Winfrith Newburgh
Encyclopedia
Winfrith Newburgh is a village in the Purbeck district of the English
county of Dorset
. It is situated some eight miles west of Wareham
and ten miles east of Dorchester. It was historically part of the Winfrith hundred
. The village has a population
of 718 (2001
).
as Winfrode. In 1086 it was held by Bolla the priest. It was later granted to Robert de Neubourg
, whose descendants were Lords of the Manor
until the death of Sir Roger Newburgh in 1514. The Newburgh family are still commemorated in the village's full name. The Lordship then passed, along with the Newburghs' foundation of Bindon Abbey
, to the Poynings and the Howards before being purchased by the Weld family
in 1641.
The ancient road from Dorchester to Wareham ran through the centre of the village. However this was replaced by a turnpike
(now the A352) in the 18th Century, and the village now lies to the south of the main road. The Red Lion Inn marks the turn to the village. North of the road lies the hamlet
of East Knighton. The hamlet of East Burton, a little further to the east, was formerly part of the parish of Winfrith Newburgh, but is now part of Wool
.
Also to the north of the village is the Winfrith Technology Centre
, on the site of the former UKAEA Winfrith
Nuclear Power
station. The latter was in service from the 1950s to early 1990s, and the Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor was developed there. The surrounding heathland is a Dorset Wildlife Trust
nature reserve
.
The church is dedicated to Saint Christopher
. It was extensively restored
and enlarged in 1854. At this time the north aisle was added, however some Norman architectural features still remain, the most notable being the north doorway. The parish register
s date from 1585. The parish was merged with those of Chaldon Herring
, East Lulworth
and West Lulworth
in 1979.
The village has a Church of England
Primary School (now merged with that at West Lulworth
), a post office
, a football team, a cricket team, a drama club, a swimming pool, and a basketball court. Knighton Heath, the Five Marys and Maggot Wood (Coombe Wood) are used for horse riding.
. The Riot Act
was read by the local magistrate, James Frampton of Moreton
, however the protesters failed to disperse and three men were arrested. The events were described by Frampton's sister, Mary Frampton
, in her journal:
The treatment of the three men arrested was fairly lenient by the standards of the day: one was imprisoned for three months and all three were bound over to keep the peace for two years. The underlying causes of the Swing Riots - low pay and increased mechanisation - remained however, and in 1832 a group of agricultural workers from Tolpuddle
- eight miles north of Winfrith - formed a Friendly Society to protest against these same issues. In 1834 the same James Frampton who had read the Riot Act at Winfrith invoked an obscure law against oath-swearing to prosecute what became known as the Tolpuddle Martyrs
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
county of Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
. It is situated some eight miles west of Wareham
Wareham, Dorset
Wareham is an historic market town and, under the name Wareham Town, a civil parish, in the English county of Dorset. The town is situated on the River Frome eight miles southwest of Poole.-Situation and geography:...
and ten miles east of Dorchester. It was historically part of the Winfrith hundred
Winfrith (hundred)
Winfrith Hundred was a hundred in the county of Dorset, England, containing the following parishes:*Coombe Keynes*East Lulworth*East Stoke*Moreton *Owermoigne *Poxwell*Warmwell*Watercombe *Winfrith Newburgh...
. The village has a population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
of 718 (2001
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
).
Description
The name Winfrith derives from the river Win, which runs through the village. It is mentioned in the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
as Winfrode. In 1086 it was held by Bolla the priest. It was later granted to Robert de Neubourg
Robert de Neubourg
Robert I de Neubourg was an Anglo-Norman aristocrat.He was the fourth son of Henry de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Warwick, and inherited his father's Normandy lands, holding Neubourg from Waleran de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Worcester, a Beaumont family cousin, as Comte de Meulan. He was Sire du...
, whose descendants were Lords of the Manor
Lord of the Manor
The Lordship of a Manor is recognised today in England and Wales as a form of property and one of three elements of a manor that may exist separately or be combined and may be held in moieties...
until the death of Sir Roger Newburgh in 1514. The Newburgh family are still commemorated in the village's full name. The Lordship then passed, along with the Newburghs' foundation of Bindon Abbey
Bindon Abbey
Bindon Abbey was a Cistercian monastery, of which only ruins remain, on the River Frome about half a mile east of Wool in the Purbeck District, Dorset, England.- History :...
