Early History

Extract from Ida Woodford’s “In and Around The Isle of Purbeck” published in 1907

TYNEHAM, POVINGTON, AND WORBARROW

” The green waves leap

  At the white cliff’s steep.”

Edwin Arnold

THERE is a cross-road a little east of Lutton; the branch on the right leads over the hills to Grange, the direct road through fields with many gates to Tyneham. About a mile and a half farther on, just beyond Egliston Farm, this road divides again, the path on the right leading to the village, and the one on the left to Tyneham House, the seat of W. H. Bond, Esq. It was built by Henry Williams in 1583, as the date sculptured on a small shield over the east door shows. The main building of the house, which is of Purbeck ashlar quarried on the estate, is a fine specimen of Tudor architecture, one of its most interesting features being a stone staircase with a square core, the form of staircase which immediately succeeded the spiral. The upper windows are mullioned, but those on the ground floor were replaced by sash windows about the end of the eighteenth century, when light was thought to be of more importance than architectural beauty. On the west side of the house is an ancient building which rivals the oldest part of Barneston in point of antiquity. It is divided by a floor into stories that are connected by a winding staircase. It was obviously once a banqueting-hall. For a description of it I will again refer to the paper the Rev. W. D. Filliter read to the Field Club :—

“This building is all that remains of the ancient manor of Tyneham. It has evidently undergone many changes. It seems to have been originally the hall of the ancient manor-house, and to date from the late thirteenth or fourteenth century.

“It seems probable that when the new house was built, in 1567, this hall being no longer required and being in too good condition to be pulled down, was converted into a cottage. A floor was put in, and the space above and below it was divided into rooms, and the walls pierced for the insertion of the windows which now light the rooms upstairs and down. … A portion of the handsome timbered roof of oak is still in position, and is somewhat remarkable, perhaps a unique specimen of timber roofing.”

The house is surrounded by trees, and is so completely buried in them that it cannot be seen till one is within a hundred yards of it ; on the east side there is a fine avenue a quarter of a mile long.

A footpath due south from the house leads to the top of the cliff, where there is a stone shelter, known as the ” ocean seat.” From this place is obtained a view of some of the finest coast scenery in Dorset. On the east St. Aldhelm’s Head stands out, almost blue in the distance, then the deep inlet of Chapman’s Pool, then Kimmeridge Bay with Clavell’s Tower above it. A little nearer, the flat, rocky formation of Broad Bench stretches far into the surf. Just beneath is the small cove Brandy Bay, so called because the crannies in its surrounding rocks were in the old days used by smugglers as hiding-places for their ” tubs.” On the west the bold outline of Gad Cliff overhangs the sea at a height of four hundred feet. Again I must quote the Field Club records, as Prof. Hudleston’s description of the cliff is far beyond anything I could say of it : —

“This particular district of Gadcliff especially always reminds me of the more calcareous portions of the Alps. One might imagine that it was a kind of Dent de Morcles in miniature. Hard limestones were superimposed on soft sands and clays, in this case on the Kimmeridge Clay, and such a conjunction produced the feature which was so excessively striking.”

Ravens and peregrine falcons build in the crevices of its rocks, and once smugglers used to hide their contraband goods in the cave beneath. In front of all, the long arm of Portland stretches out from the westward like a bastion guarding the bay.

The village is about half a mile from the house, half-way between it and Worbarrow, and is merely a cluster of cottages with an ancient church. The last, which is dedicated to St. Mary and is very small, was restored in 1744. It has a nave and chancel, but no tower ; the south aisle belongs to Tyneham House, and it is probable that the church was originally built to be a chapel to the great house. At the end of the north aisle there is a monument which is elaborately painted and gilded, containing a tablet supported with pillars and surmounted by a frieze, which asserts that underneath lie the bones of several Williams of Tyneham. On the north wall of the nave there is a black marble slab set in a Portland stone frame, which bears the following inscription:

“Near this place lyes the body of Elizabeth Tarrant, servant to Mrs. Bond of Tyneham, in which station she continued 34 years. To the memory of her prudence, honesty, and industry, this monument is erected. She died August 2nd 1769, in the 54th year of her age.”

