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including notes on the ownership and political
history of Christchurch
WELCOME This web site is continually evolving, and should be viewed as a scrapbook rather than as an authoritative, orderly history of the Manor of Westover.
You might find some glaring errors - if you do, please send feedback using the link at the bottom of the page.
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A delightful gift! |
Rutter & Gadd:
Family Album
Easy-listening, light classical vocal music.
Claire Rutter & Stephen Gadd with the BBC Concert Orchestra.
See
www.RutterGadd.info
for samples and more. |
[Click anywhere on this box to hide it] |
An execution at Tower Hill, exile, a suspected murder,
scandalous family disputes, a forged will, political intrigue... These events set the stage for Bournemouth's development from a
plank across a stream into a town occupying
the whole of the ancient Manor of Westover.
This web site is an attempt to correct the written record of Bournemouth's
fascinating history, which gives the misleading impression that very little ever
happened here between the departure of the Romans and the arrival of Lewis Tregonwell in
1810.
Much can be learned about our national history
through a study of the Manor of Westover, which has been touched directly by the Black Death, the
Dissolution of the Monasteries, the Spanish Armada and the Dutch threat, Civil
War, the rise and fall of the Merchant classes, Georgian political patronage, development of Turnpike roads and Enclosure.
It was a hunting ground of Tudor Kings, it supplied fuel for the Saxon
settlements at Christchurch and Holdenhurst, and its cliffs and fort formed an
important part of the country's Elizabethan coastal defences. More than once, ownership of the land has been claimed
in highly questionable circumstances.
If you are researching your
family or other individuals who lived in this area, you might find references to
them among the transcribed Estate Surveys & Tenant Lists and other documents listed under "Maps
& Reference Documents". The wills, parish registers and other legal
documents transcribed here relate only to the owners of the manor and their
immediate families.
The history is arranged below into periods of
family ownership. You might also find areas of interest from the list of
questions on the left, or by clicking on the list of Maps and Reference
Documents below right.
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Big Bang to Domesday:
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Geology
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Barrows
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Urns
“In 1912, Mr. G. Brownen, a local
antiquary, stated in public that over sixty urns had to his knowledge
been found in the district “during recent years”. It is doubtful if a
single one of these has survived. During the years following, the
discovery of “old urns” was such a commonplace among the local labourers
that it became the normal practice to set them up and use them as
targets during the dinner hour! This attitude is hardly surprising in
view of the indifference shown by the Bournemouth Town Council in 1912
and again in 1931, when widely supported appeals urged the establishment
of a local museum of natural history and archaeology. It is true that on
the latter occasion the Council appointed a special sub-committee to
look into matters, but unfortunately its main concern seemed to be the
financial value of the proposed exhibits. Its offer of a basement room
for storage purposes in the town hall was not
accepted!”
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Stone tools
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Domesday-1100:
Norman Kings
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1100-1299:
The de Redvers Family
& Isabella de Fortibus
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1299-1331:
Kings Edward I, II & III
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1331-1554: Earls of Salisbury
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1554-1601: Earls of Huntingdon
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1601-1665: Lords Arundell of
Wardour
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1665-1708: Earls of Clarendon
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1708-1751: Mews family
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The
Roads of Westover
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The Social Climate
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Endemic Nepotism and the Bishops of Winchester
PM's appointment as
Chancellor was typical of a developing system of patronage - note
nepotism under Bishops George
Morley, Peter
Mews (1618-1706) and Brownlow
North.
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Fruitful Connections:
Apsleys, Bathhursts
and Morleys - Extreme Patronage and Nepotism. All this despite the
fact that Members of the House of Commons would vote at the start of
every session, as one of their standing orders, "that it is
unconstitutional and illegal and moreover a high breech of the
privileges of the Commons House of Parliament for any peer to interfere
in the election of Members to serve in that House" [as quoted by Earl
Grey, Hansard, 3rd October 1831]
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The Mellish Family and Internecine Disputes
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George
Jarvis (1645-1718): the Merchant Taylor and his daughters. Other
Merchant Taylors, including Nicholas Wynnyffe, Edward Mellish, John
Mews, Richard Tapps, and Joseph Greenhill. Pre-Industrial age,
prominence of merchant class and subsequent decline [after Reform?].
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Sir Peter Mews
(1673-1726) and his purchase of the Manor
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Politicking at Christchurch
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Dame Lydia Mews (1677-1751) and her
legal battle with Thomas Mews
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The Amber
Tankard
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Bourne House and
The Decoy Pond
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1751-1778: Clerke family
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Be "loving and kind to one another"
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William Clerke, Haberdasher of London, seems to have had a
good idea of what to expect from his children after his decease. In his Will
he left his widow the Thirds of his estate to which she was entitled in
order "to preserve unity between her and our children which I earnestly
recommend to them all, and should and Disputes arise amongst them I
earnestly desire the friendship and kindness of my worthy friends and
brothers[-in-law] Sir Peter Mews, Gilbert Browne Esq., and Mr. Richard Tapps
that they will interpose and reconcile such Disputes". He goes on to
threaten disinheritance to his widow if she refuses to accept the terms of
his Will, and to his daughter Elizabeth if she marries without her mother's
consent. In conclusion to his Will he pleads "I earnestly desire [my wife]
that she will be kind to all my children, and I do hereby
strictly charge all my said children to be dutifull and obedient to their
said mother, and loving and kind to one another". He might as well have said
"Let battle commence"!
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Disputes over Dame Lydia's will
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Jarvis
Clerke (d.1749), Governor of Surat, India
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Surat was a
major centre for the export of Indian silks, cottons and calicoes:
Jarvis Clerke would have been not the town governor but the head of the
English factory established there in 1613. In 1715 he was a member of
the Bombay council. Research in BL India Office records. Married?
Children? Died before Lydia so failed to inherit.
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Lydia Clerke
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Sister of "Governor
Clerke", worth £11,000 at marriage to Sir Ferdinando Hicks on 14th March
1738/9 [Gentleman's Magazine]. "You have heard of a person called Sir Ferdinando
Hicks, who shot himself at Bristol; he was the only subject of discourse
here for one week. He was a most abandoned young fellow, and swore
to several that day that he would sup with the Devil that night." [John Coddington
to Francis Price 20th October 1739 at Bath , quoted in Historical Manuscripts Commission
15th Report Appendix, Documents of the Rev. Sir T.H.G. Puleston of
Worthingbury Rectory nr Wrexham, p.319] So Lydia was widowed within 7
months of marriage. In her Will (written in 1769) she directed that a
Sermon be preached at her funeral on a theme from St. Matthew's gospel :
"And a man's foes shall be those of his own household". All
of her Jarvis
relations were overlooked in her Will except "Sarah Greenhill of Christchurch".
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Joseph
Clerke the Disenfranchised Heir
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Lent Aunt Lydia £500 as soon as he inherited from
Jarvis, perhaps hoping to curry favour, or even expecting to inherit.
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Guardian of his nephew,
Joseph Jarvis Clerke, and thereby co-manager of his estates from
1758-1767 (or his death).
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Before 28th May 1761:
administrator of Agnes Greenhill's estate.
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1764: Mary Biddulph's
legatee for life (or was he dead by then?)
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Benjamin
Clerke (1712-1758), the Grateful Nephew
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Joseph
Jarvis Clerke (1745-1778)
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Management of the
Estate during his minority: lease and release executed 12th February
1767
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Came into Mary Biddulph's Islington
estate on Joseph's death
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The
Burning of Hinton Admiral House - was this in 1777 as suggested by
insurance documents held by online correspondent?
[see BL Maps K.Top.14.73. View, in
Indian ink, of Hinton Place, near Christchurch, the seat of Mr.
Clarke, burnt down in 17*** Publisher: ca. 1730-1750] Building
Regulations of 1667 passed after the Great Fire. Building Act 1774
was directed largely at reducing
fire risk.
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Louisa
Serjant
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1778-1835: Tapps family
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1835-Present: Tapps-Gervis-Meyrick family
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In 1846 a Private Act was passed to
enable the Trustees of George Eliott Meyrick Tapps-Gervis (then aged 18) to develop
the estate. Development had presumably been restricted since the death
of his father in 1842. The Act authorised them to sell, exchange, lease
or mortgage property, and confirmed an exchange of land with Malmesbury.
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Bournemouth as a Health Resort: see The Salutiferous Effluvia of
Plants (Gentleman's Magazine, October 1750)
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Postcards
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Queen's Park 1902-2002
 Your
comments and suggestions are welcomed - please
click here.
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