round about beaminster
beaminster is six miles to the north of bridport, and is reached by a pleasant walk, passing on the way the little village of melplash.
it is a sleepy country town, deeply seated among hills, near the head-waters of the birt, which flows through it. it is a place of some antiquity, but not remarkable for much, if we except its sufferings by fire. in 1644, when prince maurice was quartered here, it was burnt completely to the ground, having been fired by a drunken soldier. the greater part of it was a second time destroyed in 1684, and again in 1788.
very prominent landmarks of the beaminster district are pilsdon pen and lewesdon hill, two eminences of green sand remarkable for their likeness to one another. the singularity of their appearance has naturally excited much attention. sailors, whom they serve as a landmark, call them the cow and the calf; the rev. william crowe has sung the praises of lewesdon in a descriptive poem, and the two hills together have given rise to a proverbial saying current in this country and applied to neighbours who are not acquainted:
"... as much akin
as lew'son hill to pil'son pen."
these hills command a charming prospect, and pilsdon is further interesting as the site of an ancient camp, of oval form, encompassed by three strong ramparts and ditches. it is the highest point in the county, nine hundred and thirty-four feet above the sea. crowe's lewesdon hill was much admired by rogers, who says in his table talk: "when travelling in italy i made two authors my constant study for versification, milton and crowe."
beaminster is in a centre of a district famous for its great dairies, flowers, bees and rural industries, and here is produced the famous double dorset and blue vinny cheese which has always a place on the table of the true dorset family. the word "vinny" means mouldy; thus when the rustic thinks his cheese is in a fine ripe condition he will be likely to remark: "this yer cheese is butvul now; tez vinnied through and through." the same word is also used in devonshire for "bad-tempered," thus, "you vinnied little mullybrub, git out of my sight this minut!" the large dairies where the cheeses are made are called "soap factories" by the facetious natives, and one frequently meets motor lorries grinding up the sharp hills beneath the burden of a hundred or so freshly pressed rounds of cheese.
in spite of the town's sufferings by fire the grand old church has fortunately always escaped. it is approached by a lane at the corner of the market-place. the pride of beaminster is the old church tower, which was built in 1520. a native said to me: "didee ever see zich a comfortable-looking old tower as that be, and i knaws you won't see more trinkrums on any church in the county." by "trinkrums" i suppose he meant the gargoyles, pinnacles and profusion of delicate carvings for which the gracious amber-coloured tower is justly famous. the church itself cannot vie with the tower for elegance or magnificence. indeed the church is quite a dull-looking place. however, the nave, arcade and a squint from the south aisle into the chancel are early english. the pulpit is jacobean. there are two handsome monuments to members of the strode family and some memorial windows to the oglanders and other benefactors. affixed to the pavement of the south aisle is an early brass, with this inscription in old english characters:
"pray for the soule of sr. john tone whos body lyth berid under this tombe on whos soule jhu have mercy a patr nostr & ave."
sir john was a priest, and probably a knight of malta, who died in beaminster while he was on a pilgrimage through dorset.
the church is the scene of a "well-authenticated" apparition. down to the year 1748 the free school (of which the rev. samuel hood, father of admirals viscount hood and lord bridport, was at one time master) was held in one of the galleries, and there, on "saturday, june 22, 1728," did one john daniel appear at full noonday to five of his school-fellows, "between three weeks and a month after his burial." the reason was plain when his body was dug up and duly examined, for it was found that he had been strangled.
letherbury, about a mile south of beaminster, is a pleasant walk down the brit valley, by the river-side. on the road is parnham, a noble mansion of the tudor period standing in a well wooded and watered demesne. from the parnhams this estate came to the strodes, passing thence in 1764 to the oglanders. other old houses in the neighbourhood of beaminster are strode, melplash and mapperton, and the whole district bears the marks of long and prosperous agricultural occupation in the old-fashioned days when "squire" and tenant lived and died in semi-feudal relationship on the estate which the one owned and the other rented.
mapperton house belongs to the time of henry viii. in the reign of that sovereign the lord of the manor was robert morgan, who had the following patent granted to him:—"forasmoche as we bee credibly informed that our welbiloved robert morgan esquier, for diverse infirmities which he hathe in his hedde, cannot convenyently, without his grete danngier, be discovered of the same. whereupon wee in tendre consideration thereof have by these presents licensed him to use and wear his bonnet on his hed at all tymys, as wel in our presence as elsewher at his libertie."
poor old robert! perhaps his dorset stubbornness had as much to do with his wearing a "bonnet at all tymys" as the "infirmities in his hedde." but he was well able to take care of himself, for he built this beautiful manor-house and recorded the fact in the great hall:
"robt. morgan and mary his wife built this house in their own lifetime, at their own charge and cost.
what they spent, that they lent:
what they gave, that they have:
what they left, that they lost."
