Hills and Views - Maiden Castle

Maiden Castle, the largest Iron Age hill fort in Europe, occupies a low hill just a mile or so from the town of Dorchester, yet  it still manages to retain an atmosphere of airy isolation. The still-lofty defensive banks and ditches rise up like frozen waves and are a charmed place to lie back and listen to the atmospheric cry of the invisible skylark.

To really appreciate the earthwork requires wings, as only then can you appreciate the sophisticated layout of this ancient structure.
Here, 2000 years ago, the Roman army, led by Vespasian faced the local lot, the Durnovaria, in a battle that was probably a forgone conclusion; British slingshots would have been no match for Rome's state-of-the-art ballistas.

The story of their last stand was painted in chilling detail when archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler conducted an extensive dig here some seventy years ago. A mass grave of the defenders was uncovered, the skeletons clearly exhibiting battle wounds; while huge reserves of slingstones brought from nearby Chesil Bank lay unused .
Today life here is much more peaceful, the occupation force is mainly sheep, lambs and dog walkers; the hill's occupants having  long ago forsaken their ancestral home for the bright lights of Dorchester town.

Dorset Detail - Milestones

As you scoot along the roads of Dorset luxuriating in the cosseted comfort of an automobile, you may sometimes be aware of regular flashes of white at the periphery of your vision. The humble milestone begs your attention.  
Milestones still line Dorset roads at regular intervals, redundant witnesses to a slower, bygone age.
They were first used in Britain by the Romans, though it wasn't until the 1767 they became mandatory. Before this time even the length of a mile varied...hence the saying 'give him an inch and he'll take 1759 yards'... but with the advent of the mail coach strict  standardisation became necessary. 
The milestone's relevance gradually disminished with the arrival of the railway and the increasing speed traffic at the end of the 19C.
Nowadays they occupy some enviable pieces of real estate. Those along the A35 have stunning views, though actually reaching them means taking your life in your hands as the photographer (me) found.
Of course Britain being Britain there are milestone enthusiasts and a society, the Milestone Society (see here), though whether they actually uproot them and paste them in albums...

Roman Dorset

The Roman conquest of Dorset and the southwest was led by the future emperor, Vespasian, later responsible for the sack of Jerusalem. The locals stood little chance against the well organised legions. Evidence of battle, slingstones and mass graves (see here) were discovered at Maiden Castle on the outskirts of Dorchester in the 1940's.

Vespasian

Dorchester itself was originally the Roman town of Durnovaria and has proved rich in in artefacts, many of which can be found in the County Museum.

The remains of this centuries-long occupation are surprisingly scant, though worth searching out. 

I suppose you could say Colosseums aren't legion in Dorset...

Roman Town House, Dorchester  This site is the best preserved example of a Roman town house in the country. 

A chance discovery in 1937 revealed a complex of eight buildings dating from the early 4th century AD. it was adorned with costly mosaics and painted plaster around 350ad. The Roman Town House can be seen in Colliton Park, in the grounds of County Hall, Dorchester. The site is open every day of the year. Admission is free.

Roman Road, Puddletown Forest  Only recently rediscovered, it was originally part of a road that ran from Exeter to London. Remains run for half a mile and take the form of a high bank more than 15ft high with ditches either side.

Roman aqueduct  The aqueduct ran for about twelve miles from Notton to Dorchester places where it was cut into the hillside can still be seen. Originally about 5 ft wide and 3 ft deep and delivering 8 million gallons a day.

Ackling Dyke Roman Road  The route of the road runs for 22 miles arrow straight from the outskirts of Salisbury to the hill fort of Badbury Rings cutting through any pre Roman monuments which happens to be in its way. The route can be easily followed as it is a right of way much of it takes the form of a raised bank or agger for drainage and to create a statement of Roman might to the newly vanquished Britons.

Roman Temple, Maiden Castle Dorchester  Constructed about 400AD similar in plan to Jordan Hill and as beautifully situated within the ramparts of the hillfort of Maiden castle the site of a resounding Roman victory over the Britons and looking across the fields to the Roman town of Dorchester.

Maumbury Rings  Originally a Neolithic henge this large circular earthwork 85ft in diameter was adapted by the Romans to serve as a amphitheatre and in the 17thcentury as a place of execution.

Maumbury Rings

Late Roman Temple, Jordan Hill, Weymouth  Only the foundations are visible of this 4-5th century square columned temple various ritual foundation deposits were discovered as well as the remains of hundred burials in the area surrounding it. It is an atmospheric site with fine panoramic views

By George!...George III's holiday snaps Pt 9

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You're on your hols in Weymouth, you've pulled your bathers on, donned that water resistant wig, convinced yourself that the water's lovely; when this happens.....who'd be King George III...

Georgian Weymouth

Dorset Museums 17- Blandford Town Museum

As mentioned previously not only was John Bastard responsible for creating the Blandford we see today but, in keeping with all educated men of this era, he took a keen interest in his surroundings and produced this watercolour of a local landmark. 

He described the Damory Oak with these words (his spelling by the way...) 

'Damory Oak Supposed to be More than a Thousand years Old. Was in the year 1600 Verry hollow as shown in the plan. And was some time used by 7 people to sell ale there and some times to House Calves, lambs etc. In ye year 1700 it was a verry Hansom Tree and full of Leaves (but hollow as a cove's) Itt sufford in ye ftorm 1703.  Since that many good timbers have ben cutt of  by ye Rives of Ranston Dorsett. The remainder sold in ye year 1757, asFier Wood, att 14 pounds sterling'

At the time it was felled it measured 68 feet in circumference

Dorset History- A tale of the great slave rebellion

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High on the wall of the St Peter's Church in Dorchester is an unassuming eighteenth century marble memorial commemorating the death in 1774 of John Gordon a member the illustrious Clan Gordon. The inscription then takes a sinister turn when it mentions Gordon's contribution to the quelling of a slave rebellion in Jamaica in 1760 and the humanity he displayed afterwards.
This slave rebellion mentioned so briefly touched on was one of the first serious slave uprisings and from all accounts its outcome far from humane. 

The uprising is remembered as Tacky’s Rebellion, and its memory is preserved in a monument in Kingston, Jamaica. Tacky, a Coromantee chief by birth, was an overseer who, with a group of fellow tribesmen, fell on their British oppressors on Easter Sunday, a time when most whites would have been attending church.

What happened next is related by a contemporary witness:

"The rebellion amongst the Negroes has been of bad consequence to the whole island. Their design was to rise at Kingston and Spanish town, and to have set fire to these towns in several places at once, and to murder everybody in them. 

They afterward seized what arms and ammunition were to be found, and went to a small fort at Port Maria, where there was only one white man and a Negro; they killed the white man, and took away three barrels of powder, and marched to another Estate, where the overseer was apprised of their intentions. He defended the house for an hour and a half, and the rebels were going away; upon which he opened the door, and wanted to bring them to their duty by speaking to them. Whilst he was doing so, one of his own Negroes shot him in the back. The rest rushed in and killed all the white people except one, whom they mangled in the most awful manner, cutting off his nose, and leaving him for dead. They cut off the overseer's head,  put his blood in a calabath, mixed gunpowder with it, and eat their plantains dipped in it, as they did by every white man they killed. In short their savage barbarity can scarcely be paralleled."

Defeat was inevitable, and retribution swift and cruel...

"...There are about 25 of them made prisoner, who are severally carried to Spanish Town and the places they committed their barbarities. Ion who had not been the rebel actually was burnt alive for having sworn to cut his master's and mistress's heads off and make punch bowls of them. On Saturday I heard trials of four more, who were found guilty of being concerned in the murder of white people. Two were burnt alive the same day; two were hanged, their bodies burnt, and their heads stuck on poles. Two were tried at Kingston for the same offence and found guilty. Their sentence was to be gibbeted alive 20 feet high. One of them lived nine days without a drop of water, hanging in an excessive hot place."

Little evidence is shown of the 'humane treatment' mentioned on John Gordons memorial the account omitting to mention that several rebels were slow roasted in front of open fires.

Tracing John Gordon is all but impossible- there was always a strong Scots presence in Jamaica and a Gordon, even a well connected one is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

A John Gordon, whose dates correspond with the John Gordon of Dorchester, was transported to slavery to a nearby Martinique for taking part in the battle of Culloden in 1745 ( as many Scots, including well connected ones were) so could have well served his time and travelled to Jamaica by 1760 and taken part in this shameful episode...its a romantic notion if nothing else...

By George! George III's holiday snaps Pt.7

When the King descended on Weymouth so did the Quality. Hard to believe but Weymouth became the  kingdom's style and entertainment capital. The Assembly rooms and theatre served up the latest entertainment.

