Janet Seal

The arrival of the Saxons brought a new hierarchy to the Southern counties. Treachery, murder, sacrilege and disease all played a part as the smaller tribes yielded to the kings of Wessex. Wimborne boasted a palace and one of the largest double monasteries in England. Many people worked on the land but life itself depended on the success of the crops and the health of the animals. Disease was rife, starvation and hunger a constant threat. The church was where people worshipped, news was disseminated, marriages and trade arranged. It was also the guardian of the morals of the parish. Manors had their own courts and these too staged trials to determine guilt or innocence in the fight against witchcraft. It was a hard life in Saxon times but they had no idea that servitude would become so much harsher under the Normans.

Saxon life involved dawn to dusk labour. How did they make a living when poverty, Viking raids and frequent diseases dogged every season? Many died before their teens so maturity came early. Army conscription is not new. Twelve year olds were men, took their oath, marry, serve on a jury and fight in the army. Trades and other skills were learnt early, secrets kept within the family in the days before Guilds were formed. Slaves took the place of sick oxen when ploughing had to be done but at least they were guaranteed food and clothing by the lord. Labourers had no such certainty and returned home to simple potage – again! Rent was often paid in food, the death tax or heriot was the loss of one’s best beast, a catastrophic reduction in hard times. The trades, pastimes, loves and hates in Saxon times will be explained. The conflict between Christianity and Paganism is only just beneath the surface, the line between plant medicines and witchcraft blurred.

Saxon life involved dawn to dusk labour. How did they make a living when poverty, Viking raids and frequent diseases dogged every season? Many died before their teens so maturity came early. Army conscription is not new. Twelve year olds were men, took their oath, marry, serve on a jury and fight in the army. Trades and other skills were learnt early, secrets kept within the family in the days before Guilds were formed. Slaves took the place of sick oxen when ploughing had to be done but at least they were guaranteed food and clothing by the lord. Labourers had no such certainty and returned home to simple potage – again! Rent was often paid in food, the death tax or heriot was the loss of one’s best beast, a catastrophic reduction in hard times. The trades, pastimes, loves and hates in Saxon times will be explained. The conflict between Christianity and Paganism is only just beneath the surface, the line between plant medicines and witchcraft blurred.

Since 946 AD this Dorset manor has been lived in. The king owned all the land and gave it to reward loyalty. In the turbulent ages of the Plantagenets and the Tudors the lords often had to fight to retain it. This talk follows manor’s history with details of the families, their ambitions, crimes and punishments.

In Tudor times there were men who took advantage of a child’s ownership of a manor. Women have little standing and need a man to take a case to court. Having a coat of arms is no protection against the ‘scams’ of the age. The manor is rented to a famous lawyer, then to a military family who buy it and the nearby hamlet acquiring titles in the process. The most famous owners are the Greathed family whose exploits in the uprising in India earned the family a knighthood. Such fame however cannot over-ride the sadness when the sons and heirs die young. The manor passes through the female line until in 1955, having been occupied by army personnel in WWII, the decision is taken to demolish the house brick by brick. Only the substantial foundations and the above ground store rooms mark the place where one of the earliest manor houses in Dorset used to stand.