Stinsford

44 STINSFORD (7191)

(O.S. 6 ins. SY 69 SE, SY 79 SW)

The parish, roughly square in outline, has an area of 3,336 acres and extends from the N. bank of the R. Frome to the summit of Waterston Ridge. Much of the land is Chalk, but Reading Beds give rise to heathland in the N.E. part of the area. Until 1894 the hamlet of Frome Whitfield, now in Stinsford, was part of the parish of Holy Trinity, Dorchester; it was originally an independent parish. A chain of small settlements formerly lay along the N. bank of the R. Frome, each with a strip of land running back from the river; their names from E. to W. were Bhompston, Bockhampton, Kingston, Stinsford, Coker's Frome and Frome Whitfield. It is probable that most, if not all of these settlements were in existence in 1086, but Frome Whitfield is the only one to retain any trace of a mediaeval village (11). Replacement of the settlements by large houses has resulted in the absence, today, of anything that can properly be called a village, except Lower Bockhampton, a relatively modern hamlet in which the oldest cottage is of the late 18th century. Higher Bockhampton is probably of about the same date.

The most important monuments are the parish church, Kingston Maurward House (4) and the Manor House (5).

Ecclesiastical

(1) The Parish Church of St. Michael stands on rising ground N. of the R. Frome and about half-way between the E. and W. boundaries of the parish. The walls are of roughly squared and coursed rubble, with ashlar dressings; the roofs are covered with slates, stoneslates and lead. The Chancel and the N. and S. arcades of the Nave are of the early 13th century. The West Tower was added early in the 14th century and the W. wall of the S. aisle appears to have been rebuilt at this time; however, the South Aisle is mainly of the 15th century. The North Aisle was rebuilt in 1630 and was considerably altered in the 19th century. The church was restored in 1868, 1883 and 1910; the North Vestry is of 1868.

The most important feature of the church is a reset pre-conquest relief of an angel. The 18th-century communion plate was made by Paul Lamerie.

Architectural Description—The Chancel (23¾ ft. by 12½ ft.) has an E. window of 1868. The window and the archway in the N. wall are of the 19th century but to the W. of the archway a modern recess incorporates part of the head of a former squint. The S. wall has two 19th-century windows and a blocked 13th-century doorway with a two-centred head. In the angle formed by the S. wall of the chancel and the E. wall of the S. aisle is a loop-light to a former rood-loft stair. The two-centred 13th-century chancel-arch (Plate 201) is of two orders, with continuous roll and keel mouldings finishing in squared stops above chamfered plinths.

The Nave (26 ft. by 14¼ ft.) has in the E. wall, to the S. of the chancel-arch, a squint which was altered and extended down to floor-level when a recess was cut in its S. jamb, probably to accommodate the rood-loft stair. The 13th-century N. arcade has two round-headed arches of two orders, the inner order chamfered and the outer order roll-moulded; the original pier and responds were probably similar to those of the S. arcade, but they have been rebuilt and are now rendered; except for the abaci, the capitals are masked by the rendering. The 13th-century S. arcade is also of two bays and has round-headed arches similar to the N. arcade but with labels towards the nave. The centre pier, partly restored, is composed of four free shafts recessed in a square central member, with moulded bases and stiff-leaf capitals. The responds are similar but of three shafts; that to the E. is wholly restored but that to the W., including the capitals, is original (Plate 16).

The North Aisle (10 ft. wide) was rebuilt in 1630, the date cut on a stone in the N. wall, but the windows are of 1868. An 18th-century engraving shows round-headed classical windows and a round-headed N. doorway between them; the outline of the blocked 17th-century doorway can be seen internally. The W. wall is masked externally by 19th-century rubble, with small slit ventilators.

The South Aisle (7¾ ft. wide) is mainly of the 15th century and has a chamfered plinth and an embattled parapet with the bases of pinnacles rising from grotesque gargoyles set at intervals in a moulded string-course (Plate 18). The partly restored E. window is of four cinquefoil-headed lights, with vertical tracery in a two-centred casement-moulded head with continuous jambs, and a label with bishop and king head-stops. In the S. wall are two windows, each of three cinquefoil ogee-headed lights, with vertical tracery in a square casement-moulded surround, with labels with head-stops. The masonry of the lower part of the W. wall, with a chamfered plinth, is continuous with that of the W. tower and presumably is of the 14th century.