, to the Poynings and the Howards before being purchased by the Weld family
Weld-Blundell family
The Weld family, which became in its main branch the Weld-Blundell family, is an old English family that claims descent from Eadric the Wild and has branches in several parts of England and America. The main branch are descended from Humphrey Weld, Lord Mayor of London, whose grandson of the same...
in 1641.
The ancient road from Dorchester to Wareham ran through the centre of the village. However this was replaced by a turnpike
Turnpike trust
Turnpike trusts in the United Kingdom were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road tolls for maintaining the principal highways in Britain from the 17th but especially during the 18th and 19th centuries...
(now the A352) in the 18th Century, and the village now lies to the south of the main road. The Red Lion Inn marks the turn to the village. North of the road lies the hamlet
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
of East Knighton. The hamlet of East Burton, a little further to the east, was formerly part of the parish of Winfrith Newburgh, but is now part of Wool
Wool, Dorset
Wool is a village in the Purbeck district of Dorset, England. The village has a population of 4,118 , though the population has fluctuated over the past 15 years, due to the proximity of military institutions, reaching a high of 4,300 in 1992. The village lies at a historic bridging point on the...
.
Also to the north of the village is the Winfrith Technology Centre
Winfrith Technology Centre
Winfrith Technology Centre is a science and technology park which is owned by English Partnerships . The site was a former UKAEA Winfrith Nuclear Power station which was in service from the 1950s to early 1990s...
, on the site of the former UKAEA Winfrith
Winfrith
Winfrith was a United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority site near Winfrith Newburgh in Dorset. It covered an area on Bovington Heath to the west of the village of Wool between the A352 road and the London Waterloo to Weymouth railway line....
Nuclear Power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
station. The latter was in service from the 1950s to early 1990s, and the Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor was developed there. The surrounding heathland is a Dorset Wildlife Trust
Dorset Wildlife Trust
The Dorset Wildlife Trust is a wildlife trust covering the county of Dorset, United Kingdom. The Trust was originally founded in 1961 to protect and conserve the wildlife and natural habitats of the county. The Trust is headquartered at Brooklands Farm, just north of Dorchester...
nature reserve
Nature reserve
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...
.
The church is dedicated to Saint Christopher
Saint Christopher
.Saint Christopher is a saint venerated by Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians, listed as a martyr killed in the reign of the 3rd century Roman Emperor Decius or alternatively under the Roman Emperor Maximinus II Dacian...
. It was extensively restored
Victorian restoration
Victorian restoration is the term commonly used to refer to the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria...
and enlarged in 1854. At this time the north aisle was added, however some Norman architectural features still remain, the most notable being the north doorway. The parish register
Parish register
A parish register is a handwritten volume, normally kept in a parish church or deposited within a county record office or alternative archive repository, in which details of baptisms, marriages and burials are recorded.-History:...
s date from 1585. The parish was merged with those of Chaldon Herring
Chaldon Herring
Chaldon Herring or East Chaldon is a village in the Purbeck district of the county of the English county of Dorset. It is situated two miles from the coast and eight miles south east of Dorchester...
, East Lulworth
East Lulworth
East Lulworth is a hamlet nine miles east of Dorchester, near Lulworth Cove, in the Purbeck district of Dorset, South West England. It consists of 17th century thatched cottages...
and West Lulworth
West Lulworth
West Lulworth is a village in the Purbeck district of Dorset, England, situated on the English Channel coast beside Lulworth Cove. The village has a population of 766 , 9.3% of dwellings are second homes...
in 1979.
The village has a Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
Primary School (now merged with that at West Lulworth
West Lulworth
West Lulworth is a village in the Purbeck district of Dorset, England, situated on the English Channel coast beside Lulworth Cove. The village has a population of 766 , 9.3% of dwellings are second homes...