Rules for the Weymouth Assembly Rooms

 Not to be forgotten, though, was real the reason for being here at Weymouth the first place,  getting one's feet wet...

Always someone with their hand out...

Dorset History 1-The Easton Massacre

High above Portland can be found the church of St George, its classical proportions make it an architectural gem worth seeking in its own right but its graveyard is also special.

Its weathered memorials standing just a stone's throw from the very edge of the quarry, are unusually elaborate and evocative.

In the present day and age, when atrocities take place far from home one particular memorial bears witness to a violent sequence of events that took place here on Portland over 200 years ago which ended in the violent death of twenty one year old Mary Way.

 Her gravestone tells of her death as a result of wounds sustained after being shot by the Press Gang. The incident took place April 2 1803, and is remembered to this day as the Easton Massacre.

It all began on the night before her death when men from the Frigate, Eagle, had come ashore and unsuccessfully attempted to press Nicholas Way. He was the captain of a small vessel and therefore exempt from the press (as indeed all the able bodied men on the island were).

Undeterred, at 5.00 am the next morning the Eagle's captain landed at Easton with a heavily armed force of some thirty men and officers. The early hour was chosen to catch the islanders while they slept. One of the first men they apprehended was their previous night’s victim, Nicholas Way along with Henry Wiggat. By this time the villagers, woken by the furore, ran for cover in panic. As the Press Gang chased the villagers uphill they found their way was bravely blocked by Zachariah White. Demanding the source of their authority he discovered that the warrant, signed by a Mayor of Weymouth, had no legal authority on the island.

 

The sailors, though, ignored his protestations and moved on. 
As the situation began to grow ugly they formed a defensive line. When they attempted to snatch yet another islander, the crowd snapped. In the ensuing scuffles a pistol, whether accidentally or not, was fired by the captain. This was the prearranged signal to open fire. In the ensuing chaos three islanders died instantly, shot through the head. Two more, one of them Mary Way, fell fatally wounded to the ground, a bullet lodged in her back. The pressgang who had also sustained casualties then retired to their ship taking their hard-won captives.

St Georges stands on the very edge of a quarry

An official enquiry into the events was eventually held but no convictions were ever made (plus ca change...!) while the involvement of a Weymouth JP only served to sustain their historical enmity between the two communities.

A short walk to the church

St Georges can be made the destination of a short but rewarding walk. The headstone of Mary Way is here, as is the doubly unfortunate William Hansford who died in the Great Storm of November 1824 when the sea came over the Chesil Beach and broke his leg after which his house fell on him and killed him.
Parking in Chiswell follow the signs for the coast path which takes you steeply uphill giving you breathtaking views of Chesil Bank and the Jurassic Coast. As the path levels out a diversion to the left will take you into the Tout Quarry Sculpture Park where sculptures lie amid the undergrowth like the relics of a lost civilisation. Continue along the path to reach the church.
There and back is just over 3 miles.

The Lord, the artist and the god of love

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In North Dorset stands the village of Wimborne St Giles. Thatched cottages, a 16thC

Almshouses and church of Wimborne St Giles

almshouse and a splendid church surround a pretty green.
It's hard to connect this peaceful scene with roar and bustle of London’s Piccadilly Circus. Both places, though, are forever linked to one of Victorian Britain's great philanthropists, Anthony Ashley, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. The surrounding lands are the ancient seat of the Shaftesburys, and Wimborne St Giles their estate village, which explains the church's unusual opulence and worth a visit in its own right.

7th Earl of Shaftesbury

The death of the Earl, in 1893, ended an illustrious parliamentary career devoted to fighting the terrible abuses of child labour. While his burial took place in Wimborne St Giles, it was decided to erect a separate monument in Piccadilly, London.

So far, so good, but few predicted the controversy such a relatively simple plan would cause.

The sculptor chosen was Sir Albert Gilbert. The brief, to avoid a conventional commemorative statue. Gilbert, though, became dogged by persistent interference from the steering committee who ended up wanting, the very thing they'd briefed him against, a statue. 

Albert Gilbert

After another change of heart the committee finally demanded the memorial take the form of a fountain. To make matters worse, the London District Council would only supply water to the fountain if it had a useful  function. The resulting compromise transformed  Gilbert's work of art not only into an ornamental fountain but one boasting a two level drinking fountain; serving not just the public, but animals as well. Further interference made the bowl of the fountain too small, with the effect of that the water jets drenched passers-by.

