DORSET Past
A country that abounds with ancient settlements & the archaeological evidence of the past
including remains of the Roman Occupation from about AD 43 for about 500 years until their departure in 412 AD
DORSET Domesday 1068 -
Symondsbury in the Hundred: Whitechurch Canoncorum, Dorset
Population: 31 households (quite large). • tax assessed: 19 geld units (very large).
Value to lord in 1086 £21. Value in 1070 £21.
20 villagers. 10 smallholders. 1 slave. with 20 ploughlands . 2 lord's plough teams. 14 men's plough teams. With 5.0 lord's lands.14 acres of Meadow; 5 acres of Pasture 1 furlongs less 10 rods mixed measures. ).5 leagues of Woodland ,1 furlong mixed measures with 1 cob . 100 sheep. 12 goats.
Lord of the Manor in 1066 was Abbey of Cerne . In 1066 Cerne Abbey was still Lord of the Manor & Tenant-in-chief .
Crafts & Trades
Henry VIII (1509-1547) intent of creating the Royal Navy, recognised the importance of the hemp crop & passed a law that made hemp cultivation mandatory for all English farmers.
Rope became a major industry in Bridport . Hemp & Flax were grown to supply it. Rope walks developed during the Middle Ages as rope making techniques advanced. With the advent of rope walks, rope makers were able to create longer, stronger ropes in continuous lengths of 300 yards or longer !
Like many coastal places Bridport had 'rope walks "- in other coastal towns you can still find the names & in Bridport it seems ,there are many rope walks behind the facades of its main streets
A Blue Field of Flax
In the 18th century Dorset Hemp and Flax growers abounded around the Dorset county town of Dorchester .
Whole families were involved in the rope making trade & earning a subsistence living.
in Bridport, Dorset,
Father a Comber or hackler (person who separated the coarse part of flax or hemp with a tool called a hackle .
Mother a Twine Spinner ,
15 year old Son, 12 year old daughter , 10 year old son , 9 year old all Twine Flayers
In naval dockyards the rope walks were buildings designed for the purpose
The ropewalk in Chatham
A corner of a hand stitched sail made in the C19th
Flax is used to make linen, an essential fine cloth for mens shirts, nightshifts, ladies under garments such as petticoats and shifts, as well as table clothes & napery .The plants seeds - linseed , was once of the most ancient of crops - it was & is still is, made into oil and for medicine.
Jute .Probably originally grown in the woollen industry for its yellow dye , the stems of the mallow , Malvaceae, was used for cordage, cloth and is still commonly used in upholstery ,carpet backing , hessian sacks amongst other things.
Hemp , Cannabis sativa, was another widely grown crop. Throughout the ages ,from before the magnificent three masted ships of the line in the C17th , right down to the smallest single masted inshore fishing smacks , they all needed sails & hemp was grown to supply that need. The canvas of sails was made of hemp, as were the ropes and the caulking used to fill gaps between planks Hemp is 3 times stronger than jute and was preferred because it was unaffected by salt water.
Here a wonderful site of 72 pages of images here All things 17th Century
BRIDPORT on the south coast in Dorset was a significant settlement from early in the history of Britain. In the late 9th century Alfred the Great created a network of fortified settlements across his kingdom called burhs. In the event of a Danish attack all the men from the area could gather together in the local burh to fight.
Bridport was one such burh. However it was more than just a fortress it was also a busy little market town and in the 10th century Bridport had a mint coining money suggesting it was indeed a place of some importance.
From that early time Bridport was a busy little town and port in the Middle Ages, although it would have seemed tiny to us with a population of around 500-600, later in the Middle Ages Bridport it grew considerably larger and by the 12th century it was prospering.
The local land has always been well suited to growing both hemp and flax, so it would be natural that a rope making industry would grow up.
For centuries Bridport was famous for rope making. By the time of King John in the early 13th century Bridport was renowned for its rope. The local land is very well suited to growing both hemp and flax. So it was natural that a rope making industry would grow up there.
The little town was important enough in 1213 for King John urged the ropers to work 'night and day' to make the rope he needed for his navy.
Through the centuries the town continued to grow and in the 18th century it was a busy little market town and rope making centre. Flax fibres are fine, ideal for linen, lines, thread, Honiton lace and sailcloth. Hemp fibres being coarser were more suitable for rope, nets, lines, canvas, sackcloth and webbing. Twine and lines were made from both flax and hemp.
By the 1800s a large proportion of fibre was imported from Russia and surrounding countries.
Making linen was a long and laborious process requiring a considerable workforce.
Flax is a woody plant and the long fibre needed to make linen is found just underneath the bark of the stems. These cellulose fibres are spinnable and once the woody stalks are processed it can be spun, before being woven and then sewn by hand.
This continue until the eighteenth century whilst wool & linen was one of the most important textiles in the world.
Parish of Symondsbury
NMP Mapping of the Marshwood Vale, Dorset AONB - Historic England file:///Volumes/DATABASE/GENEALOGY/DORSET/NMPMappingoftheMarshwoodValeDorsetAONB.pdf
The remains of medieval strip lynchets and field boundaries at ....
Post medieval limestone quarrying on Sloe's Hill, Symondsbury ...... associated with Broadwindsor Park (MDO537); Park Coppice and Park Cowleaze.
......many of the medieval deer parks documented a study of the area (e.g. Wootton Fitzpaine (MDO3440);
Marshwood (MDO1638); Crekelade (MDO1639); Symondsbury (MDO2663); Chideock (MDO900)) can be traced, at least partially, on the basis of surviving landscape features and place-names: Higher and Lower Park Farms associated with Broadwindsor Park (MDO537); Park Coppice and Park Cowleaze associated with Beaminster Park -