As my reader pointed out to me, there was no mention of Woodcutts in the last edition of The Downsman. Unfortunately because of more pressing issues, I missed the deadline. It was intended, in this issue, to explain in detail why this happened. I had written the copy at the end of August, but the happenings in the U. S. A. have caused me to alter it considerably. Sufficient to say, that the main reasons for our, i.e. the population of Woodcutts, preoccupation in early summer, were our negotiations with Geo. Bush, to become the 52nd. State of America. Hence the title The State of Woodcutts. Since I can't continue on this subject, may we leave it on a serious note. I am sure that all the readers of the Downsman will join in prayers, irrespective of their beliefs, for all those who have suffered in the USA and throughout the world. Also for those who clear up, may we support them in prayer.
As I can't write about the State of Woodcutts, I have decided to write about the state of Ted Cox instead. Recently on meeting people for the first time, they have looked rather oddly at me and said, "So you are Ted Cox". So I have decided to tell a little about myself.
Firstly I am very much sports orientated. I am cultivating a Bobby Charlton hairstyle, (soccer), my breath comes in short pants, (athletics), I love strawberries and cream, and my elbow hurts, (tennis), and I constantly have athlete's foot. Added to this, the fact that Madge, my wife, thinks I ought to go on a diet makes me an all rounder. Hopefully this gives a clear picture; perhaps not as pretty as the butterflies that have visited here this summer, so perhaps it would be more advantageous to talk of them. In the original copy written in late August, I mentioned the complete absence of both Lesser and Greater Tortoiseshells. It was in the village of Oddington in Gloucester, (Sorry for the delay, I had spelt Gloucester with an 'h' then delay with two 'ee', perhaps I ought to have mentioned my spelling, with my sporting prowess,), on September 3rd that I spotted my first Tortoiseshell of the year. Since returning home I have seen hundreds, where was the early summer flight this year? At least they are back and in great numbers. Also in great numbers are the 'whites', who produce those beautiful green, black and yellow caterpillars, which prompt me to suggest to the village flower show committee that there ought to be a class for 'green lace'. (By the way, congratulations to all concerned on a very successful show this year.)
Other butterflies to be seen here for the first time by me, were Silver Washed Fritillary and Holy Blues, add to these Red Admirals, Spotted Woodmen, Marbled White, Peacocks, Brimstone, Painted Lady, Comma and numerous browns, it has been a successful year for this group of insects.
The 'piece de resistance' (it's the E. C. I'm afraid,) was not a butterfly as far as I am concerned but a flower. On Monday, 10th September the stubble field along the lane was being cultivated, in my usual nosy way, I perambulated along to view the latest, massive machines used. As I walked along the headland under the oaks and limes, which make up the south-west boundary, I noticed in the stubble, a plant I did not recognise. It is not suggested that all the British flora are known to me, but I have been looking at chalkland stubble for almost sixty years, so at least I ought to recognise most plants if not be able to name them. In this case I couldn't, it was fairly prolific, its prostrate stems everywhere. The leaves, about the size of an old penny, were light green, made lighter by the copious covering of almost white hairs. They were arranged alternately on the trailing stems. The flowers consisted three bright yellow petals on the bottom with two, chocolate brown, velvety ones above, the whole about 1.5cms across, and looking like a snapdragon.
Hurrying home to get my flora book, I turned immediately to the snapdragon family, the Scrophulariaceae, and there it was, the Round Leafed Fluellen, I hadn't found a new species after all. Apparently KICKXIA SPURIA its botanical name, was once a common, stubble weed, now quite rare. I didn't feel so bad after all, missing this beautiful, little flower all these years.
Another thing we haven't missed this year is the buzzard, he brought his family of five and they stayed. We are constantly reminded of their presence by the constant shrill cries of the young, who despite the fact that they can ride the thermals at great heights, still expect their parents to feed them. What a wonderful world we live in? We the inhabitants of the State of Woodcutts, have all we need, I don't expect we will bother about the American citizenship after all. God Bless England.
Nothing very eventful to record for this month; a quite unremarkable time except perhaps that some migrants are leaving a little later than usual.
Dormouse recoveries are approximately the same as last year, but the number of nests has declined and a dead young one (about 4 weeks old), was found in a nest with five other live babies. The cause of death is not known but it was not especially underweight for the age. A post mortem may establish the reason for the mortality.
Your Top Ten Garden Birds?
The Cornish RSPB Group has compiled a list of their most common garden birds and for the first year ever, the starling is number one. This is clearly nothing like the most regular visitor to homes in Dorset and so I thought you might like to compare your own sightings with their list. I have included a rough estimate of the numbers found in my own garden in Newtown. See what happens when you feed them enough!
Cornwall's Top Ten Garden Birds
| Number | Bird Species | Average Number | Newtown Average |
| 1 | Starling | 4.4 | 0 |
| 2 | Blue Tit | 3.8 | 30 |
| 3 | House Sparrow | 3.7 | 26 |
| 4 | Chaffinch | 3.1 | 12 |
| 5 | Greenfinch | 2.4 | 24 |
| 6 | Blackbird | 2 | 6 |
| 7 | Robin | 1.6 | 4 |
| 8 | Great Tit | 1.5 | 20 |
| 9 | Collared Dove | 1 | 6 |
| 10 | Jackdaw | 0.9 | 0 |
The birds that would make up our top ten are the Marsh Tit and Moorhen, both common on the bird table here. Perhaps you would like to try a count of the birds in your garden for comparison.
A long established Dorset business is Victory Tours, based for many years in the quaintly named village of Sixpenny Handley up on Cranborne Chase in the north east corner of Dorset. A family business run by several generations of the Adams family, the origins of the business go back to the end of the First World War. Cyril Adams was a driver with the Victory buses in Salisbury, but that business was sold by its proprietor E M Coombes to Wilts and Dorset Motor Services in June 1921 after only fifteen months of operation. Cyril acquired a Thorneycroft bus instead of money he was owed and brought it back to his home village of Handley. He adopted Victory Coaches as his trading name when he set up in business with his father Albert Adams in that same year. (Confusingly another Salisbury operator Sparrow & Vincent also operated as Victory Motor Services from 1922 to December 1933 until selling out to Wilts and Dorset. Mr Sparrow would have known Cyril Adams as he too had driven for Coombes).
By the time road service licensing was introduced by the Road Traffic Act of 1930 the firm had grown and Victory Coaches were operating services from Handley to (a) Salisbury via Tollard Royal, Farnham, Handley and Martin on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays (b) Blandford via Farnham, Chettle and Pimperne on Thursdays and Saturdays (c) Blandford via Dean, Cashmoor and Tarrant Gunville on Thursdays (d) Wimborne Minster via Cranborne and Wimborne St Giles on Tuesdays (e) Wimborne Minster via Cranborne and Horton Inn. The latter service was taken over in 1931 from Frank Goddard, another operator in Handley in the 1920's.
Goddard had also operated a parallel route to the Adams service between Handley and Salisbury. Cox & Macdonald of Handley had also operated between Handley and Salisbury in the 1920's in a red painted Dennis bus. Even earlier were the operations of H R Bartley on this route with a Scout bus between 1911 and 1914. Bartley abandoned Handley and set up a Tidworth - Amesbury - Salisbury route instead.
A Saturday evening cinema bus from Handley to Shaftesbury was operating by 1934 and a Monday and Friday shoppers bus from Handley to Bournemouth via Tarrant Monkton, Tarrant Keynston and Wimborne Minster was started shortly after.
In 1946 the route of C A Oddy from Ashmore to Shaftesbury was taken over and extended back to work through from Handley. From 1947 to 1949 a Wednesday market bus was operated from Handley to Ringwood via Farnham, Gussage All Saints and Horton. One of the Blandford routes (`c' in the list above) was reorganised in December 1946 to start from Wimborne St Giles and operate via Gussage All Saints before rejoining the original route through Tarrant Gunville. The two routes to Wimborne Minster had already been merged into one, starting from Wimborne St Giles and running via Handley, Cashmoor, Gussage All Saints and Horton Inn. The main route into Salisbury from Tollard Royal and Handley acquired daily morning and evening workers journeys in 1948. The double-run diversion to Martin had already been discontinued by now, Martin being served exclusively by the buses of Charles Flemington of that village.
In January 1957 the Saturday afternoon services were withdrawn from the Wimborne Minster, Shaftesbury and Handley - Blandford routes. In the spring of 1957 the Shaftesbury service initiated a double run to serve East Melbury. In 1959 the Salisbury service was extended to include Ashmore on Tuesdays. The Bournemouth route lost its Monday service in 1963 and in 1967 the Wimborne Minster route was withdrawn completely. Victory withdrew the remaining Friday operation to Bournemouth in 1983 (after a period of alternate week operation to Poole as well as Bournemouth) when the route was taken over by Stanbridge & Crichel and operated intermittently by them for a few more years (average passenger loading one per week for a thirty mile journey!).
On 10th May 1982, following deregulation of express services, a new Capital Link route was started from Handley, Salisbury and Andover to London twice a day. The morning workers journey into Salisbury from Handley was provided by the London express coach. The London service only ran for a couple of years. Also in 1982 Ashmore gained a Saturday morning shoppers service to Salisbury.
With the changes following bus deregulation in 1986 the daily workers services on the Salisbury route were discontinued and replaced by diverting the Wilts and Dorset 184/185 Weymouth - Dorchester - Blandford - Salisbury service off the main A354 road and into Handley village for the first time. The Victory service to Salisbury was now just a three days a week market and shoppers service, but still serving Tollard Royal, Ashmore and Farnham. The Thursday service was withdrawn and finally from 3rd April 1999 the main Salisbury route (now one return journey on Tuesday and Saturday only) was lost on retender and is now operated by Shaftesbury and District. They have amended the route slightly for operational convenience to start from Ashmore and serve Farnham and Tollard Royal on the way to Handley and Salisbury, whereas the traditional Victory route started at Tollard Royal and then served Ashmore and Farnham.
The business has been under the management of Nick Adams, Albert's grandson, for some years now. The parking site for coaches besides Handley church was sold for housing development and operations were moved from Handley to Stanbridge near Wimborne (to the old Stanbridge & Crichel yard) in 1998, although an office is still maintained in Handley.
There were now only the three Thursday market routes left in operation (two routes to Blandford and the Shaftesbury service). These finished during June 2000, with the Blandford services passing to Damory Coaches as a combination of the two routes, and the Shaftesbury route passing to Shaftesbury & District. After nearly 80 years, Victory Tours were out of the bus business.
The present day operations of Victory Tours include a wide range of private hire, touring, student and contract work.
This article was reproduced from the web site http://www.countrybus.co.uk designed and written by Peter. Peter worked in the transport industry in Dorset for many years (at Stanbridge for example, but not for Victory) but moved to Lincolnshire last year after early retirement. However he is still very interested in continuing the work of recording the history of the many private firms that used to run buses in different parts of the county of Dorset, so would be pleased to receive any additional information if any of our readers have relevant memories. mailto:peter@countrybus.co.uk
As your Postman for the central area of the village, I consider myself very fortunate to be able to admire this God-given area of outstanding natural beauty every day on my round. We are surrounded by beautiful countryside and woodland. Some of these woodlands are still cared for and managed as they have been through the ages by people who care about them. The forests and woodlands of this planet are its lungs - and therefore it's saviour. On this basis all trees are very important to us and future generations.
Recently I witnessed with sadness the partial destruction of two large native yews. Yews are extremely slow growing so it is possible they were several hundred years old. Yew trees can be as much as 1,000 years old. The world's oldest known artefact of wood is a spear of yew, about 250,000 years old, found at Clacton-on-Sea, Essex. Yew trees protected men while they rested from hunting, or built nearby, or preached the Christian gospel, so they have always been protected by men. It is not surprising that the sacred groves of the Druids were of yew, it being the only British tree to have kept its Celtic name Iw. It is said that the best explanation for yews in Churchyards (two in Welsh ones) is that they were there before the Churches. I have been lucky to have travelled the world, both in the Services, through work, or just travelling. I have witnessed first-hand what the destruction of trees does to a country. This might sound over-dramatic to us in this green and pleasant land, but how many old trees have been lost to us, just because they were in the way, or for financial gain?
I have seen trees in this village lost because of building, or they don't fit someone's gardening scheme. Occasionally the people who removed the trees then moved on! I wonder what gave them the right to deprive future generations of the history of these trees or the good clean air we breathe. It's no good talking about the demise of the rain forests of the world over dinner and then going down the garden and doing the same thing.
On contacting the District Council Tree Protection Officer I discovered that these old trees are not protected. Therefore any large tree in this village not covered by a Tree Protection Order (very few) is at the mercy of the owner of the land it sits on -and his conscience.
Please, if you see someone cutting down established trees, question their right to do it. A list of protected trees is kept by the Tree Protection Officer who can be contacted at East Dorset District Council. If you feel strongly enough, apply for TPOs on trees you think need protecting whether you own them or not.
Remember that these old trees were here long before we were and, looked after, will be here long after we have gone. In my opinion we have no rights over things God-given, as surely trees are. Work round them!
Hidden in a downland fold between Pentridge Down and the Dorset Cursus, Pentridge is one of the most remote villages in Dorset. Lying beneath Penbury Knoll, the highest point to the south coast, the village appears to be almost within a cul-de-sac of time, as well as space, judging by the abundance of archaeological features in the surrounding area. Within the perimeter of the village, the line of Scots and Austrian pines makes a picturesque setting and provides shelter for a variety of buildings, most of which make a positive contribution to its character. Recently designated as a conservation area, the village contains seven Listed buildings, including the nineteenth century church of St. Rumbold’s.
The church stands at the north-western end of Pentridge on six acres of land, and its tower can be seen from the Ringwood to Shaftesbury road through two fir plantations. It was re-built in 1855 using a 14th century style, but no parish records exist of how earlier structures looked. The building itself is a simple, single-cell, linear structure, nearly ninety feet long and twenty-seven feet at its widest point. It has walls of flint and squared rubble with stone facing. The tower has a broached stone spire (i.e. a spire without parapets) and the roofs are tiled. On the wall opposite the organ is a roll of honour to past rectors of the church, starting with Robert Leicester in 1295. There are some inscriptions, including a stone tablet reset in the south wall of the Chancel, recording the rebuilding of a former chancel in 1815 under Thomas Hobson, rector. There is also a marble tablet on the north wall of the Nave in memory of Robert Browning and his wife Elizabeth, great great grand-parents of Robert Browning, the poet (1812-1889); the tablet was erected by admirers of the poet in 1902.
Three of the windows have lovely stained-glass inserts depicting various biblical scenes, including the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ: one was installed in memory of Duncan Campbell, rector at the time the church was re-built, and his wife Elizabeth. On some of the other windows, the current incumbent, Ron Wood, has etched memorials to members of the parish who have recently passed away. On the north wall of the Chancel, plaques have been placed in memory of those who died in the two World Wars; on the opposite wall is a painting depicting the Virgin Mary and the baby Jesus.
In the churchyard, there is a memorial stone to members of the Browning family, and headstones and table-tombs for members of the Goddard family (1774-1797), a prominent family in the parish at that time. The churchyard is now a Nature Conservation Area, where wild flowers and plants are encouraged to flourish between the tended graves.
Pentridge Church is dedicated to the memory of St. Rumbold, an unusual name that encourages speculation about its origins. In the Book of Saints, compiled by the Benedictine Monks, there are two entries: one to St. Rumold (Rumbold, Rumbauld), of the 8th century; and another for St. Rumwold of the 7th century. The former is the patron saint of Malines in Belgium and highly regarded for his missionary work in Brabant; the latter was an infant born with the amazing power of speech and generally considered as the one to whom the church is dedicated.
The reference to the St. Rumwold in the Oxford Dictionary of Saints also includes the names Rumwald, Rumbald and Rumbold, and provides what can only be described as a fantastic account of his short life. The account supposes that the infant was a boy, of the royal families of Mercia and Northumbria, buried at Buckingham, where a shrine existed before the Norman Conquest. He was believed to be a grandson of Penda, king of Mercia, through a daughter who married a Northumbria Prince. According to the legend, Rumwold was born at Sutton (thenceforth King’s Sutton) in Northamptonshire and died only three days later. In his short life, he proclaimed several times that he was a Christian and made a profession of faith in the Holy Trinity; he also asked for Baptism and Holy Communion from the priests Widerin (Bishop Widerinus) and Edwold. He then preached a sermon on the Trinity and the need for virtuous living, freely citing the Scriptures and the Athanasian Creed. After this, he announced his imminent death and directed that he should be buried first at King’s Sutton, then at Brackley, and finally at Buckingham. The prodigious infant then passed away (AD 662).
His cult was observed in these three places, and in at least six pre-Conquest monasteries of Mercia and Wessex, as well as in the Bosworth Psalter, but his name is not found in monastic calendars after 1100. Churches were, however, dedicated to him in Kent, Essex, Northants, Lincolnshire, Dorset and Yorkshire, and it is likely that the church at Pentridge was one of these. At Boxley in Kent, a statue of the saint, formerly venerated, was burnt at the time of the Reformation, but a dedicated well still survives at Alstrop in Northamptonshire. The source of the legend is not known, but his popularity, reflected by street-names in various parts of the country, was unexpectedly persistent and led to the honour of having a place in the Catalogue of Saints.
With the Dorset Cursus only yards away, the existence of this Neolithic monument, may give rise to the suggestion that the ground on which the church stands was used as a site for Neolithic rituals. But, in spite of the fact that there are Stone Age burial sites close-by at Whitey Top, there is no physical or documentary evidence to support this theory. There is, however, clear visual evidence of the presence of Celts in the form of the Celtic field system, on the adjacent Pentridge Down, and the Druid burial mounds nearby. It is more than likely that the ground was used originally as a special place of Celtic worship. Indeed, it is safe to assume that a Celtic church or monastery of some form was erected on, or close to, the site of the current church.
Pentridge is one of the few places in Wessex where a British place-name has survived almost intact despite successive waves of invaders; the name Pentridge is a derivation from the welsh, pen = hill and trwch = boar. Consequently, the church stands beside the "hill of boars". The speed and fierceness of these wild pigs probably placed them high on the target list of Stone Age hunters. The boars would certainly have been hunted or culled by Celtic farmers determined to protect their crops.
The first recorded name of the village, PENTRIC, appeared eighty years before the birth of King Alfred and was mentioned in the Doomsday records as part of the ALBRETESBERGE Hundred, later absorbed into the CRANBORNE Hundred.
When the Doomsday Book was compiled in 1086, the title of the church at Pentric belonged to the church of St. Mary, Glastonbury. The manor of Pentric was "held" by a Wulfweard White on behalf of Glastonbury Abbey and was assessed as having a value of six "hides" (a hide being defined as a variable unit area of land, an area which two oxen can plough in a day).
The church at Glastonbury had held title to St. Rumbold’s since the time of King Edward; after Doomsday, the title reverted to the King, William II. But between 1086 and 1100, the land, and therefore the church, was given in reward to the Earl of Gloucester, Robert Fitz Hamon, and his knights. In 1100, King Henry I confirmed that the church had been donated by the Earl of Gloucester to the Abbey at Tewkesbury. In 1109, Joceline, Bishop of Salisbury – the man responsible for building the spire on Salisbury Cathedral – verified that St. Rumbold’s belonged to the Abbey at Tewkesbury. Joceline was giving evidence to a "baron court", which was trying to determine the ownership of the land at Pentric. At that time, there seemed to be some doubt about title, but William, the new Earl of Gloucester, also confirmed that his father had given the monks of Tewkesbury the church as a gift. However, he did not agree that the manor had also been donated to the monks. From the account in the Reverend John Hutchins’ excellent "History of Dorset" – compiled between 1740 and 1774 - it appears that the Earl of Gloucester did not win the case, because in 1291 a pension from the benefice was paid to the Abbey at Tewkesbury. In that year, the church was valued at six marks – a mark being the equivalent of eight ounces of gold. The abbot eventually appointed Robert Leicester as the first known Rector of Pentridge.
At the time of the dissolution of monasteries, the ownership of the church reverted back to the Crown for dispensation, and rectors continued to maintain St. Rumbold’s, under the Crown’s patronage, until the late nineteenth century. Pentridge church is now within the diocese of Salisbury, and the diocesan registry at Salisbury shows details of the union of the benefices of Handley (Sixpenny Handley) and Pentridge. In 1925, the scheme of the union was presented on the 9th of March, confirmed on the 2nd of May, and came into operation on the 31st of August, when the Reverend Hasluck, the incumbent at Handley, resigned. The Reverend E. Hayden held the post in Pentridge at the time, and on the 31st of October he became the first incumbent of the new United Benefice.