About The

Lords of Stoborough

Crown Manor of the Liberty of

Stoborough

Stoborough Manor, Dorsetshire History Stoborough is a liberty, in the parish of the Holy Trinity, borough of Wareham, union of Wareham and Purbeck, Wareham division of Dorset, ¾ of a mile (S.) from Wareham. It was historically governed by a mayor, chosen at Michaelmas; appointed by a jury at the manor court. Stoborough is part of a UNESCO Heritage Site and the Jurassic Coast. Much of Stobrough’s Liberty is part of a flood plain where the foreshore is expansive. This is because Stoborough is part of the Isle of Purbeck with the River Fromme flows through Stoborough Manor and part of Stoborough and East Wall of Wareham area is part of the Poole Harbor. Stoborough is famous for being a key entry area for both the Romans and The Vikings. Even today, most English have a bit of Viking and Roman Blood from the occupations by the Scandanavian Danes and the Latin Italian Empire. The Danes invaded and occupied Stoborough- Wareham in 876, and only left after Alfred returned with an army and made a payment of Danegeld. In 998 they attacked again, and in 1015 an invasion led by King Canute left the town in ruins. The region was a Viking/Saxon royal burial place, notably that of King Beorhtric. Later, under the English feudal system, the Lord of the Manor had a duty to uphold the law and liberties of the Crown. Many manors were overseen and controlled by the court leet of the lords of the manor. There was a jury often made up of tenants, and local laws were enforced and fines levied against those who transgressed them. Court leets also appointed men to act as manorial officials; constable, ale-taster for instance. The court leet for the Liberty and Manor of Stoborough, or Stowborough, was unusual in that the court chose the mayor of the borough. This function was carried out until the 18th century and the new Lord of the manor, who is an international lawyer trained in civil and common law, has revived as an annual ceremonial tradition. A liberty was an English unit originating in the Middle Ages, traditionally defined as an area in which regalian right was revoked and where the land was held by a mesne lord (i.e. an area in which rights reserved to the king had been devolved into private hands). Stoborough Liberty included in the Hundred of Winfrith. Anciently around 1306, these lands of Stoborough were granted to the powerful Earle of Moreton and then the powerful De Stoke or “de Estok” family. After this, the manor was owned by the Trenchards of Wolveton but was forfeited to the crown in the 1400s and became a Crown Manor. King Richard granted Stoborough to William Claxton Esq on March 25th, 1484. The lordship was originally referred to as either Stoburgh, Stanberge or Stauberge which were part of the Domesday lands of Stowbergh /Stoburgh/Stoborough- Beastwelle next to Wareham. As the Domesday survey “Beastewelle” was held in demesne by the Earle of Moreton, and it was taxed for three hides. In after times it formed part of a manor called the manor of By-est-wall and Stoborough. An analysis of the Tax Returns suggests that it lay near or with the Hasler or Winfrith Hundred. https://www.opcdorset.org/EastStoke/EastSto ke-Hutchins.htm 1306. William de Estok, knt. son and heir of William de Estok, knt. (“filius et heres Will’i quondam de Esok milit”) granted and confirmed by deed sand date to John de Estok and Alice his wife, all the lands and tenements in the vill of Berneston which fell to him by inheritance from William de Estok his father. 33 Edw. I. William de Stok was mainpernor of John de Turberville, knight of the shire for the county of Dorset; 3 Edw. II. he, by the name of William son of William de Estoke, settled land in Byestwall juxta Wareham, and in Cheeping Blaneford, on Johanna his wife as her jointure; and in 18 Edw. II. he settled in like manner on Matilda his second wife, lands in Stoborough or Stoburgh, Biestewalle, and Blaneford. William de Stoke – the name being still variously written Estokes, Estok, Estoks) was certified, pursuant to a writ dated 5 March, 9 Edw. II. as one of the lords of the townships of Briants Piddle Turberville, Worgrett, Westport, Bestwall, Woolridge, and Winterborn Vifhache. 22 Richard II. and 7 Hen. VI. the Earls of March held here half a fee, but they must have been only lords paramount. William de Stokes, who probably died before 20 Feb., 16 Edw. I. held the manors of Stoke St. Andrew’s, Bestwall and Stowbergh of Robert FitzPayne by knight’s service. 3 Edw. II. William son of William de Estoke settled a message and six hovates of land in Byestwall-juxta-Wareham on himself and Johanna his wife as her jointure. In 8 Edw. II. he settled a messuage and two carucates of land in Stoburgh “Stoborough” and Biestewall as a jointure on Matilda his second wife. Grant of Stoborough by King Richard, 1484, March 25 at Nottingham By p.s. Grant to the king's servant William Claxton, Esquire, and the heirs male of his body, for his good service against the rebels, of the manors or lordships of Godmanston, Wareham and Stoweborough, co. Dorset, late of John Trenchard, traitor, of the yearly value of 401. 6s. 11d., and Meriot, Bukland St. Mary and Long Sutton in the said county (sic), late of John Bevyn, traitor, of the yearly value of 261. 8s. 21., to hold with knights' fees, wards, marriages, reliefs, escheats, advowsons, lands, waters, woods, underwoods, stews, fisheries, stanks, mills, meadows, warrens, parks, courts, views of frank-pledge, fines, amercements, heriots, rents, services, reversions, liberties and commodities by knight-service and a rent of 100s. yearly. After the Dissolution of the Wareham priory in 1538, the Stoborough was seized by the Crown and seems to have remained as one of its many manors until 1591 when it was granted by Queen Elizabeth to Richard Swayne and Thomas Freake. Swayne was born in Blandford Forum and sat as an MP for Weymouth and Melcombe. He was a trained lawyer and the son of a merchant, one of the rising number of men in the Tudor period. In his practise as a Dorset lawyer he became involved in land speculation, with Thomas Freake his cousin and partner. The latter was knighted at the Coronation of James I in 1603. Records indicate that they purchased land worth £64 per year from the Crown in 1590, which must have included Stoborough. Within a few years Swayne had either sold or gifted the Manor of Stoborough to his nephew, Sir William Pitt. Pitt was a notable man for the Wareham area. His father John served Elizabeth as her Clerk of the Exchequer until his death in 1602. Pitt became comptroller of the household of James I and sat as MP for Wareham from 1614. He acquired a number of estates as well as Stoborough, his main residence being Stratfield Saye in Hampshire. His descendants include William Pitt, the Elder, and William Pitt the younger, both, of course, eminent Prime Ministers. Stoborough however did not descend to this cadet branch. On Sir William’s death in 1636 the Manor passed to his eldest son Edward. He sat in Parliament for Poole in 1624 and was a teller in the Exchequer. His life is most notable for its end. During the early period of the Civil War in 1643 he was seized by Parliamentary forces at Stratfield Saye and imprisoned at Windsor castle. Although he pleaded neutrality, his eldest son joined the Royalist army. Pitt was arrested and his mansion ransacked. His son died a few months later as did both he and his wife. His estate was eventually passed to his younger son who was an infact at the time of his father’s death. The manor remained in the hands of the Pitt family until sold in 1850 by George, Lord Rivers, to the Trustees of the Earl of Eldon, John Scott. It remained in the hands of the Scott family until the beginning of the present century. In the Civil Parish of Arne is where the Liberity or Village of Stoborough lies. Arne is a rural parish with about 1,370 citizens in settlements from Worgret in the west to Arne hamlet in the east and Furzebrook Road to the south, with most people in villages at Ridge & Stoborough. Apart from a small proportion of mudflat and water to the east, the 29km2 of the Parish is about half used for farming with a fifth heathland and a fifth woodland. Arne Parish has many useful facilities, including Stoborough School for first tier education, the Lookout Stores and Purbeck Motors for purchases and pubs with food at the Kings Arms and Halfway Inn. There are hotels at Worgret Manor and with sports facilities at the Springfield Country Hotel. The Church at Arne, Stoborough Village Hall and Hayricks recreation area are further important civic amenities, with large nature reserves managed by Natural England, National Trust and Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. According to the APG Arne Parish Government, two of the main settlements in today’s Arne parish, Stoborough and Worgret, originated in Saxon times, and they are named in the Domesday book of 1086. Stoborough (originally Stanberge) means “stony hill or barrow” which may refer to the hillock behind the former New Inn on the west side of Corfe Road. Citation: https://arne-parish- council.sycl.net/file_link/00055/Arne_PC_NP_2 4-7-2020_Final_637520817747870301.pdf Arne Parish covers 2,483 hectares, of which three-quarters have international protectiondesignations. Three national nature reserves, Arne Reed beds, Hartland Moor, and Stoborough Heath, are managed by Natural England. The northern side of Stoborough and Stoborough Green and extensive parts of the moors are flood plains. Stoborough has always been the biggest single settlement in the parish. In 1643, during the Civil War, the people “willingly permitted our town of a hundred families to be burned” by the Parliamentarian forces occupying Wareham to prevent the Royalists from using it as a base for besieging Wareham. Stoborough has settlement boundaries: Stoborough Village, Redclyffe Yacht Club, the River Frome, Stoborough Green and Ridge. Stoborough is Arne’s largest settlement and it includes a number of key facilities including a primary school, village hall, petrol station, convenience store, recreation ground, public house and bus services to the wider area. There are also local designations that constrain development albeit to a lesser extent, including the Stoborough Conservation Area, and areas identified as sites of Nature Conservation Interest. Arne Parish Council fully supports Stoborough Primary School as an important community facility.During the academic year 2001-2002 the governors successfully applied to change to Voluntary Aided status in an attempt to further strengthen links with the local church and the Diocese of Salisbury. Riverfront and Harbor The Manor of Stoborough historically contains the River Frome from the B3075 road by Warham all the way out to Poole Harbor where the Manor has excellent riverfront and access to the harbor and English Channel. Stoborough Commons In the NN COMMON LANDS ENG WALES 45 by W. G. Hoskins, Stoborough Green and Stoborough Health are mentioned as a Common Lands within are of the Manor of Stoborough. Stoborough Heaths and Flora As for Stoborough Heath, the erica ciliaris, the largest and most beautiful of the British heaths, grows plentifully on Stoborough Common towards Arne. These heath-covered wastes are beautiful twice a year, in the spring when covered with the showy gorse and broom, and later on when covered with the not less beautiful but more modest heaths. Along the river Frome grew the water avens, the marsh cinquefoil, the yellow meadow weed, the great yellow loose trife, and the tree marigold ; on the estuaries the sea starwort and the sea lavender ; on the meadows and marshes near the harbour the sea milkwort, the small marsh valerian, and the buckbean perhaps, the choicest product of the meadow and the marsh ; in the ditches the arrow head, the great water plantain and the flowering rush were to be found. The wild celery grew profusely around the mouths of the two rivers where they enter the harbour. The osmunda regalis was widely distributed over the surrounding district. Roman Artifacts There is an area in Stoborough Manor as a spot known as the “Cockpit,” which historical books claim to have formed a portion of a Roman Amphitheatre. The Boundaries of Manor and Liberty of Stoborough in the 1832 Administrative Map of Dorset shows the Territory of Stoborough. •The Northern Border of Stoberough is Winfrith with the Frome River as Border. •The Western and Northwestern border is Wareham’s ancient Southeastern walls. This is the reason that Stoborough is referred to in the Domeday records as By the East Wall of Wareham. •West of Stoborough is the Hundredsbarrow Hundred. •South and South West boarders of Stoborough is the Hasilor or Hasler Hundred. •Hasilor or Hasler Hundred contains the parishes of: Arne, Church Knowle, East Holme, Kimmeridge, Steeple and Tyneham. •Wareham is still a borough. In some ancient records, Stoborough is part of the Wareham Borough. •The Winfrith Hundred contains the following: Coombe Keynes East Lulwort, East Stoke, Moreton (part), Owermoigne (later a separate liberty), Poxwell, Warmwell, Watercombe (from 1858), Winfrith, Newburgh, Woodsford

Foreshore and Flood Zone of Stoborough