History

LOST DORSET NO. 18 SHERBORNE

David Burnett, The Dovecote Press

Up to Lodge’, 1906. Traditionally, children and the elderly went to the Castle Estate Yard at 9am on Christmas Day to receive ‘two bright pennies’ from the Wingfield Digby family, owners of Sherborne Castle and much of the town. The origins of the custom are uncertain, though it was regularly recorded in Victorian times. The Western Gazette noted that in 1906 the elderly were given four pence each, children two, and, ‘it is estimated that 1,200 applicants received the bounty’ – hence the crowd of children gathered in the background. The tradition continued unbroken through both world wars and the change to decimalisation, though not alas the dangers posed by Covid in 2020. Hopefully, it will be renewed again this Christmas, with the children being given chocolate coins and the remaining recipients coins and a commemorative card.

dovecotepress.com

Lost Dorset: The Towns 1880-1920, the companion volume to Lost Dorset: The Villages and Countryside, is a 220-page large format hardback, price £20, and is available locally from Winstone’s Books or directly from the publishers.

DORSET’S FAERIE REALM

Cindy Chant & John Drabik

The romantic notion of faeries, those endearing winged creatures dancing gracefully and creating a delightful scene, is how most people perceive them. But if the old tales are to be believed, we must be cautious, and beware the Fae! These eerie creatures are known to be mischievous, malevolent, often dangerous, and rarely friendly to humans. They are ‘Nature Spirits’ and possess magical powers, and therefore must be treated with the greatest respect – they do not take kindly to being disturbed by us mortals.

If you think you can go looking for them, traditionally at high noon, or on moonlit nights, then you may be making a grave mistake, as many have tried. One tale tells of a woman so determined to hear the strange faerie music emanating from the Bronze Age barrows at Bincombe, near Weymouth, that she ignored all the local warnings - once detected, the soul-stirring melody will send the listener into a fatal slumber. She stubbornly persisted with her quest, and was never seen again.

Another tale tells of a pretty young nine-year-old girl called Ann Ward and the bewitching music coming from Colmers Hill, near Bridport. One day the curious Ann, attracted by the haunting melody, climbed the hill and came across, what she perceived to be, an innocent faerie ring. Having stepped inside, as children do, she was immediately swept into a fast whirling faerie dance. So ferocious was her dancing that, after being lifted up

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and thrown out of the ring, she was left panting and exhausted. The call of the faerie ring brought her back to dance every day, and each day she was tossed out of the ring and left totally drained on the grassy hill. In time she became frail and listless, but still indulged in her daily wild dance with the faeries. Sadly, after failing to return home for supper one evening, her fraught mother discovered her dishevelled and lifeless body, lying next to the faerie ring. Ann had danced herself to death.

Another story tells of a simple teenage boy, named Lubberlu, who was occasionally called upon to run errands for the medieval monks at Bindon Abbey. One summer’s day, while walking along the banks of the River Frome, a strikingly beautiful girl mysteriously appeared from behind a clump of bulrushes. With her sparkling eyes and cascading silvery hair, she looked irresistible to the smitten Lubberlu. She beckoned him to come closer…and kiss her. Lubberlu was instantly enchanted, and returned to the spot day after day. Despite the repeated warnings by the monks, who were wise to the fact she was no ordinary mortal, he was head over heels in love with her. One day, her murderous intent was revealed, as, after a search along the river bank, poor Lubberlu was found dead, faced down, tangled amongst the weeds. He had drowned at the hands of a young but deadly ‘Fairy Nymphet’.

Of course, not all faerie stories are so grizzly. There is the beautiful little St. James Church, hidden away in Lewcombe, a remote corner of West Dorset. This was not, however, the place where the church should have been built. Workmen had completed laying the foundations at the bottom of nearby Castle Hill, in East Chelborough. This hill, like many hills, was reputed to be inhabited by faeries, and as we all know, faeries do not take too kindly to buildings, however sacred, being built so close to their home. In the morning every stone was found to have been moved, and piled in a heap beside the river in Lewcombe. The puzzled workmen set about returning the stones to their original position, and with an enormous effort, re-laid the footings and a substantial amount of the construction. But, alas, the next morning the stones were found once more in a heap by the river. The same thing happened again the following night. The workmen despaired, and the folk of East Chelborough decided that Lewcombe by the river, was now the place where the church should be built.