The West Tower (9 ft. square) is of two stages, with a plain parapet with weathered coping; between the stages is a small weathered string-course. In the lower stage the N.W. and S.W. corners have diagonal buttresses of two stages with weathered offsets. The tower arch is two-centred and of two wave-moulded orders; the outer order is continuous and the inner order springs from large three-quarter shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The W. doorway has a wave-moulded two-centred head and continuous jambs. The W. window is of the 17th century with two pointed lights in a two-centred head. In the N. wall the upper stage of the tower has a window of one trefoil-headed light and, above, a belfry window of one square-headed light; similar belfry windows occur in the E. and W. walls.

The Roof of the chancel is a barrel vault, probably of the 17th century, from which the plaster has been removed; the timber ribs spring from coved and moulded timber cornices.

Fittings—Bells: three; 1st dated 1616; 2nd by Thomas Purdue, 1663; treble, originally of the 15th century but recast in 1927. Chair: In vestry, of mahogany, with shaped arms, balusters at back and pierced top-rail, late 18th century. Coffin-stools: two, with turned legs, 18th century. Fonts: two; in nave, square stone bowl with two pairs of round-headed panels on each face, late 12th century, pedestal modern; in N. aisle, of marble, baluster-shaped with gadrooned knop and square base, early 18th century. Image: In recess in W. wall of tower, externally, standing figure of angel (Plate 12) carved in Ham Hill stone, with banded wings and flowing drapery, head defaced, probably late 10th or early 11th century.

Monuments and Floor-slabs. Monuments: In chancel, on S. wall, (1) of William Obrien, 1815, and Susannah Sarah Louisa (Strangways) Obrien, 1827, two circular plaques on slate background; (2) of Rev. William Floyer, 1819, William Floyer R.N., 1822, Elizabeth Margaret Floyer, and Elizabeth (Floyer) Digby, 1834, sarcophagus-shaped marble tablet; in N. aisle, on N. wall, (3) of Marcia (Pitt) Cholmondeley, 1808, marble tablet with arms; (4) of George, 1769, Charles, 1756, and John, 1759, sons of John and Marcia Pitt of Encombe, marble tablet; (5) of Audeley and Margaret (Trevelyan) Grey, marble wall-monument (Plate 203) with Corinthian side-columns, entablature, cartouche-of-arms, urn and winged skull, erected 1723; on W. wall, (6) of George Pitt, 1734, erected by Lora (Grey), his widow, large marble wall-monument (Plate 203) with scrolls and festoons, above, oval niche with bust, apron with cartouche-of-arms. In S. aisle, on S. wall, (7) of William Harding, 1834, and Hannah his wife, 1841, marble tablet by Slade of Dorchester. In tower, on S. wall, (8) of Benjamin Bowring, 1837, marble tablet by Slade of Dorchester. In churchyard, six paces N.W. of vestry, (9) of John, 1693, and Mell Cox, 1716, table-tomb; three paces N. of the foregoing, (10) of William Cox, 1704, table-tomb with emblems of mortality; further N., (11) of Thomas Hardy, 1928, and Florence (Dugdale) Hardy, 1937, coffin-shaped monolith. Floor-slab: In chancel, of Wadham Strangways, 1685, killed at Bridport in the King's service against Monmouth, also Elizabeth his wife, 1683, and Rachel Radford her sister, 1682, with arms of Strangways.

Niche: Above piscina in S. aisle, with polygonal vaulted canopy, crocketed finials, side-shafts and angel corbel, 15th century. Piscinae: In chancel, in S. wall, small recess with pointed head, bowl cut back, mediaeval. In S. aisle, in S. wall, large trefoil-headed recess, bowl with round drain, 13th century, reset. Plate: includes large silver-gilt cup, stand-paten and flagon of 1736 (Plate 202), all by Paul Lamerie and given by Mrs. Strangways Horner in 1737; also bread-knife and sheath from same donor, 1755, and small silver cup and paten of 1819. Miscellanea: In W. tower, on walls of lowest stage, oak panelling, early 19th century, reset; loose on floor, stone chevron voussoir, 12th century; Purbeck marble capital, probably 13th century.