), a post office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
, a football team, a cricket team, a drama club, a swimming pool, and a basketball court. Knighton Heath, the Five Marys and Maggot Wood (Coombe Wood) are used for horse riding.
The Winfrith Riot
Winfrith was the scene of an initially peaceful protest by agricultural workers on 30 November 1830 during the Swing RiotsSwing Riots
The Swing Riots were a widespread uprising by agricultural workers; it began with the destruction of threshing machines in the Elham Valley area of East Kent in the summer of 1830, and by early December had spread throughout the whole of southern England and East Anglia.As well as the attacks on...
. The Riot Act
Riot Act
The Riot Act was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain that authorised local authorities to declare any group of twelve or more people to be unlawfully assembled, and thus have to disperse or face punitive action...
was read by the local magistrate, James Frampton of Moreton
Moreton, Dorset
Moreton is a village in Dorset, England, situated on the River Frome eight miles east of Dorchester. The village has a population of 270 . It has a number of long distance foot paths and cycle ways passing through it: the Purbeck cycle way, Route 2 , the Frome valley trail, the Jubilee trail, and...
, however the protesters failed to disperse and three men were arrested. The events were described by Frampton's sister, Mary Frampton
Mary Frampton
-Life:Frampton was the daughter of James Frampton of Moreton, Dorsetshire, by his second wife Phillis, who had been previously married to Dr. Charlton Wollaston. Frampton died in 1784, but his widow survived until 1829, when she had reached her ninety-second year. She was evidently an accomplished...
, in her journal:
November 28th [1830] - Notice was received of an intended rising of the people at the adjacent villages of Winfrith, Wool, and Lulworth - the latter six miles off - which took place on the 30th. My brother, Mr Frampton, was joined very early on that morning by a large body of farmers etc. from his immediate neighbourhood, as well as some from a distance, all special constables, amounting to upwards of 150, armed only with a short staff, the pattern for which had been sent by order of Government to equip what was called the Constabulary force. The numbers increased as they rode on towards Winfrith, where the clergyman [George Ingram Fisher] was unpopular, and his premises supposed to be in danger. The mob, urged on from behind hedges etc. by a number of women and children, advanced rather respectfully, and with their hats in their hands, to demand increase of wages, but would not listen to the request that they would disperse. The Riot Act was read. They still urged forwards, and came close up to Mr Frampton's horse; he then collared one man, but in giving him in charge he slipped from his captors by leaving his smock-frock in their hands. Another mob from Lulworth were said to be advancing, and as the first mob seemed to have dispersed, Mr F[rampton] was going, almost alone, to speak to them, when he was cautioned to beware, as the others had retreated only to advance again with more effect in the rear. The whole body of the constabulary then advanced with Mr Frampton, and, after an ineffectual parley, charged them, when three men were taken, and were conveyed by my brother and his son Henry, and a part of the constabulary force, to Dorchester, and committed to gaol. I was at Moreton that day with Lady Harriot F[rampton]. Our gentlemen returned about six o'clock; they described the mob they had encountered as being in general very fine-looking young men, and particularly well-dressed, as if they had put on their best clothes for the occasion.
The treatment of the three men arrested was fairly lenient by the standards of the day: one was imprisoned for three months and all three were bound over to keep the peace for two years. The underlying causes of the Swing Riots - low pay and increased mechanisation - remained however, and in 1832 a group of agricultural workers from Tolpuddle
Tolpuddle
Tolpuddle is a small village in the southern English county of Dorset, situated in the Piddle valley, eight miles east of Dorchester and 12 miles west of Poole. The village has a population of 331 ....
- eight miles north of Winfrith - formed a Friendly Society to protest against these same issues. In 1834 the same James Frampton who had read the Riot Act at Winfrith invoked an obscure law against oath-swearing to prosecute what became known as the Tolpuddle Martyrs
Tolpuddle Martyrs
The Tolpuddle Martyrs were a group of 19th century Dorset agricultural labourers who were arrested for and convicted of swearing a secret oath as members of the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers. The rules of the society show it was clearly structured as a friendly society and operated as...
.