Gilbert's finale was to top the fountain with a winged statue representing the god of selfless love, a naked Anteros delicately balanced on one foot and loosing an arrow. This was was immediately criticised as un-Christian and sensual which meant that the artist was forced to rebrand it as being symbolic of Christian charity.

When at last the completed edifice was unveiled in Piccadilly Circus, the artist was no longer on speaking terms with the committee refusing to attend the opening ceremony.

Contemporary opinions ranged from ecstatic, ‘the finest monument the metropolis possesses,'... to condemnation, ' indecent or downright dingy’- there were even calls for the completed monument to be melted down.

Sir Albert Gilbert’s troubles didn’t end there, the innumerable changes had doubled the costs leaving him facing financial ruin and forcing him to flee the country to escape his creditors. When he finally returned Sir George found that his reviled creation had, for some inexplicable reason, found a place in the hearts of the nation, where it remains to this day.

Nowadays, the monument's fame far overshadows the man it commemorated, while the controversy surrounding its inception is long forgotten.

In an ironic twist, Anteros, who sits atop the monument has become confused with his brother Eros, god of carnal love...far removed from the high church sentiments of Lord Salisbury....And as for the Wimborne St Giles, Lord Shaftesbury’s last resting place? ...Well,  it’s probably an old wives’ tale, but Eros is supposedly aiming his arrow straight towards the village green.

George III's holiday snaps pt 7

Royal water babe George III at Weymouth

If you thought a quick dip at Weymouth simply entailed whipping down your trews, whipping on your bathers, sucking in your stomach and then striding manfully into the ocean think again...

Forget 1066 and all that...here's Britain's last invasion

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Monmouth Beach, Lyme Regis, site of Britains last seaborne invasion.

The beach beyond the Cobb harbour in Lyme Regis has a wild windswept character, completely at odds with the more benign tourist beaches nearer to the town. It makes a fitting location for Britain's very last seaborne invasion. One dark night in June 1685 a small fleet of ships landed a duke and 83 determined followers.

The duke was the Protestant Duke of Monmouth, Charles II's illegitimate son, who was pledged to wrest back the throne from his Catholic uncle King James II. 

As he stumbled up the rough shingle Monmouth's spirits must have been high having been assured of enthusiastic support from the dissenting West Country. Very soon he'd gathered an army of 3000 supporters. 

After a few days in Lyme he marched on to Taunton and rather optimistically declared himself king. Soon, though, his luck began to turn as other planned uprisings failed to materialise. 

The turning point came soon after at Sedgemoor, on the Somerset Levels, where he met the Royalist army. The result was the route and massacre of his ill-equipped and ill-trained forces, so ill -equipped they were to give the rebellion its name- 'the Pitchfork Rebellion'. Monmouth fled the field dressed in shepherd's clothes. 

Maybe it was the crown, but his disguise fooled no one and he was soon captured.

Retribution came swiftly- hundreds were hung, drawn and quartered after being condemned in what became known as the 'Bloody Assizes', while Monmouth parted with his head.

Lyme Regis did not to go unscathed, eleven men were executed in a most diabolical fashion on the very the beach  which now bears Monmouth's name.

Dorset Museums 6- Dorchester County Museum

Hot on the heels of my Viking piece here's some telling evidence from the Dorset County Museum showing that Dorset men didn't always get the best of a fight.
Two thousand years ago at Maiden Castle, a fortified hill on the outskirts of Dorchester, the locals faced a load of Italian Johnnies in a no-holds barred battle between two civilisations. Iron age man faced the might and technological superiority of the Roman Empire, armed with little more than slingstones taken from nearby Chesil Beach. 
The outcome changed the course of British history.

The skeleton belongs to one of those Iron Age defenders who was struck down by a bolt from a ballista (a powerful floor-standing crossbow). When Maiden Castle finally fell to the victorious Romans, the unfortunate victim was hastily bundled into a mass grave; the ballista bolt, which would have killed him instantly, still embedded in his vertebra.

BY GEORGE!! George III';s holiday snaps Pt 3

A further look at George III's happy hols

The arrival of the bright young things:

Forget not...without Horatio we'd be eating snails and garlic

They'll never catch on...:

                                     

English rain respecteth no man: