Extract from
“THE BOOK OF THE AXE:
Containing a piscatorial
description of that stream and Historical
Sketches of all the Parishes and Remarkable Places upon its Banks”
by George P. R. PULMAN
4th Edition, 1875
Transcribed and donated to the Dorset OPC Project by Kim Parker.
Taking leave of Beaminster, let us ramble, friend Piscator, up the pleasant Crewkerne road, and through the tunnel1, and behold! a couple of miles before us, stretching up the opposite hill-side, and basking in the April sunshine, is Mosterton. Before reaching it we shall have to cross the little rippling Axe, about three miles below its source, spanned here by its first stone bridge, a structure far less picturesque than useful. You are struck by the singularity of the name, which almost sounds as if it were a play upon that of Misterton, the adjoining parish. In my “Local Nomenclature” I have endeavoured to explain both names – Misterton from the Anglo-Saxon Mœste-treow-tun, the ton, enclosure, farm, or place, famous for mast-trees2, and Mosterton thus:- “I am inclined to take Mosterton as a wide departure from its primitive form – an intentional departure, perhaps, in order to bring the word to resemble Misterton – and to consider the orthography in Domesday as nearer the original. It there appears as Mortestorne. Now torne is no doubt Anglo-Saxon for thorn, as in Torn-eg, Thorny-Island, in Cambridgeshire, and Morthes is the genitive of Morth, slaughter, murder, death. The whole is thus literally the Thorn of Death, or of Murder, a name no doubt intended to commemorate some deed of blood about which even the Voice of Tradition is silent.
Mosterton is a hamlet, a manor, a chapelry, and a tithing belonging to South Perrott, which lies about a mile to the north-east of it, at the extreme end of Dorset, abutting upon Somerset, and in the hundred of Beaminster-Forum-and-Redhove3. It is also in the Beaminster union, the diocese of Salisbury, and the deanery of Bridport. The parish contains an area of 957 acres, and a population, in 1871, of 321, being a decrease since 1851 of twenty-five.
The account of the manor in Domesday Book is translated as follows:- “Richard de Redvers holds Mortestorne. Almer held it in the time of King Edward, and it was gelded for six hdes. There is arable land to five ploughs. There are two ploughs in demesne, and five bondmen, and eight villains, and five bordars, with three ploughs. A mill there pays seven shillings and sixpence, and there are thirty acres of meadow. Wood one mile long and half a mile broad. It was, and is, worth twelve pounds.”
Afterwards it came to the Blounte of Blunt family, in which it remained until about the close of the fourteenth century. In 1432 (Henry VI.) Richard More de Piket, and Elizabeth his wife, held at their deaths the manor of Mortestorne and the capital messuage there called Blunt’s Court, with other property. The manor continued in the More family for several generations, and passed to the Pauletts of Melplash and Bredy by the marriage of Lord Thomas Paulett, second son of the Marquis of Winchester, with the daughter of Sir Thomas More. In the fourth year of Charles the First (1628) it was sold by John Poulett, of Hinton St. George, Esq., into whose possession it had come three years before, to Robert Henley, of Henley, Esq. Passing through several hands, a considerable portion of the manor was purchased in 1765 by William Hussey, of Salisbury, Esq., and it is now the property of Thomas Hussey, Esq. The other principal landowners are Sir Henry Oglander, Bart., W. T. Cox, Esq., and Captain Steele.
Mosterton church, a chapel of ease to South Perrott, stood formerly at Chapel Court, about half a mile from Mosterton, in the direction of Crewkerne, where the churchyard still remains. The graves and tombs, away in the fields and apart from any building in connection with them, are calculated to produce a solemn effect upon the thoughtful wayfarer along the adjacent turnpike road. The building was destroyed in 1832. It was in the Perpendicular style, with remains of an earlier date, and consists of a nave and chancel, with a porched doorway on the north side. The nave was thirty-seven feet nine inches long and thirteen feet wide. There was also a doorway under the western window. There were six windows in the nave. Four were of two lights each, with cinquefoil heads and trefoil-headed tracery. One window was modern, and consisted of a single light only. The western window occupied nearly the whole of the front. It was of four lights, with perpendicular tracery in the head. In one of the windows were fragments of stained glass. The rood-loft staircase was in a circular turret in the north-east corner. The Ceiling was coved and ribbed. The chancel, fifteen feet three inches long by twelve feet six inches wide, communicated with the nave under a pointed arch. It was lighted with two windows. The east window was of two lights, with trefoil heads and a quatrefoil in tracery. The other was a single-light window only. The west-end wall of the nave was elevated above the ridge of the roof, and was pierced with two apertures, on one of which was a bell. The angels of the building were strengthened with buttresses, and the apex of the castern wall of the nave was surmounted with a plain stone cross. The font was an octagonal stone basin upon a cylindrical pedestal4.
Among the tablets in the old church was one to the memory of “Elizabeth Hood”, who died August 2, 1745, aged 43 years. The noble family family of Hood belonged originally to Mosterton, and over the porch of what is now the New Inn - evidently the remains of a respectable family residence - are the initials
H
A A
and the date 1748. In this house I was once shown a small brass taken from the old church. It was in memory of some members of a family named Clarke, descendants from which are still in the neighbourhood, and contained the following quaintly expressed sentiment : -
“Its true Fair Tombs does do ye deed no Good,
Yet shows ye Doner's Love and Gratitude.”
Formerly the interments were exclusively at South Perrott, where a particular part of the churchyard was specially appropriated to Mosterton. Among the records upon the tombs in the old and long-closed burial ground are the following :-
Edward Hunt, died August 11, 1833, aged 60. Ann his wife, October 17, 1828,
aged 51.
Children of Robert and Judith Waldon, 1862 and 1865.
Mary, wife of Job Gibbs, August 12, 1834, aged 62, and John James, their son,
aged 26, November 11, 1862.
Martha, daughter of John and Mary Vincent, June 15, 1805, aged 32.
'When this you see,
Remember me,
As I lie in the dust;
Take my advice,
Repent in time,
For Providence is just.'
John Vincent, September 9, 1810, aged 68; Mary his wife, Sept. 29, 1810, aged
67.
William Pearce, February 21, 1830, aged 82, Grace his wife, June 15, 1832,
aged 61. Also a grown-up son, a daughter, and a granddaughter.
Helen Grace Clark.
Elizabeth Pearce, 1776, aged 54, and other members of her family.
Betty, wife of john Gibbs, August 27, 1776, aged 29, and Mary, their infant
daughter.
Thomas Brown, March 11, 1822, aged 82; and Martha his wife, August 26, 1799,
aged 65.
'Reader, beware! Thy life is frail,--
Short as the passing gale thy breath!
Then, when temptaton does assail,
Think of the icy hand of Death.
Here once I stood, as thou dost now,
And view'd the dead (:) as thou dost me.
Ere long shalt thou thus lowly bow,
Whilst others stand and gaze on thee.'
Henry Daubney, September 12, 1822, aged 70; and Sarah his wife.
William Vincent, October 3, 1843, aged 77; mary his wife, December 10, 1826,
aged 39; two sons, and a daughter.
'Thou can'st not escape me. The aged and young –
The wise and the foolish - the feeble and strong –
The bold and the coward -- the freeman and the slave –
All, all are my victims, for I am the Grave.
Come, take up thy cross and sincerely begin
To turn heav'nward thy face and seek pardon for sin.
Thy Saviour alone from destruction can save;-
Despise not my warning,--for I am the Grave!'
Henry Gibbs, February 13, 1848, aged 19.
Elizabeth, wife of William Murley, September 15, 1827, aged 61; and Benjamin
her son, August 11, 1824, aged 30.
May, 'widow of the late Robert Grovos, of crewkerne, and daughter of Thomas
and Elizabeth Wakely.' Thomas Wakely, September 5, 1843, aged 93; William,
March 7, 1838, aged 80; Thomas, May 1, 1861, aged 82; John, January 20, 1836,
aged 69; and other members of the family. The firs by which the little burying-ground
is now surrounded were planted by Mr John Wakely since the church was removed.
The new church was built in the centre of the street, half a mile from the site of the old one, and therefore in a far more convenient situation, although it would appear from the foundations of buildings dug up from time to time in Chapel Close that the hamlet itself ran away from its church and has now been followed up and overtaken by it. The building was finished and consecrated in 1833. It has not a particle of architectural merit, and consists merely of a nave and chancel, lighted by imitations of Early English5 lancet windows, furnished with weather mouldings resting upon corbels of unique design. There is a tower at the west end containing one bell, and a porch on the north side. A gallery crosses the western end of the nave, and the pulpit and reading desk are placed one on each side of the chancel arch. The pews admit of three hundred and fifty-nine sittings. The builder of the church was a whimsical individual of whom it would be uncharitable to speak severely in an architectural or any other sense after reading the inscription upon his tomb in South Perrott churchyard. Some years before his death he caused his grave to be dug, as well as that of his wife, who was also living, the two graves being separated from each other by a wall of single bricks, through which was an aperture for the convenience of the buried couple's shaking hands when in some imaginary state of existence which the old man's silly fancies had suggested. The inscription is as follows:-
“To the memory of Elias Dawe, who died June 23, 1847, aged 72 years; and also of Elizabeth his wife, who died March 23, 1848, aged 83 years. The above was a carpenter for this parish and Cheddington 52 years, and never served any apprenticeship, or ever went to school one day in his life. He builded two churches in his time. He was old in years, in honors, in wisdom, and in virtue. His afflictions were sanctified, and laying hold of that hope which brings a man peace at the last, he closed a life of usefulness by a death of tranquillity.”
The parish appears to have been singularly fortunate in possessing worthy men whose good deeds, contrary to the general experience of mankind, live after them – at least on tombstone authority. For not far from the worthy carpenter’s resting-place lies “Benjamin Cleal, gent., who died January 9, 1823, aged 94 years. He was a good farmer, a true Christian, and an honest man.” The name of Cleal appears very early in the South Perrott register, which commenced in 1538, and there is a story in the parish that it owes its origin to one of its owners having worked so incessantly in a field called Clayhill as to receive the nick-name which assumed its present “proper” form.
The baptismal register of Mosterton commences in 1655, and contains entries relating to several members of the Hood family, including the baptisms of “Anne Hood, daughter of John Hood, 1680; Arthur, son of Samuel Hood, 1754;” and in 1756 and 1758 respectively Anne and Alexander, daughter and son of the same gentleman. Under the date 1763 is the following curious entry: “William _____, not known. Two women brought this child and refused to tell the name of its parents.” I have in my possession the original document appointing Alexander Hood and William Gill overseers of the parish of Mosterton. It is dated April 22, 1745.
Mosterton possesses a factory for sailcloth, which affords considerable employment, and is situated close to the bridge. It belongs to Mr. W. H. Toby of Beaminster. The river at the back of the factory is ponded, for the purpose of driving the machinery, and forms a considerable stretch of water, which contains some trout and eels. As there happens to be a breeze, Piscator, this pleasant April morning, you may as well, as a relief, indulge a few initiatory casts, by way of getting your hand in for the ground below, at which we must commence in earnest. One of two village inns will afford, perchance, a glass of home-brewed and a crust, which may not be unwelcome, and I shall have the opportunity of jotting a few particulars of the history of South Perrott.
There! You have hooked a capital fish already – a lively though not a spotless beauty! But you handle him nervously. The first fish of the season is apt to discompose one for a moment. The first plunge – the strike – the rush which follows – send the blood through one’s veins like quicksilver, and make the heart beat audibly, while a kind of electric shock affects the system when the struggler yields at last and when the angler flings his speckled prize upon the greensward. But, after all, this put new life into a man! It excites his hopes – it exhilarates his spirits – it communicates, in a word, the mysterious influence peculiar to sporting – the influence which puzzles the philosopher, and which is altogether beyond the comprehension of the “fashionable gent” who affects to ridicule the angler and to take pity upon his possession of “patience”. But – what a fish was that which came up under the alder opposite! There! – thanks to your nervousness, or to something else – you have caught the bush instead of the fish, and your line is fast enough.
But hold, Piscator, -- prithee, hold! You dislike, you say, a brawling brook when fringed with bushes, and have not yet your nerves in tune. Nevertheless, that flinging down of your rod so petulantly – that stamping like a maniac – are unseemly in so good a craftsman and so good a man! It is, to say the least, unangler-like. Imagine Father Isaac indulging in such pranks – the good old man who sang with milkmaids and who spake such words of wisdom! Why verily you get from bad to worse! That impatient tug has smashed your top, and left your collar dangling in the bush. I really blush for you, and shall forthwith retire to the alehouse, leaving you alone with your reflections, to repair the damage to your tackle, to regain your lost serenity, and to gratify the curiosity of that bull in the meadow where your flies are dangling, for he has for some minutes, I observe, been lavishing his attention upon us in a way which makes one feel uncomfortable. You will find time, while I am engaged with the crust, and home-brewed, about which you express yourself to be indifferent, to wander up the stream, to try a few casts near Picket Mill6, - in the event of your finding sufficient water there, which is somewhat problematical, - and to insinuate your flies into the few little open places which you will discover in the interval between the mill and the factory pond, on the margin of which we are now about to separate for a little while.
1 This tunnel is through Horn Hill, about a mile and a half out of the town. The following information is conveyed by inscriptions over each entrance: - “The public are principally indebted for the erection of this tunnel to the zealous exertions of Giles Russell of Beaminster, gent. Begun, August, 1831; finished, June, 1832. M. Lane, Civil Engineer.