Secular

(2) Bridge (72059071), across an arm of the R. Frome, 1,060 yds. W. of the church, is of brick with ashlar dressings and dates from the late 18th or early 19th century. It has three arches, the central one larger than the other two.

(3) Stinsford House (71109100), immediately W. of the church, is principally of one storey with basements and attics, and has walls of coursed rubble, squared rubble, ashlar and brick, partly rendered; the roofs are slated. The main part of the house has an L-shaped plan, comprising an entrance hall in the N. range, and a long range reaching out to the W. from its southern end. At the E. end of the W. range is a somewhat lower E. wing. In the principal storey these ranges are of the 19th century, but they are built on top of a high basement storey, in part above ground-level, which dates from the 17th century.

The main entrance, in the W. side of the N. range, has an ashlar porch, with Roman Doric pilasters and entablature, flanked on each side by three tall sashed windows. Below these, to the S. of the porch, the basement storey has three 17th-century windows each of two square-headed lights with hollow-chamfered stone heads, jambs and mullions. At the same level in the N. wall of the W. range, are two similar windows; the rest of the N. wall is windowless. The S. elevation of the W. range has nine 19th-century sashed windows on the main floor, which is rendered, and beneath them, where the wall is of coursed rubble, seven 17th-century windows and a doorway. The 17th-century windows are of two lights with ogee-moulded and hollow-chamfered stone jambs and heads, and hollow-chamfered mullions; above them is a continuous weathered and hollow-chamfered hood-mould; the doorway, probably an 18th-century insertion, has a square head and a moulded architrave. At the same level in the S. elevation of the E. wing are three similar square-headed two-light windows above which, on the main floor, are 19th-century casement windows of two lights with two-centred heads. In a yard to the E. of the N. range the 17th-century rubble walling is seen at a higher level than elsewhere; it retains traces of an old buttress, and a chamfered string-course. A square-headed basement doorway with chamfered stone jambs and head is of the 17th century. On the N. side of the E. wing a projecting two-storied bay has, in its W. wall, three stone windows with moulded heads and jambs, and remains of mullions; these openings may be of the early 18th century.

Inside, the cellar under the entrance hall in the N. range has two original 17th-century stone doorways with chamfered jambs, cappings enriched with strapwork ornament, and round heads with panelled keystones; the cellar appears to have been vaulted formerly. The basement room at the E. end of the E. wing has an open fireplace, probably of the 18th century, with ashlar jambs and a shouldered ashlar head with a keystone; on each side of the fireplace is a brick oven. At the N. end of the E. wing is another open fireplace, with a chamfered stone surround and shouldered jambs.

The house is approached from the W. by an avenue of sycamores, terminating beside the main road at a pair of Gate Piers, of rendered brickwork with flint rustication, and with eagle finials; the piers are probably of the early 19th century.

(4) Kingston Maurward House (71549104), ¼ m. E. of the parish church, is of three storeys with a basement. The building is of brick, faced with Portland stone, and has flat lead roofs. According to Hutchins (II, 566) the house was originally built in brick for George Pitt of Stratfield Say, between 1717 and 1720. Important alterations were made in 1794 when the exterior was cased in stone and the attic was remodelled as a third storey, the engraving of c. 1770 in Hutchins's 1st edition (I, opp. p. 473) shows that the orginal N. front had richer details than the present stone one, and that it was crowned by a very elaborate attic storey. Internally, the house was remodelled in the late 18th century, in the mid 19th century, and again about 1920.

The N. and S. fronts are dignified classical compositions, each with a pedimented central pavilion and symmetrical flanking wings.

The N. front is of nine bays. The three central bays project slightly and are enriched with colossal Corinthian pilasters and a heavy entablature; the corners of the three-bay wings have rusticated pilasters with moulded capitals and bases. In the three central bays the lower part of each pilaster is hidden by a large mid 19th-century porch, within which the 18th-century doorway survives, with a moulded architrave and scrolled consoles supporting a moulded and dentilled cornice. The windows flanking the doorway have moulded architraves and projecting aprons beneath the sills; according to the 1770 engraving these features also occurred originally under the windows of the side bays. The attic storey, which in its present form is of 1794, has nine segmental-headed windows. Plain pilasters correspond with the rusticated corner pilasters of the lower storey and similar features define the projecting central pavilion; the latter is surmounted by a plain pediment. The S. front (Plate 205) is generally similar to the N. front as it was before the addition of the porch.

Inside, the entrance hall, which rises through two storeys, retains traces of late 18th-century decoration in the tympana of the doorways and about the chimney-piece, but the architectural decorations, with Corinthian and Composite half-columns in two orders, are modern. There are several late 18th-century and early 19th-century fireplace surrounds, some of which may have originated in the house, especially the later ones.

The Garden Temple (Plate 65), 130 yds. S.E. of the house, is of brick faced with Portland stone. It consists of a tetrastyle Roman Doric portico with a pedimented entablature. The portico is approached by a flight of four steps. On each side of the portico the continuous entablature forms the capping of lateral screen walls, curved on plan, at the extremities of which it is returned around terminal pilasters. A plain niche marks the centre of each curved wall. Inside the portico, at the centre of the rear wall, is a false doorway with a moulded architrave and with enriched consoles supporting a dentil cornice with egg-and-dart ornament.

(5) The Old Manor House, Kingston Maurward (71859099), 750 yds. E. of the parish church, is of two storeys with attics, and has walls of squared and coursed rubble with ashlar dressings; the roofs are slated, with stone-slate verges. The house dates from the end of the 16th century and has an E-shaped plan opening towards the W. (Plate 204). In the first half of the 17th century a wing was added, projecting E. from the S. part of the main range. The house was the seat of the Grey family until the marriage of George Pitt with Lora, the last Grey heiress, c. 1700, after which Kingston Maurward House (4) was built, and the old manor house was left to become first a farmhouse, then an almshouse and, more recently, tenements. The house is now in process of restoration. Externally it is a good specimen of Elizabethan domestic architecture; internally it has been extensively remodelled.

The W. front is symmetrical and of five bays; the bays to N. and S. project as wings and the middle bay also projects as a porch of equal height with the other bays. Every bay is gabled on the W. front and each projecting bay has similar gables on its N. and S. sides. The side gables are modern restorations, except in the case of the N. side of the N. wing and the S. side of the S. wing; evidence to justify this restoration was found during the recent works. At the foot of the elevation is a plinth with a continuous ogee-moulded capping, and similar mouldings form string-courses above the ground-floor and first-floor windows; the attic windows have labels. All the gables have moulded copings and richly carved apex finials of various forms, many of them restored. Every bay except the centre bay has a ground-floor and a first-floor window of four transomed square-headed lights with chamfered reveals and hollow-chamfered mullions and jambs; at the foot of each jamb and mullion the chamfers end in moulded pedestal-stops. The attic storey has square-headed three-light windows with details similar to the other windows. The projecting N. and S. bays have, in the side walls, ground, first and attic storey windows as described; these are modern restorations, but the original openings were adequately demonstrated by surviving fragments of the internal splays. The projecting central bay has a low round-headed W. archway with continuous multiple ovolo mouldings; above is a carved achievement-of-arms (Plate 48) of Grey impaling Stawel; Angel Grey married Katherine Stawel c. 1630 and the cartouche must be an insertion in the 16th-century masonry. Above the cartouche-of-arms the porch bay has a three-light first-floor window and a two-light attic window; there are no openings in the side walls. The doorway within the porch has a four-centred head and moulded jambs with chamfered stops.

The S. front has a moulded plinth and string-courses as described; in the 17th-century E. extension the first-floor string-course is stepped up to correspond with the changed floor-level. The attic storey does not now continue in the extension although evidence uncovered during the restorations indicates that it formerly had two gabled windows. The 16th-century part of the S. front has two gabled bays with restored three-light windows in the W. bay and orginal five-light openings in that to the E.; the details of these windows are as on the W. front. Until recently the western gable was crowned by an ashlar chimney-stack, probably added in the 17th century when the original windows were closed and fireplaces were inserted. Of two doorways on the ground floor, that to the W. has chamfered jambs and a low rounded head and appears to be inserted; that to the E. has moulded jambs and a four-centred head and is probably original to the 17th-century extension. The extension has, on the ground floor, a transomed window of five lights and another of three lights and, on the first floor, a transomed four-light window and an untransomed three-light opening with a label. These windows have details identical with those of the W. front and are probably composed of elements taken from the former openings in the side walls of the western projecting bays. In the E. and N. elevations the fenestration is irregular. On the E. side of the original 16th-century range, toward the N. end, a large external chimney-breast with weathered offsets culminates in three diagonally-set chimney shafts, one of which is original. A similar chimney-stack with two shafts occurs in the S. part of the 16th-century block; it was originally external but became enclosed when the 17th-century wing was built. The N. end of the 16th-century range has two gabled bays; that to the E. has on each floor a four-light window with a label, there being no string-courses on this elevation; the western bay has no windows; a slightly projecting chimneybreast in the lower storey is weathered back above the level of the first floor. In the re-entrant angle between the E. wall of the original range and the N. wall of the 17th-century wing a connecting bay has recently been built to afford communication between the two parts of the house; it stands on old foundations, perhaps those of a former stair tower.

Internally, there are few original features and the layout of the rooms can be recovered only in outline. The W. doorway appears to have opened into a through-passage, or screenspassage, now represented only by mortice-holes for the partition studding on the underside of a first-floor beam. The Hall lay S. of the passage and extended as far as the S. external wall; it was on the ground floor only. Hutchins's mention of 'a little room within the hall' (II, 566) suggests that the S.W. bay was separate in the 18th century, but as the first-floor beam contains no mortices for the studs of a partition it appears that the bay originally was one with the Hall. The Hall fireplace has recently been restored; it has an ogee-moulded and hollow-chamfered head with a raised centre, continuous jambs and chamfered stops. Immediately S. of the fireplace is a round-headed archway with a double ovolo-moulded head, moulded imposts, moulded jambs and chamfered stops; it leads into the 17th-century E. wing and presumably was inserted when that wing was built. The original kitchen evidently lay N. of the through-passage. The chimney-breast noted near the N.E. corner of the W. range contains the elements of a very large fireplace opening, with chamfered jambs and a chamfered segmental head, now restored. Between the kitchen and hall fireplaces, the E. wall of the 16th-century range is pierced by an orginal doorway with moulded jambs and a four-centred head; the opening has been moved from its original position but it probably comes from the E. end of the former screens-passage. The 17th-century E. wing is divided into two parts by a N.-S. partition of large timber studs; one of these timbers retains a mortice at a level which suggests the half-landing of a former staircase. The projection of a dismantled fireplace was found at the centre of the E. wall of the E. range, and scanty remains of a moulded plaster ceiling cornice were noted in one corner of this chimney-breast. On the first floor, in the chamber above the S. part of the hall, is an original fireplace with an ogee-moulded and hollow-chamfered head with a raised centre and continuous jambs; the chamber over the kitchen has a similar fireplace in the northern part of the large chimney-breast noted above; adjacent, in the N. wall, is a small stone niche with a four-centred head. A fireplace with an ogeemoulded and hollow-chamfered four-centred head occurs on the first floor in the E. wall of the 17th-century wing, directly above that on the ground floor.

The Terrace which lies before the W. front is bordered by a moulded kerb, probably the plinth of a 17th-century balustrade. Responds for piers occur at intervals in the kerb mouldings. Similar features are seen on the ramped plinths which flank the flight of stone steps ascending to the terrace.

(6) Cottages, (72099088), pair, at Lower Bockhampton, ⁵/8 m. E. of the church, are two-storied, with rubble walls and thatched roofs. The uniform W. fronts are each of two bays with a central doorway; a single brick chimney-stack stands over the party wall. A date-stone inscribed 'Robert Jacob A.J.W.I. 1560' must be reset since the present building is almost certainly of the 18th century.

(7) Cottage (72089075), 100 yds. S. of the foregoing, is of rendered brick and thatch, and of one storey with a dormerwindowed attic; it is of the late 18th century.

(8) Cottage (72849249) at Higher Bockhampton, 1½ m. N.E. of the church, is two-storied with brick walls, partly rendered in the upper storey, and with a thatched roof. It was probably built late in the 18th century and is noted as the birthplace of Thomas Hardy.

(9) Barn (71119119), 220 yds. N. of the church, has walls of rubble and brick, and a low-pitched slate-covered roof. The S. wall may be of the late 17th century; the rest of the building is of the 18th and 19th centuries.

(10) Date Stone. Reset in a garden wall at Frome Whitfield House (692916) is a date stone of 1658 with the initials D.H., E.H.