The manor of Tyneham is bounded by Steeple on the east, Lulworth on the north and west, and the Channel on the south. In Domesday Book it is divided into four parcels: (i) Tigeham, which was held by Bretel, of Robert, Earl of Mortain, the step-brother of William I, and by six thegns in Edward the Confessor’s time, its value both before and after the Conquest being 47s. (2) Tingeham, which was held by William, of Hugh de Abrincis, Earl of Chester and son of William the First’s sister, and before the Conquest by a Saxon called Alnod. This parcel was worth 20s. (3) Also called Tingeham, which was held of the Queen by Anschitil Fitz-Ameline. In Saxon times it belonged to Brictric. Before the Conquest it was valued at £3 and afterwards at £4. (4) Tigeham, which was held by Edric, one of the King’s thegns, styled ” Eddricius praepositus ” in the Exeter Domesday Book, and was only worth 63d.

There is very little evidence by which these ancient parcels can be identified with the present divisions of the parish, but it is possible that Tigeham, which was owned by the Earl of Mortain, is now comprised in West Tyneham, which contains “the mansion-house and demesnes called Great Tyneham, the village of Little Tyneham with its several tenements,” and South Tyneham, which was anciently called East Tyneham ; and that Tingeham which belonged to the Earl of Chester is the present Baltington, which comprises a farm about a mile west of Tyneham and some tenements at Worbarrow ; and that North and South Egliston may be the Tingeham that was held of the Queen by Anschitil Fitz-Ameline. It seems quite impossible to place the virgate of land held by Edric, and which was only worth 5s. 3d.

The most important of the four parts is what is now called West Tyneham, for it is not only the largest, but also contains the manor-house. From the time that it belonged to the Earl of Mortain until the reign of Queen Elizabeth there is very little contemporary history from which we can gather its story. A family called de Tyneham owned the manor of Warmwell from the time of King John to that of Henry VI, and from their name one imagines that at some earlier date they must have lived at Tyneham. Later this manor appears to have belonged to Thomas Bardolfe, through whose daughter Rohesia it came to the Russells. Both the writer of the MSS. in the Harleian Collection and Coker give accounts of the passing of Tyneham from the Bardolfes to the Russells and the Chicks in such a quaint manner that, as it is quite impossible to choose between them, both shall be quoted.

The Harleian chronicle is as follows : —

“Tyneham in Purbeck, East and West, out of an old parchment writing in French.

“Md that Thomas Bardolfe was seyzed of the mannor of Estynham in his demayne as in fee, which manner he gave to Walter Russell in free marriage with his daughter Royse, which Walter and Royse had issue between them Thomas, which Thomas took to wife Jane, and had issue John. This John took to wife Margerie the daughter of William Clavile of Holme, which John had issue William who married Alice daughter of John Durnford.”

Coker’s account is less detailed, but it goes farther : —

“Royse, daughter and heire to Thomas Bardolfe brought Tyneham to her husband Walter Russell whose posterity for a long continuance were lords of it, who joyening in marriage with the heires of William Clavile and Walter de Durnford, left afterwards for heires fower daughters married to Chick, Meere, Fry and Burdon ; their posteritye passed it away to Henry Williams.”

Both these accounts give the name of Walter to the Russell who married Royse or Rohesia Bardolfe, though in reality it was John, and neither mentions the social position of the heiress of Bardolfe. Rohesia’s mother was the celebrated Adela Corbet whom Chaucer might have had in his mind when he created the “Wife of Bath.” She was the daughter of Sir Robert Corbet, lord of the borough of Alcester, in Warwickshire, and commenced her matrimonial career by becoming the morganatic wife of Henry I. In this connection she became the mother of Reginald, afterwards Earl of Cornwall. At another time she married a gentleman called Herbert, and became the mother of Herbert and William Fitz-Herbert, who assisted Henry II so ably in the conquest of Ireland. Her third venture was Thomas Bardolfe of Tyneham, the result of this union being Rohesia.

When Rohesia married John Russell she was a widow, having previously married Henry de la Pomerai of Berry Pomeroy in Devonshire, and of la Pomerai Castle in Normandy, who, having joined the rebellion of Prince John, Earl of Mortain, against Richard I, was deprived of his lands, and, strange to say, died suddenly on the return of the King.

The royal connection of the ladies of the Bardolfe family was evidently recognised, for the Earl of Cornwall “gave to his sister Rohesia de Pomerai his manor of Riduri in that county in free marriage.” As Madame de Pomerai, Rohesia had one son Jocelyn, who assisted his step-uncles the Fitz-Herberts in the war with Ireland. After marrying John Russell she had two sons, Ralph and Thomas ; the latter inherited Tyneham, and the former became the ancestor of the Dukes of Bedford. In the records of the family it is stated that John Russell, K.G., first Earl of Bedford, lineal descendant of this Ralph, obtained an introduction to Henry VII, and through an unexpected circumstance was immediately taken into royal favour. As the Russells were connected for five generations with Tyneham, and Wolfeton House, where the “unexpected circumstance” occurred, is the property of Albert Bankes, Esq., a scion of the family of Bankes of Corfe Castle, perhaps the story of how John Russell gained an earldom may not be out of place here.

In the reign of Henry VII, Philip of Austria and his wife Juana of Aragon, who had just inherited the throne of Castile from her mother Isabella the Catholic, came to England, and before proceeding to London visited Sir Thomas Trenchard at Wolfeton House. Being deficient in the knowledge of Spanish, the host and hostess found some difficulty in conversing with their royal guests, so Sir Thomas invited his cousin, John Russell of Kingston Russell (a descendant of Ralph), who was a good linguist, to come and help him in his difficult situation. John Russell came, and as both his Spanish and his manners were excellent, he soon became a favourite with the King and Queen, who, when they left Dorset for London, took him with them and presented him to Henry VII. The King of England appreciated the man who has been described as ” the most accomplished gentleman of his time ” and made him Gentleman of the Privy Chamber. John Russell was knighted by Henry VIII in 1513, and after many adventures was created Baron Russell, K.G., in 1539, and Earl of Bedford in 1550. He died in 1555. At various times he held the posts of Ambassador, Comptroller of the King’s Household, High Steward of the Duchy of Cornwall, Lord High Admiral of England, and Lord Privy Seal. Had it not been for the accident of his being able to assist the King and Queen of Castile as interpreter, he might have lived and died ” mute and inglorious ” in the wilds of Dorset! The fifth Earl of Bedford, who besieged Sherborne Castle with the Parliamentary army, and afterwards joined the Royalist forces, was created Marquis of Tavistock and Duke of Bedford by William III in 1694.

Having given so much time to the descendants of John and Rohesia Russell’s elder son Ralph, we must now go back to the younger son Thomas, who inherited Tyneham. His descendants appear to have lived quietly at Tyneham for about a hundred years, the estate passing in direct line from father to son, but in Richard the Second’s reign John Russell, the fifth in descent from Thomas, died before his father, and as he had no brother the property was divided between his four sisters, Johanna the eldest, who had married Thomas Chyke, receiving the greater part of West Tyneham. The Chykes, Chekes, or Chicks were people of some importance, members of the family having represented Wareham in Parliament frequently from the commencement of Edward the First’s reign to the end of Henry the Sixth’s. The estate remained in the possession of the Chykes for several generations, and in Henry the Eighth’s reign became the property of John Pope, apparently in right of his wife Johanna who was the heiress of the Chykes. John and Johanna Pope sold it in 1523 to John Williams of Herringston, Esq., for his life and that of his second son Henry. Henry Williams, who afterwards built Tyneham House, survived his father, and purchased the reversion in fee May 22nd, 1563. When he died in 1589 “the jury in their return of the lands held at his death . . . were unable to say (penitiis ignorant) of whom his estate in West Tyneham was held,” but it is probable that it belonged to the Abbey of Cirencester, co. Gloucester, as in a deed dated 5 Elizabeth, Tyneham is described as ” subject … to an annual rent charge of 20 shillings payable to the late monastery of Ciceter.” Henry Williams died seized of the manor of Tyneham, lands in West Holme, Lyme Regis, Whitchurch, Marshwood, West Lulworth, the farm of Burngate, and the reversion of a moiety of the manor of Egliston held of the Queen in capite by rent of 6s. 8d.

Jane, the only daughter of Henry Williams, married Sir Robert Lawrence of Grange, and their son John, who inherited his mother’s estates, sold “the manors or lordships of Tyneham and Egliston” to Nathaniel Bond, Esq., of Lutton, in 1683, from whom Tyneham descended to Margaret Sophia Bond, who on her marriage with the Rev. Matthew Rogers gave it to her brother, the Rev. William Bond, rector of the parish, from whom it descended to William Henry Bond, Esq., in whose possession it now remains.

South Tyneham, in past years called East Tyneham, was, like West Tyneham, part of Tigeham, that was held by Bretel of the Earl of Mortain ; it remained part and parcel of West Tyneham until the division of that estate between the daughters of John Russell in Richard the Second’s reign. His youngest daughter Alice, who had married William Burdon, inherited it, and it passed through her daughter Jane, who married John Dolfin of Stoborough, to Agnes Dolfin, who married William Clavell. In Elizabeth’s reign it came to the Lawrences of Winterborne Steepleton, and in Charles the First’s reign was bought by Elias Bond of Wareham, Lord-Lieutenant of the Isle and Captain of the Castle of Portland ; also M.P. for Wareham in 1658. Elias was succeeded by his nephew William Bond, whose two daughters, Mary Gould and Margaret Speke, eventually shared the estate. Mary, Countess of Abingdon, only daughter of James and Mary Gould, died without children, and left her share of the estate to her cousin George Speke, from whom it descended to William Speke of Jordans, near Ilminster, who sold it to John Garland in 1803, from whom it descended to the wife of Mr. Henry House of Lytchett.

Baltington, which, as has been said, is probably the Tingeham that belonged to the Earl of Chester in the reign of William I, consists of a farm and a few cottages in Worbarrow, and is situated between Tyneham Farm and Worbarrow Bay. Anciently one part of it belonged to Barneston and the other to the manor of Knowle Steeple and Creech. After the death, early in King John’s reign, of Engelin, the lord of Egliston, in this parish, his widow recovered one-third of Baltington, her dower, from Adam de Morton. Eventually

Robert, son of Adam de Morton, or Mordone, granted it to William Martel, for which gift William gave Robert three silver marks and his wife one ” bezant.” In Edward the First’s reign it became the property of the Stokeses of Barneston, to whom from then till early in the sixteenth century it appears to have belonged. In Henry the Eighth’s reign it was held by the Gerards of Longhide of the Clavells of Barneston, and late in Elizabeth’s reign it was brought by the heiress of the Gerards as her marriage portion to the Napiers of More Crichel. In 1793 Humphrey Ockley Sturt, who inherited it from the Napiers, sold it to John Bond of Grange, grandfather of the present owner.

Egliston, which was probably the three hides in Tingeham described in Domesday Book as being held by Anschitil Fitz-Ameline, was anciently divided from West Tyneham by a boundary-line which extended from Tyneham Cap, the summit of the south hill, to the summit of the hill on the north. The hamlet consists of two parts, North and South Egliston, the former now containing Egliston Farm, already mentioned, and the latter Tyneham Farm.

The name Egliston is obviously derived from Engelin or Eglin, who owned it before the third year of the reign of King John, and whose widow, after much litigation, was allowed to keep a third part of the estate for her dowry.

North Egliston anciently belonged to the Clavells of Quarr. In Henry the Eighth’s reign their descendants, the Daccombs of Corfe Castle, sold it to Thomas Coles, from whom it was purchased by William Cockram, whose great-grandsons, Joseph and Samuel Symonds, eventually inherited it. Samuel sold his moiety in 1719 to Denis Bond of Grange, and in 1811 Joseph’s son William sold his share to John, brother and successor of Denis Bond. So once more the manor of North Egliston was united in one estate.

South Egliston belonged until the reign of Henry V to the Priory of Wareham, dependent on the Benedictine Monastery of Lire, in Normandy. In 1415, however, the alien priories were dissolved, and the King gave the Priory of Wareham and all other property of the Monastery of Lire that was in England to the Monastery of Shene, in Surrey, which he had himself founded. In Henry the Eighth’s reign South Egliston was claimed by the Crown, and was given in 1546 to Peter Seynthill, who in the same year sold it to Sir Oliver Lawrence, whose son, Edward Lawrence of Grange, sold it in 1587 to Henry Williams of Tyneham. From the Williamses it passed to the Mohuns, and in 1634 Robert Mohun sold it to Elias Bond of Lutton, from whom it was bought by Henry Jubber in 1674, whose descendants in 1720 sold it to John Bond of Tyneham. After passing through the hands of many of the Bonds of Tyneham it was eventually inherited by John Bond of Grange, whose descendant now owns it.

About a mile north of Tyneham, and at the foot of the hills on the other side, lies the farm of Povington, and beyond it stretches the expanse of bracken and heather called Povington Heath. It is now a small hamlet, but once it was a manor. In Domesday Book it is said to have been held in demesne by Robert Fitz-Gerald. In Edward the Confessor’s reign it was held by Almar and taxed for eight hides. After the Conquest it was worth £11, and the mill, which “paid 25s.,” was claimed for the King’s use.

POVINGTON

Robert Fitz-Gerald was the son of Gerald, “dapifer” or royal steward to William I and uncle of William de Romana, Earl of Lincoln. He accompanied the Conqueror to England, and eventually became tenant-in-chief in the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hants, Wilts, and Bucks. He gave Povington to the Abbey of Bec, in Normandy, which gift was ratified later by Henry II. When King John lost the duchy of Normandy, difficulties with regard to alien abbeys holding English territory arose. That the Abbot of Bec must have shown some diplomacy and clung to the good things of Povington the following statement shows. “The abbot . . . since Easter removed eighty-five cheeses, with all the wool of the sheep and lambs, one basket of loaves and 15s. worth of oates sold together with 28s. 9d. of the Easter rent.” The abbot probably continued to appropriate the revenues of his quondam lands in Dorset, for in the next reign we find Avenel Fitz-Robert claiming the manor of Povington against the Abbot of Bec. The case was to be decided by a trial by wager of battle, in which, strange to say, the churchman won, and the vanquished knight ” quit-claimed to the said abbot all his right in this manor.” In later times Povington was reckoned as a parcel of the Priory of Okeburn, in Wiltshire, which was a ” cell ” to the Abbey of Bec.

When wars arose between France and England the King would claim the alien monasteries as his own. As has been already said, the alien monasteries were suppressed in 1415; Povington, however, became Crown property at an earlier date. It was granted by Henry IV to John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford, but on his death in 1436 it again came to the Crown, and Henry VI granted it to “the master and bretheren of the Hospital of St. Anthony in London and their successors for the exhibition and support at the University of Oxford of five well disposed scholars to be brought up in the faculty of arts, so that such scholars, before going to Oxford, should be well and sufficiently instructed in the rudiments of grammar at the College at Eton : each scholar to receive after the rate of 10 pence a week until he should attain the degree of Bachelor of Arts.”

Nine years later it is recorded that Henry granted the “farm or rent which John Newburgh, Esq., ought to pay for the custody of the manor of Povington,” and many other lands that used to belong to the alien Priory of Okeburn, to the Provost and Royal College of St. Mary’s at Eton. Edward IV revoked the grant, but later in the seventh year of his reign, ” for the welfare of himself and Elizabeth his consort whilst living, and for the health of their souls ‘ cum ab hac luce migravimus apud altissimum,’ ” granted all the lands, including Povington (Newburgh’s lease having expired), to William Westbury, then Provost of the College of Eton.

These various grants appear contradictory. It seems improbable that Henry VI should have granted certain lands to the Master and Brethren of St. Anthony’s Hospital in 1442, and only nine years later given them to the Provost of Eton. The grant made by Edward IV is comprehensible enough : as has been said, he revoked the grants made by his conquered predecessor. Things became clearer, however, later on, and it is seen that Povington belonged to Eton for at least a hundred years, as in 1541 Robert Bishop of Carlisle, then Provost of Eton, “granted to Denis Bond a lease of Lutton, parcel of the manor of Povington,” in exchange for other lands.

In Edward the Sixth’s reign Povington, like so many other places in Purbeck, was given to the Duke of Somerset. With most of his other possessions in the county it eventually came to his son, the Earl of Hertford, who sold it to John Vincent, yeoman, in 1616. It remained in the Vincent family till 1733, when the last male member bequeathed his estates to his sister’s son, William Lord, from whom it was inherited by his cousin, William Dore, who sold it in 1801 to John Bond of Grange. Hutchins, without quoting any authority, says that there was once a chapel at Povington. The recent discovery of a fragment of a large cross in the ground points towards the truth of this assertion.

The farm of West Whiteway, which is intersected by Luckford Lake, one of the boundaries of Purbeck, is about a mile west of Povington Farm. It was part of the manor of Povington till 1615, when the Earl of Hertford sold it, one part to William Collins and the other to John Cockram. After passing through several hands early in the last century, both parts became the property of the Welds. Collins’s share now belongs to Reginald Weld, but Cockram’s was sold by Joseph Weld, Esq., to the Rev. Nathaniel Bond in 1863. West Whiteway Farm, once belonging to the Collinses, is interesting as being the only part of the Lulworth estate that lies actually in Purbeck.

Worbarrow or Worthbarrow Tout is a conical-shaped hill almost surrounded by water, being joined to the main cliff by a thin neck of land. Hutchins relates that at the foot of the barrow, a little north of it, there was a circular rampart, where two or three cannons were placed in time of war. As the reviser of Hutchins points out, this cannot be correct, as such a situation would necessitate the ramparts rising straight ” from out the azure main.”

The Tout is now adorned by the flagstaff and other appurtenances of a coastguard station. Worbarrow Bay is one of the most beautiful in Dorset. From Worbarrow Tout on the east to Mupe Rocks on the west is a little more than a mile. Within the bay the coast-line dips twice to form inlets — on the east that called Worbarrow, beyond which the village nestles, and on the west the narrower ravine called Arish Mell, through which cleft can be seen the towers of Lulworth Castle ” bosom’d high in tufted trees.” West of Arish Mell, between Cockpit Head and Mupe Rocks, Mupe Bay sparkles in the sunlight. Colour here is more varied than it is generally in English scenery, except indeed in Devon : the rocks on the east are red and bronze, the cliffs on the west are white and dazzling, while the intervening shore is yellow; the sea is intensely blue, and the shingles on the beach have a look of silver ; the land is covered with grass that in contrast looks a more than usually vivid green. Apart from its aesthetic perfections, Worbarrow claims consideration for its geological characteristics. When the geology of Purbeck was described in an earlier chapter, it was said that at Worbarrow would be found a key to the enigma, as here there are what may be called ” end sections,” beds of both cliffs and hills.

Rings Hill, the western extremity of the Purbeck Hills, extends from the inlet of Worbarrow to that of Arish Mell, and with the termination of this range of hills we come to the termination of Purbeck itself. But Rings Hill has a greater interest even than being the boundary of the island ; on its summit are still to be seen the remains of the ancient fortification called Flowers Barrow.

Historians and archaeologists, and all those learned in such subjects, differ as to whether the fortification was of British or Roman origin. As it stands on the top of a hill, 560 feet above the sea-level, and is inaccessible except from the north-east — even at that point only to be approached by the path that runs along the top of the hills which rise abruptly at Corfe and terminate at Arish Mell — as its situation is bleak and desolate, and provisions difficult to obtain, one cannot help imagining it to be the last stand of a people at bay, rather than the camp of a conquering army.