2 Forest trees were extremely valuable to our Anglo-Saxon forefathers on account of their production of mast for the feeding of swine – for swine formed an important part of the food of the population. Hardly an estate was without its mast-woods, and the number of swine-herds (porcarii) on every manor was carefully registered in Domesday Book. Special laws were made for the pannage of the favourite animal, and there was a careful distinction between the swine de herbagio – the lean swine fed upon the herbage of the waste – and the fatted swine of the woods. No wonder, then, that the mast-trees should be highly valued, apart from their use for timber, and no wonder that they should be found to designate localities! – See my “Local Nomenclature,” pages 134-5.
3 The triple name of this hundred probably arose from an ancient division into two parts or districts, as was the case at Sherborne and other Dorsetshire hundreds, and termed the In-hundred (hundredum intrinsicum) and the Out-hundred (hundredum forinsecum), Redhove having afterwards been united, as it probably belonged to the same lord. The word Forinsecus, or Forinsecum, as usual in ancient records, was always written in a contracted form, - Forin’, or Forinsec’, or perhaps For’um, - and probably “some blundering scribe,” as Hutchins remarks, “not understanding its import, converted it into the unabbreviated Forum, a word of a very different meaning, and totally destroying the idea of a division of the hundred into two distinct parts, which mistake has continued to the present day. Hence it happened that both parts of the hundred of Beaminster have been supposed to belong to the lords of Bradpole, though the courts for the in-hundred, or the hundred of Beaminster proper, have been regularly held in the name of the bishops of Sarum, or their lessees, whilst those of the out-hundred, with which the bishops had nothing to do, have been long neglected.” Redhove has only about three houses which go by that name, three miles south-west of Beaminster, at North Poorton, where the ancient courts, now neglected, were held for centuries. In the record 20 Edward III., Redhove is said to contain South Perrott, Morteshorne, South and North Maperton, Porton, and Bourton. In the Rotuli Nonarum, “Suthperrott” is said to be in “Rydehove and Bemynstre Forum.” There can be little doubt of the union of the two hundreds, as before mentioned.
4 I obtain most of these particulars from a paper in the “Gentleman’s Magazine” for May, 1832, contributed by Mr. William Sawyer, of Hinton St. George.
5 The Early English, or First Pointed Gothic, was the style of ecclesiastical architecture which prevailed during the thirteenth century. Like the Perpendicular (page 126) it is peculiar to this country. It succeeded the Saint-Norman style, to which it is in many respects a perfect contrast. It is light, chaste, and exceedingly graceful, and can always be easily recognised by the acutely-pointed arch, the slender detached shaft, the steeply-pitched roof, and the graceful spire by which the tower is generally terminated. The ornaments and mouldings are also characteristic, particularly “the tooth-ornament,” which is peculiar to this style. But the lancet window is the most striking feature. It is long, narrow, of one light, acutely pointed, and deeply splayed – resembling in shape the instrument after which it is named. In large churches, and for the end windows of small ones, three and sometimes four, of these lancet windows are placed side by side, the highest in the centre, and a hood-moulding is carried in a graceful manner over the whole. Salisbury Cathedral, and the nave and transepts of Wells Cathedral, are magnificent specimens of the Early English style. The best specimen in this immediate neighbourhood is the parish church of Ottery Saint Mary. The style can be traced in certain parts of some of the churches in the Valley of the Axe, intermixed, in every case, with other styles. The little church at Wayford, though by no means an elegant one, is yet the most complete specimen, and there are lancet windows, and other Early English work, in the churches at Winsham, Axminster, and other places. Some parts of Ford Abbey, also, present some exquisite work in this interesting style.
6 This mill, called also Buckham Mill, is the first below the source of the river. The stream in this part, except in the factory pond, can hardly be considered adapted for fly-fishing, strictly speaking, on account of its smallness, although it might, at certain seasons, be fished successfully with the worm. Buckham was anciently a manor, and gave its name to a knightly family. The family of Parham, or Parnham, and the Strodes, had lands here, and about the time of the Reformation the manor was held by the Gerards of Sandford Orcas, who, in the reign of Elizabeth, divided it into three farms – West Buckham, Larder’s Buckham, and Buckham Mill. The mill farm is now the property of G. D. Wingfield Digby , Esq., of Sherborne Castle. Picket is also the name of a farm near, now belonging to Mr. Digby. The old farm-house probably contained a chapel, for its walls exhibit fragments of ecclesiastical architecture. At the west end there are fragments of Perpendicular buttresses at the angles, and at the east end the remnants of a three-light Perpendicular window with tracery in the head, and the gable is surmounted with the original hip-knot.