Mediaeval and Later Earthworks

(11) Settlement Remains (691915), part of the former village of Frome Whitfield, lie 70 yds. S. of Frome Whitfield House. The settlement, sometimes called West Frome (Hutchins II, 410), has a recorded population of 13 in Domesday Book (D. B. I, ff. 79, 83b; Fägersten, 185, note 2); by 1327 only 10 taxpayers are recorded, perhaps indicating a slight decline. The settlement had a church dedicated to St. Nicholas, but it was destroyed by 1549 (Hutchins II, 416). By 1610 depopulation was complete and the parish was joined with that of Holy Trinity Dorchester; it had 'been of long time utterly dispeopled and was then without church or chapel' (ibid.).

The remains are much disturbed by the irrigation of watermeadows and by garden landscaping. The most prominent feature, alleged to be the site of the church, is a roughly L-shaped platform with sides 25 yds. long, and 1 ft. to 2 ft. high; it is cut into by a pond on the N. side. To the W. is a low N.-S. bank, with a parallel scarp 25 yds. beyond it. Pottery of the 13th and 14th centuries has been picked up on the site. On the Tithe Map of 1840 (Holy Trinity Parish, Dorchester) the field in which the remains lie is called 'Chapel Close'.

(12) Cultivation Remains. The fragmentary remains of two contour strip lynchets lie 700 yds. N.E. of Coker's Frome Farm (702917). They probably represent part of the former open fields of the small settlement of Coker's Frome.

Roman and Prehistoric

(13) Milestone (70899130), probably Roman, called 'Stinsford Cross', stands on the S. side of the Roman road from Dorchester to Badbury Rings and one Roman mile from the presumed site of the E. gate of Dorchester. The monument is of limestone and measures 5 ft. 10 ins. in length and 14 ins. to 15 ins. in diameter; it has a groove 2 ins. wide and 1 in. deep running round half its girth, 2 ft. 7 ins. from the top. The only other mark is an O.S. bench-mark. The stone was moved a short distance c. 1866 and again in 1957, and it now stands some 3 ft. above the level of the modern road. (Dorset Procs., LXXIX (1957), 110–2 and Pl. 1a; see also Dorset II, 539).

Inhumation Burials, probably Roman, have been found in the parish at various times. In 1779 five inhumations with the feet to the E. were unearthed in Pond Close, Frome Whitfield (693916); the skeletons lay side by side in contiguous stone cists (Hutchins II, 793). In 1841 an inhumation was found on the W. side of Slyer's Lane (perhaps near 703915); it rested on a block of Portland stone, and nails indicated a wooden coffin (Gentleman's Magazine (1841), 393; Arch. Rev. IV (1889), 297). In 1866 an extended inhumation was found at Waterston (near 717943), in a limestone coffin measuring about 5²/3 ft. by 1 ft.

Monuments (14–18), Round Barrows

There are five barrows in the parish; the first four, at Fidler's Green in the extreme N.W., are part of a scatter which extends into Puddletown. A barrow (71249368) formerly existed 320 yds. S.W. of Home Farm; it was destroyed before 1949.

(14) Bell ? (70579408), 65 yds. W. of Fidler's Green, lies on a gentle N.E. slope just over 300 ft. above O.D. The centre of the mound has been dug into and its base has been disturbed; it appears to be surrounded by a narrow sloping berm. Diam. of mound 58 ft., ht. 4 ft.; width of berm 7 ft.; width of ditch 13½ ft., depth about ½ ft.

(15) Bowl (70589437), 320 yds. N. of (14) on a gentle S.E.facing slope. Diam. 50 ft., ht. 2 ft.

(16) Bowl (70659440), 80 yds. E.N.E. of (15), on a gentle W. slope at over 400 ft. above O.D., is poorly defined. Diam. 70 ft., ht. 1 ft.

(17) Bowl (70979441), 340 yds. E. of (16), lies near the summit of a ridge, over 400 ft. above O.D. on a S.W. slope. The ditch is most clearly marked on the E. side. Diam. 58 ft., ht. 4 ft.

(18) Barrow ? (71869295), 165 ft. E.N.E. of Higher Kingston Farm, lies on the crest of a spur facing S. Aerial photographs (R.A.F. CPE/UK 1934: 4080) suggest traces of a ditch but it is not visible on the ground. Diam. 39 ft., ht. 2 ft.