There is a similar faerie story concerning the church in Folke, which should have been built down the road at Broke Wood, and also the church in Holnest is said to have incurred the wrath of the Fae.

So, as you can see, nothing is sacred to these faeries. They have even been known to come out of their abode in Hod Hill, enter the bell-tower of Stourpaine’s Holy Trinity church through the now aptly named Faerie Door, and ring the bells by peeing on them – just a little tinkle!

So let us not tempt fate by disturbing them, searching for them, or destroying their habitat. Instead, let us learn to live in harmony with the faerie community. After all, regardless of your beliefs, or how you feel about them, they are our ‘Nature Spirits’.

OBJECT OF THE MONTH THE CYPRIOT PERFUME JAR

Elisabeth Bletsoe, Curator, Sherborne Museum

Approximately 49 per cent of all perfume sales during the year in Britain are made in November and December, so it seems that fragrance is considered one of the most popular as well as the most thoughtful and personal of Christmas gifts. In my search for a seasonal object this month, I alighted on this little onion-shaped pottery jar, roughly 10cm high, brushed delicately with reddish lattice patterns. It is recorded as a Middle Bronze Age perfume flask from Cyprus, and it was one of the earliest accessions into our collections. It is wrapped in a riddle, however, for it was discovered here in Sherborne, concealed within the fabric of an outbuilding wall in the property of Greenhill House at the top of Hospital Lane, being revealed only when the building was demolished in order to widen the road.

Scent takes a direct route to the brain’s limbic system, particularly the amygdala and hippocampus, regions that are related to emotion and memory. Its visceral language can have a significant impact on cognition, mood and social behaviour. Perfume, therefore, has the potential to influence human experience and provides a spiritual connection to life, underpinning primordial sacred acts, as well as forming the basis for cosmetics and medical science. Its origins are believed to date back to 5000 BC in Mesopotamia where archaeological digs in Mosul in modern Iraq uncovered evidence of perfume manufacture. The skills migrated to Anatolia, then to the Mediterranean and beyond.

Reference to a Cypriot perfume merchant was discovered on a 4000-year-old tablet found in the Greek city of Thebes. Cyprus was the site of several perfume factories which manufactured for export across the Eastern Mediterranean during the Bronze Age and one of these was excavated in 2005, in a dig led by Maria Belgiorno. The main target market was Crete, where perfume commanded a high price and was used for funerary rites and religious ceremonies. According to the archaeologists, who managed to isolate twelve different scents, the perfume was composed of essences extracted by a precise distillation process in clay vases of specific proportions. Cypriot perfume was distinguished by the rare quality of its olive oil, in which was mixed the extracts from indigenous local flora: laurel, myrtle, oak moss, citrusy bergamot, labdanum (rock rose), and neroli with resins of terebinth and conifer. Cinnamon, nard and olibanum were imported from Phoenicia.

From the 14th century, Eau de Chypre (Cyprus) was exported from the island into Europe although at that time it had a strong labdanum base and was worn mostly by men as it was quite woody with autumnal notes. It was used as a prophylactic against plague and burnt in ‘birdies’ or bird-shaped burners in aristocratic rooms; later, during the Renaissance, it was used for powdering wigs. By the early 19th century it had developed a floral-amber centre and gradually became less opulent with lighter notes of musk, vanilla, rose and iris. In 1917 in France, Francois Coty reinterpreted the perfume to create Chypre, a dark and complex scent that created an aura of intimacy popular with women. Although no longer produced, it has left its legacy in a family of perfumes, all containing sparkling top notes of bergamot with a floral heart, resting on bases of moss, labdanum and patchouli.

We thank all our visitors, volunteers and members for their unfailing support of the museum and wish you all a Happy Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year.