a tale of two manors - take 1, 2 & 3

...back on Australia Day we set off on the same walk as today, with the intention of capturing the same image as today, when we saw the old signs on the bridge that just had to be blipped on that particular day. So, this afternoon, we returned because these stories have been in my mind since I started this series...

Take one - two manorial estates

The entries in the Domesday book indicate that the manor of Stinsford was, at that time, split into two estates. The lord of the larger manor was Hugh of St Quentin, who was also a tenant-in-chief. The lord of the less valuable manor was Alulf the chamberlain, whose tenant-in-chief was Brictwin the reeve. After 1086, the history becomes difficult to trace or, to be more precise, difficult to encapsulate, but, through various legacies and marriages the combined manor came into the hands of the Mareward, Maureward, Maurewarde, Maurward family at some point during the 14th century.

Take two - two manor houses

In the 1590s, Christopher Grey, who descended from an old Dorset family, married the heiress of Maurward Park and built his beautiful late Elizabethan manor house. His grandson, Angel, extended the Old Manor House in the early 17th century. In 1700, one of Angel's descendants, Laura Grey, married George Pitt, cousin of William Pitt the Elder, and between 1717 and 1720 George and Laura commissioned the building of the stately Georgian house that you see above... well, almost... because the original design was finished entirely in red brick, something that caused George III to raise his eyebrows and utter the comment "Brick, Mr Pitt, only brick?", resulting in George Pitt having the entire house clad in Portland Stone.

When the family moved into the new house, the old manor fell into disrepair and, by Thomas Hardy's time, had been divided into a number of farm cottages. In 1947, Dorset County Council acquired it and converted it into council flats, but by the late 1950s, it was again disused. By this time, the new house had become Dorset's agricultural and horticultural college which, together with the County Council, entered into agreements to demolish the unique Elizabethan manor! There was a huge public outcry but nothing happened until a chance meeting between a Bedfordshire businessman, Rohan Sturdy, and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. Sturdy was descended from an old Dorset family and felt his roots lay in Dorset. In short, the Council leased Sturdy the property at a peppercorn rent on condition that he restored it. Upon completion, the Council was so grateful that they granted him the freehold, though he never lived there. The present owners purchased it in 1998 and have run it as a B&B since 1999.

Take three - two names

Stinsford is just down the road from Thomas Hardy's birthplace and a place he knew well. In his fiction version of Wessex he called it Mellstock and the new house of Kingston Maurward is the Knapwater House of his novel Desperate Remedies, while the Old Manor accurately reflects his Knapwater Old House, right down to its being subdivided into cottages at that time.

Adjacent to the old house is a barn that has been renovated to form the Dog Grooming Parlour of the present college. In Hardy's time, this was a dairy shed owned by Thomas Way who had four daughters. The youngest, Augusta Way, was noticed by Hardy who became fascinated by the beautiful teenager, using her as the model for his Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Augusta's daughter, Gertrude Bugler, went on to play Tess on stage in Dorchester and, later, in the West End. As a child, Hardy had an attraction to Julia Martin and attended a harvest celebration that was held in another barn at the Old Manor. He commemorated this in his poem The Harvest Supper which, in turn, is something of a model for Far from the Madding Crowd. The observant reader will have noticed another connection - not only was Tess an inspiration relating to the old house, but Angel, too.

Finally, there is another link that connects Kingston Maurward to my Australia Day blip. In that journal entry I mentioned the red post near Winterborne Zelston. Well, that village was originally named Winterborne Maureward after its associations with the Maurward family...