Church of St Thomas, Thurlbear - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
11:58, 25 April 2009 Rodw
11:58, 25 April 2009 Rodw
"The Church of St Thomas in the village of Thurlbear, which is in the parish of Orchard Portman, Somerset,
England dates from the 12th century and has been designated as a Grade I listed building.[1]
The church shows clear signs of the Norman church upon which later structures were built. Pevsner cites the
Norman arcades and narrow aisles characteristic of that era and "never enlarged to satisfy later medieval
taste." He dates the church to "hardly later than c. 1110."
England dates from the 12th century and has been designated as a Grade I listed building.[1]
The church shows clear signs of the Norman church upon which later structures were built. Pevsner cites the
Norman arcades and narrow aisles characteristic of that era and "never enlarged to satisfy later medieval
taste." He dates the church to "hardly later than c. 1110."
Taunton in the Taunton Deane district. The village has a population of 150.[1]
The parish includes the hamlet of Thurlbear and the nearby Thurlbear Wood and Quarrylands Site of
Special Scientific Interest.
The estate was known as Orceard and was given by King Æthelwulf of Wessex to Taunton's minster
church in 854.[2]
By 1135 the manor had passed to Elfric de Orchard and his descendants one of whom, Christina de
Orchard"
Orchard Portman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchard_Portman
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
"As early as the 9th century an estate called 'Orceard' was claiming the attention of powerful men; for in
about the year 854, it appears that Aethewulf, pious king of the West Saxons, gave the estate and
another called 'Stoce' to the minster church of Taunton, mother church of the Vale. The minster's
new-won territory was a large and varied domain, covering the whole of the later parish of Orchard
Portman together with parts of Corfe and Stoke St. Mary.
The land at Orchard was no doubt the prize, and the name it bore - signifying either an orchard in the
usual sense or a garden - speaks of fruitfulness and a measure of intensive cultivation
A Saxon charter solemnly recorder King Aethewulf's gift, and included a description of the estate
boundaries which is our first imperfect guide to the local landscape. The minster lands were bounded
on Stoke Hill by a brook and a 'holy spring' (the latter almost certainly the spring now called Rook's
Well). A great bank and ditch, still prominent in the landscape, formed an unbroken boundary from the
yet more ancient farm at Greenway in Thurlbear to Broughton Farm in Stoke; and at Shoreditch, on the
northern borders of Orchard itself, the charter speaks of the 'foryrthe', or projecting piece of ploughland.
Following then the course of the 'Alder Brook', the boundary went southward into a steep-sided valley
called 'Orcerd Cumbe' and was lost in deep woodland above Corfe.
In 904 the minster and its territories were bought by Bishop of Winchester but Orchard did not remain
indefinitely under the Bishops direct control. By 1135, one Elfric de Orchard was in possession as the
Bishop's military tenant and thereafter Orchard was always to be administered as a largely
independent manor governed by its own lord.
Before 1250 great open fields, divided into unenclosed strips, were established over the level plain
which reached south from Ruishton to Henlade. They made their appearance as well at Hatch
Beauchamp, Stoke St. Mary and Orchard Portman, their pattern in the landscape fossilized by hedges
dating from the late Middle Ages.
Documents of the 14th century allow us to picture the manor of Orchard more clearly. A survey in 1348
records the six 'free' tenants and 31 'bond' tenants who worked the manor, and who formed part of a
community which in good times must have exceeded 150 souls. John Seton held a house and 20
acres; eight of his fellows had 10 acres apiece but others like Alice Hatherich and Lucy Parcombes
had mere cottages with a tiny share in the 200 acres or so which were tenant land.
Thomas de Orchard was lord of the manor in 1348, but was destined to bring his somewhat
disreputable life to a close that year as yet another victim of the Black Death then sweeping the country.
Thomas was succeeded by his young son John de Orchard who was made a ward of Bishop Edington
of Winchester. The de Orchard family enjoyed their prosperity for almost a century more. Then sons
failed and a daughter, Christina de Orchard, was left the family representitive as the Middle Ages drew
to a close. She married Sir Philip Car of Cockington who died young in 1437 but a Taunton merchant
with gentry ambitions was soon at her door seeking to make Christina his wife. Walter Portman was
the name of that merchant.
Walter found himself favourably received by the widow Christina and at some date in or before 1450
they were married. That marriage though short lived, was decisive for the Portmans, uniting their
undoubted talents with social status and modest landed wealth in a mixture which would prove
unstoppable. When Walter's son John wrote home to 'hys Ryght Worshypfull Moder' it was from the
Temple in London that he addressed her, providing some lawerly advice for the now widowed
Christina on how to deal with her rebellious tenants. His own son, another John, achieved distinction
as a lawyer and is buried in the Temple Church in 1521"
The villages of
Stoke St. Mary, Thurlbear and Orchard Portman, Somerset, England.
http://www.stokestmary.net/historyop.htm
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Friday, November 20, 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment