Changes in land use

Using estate maps, land survey maps and others, it is possible to trace the ownership or tenancy and the changing uses of individual areas of land over long periods of time. Although simply ‘snapshots’, these records provide a very important record of how Dorset’s landscape has altered over time. Estate maps from sixteenth century to the present day provide evidence of how land was used. Following changes in land ownership, the way the land was used also changed, and this had an impact on the lives of people working on the estates.

Estate maps usually record the tenant and area of each plot.

This estate map of St Andrews Farm in the parishes of East Lulworth, Stoke and West Lulworth was surveyed in 1771 by T and J Sparrow. A survey had been made of the same farm the previous year. Both surveys were carried out as part of changes to land holding following late eighteenth century Inclosure Acts. Life on the land changed significantly as a result of the enclosure of the open fields.

The threat of invasion

A recurrent theme in the human history of Dorset has been a threat of invasion. Life on land as well as at sea was affected and the daily life of people living near to the coast could not be easily separated from the fear of invasion. Steps were taken to ensure the safety and provision, both of the army and the population as a whole. For example, in September 1796 when war with France was anticipated, a return was made …

“… by the Farmers residing in the several parishes on the Sea Coast of the County of Dorset from Waymouth to Chaldon who are requested as early as possible to fix on proper places for driving there (sic) stock to, in case any Invasion of our Coast should be attempted, the situation of several places to be fixed on, is recommended to be north of a supposed line from Tinkleton to Bockington and from thence to Dorchester.”

The County Archives include an example of these returns, but they are not viewable on the DCDA.

“A copy of a Return to fix a place to drive the Stock in case of an invasion of our coast should be attempted. 24th September 1796.”

The table below summarises the return, which requested information about the area under specific crops, the numbers of animals (referred to generically as ‘cattle’) and the availability of people to help move stock away from the coast where they would be most at risk.

So in 1796, this estate had 269 acres (109 hectares) of crops (including hay), and was mainly grazing sheep. Moreover, in the event of invasion, the farm stock would be moved further inland. It is not clear what would happen about the crops.

1930s Land Utilisation Survey

A similar field-by-field inventory was the 1930s Land Utilisation Survey. Dudley Stamp at the University of London and a nationwide team mapped the use of every field for the whole of Great Britain. The result provided a unique land use record of the countryside and the towns (ie the larger gardens and open spaces) at a scale of One Inch to One Mile (1:63360) and for each county, a description and analysis were published.

The information gathered as a result of the Land Utilisation Survey was later used by the wartime government to identify areas that could be ploughed in order to increase home food production. After the Second World War the survey became the basis for the development of a national Town and Country planning policy.

In the 1960’s, a Second Land Utilisation Survey published maps at the scale of Two and a Half Inches to One Mile (1:25,000). Examples of both Land Utilisation Surveys are in the Dorset Coast Digital Archive.

Urban development

Although very detailed, town maps and plans rarely describe the use of buildings. However, the historical changes in Dorset’s coastal towns, especially Weymouth, Bournemouth and Christchurch, can be traced. For example, following the Christchurch Inclosure Act 1802, the Map of the Commissioners’ Award dated 1805 provides detailed information about the pattern of land ownership that was to be the catalyst for the development of Bournemouth and continues to influence the town today. The expansion of the conurbation of Christchurch, Bournemouth (and Poole) can be followed in detail through the Tithe Maps (mostly from the 1840’s) and the Ordnance Survey 1:2500 Plans (beginning in the 1860s) to present day plans and aerial photographs. Postcards, photographs and paintings of the towns show how the form and use of buildings has changed.

The town hall in Bournemouth was originally an hotel, the Mont Dore that opened in 1885. It was later used as a military hospital in the First World War, before becoming Bournemouth’s third town hall in 1921. The modifications and alterations to the building can be seen although the original façade is largely unspoilt as are some of the original internal decorative features.

Developers’ plans

Original sources concerning the growth of Dorset’s seaside resorts, particularly Bournemouth, provide a wealth of information. Developers’ plans show proposals for laying out new estates of detached houses with large gardens on the East Cliff between the Lansdowne and Boscombe Chine. It is possible to trace the gradual occupation of areas such as Boscombe, with more densely packed streets and housing. The previously open land, often farmed along the old terraces of the western side of the Stour Valley, changed to the present urban landscape.

Many of the early developers were people who had acquired land at the time of the 1802 Christchurch Inclosure Act, and the line of the original apportionments can still be seen in the layout of the town’s streets.

One of several projected plans for the development of Sir George William Tapps Gervis Westover Estate by the architect Benjamin Ferrey. These were later reproduced as prints. 1836-1837

Descendants of those early developers continue to have an impact on the town, such as the Meyrick Estate, The Cooper Dean Estate and the Malmesbury Estate.

These two maps depict the planned development of Southbourne –by-Sea. The first (dated 1903) shows the overall development of the area and the second (dating from 1885) the detail of another part of the estate.

In addition to the maps and plans there is also a continuing record, often reported in the newspapers of the time, of the disputes resulting from changes in land use. These fundamental changes to peoples’ working lives and environments invoked strong responses in the past as they do today. The development of photography in the nineteenth century has meant that some of these changes have survived in the visual record. Photographs show people at work both in the countryside such as farmworkers and reed cutters, and in the towns and harbours such as rope making at Bridport and shipbuilding at Poole.

Eyewitness Accounts

Travellers provide some eyewitness descriptions of life both in the countryside and in the towns. Like all travellers, however, their descriptions are selective. There are a number of informed eyewitness accounts of the Dorset Coast from earlier centuries which can be useful. William Camden's Britannia of 1607 includes both description and map of Dorset. Daniel Defoe travelled along the Dorset coast in the 1720s (A Tour through the Whole Island of Great Britain, 1724-6/1971) and both Fanny Burney (with George III at Weymouth) and Jane Austen (at Lyme) made records of their visits.

Material in the Dorset Record Office includes the unpublished diary of Thomas Pougher Russell who made a trip to Weymouth, visiting Portland and Osmington in 1840 and another of Alexander Minty Luckham of Studland Farm, in 20 volumes, 1878-1906.

John Leland, the Tudor antiquary, travelled eastwards from Lyme along the Dorset coast of the 1530s describing the places he visited. In the following extracts from his account, and other visitors’ descriptions, the original spelling has been retained. There was no standardised spelling until the mid-nineteenth century and even the same word can be spelt in different ways within the same document.

Describing Lyme, Leland comments especially on the trade from the town

“The town hath good shippes, and usith fisshing and marchauntice. Merchaunts of Morleys in Britaine [Morlaix in Brittany] much haunt this town.”

At Melcombe and Weymouth, Leland concentrated especially on the nature of the port. He tells us that Melcombe had once been bigger, the cause being

“the French-men that in tymes of warre rasid this towne for lack of defence.”

He describes Portland as

“fruitful of corn and gresse: and hath plenty of sheepe. There be at present tyme about 80 housis in the isle. Ther hath beene al most as many mo as it apperith by ruines. There is but one streate of houses . . . The people bring wood thither out of Wight . . . They brenne also cowe dung dryed with the hete of the sunne. The people of the isle lyve most now by tillage, and sumwhat faulle from fisshing.. “

[The Itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543, in five volumes] (ed) Lucy Toulmin Smith, 1964, vol 1, 244-255

Thomas Gerard in his Survey of Dorsetshire, 1633, (first published under the name of John Coker) comments that Lyme

“flourishes, well built, and enriched by the Convenience of the Cobb, which is an Harbour that the Inhabitants, with much Industrie and Charge have built in the Sea, by pileing together great Rocks, which at lowe Water with empty Caskes they weigh up, and by this Meanes have made the Harbour safe for Barkes of good Burthen to ride in . . . “

At Portland, Gerard comments on

“such excellent Quarries of Stone, that, for the solidnesse and durablenesse, it is transported unto London, and that in great plentie, sithence it pleased the King Anno 1610, by the Advice of his Arhicectours, to make choice of Portland Stone for the Reedifieing of his Banquetting House at Whitehall. “

His comments often reveal local conflicts, for example between the landowners and the farmers, their comparative lack (or otherwise) of skills and the often awful conditions in which people worked. Smedmore, for example,

“….passed hereditarilie to the Claviles, neare adjoining to the Sea: And not farre hence, the nowe owner beeing ingenious un diverse Faculties, put in tryall the Making of Allom, which hee had noe sooner, by much Coste and Travell, brought to a reasonable Perfection, but the Farmers of the Allom works seized to the King's Use; and, beeing not soe skillfull or fortunate as himselfe, were forced with Losses to leave it offe, and soe nowe it rests allmost ruined. But in Place of it Sir William Clavile, who one Disaster dismayed not, hath sithence sett up a Glasse House (which is come to Perfection, and is likely to redounde to a good Benefit) and Salt House. For transport of these Commodities, as alsoe of white Salt (there is made in great Abundance, by boyling it out of the Sea Water) hee hath at his owne Charge, with great Rocks and Stones piled together, built a little Key in Imitation of that at Lime, for small Barkes to ride, invironed on the East Side of an Hill yeelding Myne (as they call it) for the Allom Works, and a kinde of bluish Stones that serve to burne, for maintaineing Fire in the Glass House. “

In this reference to the local shale, Gerard cannot fail to mention that

"'in burneing [it] yeelds such an offensive Savour and extraordinarie Blacknesse, that the People labouring about those Fires are more like Furies than Men. . . .”

Burton Bradstock

Maps in the archive can identify land usage and by linking them with original photographs, the historical record starts to provide a credible source of information to describe the daily life of many people working along the coast. This becomes even more interesting when the names of the people in the photographs are known.

For example in Burton Bradstock the Tithe Map depicts the field patterns and the apportionments identify the area, ownership or tenancy and usage of the each field. Between the 1880 maps and the 1940s aerial photographs in the Map Viewer there are other Ordnance Survey maps which record the field patterns, although not their use. Burton Bradstock is well represented by photographs and in particular there is a collection showing the people who lived and worked in the 1930s on the farms around the village. Luckily, the photographer recorded the names of some of these people.

Between 1930 and 1940, access to the coast was improved at Burton Bradstock by the construction of Beach Road. However, in the surrounding countryside, traditional methods of farming and land management were still common. So in the photograph pigs are being watered with a water cart drawn by horses on Cogden Farm which lies about 1 mile (about 1.6 km) east of Burton Bradstock. The survival of some farms during the agricultural depression of the 1920s and 1930s depended upon traditional farming methods. This image also emphasises that for many people living in these areas, the coast was a backdrop to the everyday routines and demands of farming.

Much of the work of maintaining the fabric of countryside life depended upon hand labour. Few machines are apparent in these photographs. The emphasis is on the people. Maintenance of the roads was carried out by small gangs of labourers who often carried out the most essential tasks at the roadside. In this image for example, the photographer records a group of labourers breaking stone for road mending on Bredy Lane. Most of the stone was carted to the site by horse and cart. In another of these images, we see Will Ward with his horse and cart by the beach where the new Beach Road is under construction, probably having just carried some of the stone used in the road to the site.

The images of people on the nearby beach from the same era usually show several types of activity. The first involves the fishermen, sometimes beaching the boats or landing the catch. Other images show how the cleaning and preparation of the catch for later use was carried out on the beach.

Fishing was part of the daily routine of this coastal community, supplementing diets to a very important degree. But to make a living the fisherman also depended upon finding the more lucrative markets. Somewhat earlier than the photographs of fishermen on the beach, a newspaper article on 25th November 1814The Dorchester & Sherborne Journal (and Taunton and Somerset Herald) reported that

“last week the fishermen at Abbotsbury, the royalty of the Earl of Ilchester, caught upwards of 500 weight of turbot, which were of a larger size and greater in number than ever before known to be taken upon that coast. These industrious men received the sweets of their labour, by the whole being purchased of them by Mr Tollidge, at the Ship Inn, at a liberal price, and forwarded to the Bath Market. Great credit is due to this spirited landlord, for thus pointing out a market for these industrious and meritorious people.”

Five hundredweight is 56, 000 pounds or about 25, 000 kilograms. "A liberal price" may have been paid, but the amount is not recorded. No doubt, Mr Tollidge also obtained "a liberal price" in Bath.

Not all the photographs around Burton Bradstock are of men. There are several photographs of Mabel Hussey on Burton beach; here she can be seen braiding.

Studland

The Treswell Estate Map of 1585-6 of Studland allows the occupancy of fields to be traced from that date to the present. In contrast to the wealth of photographs of Burton Bradstock, there are very few photographs of the people of Studland.

One of the very few shows sheep shearing in action in Studland. There are also images of holidaymaking on the beach.

Newspapers

Newspapers from the eighteenth century onwards provide insights into the life on the Dorset coast and in the surrounding countryside, villages and towns. In the days before radio, television and when more people were unable to read, the narrative style suggests that the news of the time would be read aloud to an audience.

The Dorset Coast Digital Archive includes a selection of extracts from the large collection of local newspapers held in the Dorset Records Office and at Bournemouth Library. These extracts provide intriguing insights into national and regional events, and how newspaper editors described them. Particular activities have considerable more emphasis at certain times than others. For example during the Napoleonic period, there are frequent reports about the activities of both the Royal Navy and HM Customs and Excise.

Although working life for most people along the coast in the eighteenth remained agricultural, nearshore fishing and trade from the many small ports were also very important. The 1733 Excise and Customs Bill severely restricted the import of numerous items into the country, imposing punitive levies on such necessities as brandy, wine, silk and lace.

This picture is entitled “Smugglers breaking open the King’s Custom House
at Poole, October 7 1747”.

Smuggling was widespread and the newspapers of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries contain many reports of smuggling incidents, as well as ample evidence of the contraband seized by Customs being sold later, usually in auction. For example, The Dorchester and Sherborne Journal of the 28th October 1797 carries the following advertisement:

“By order of the honourable Commissioners of his Majesty’s Customs by auction at the Custom house at Lyme on 3 August
Brandy 980 gallons, 215 rum, 1200 Geneva In small lots for the accommodation and use of private Families only”

(“Geneva” was Dutch gin, mostly distilled from juniper berries)

The smuggled goods often found their way into the towns. For example in the issue of 18th June 1824 The Dorset County Newspaper and Somersetshire Herald and Dorchester, Sherborne and Taunton Journal drew its readers’ attention to

“Itinerant Tea-men – We wish to caution our readers against buying tea of persons who travel about, offering small parcels of it for sale; for though such tea should not have been smuggled, yet it would subject the buyer to a penalty because it was not bought at a shop over the door of which is written, Dealer in Tea”. The seller may himself become the informer, and himself escape all penalty. The whole penalty may in some cases amount to one hundred pounds”

At the same time, the international trade in many goods, especially food, is highlighted by the records of the sales. In December 1824, for example, HM Customs gave notice that 26 tons of coffee, the cargo of the “Marianne”, which had been in His Majesty’s Warehouse since the previous April would be disposed of unless it was reclaimed before the end of March 1825.

Not surprisingly, shipwrecks receive considerable attention. The heavy loss of life, the bravery of the rescuers, and because of the significance of the passengers or the ships involved made dramatic reading. Following the story of the wreck itself there would be accounts of the goods and materials salvaged from along the coast. The wreck of the Earl of Abergavenny is such an example. On 5th February, 1805, it ran aground off Portland, and went down with the loss of 250 lives including that of the captain, John Wordsworth, brother of the poet William Wordsworth but their cousin, Joseph Wordsworth, who was the 3rd mate was one of the fortunate survivors. In 1809, salvaged from the wreck of the Abergavenny, there were 23 chests of claret, 33 half chests ditto, 8 port, 23 half chests ditto, 4 sherry, 1 half Madeira, 1 Lisbon, 9 half chests of Old Hock, 4 casks of rum 6 ditto brandy plus about 12 gallons of Vitriolic Ether.

Life was not only dangerous at sea, but also notable for the many brave, and often successful, attempts to save life on land. The 18th June 1824 edition of The Dorset County Newspaper and Somersetshire Herald and Dorchester, Sherborne and Taunton Journal records that on June 1 …

“An heroic adventure took place…While some children were playing by a small drain at Bridport’s West Mill a three year old girl fell in and was swept away into the main stream. By this time upwards of 50 persons were collected round the spot, none of whom had sufficient courage to endeavour to save the infant, until the arrival of Mr. George Knight, who although little acquainted with swimming, immediately threw himself into the river, and after many efforts in great depth of water succeeded in saving the child”.

In addition to the stories about rescues, there are also stories with a moral theme or advice to the owners of land and industry about the poor conditions in which many people lived. So on 24th November 1815, The Dorchester & Sherborne Journal (and Taunton and Somerset Herald ) reports that

“A few weeks since, a tenant of W. Peterson, esq. of Lyme, Dorset, bowed down by the expences (sic) of a large family, and the pressure of the times, formed the fatal resolution of drowning himself. He went to the sea side, and sprang from a rock, but in the very act of drowning, he was perceived by the boat’s crew of his landlord, who were very providentially passing by at some distance, and who rowed to the spot just in time to save the unhappy man. Mr Peterson had no sooner recognised in the unfortunate person his own tenant, and learned the cause of this desparate resolution, than he sent him a receipt to exonerate him from all his demands, amounting to upwards of 400 l. (£400) and afterwards provided for his future necessities, by stocking another farm, and putting him in full, possession of it. Such an action needs no comment; but we hope it may operate as an example on the minds of opulent landholders in this season of great depression”

Excessive drinking was frequently reported, usually as a result of accidents. For example the 29th December 1797 Dorchester and Sherborne Journal reported that

“ A Sailor, being greatly intoxicated, fell over the Quay, at Poole, in Friday night, the 15th inst and was unfortunately drowned. In his falling over, he must have struck against some piles, as one side of his face was entirely taken off, and he was bruised in other parts in a very shocking manner”

Market forces appear to have been as significant as in modern times. So in 1800 when Poole harbour was affected by particularly icy conditions and the wildfowl were present in large numbers, their price on the markets appears to have held high simply because everything else was scarce and expensive.

Weymouth

The Weymouth News typically contains reports about the presence of the royal family in Weymouth, their health, and any untoward incidents that may have occurred, and associated social news.

Some newspaper reports sound surprisingly modern. One report comments that the construction of the new breakwaters in Weymouth will improve the haven and that houses are being sold to benefit from the higher values which will result from the improved trade.

Crossing the English Channel (often referred to on the coastal tithe and estate maps as the British Channel) to the Channel Islands was often dangerous. A feature of coastal life concerned the activities of both the Royal Navy and French privateers capturing merchant vessels as well as the Navy attempting to defend the British ships from attack.

The trade between Poole and Newfoundland was very important. There are a number of reports about delays to ships returning from Newfoundland because of easterly gales or occasionally because they were captured. Many people from Poole and Dorset migrated to the other side of the Atlantic and local newspaper carried adverts for the sale of property in Newfoundland.

This newspaper reports that of a fleet of 18 ships travelling from Newfoundland expected at Poole, only two ships arrived. The others had been captured by French privateers and according to the newspaper “serious apprehensions are entertained for the safety of the remainder “.

Merchants and others went bankrupt and their property was sold. In 1824 this advertisement is addressed to “Merchants, Capitalists and to be sold by auction”. A dwelling house owned by a bankrupt on Poole Quay is for sale.

Bournemouth

Bournemouth, previously the most south-westerly town of Hampshire, became part of Dorset in 1974 following Local Authority boundary changes. While the town does not have the historical longevity of its other urban neighbours, Poole and Christchurch, the growth of the resort town coincides with the growth of popular printing, the development of photography and the golden age of postcards, and not least the rise of the family holiday. As a consequence there is a wealth of pictorial and written evidence about life in this coastal town, beginning with some of the earliest plans to develop the town as a ‘marine village’. However, not all pictorial records are truthful representations of how the town looked, for example the watercolour painting of Bournemouth from 1850 that shows a view of the town that is partly inaccurate.

Bournemouth 1850, an artist’s impression by Benjamin Ferrey

The print The Sands, Bournemouth, first published in 1855, is another example. It shows a lot of activity on the beach with ships and cargo being landed in the foreground, and Bournemouth’s first jetty in the background.

There is an almost identical image dated 1864, fourteen years later, and three years after the first jetty was extended in 1861.

The engraver must have used the same plate but added the recently extended jetty carefully drawn between the existing boats of the original image. Both images also suggest that early Bournemouth may have resembled the Black Forest.

While suggesting caution in relying on historic images to be accurate topographical representations, some of the most unlikely images, when looked at closely, highlight buildings or structures that no longer exist but would have been significant features of the time. In a travel poster of Bournemouth by Eustace Nash, in the distance on Hengistbury Head there are several masts. These are part of the home radar network from the Second World War. This feature helped to date the poster which had not previously been dated.

Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra

The establishment of the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra at the end of the nineteenth century attracted a great deal of interest. Details of performers and concerts featured regularly in the local newspaper, as did the political life of the orchestra as its founder/conductor Dan Godfrey strove to raise its status from municipal seaside band to a recognised concert orchestra. The following extract from the “Musical Herald 1920” comments that

“ Bournemouth Winter Gardens has a musical syllabus for the autumn that is a marvel. Dan Godfrey has planned concerts with liberality, even prodigality. Foremost in interest to us is the Monday Afternoon series of progressive lecture-concerts on Musical Appreciation…Local schools are supporting this educational work”

The orchestra under Dan Godfrey established a reputation for performing contemporary music by British composers and the surviving records are an important source of information for musical historians of this period. In addition, the concert programmes themselves are a source of information with adverts for local businesses, shops and services, reflecting the changes in society over several decades.