Charles Warne, f.s.a., in his Ancient Dorset, a work only published for its author and subscribers, gives an interesting and learned account of Flowers Barrow, from which I will quote : —

“The area of the Camp is between five and six acres ; the ground on the north and west falls very precipitously ; on the south side it presents the aspect of a lofty cliff, some six or seven hundred feet high, with its base gradually yielding to the incessant action of the waves ; while the summit, scored with numerous fissures, shows the destructive power of atmospheric agencies.

“For ages exposed to these influences, the results may be readily imagined ; the defences on this side of the Camp, whatsoever they may have been, are now, with the exception of a few slight traces, entirely swept away. Judging from the inclination of the area, and aided by their few vestiges, it is natural to infer that the entrenchments on the south side were parallel to those on the north. On this, the opposite side, the declivity of the hill increases rapidly as it recedes from the area; from this circumstance protection was readily obtained by scarping the face of the hill, the effect of which was to produce a confused series of irregular banks, ditches, and platforms.

“An exception, however, must be taken to the inner line of defence, which, from its greater strength and better finish, plainly bespeaks either an addition to the original work, or a reparation of the rampart, by increasing its width and adding to its height ; the surface of the area adjoining it show^s signs of disturbance. It is easy to be seen, by comparison, what parts have been restored. This additional or improved rampart is attributable to a period of Roman occupation, and the reader is referred to the essay on Vespasian’s early conquests in Britain, where he will find the explanation fully given. The entrances to FIorus-Bury are on the south-east and north-west. The approach from the south-east is … by a level range ; to obviate this defect, the entrance, which is remarkably narrow, is made through the outer rampart so close to the verge of the hill as to allow only a limited space of a few yards wide for ingress ; and so precipitously does the land fall off to the sea that it would be impossible to assault the entrance with a large body of men.

“On passing through the outer approach, a broad level space, about thirty yards wide, occurs, and a little way within, on the right hand, an embankment or middle line of defence extends for about fifty yards, purposely as an additional protection to this the most vulnerable quarter of the camp.

“The entrance through the inner rampart is more to the north-east and east, immediately opposite the outer entrance, thereby giving the defenders an advantage, as an enemy would have to make his advance obliquely and so be flanked by this middle rampart.

“At the west end, the outer vallum is, as on the east side,thrown up somewhat in advance of the inner ; and the exterior entrance is about fifty yards more to the north than the interior one ; hence the passage is carried diagonally through the defences. The form of the camp seems originally to have been somewhat of an oval, and its area is still marked with vestiges of early occupation, concerning which the late J. F. Pennie observes : ‘ In this mountain fortress the wells are to be seen that were dug by the warlike inhabitants to retain the water that fell from the clouds,’ and ‘ a long series of circular excavations in this ground over which were erected their principal tents or booths, while on the south-west of the area may be perceived, from the inequalities of the ground, where stood the different divisions for their cattle.’ ”

This description brings a past world before our eyes, and if remembered when from the summit of the hill one beholds the rugged coast, the treeless hills, and heather-covered moors rolling away into the distance, it is easy to imagine the situation as it was two thousand years ago, when Britons in sheepskin and Romans in armour met and, fighting on the hills, turned the greensward crimson. Even in this remote region the “pomp and circumstance of glorious war” has left its indelible impress on the character of the scene, while two thousand years of peace have hardly left a trace.

The derivation of Flowers Barrow remains obscure. Hutchins suggests that it was named Florus-Bury, after Florus, a Roman officer in Vespasian’s army, and though there is no particular authority for the statement, we must, in the words of Mr. N. Bond, “submit it to the judgement of the learned” as to whether its correct appellation should be Florus-Bury or not. The learned, alas, do not agree amongst themselves !

Beyond Cockpit Head, as has been said, Mupe Bay extends to Mupe Rocks, which form the western extremity of Worbarrow Bay ; and behind its shore the great mass of Bindon Hill rises and stretches like a vast rampart defending the coast, till it descends abruptly at the east side of Lulworth Cove.