of King Ethelwulf and Queen Osburgh, his older brothers being Ethelburt, who died in 865 and Ethelred I, whom Alfred succeeded in 871.

Alfred’s Wessex was not a peaceful nor peace-loving country lying helpless before the Norsemen. The Saxons were used to war, but they were vulnerable because of their long coastline — the longest in Europe — with many good harbours and hidden bays un-defended and open to the longships of the Norsemen.

The Saxons were not a seafaring people like the Vikings, who were daring and experienced sailors. They had no ships with which to repel the fierce invaders, nor to stand as a shield at sea between the coasts of Britain and any marauding enemy. The Norsemen also enjoyed the advantage that if they were beaten badly on land or ran short of supplies they had only to retire to their ships and take to the sea again.

Alfred, to whom could be attributed the building of the first English navy, never used his ships for anything else but defence against the invaders.

His first encounter with the Danes occurred in the reign of his brother, Ethelred I. A great Danish army emerged from East Anglia in 870 and marched south to meet the Saxons of Wessex. It was probably one of the largest armies ever to invade Britain. Ethelred and Alfred gave battle but were defeated, though they inflicted heavy losses on the enemy.

The Vikings moved to Ashdown, in Berkshire, followed by the Saxon army. Ethelred refused to fight until he had heard Mass, but Alfred, young and impatient, decided to lead the attack alone and charged at the head of his men against the second division of the Norsemen. He led the attack with, it is said, “the fury of a young boar”. The battle, however, was a

Shaftesbury and Alfred the Great

victory for Alfred, secured chiefly by his bravery.

Ethelred I died in 871, while more Danish ships sailed up the Thames and disembarked an army at Reading. Alfred succeeded to the throne of Wessex, but the reign started badly for the young king. In his first year he fought nine battles, all south of the Thames and was defeated in each one. At last he found it necessary to buy off the Vikings for a brief peace.

Then a Norse army under a leader called Guthrun, who was already established on the East Coast, where he had his headquarters at Cambridge, marched right into the heart of Wessex. Here he took up his headquarters in a nunnery at Wareham. History does not relate what happened to the nuns. At first Guthrun pretended to treat with Alfred, giving him hostages and promising to leave his kingdom.

He soon broke these promises, however. The Norsemen were a treacherous people and the breaking of faith with their enemies meant nothing to them. They waited till nightfall and then slipped past Alfred on their horses and rode towards Exeter. When Alfred realised what had happened he hurried after them, but he was too late to stop them from capturing the town.

Then, the Danes suffered a terrible disaster at sea, because a number of their ships ran into a wild storm off Swanage and 120 were sunk or were driven onto the rocks and reefs.

Again the Vikings gave Alfred hostages and promised to keep the peace and again they broke their promises. Quite unexpectedly, that winter, Guthrun marched to Chippenham and settled there, conquering all the countryside around. Usually, the Norsemen did not move or fight in the winter and again they took Alfred completely by surprise.

The young king only had a small force and was driven to retreat before Guthrun till he reached the Somerset marshes,

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Westcountry History: Dorset

where he was able to hide. Indeed Alfred seemed to be in desperate straits. He had lost all his kingdom except these inhospitable moors and Guthrun appeared to be invincible.

It was while Alfred was hiding in the Somerset moors that the legend grew up about his burning of the cakes.

The young king’s position, however, was not as desperate as it seemed. He had retired to the little hill of Athelney, where he stayed with his back to the Quantock Hills, which lay to the northwest. On his northeast flank lay the low ridge of the Polden Hills and beyond them, again to the northeast, the great limestone hump of the Mendips. He fortified Athelney and while he was doing so, a fleet of 23 Danish ships set out from Wales to cross the Severn and suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of a Saxon Army, under the command of a Devon chieftan called Odda.

Meanwhile, Alfred, after fortifying Athelney, began ranging out from this little stronghold in minor forays, which grew bolder as time went on. His refusal to give in gave the ordinary people courage and once winter was over he left Athelney and rode to a place called Selwood, where he rallied his subjects round him and raised a large army from the three counties of Wiltshire, Somerset and East Hampshire.

They marched to the Norse camp at Chippenham and Guthrun led his forces out to meet them. A fierce battle took place at Edington and the Saxons won a decisive victory. Alfred captured the enemy’s horses and cattle and besieged Guthrun in his stronghold.

At last, overcome by cold and hunger, the Viking leader surrendered, giving Alfred the hostages he demanded and even allowing himself to be baptised a Christian. Then he marched back to East Anglia, leaving Alfred as victorious master of Wessex.

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