Lytchett Matravers

Lytchett Matravers
Dorset
Shops on High Street
Location
Grid reference:	SY946952
Location:	50°45’30"N, 2°4’45"W
Data
Population:	3,424  (2011, parish)
Post town:	Poole
Postcode:	BH16
Dialling code:	01202
Local Government
Council:	Dorset
Parliamentary constituency:	Mid Dorset and North Poole
Website:	Lytchett Matravers PC

Lytchett Matravers is a village in the east of Dorset, on higher ground in a landscape of small valleys, open fields and woods about five miles north-west of Poole and a similar distance north of Wareham. The elevation gives views from many parts of the village to Poole Harbour and the Purbeck Hills.

The village is in the Green Belt of the Poole-Bournemouth conurbation. To the north-east are the plantations of Henbury and Stoney Down and to the south the woods of Lytchett Heath. It is on what until 150 years ago was the main road between Poole and Dorchester. There is some through traffic through the village between the main A350 and A35 roads.

The 2011 census recorded the parish as having 1,439 households and a population of 3,424.

The name of the village is believed to come from the old British language litchet meaning "grey wood", to which is added the Norman surname "Maltravers", the family which owned the manor in the Middle Ages.

History

Until the Norman Conquest in 1066 a lord with the Danish name Þolf held the manor of Lytchett. After the conquest, King William granted the manor to Hugh Maltravers, who was still the feudal overlord when the Domesday Book of 1086 recorded Lytchett Matravers as part of Cogdean Hundred in 1086.

The Maltravers family held the village for about 300 years, until the Black Death reduced the population in the second half of the 14th century. The surviving villagers deserted the original village, sited around the church and manor house, and resettled further up the hill.

The remaining female heir to the title 'in abeyance', Eleanor Maltravers, inherited the title on the death of her sister, Joan, in or after 1376. She married John FitzAlan, 1st Baron Arundel on 17 February 1359.

The estate was later bought from the Arundels by the Trenchard family, who demolished the former manor house and built a new one that incorporated, amongst other facilities, a ballroom and a tower. When the Trenchard family foundered in 1829, the manor passed to the Dillon family who added the name Trenchard to their own. However, the newly titled Dillon-Trenchards chose not to occupy the newer manor house. The Dillon-Trenchards left Lytchett Matravers in the latter part of the 20th century.

In 2005 the Lordship of Lytchett Matravers passed to Hon.R G Horlock, being one of the few remaining descendants of the de Carterets of Arundel, and a direct descendant of Renaud de Courtenay, Baron Okehampton (c. 1125 – c. 1190).

Prospect House on Wareham Road

Lytchett Matravers has developed over the 20th century from a settlement of mostly scattered cottages with large curtilages to a village with a moderately high housing density. In the 1920s and 1930s there was some ribbon development on the main access road. This continued into the 1950s with the addition of small scale infill housing behind. Since the 1970s development has mainly been through housing estates. In the 1960s and early 1970s many of the original cob and thatch cottages were either demolished or greatly altered, but there are still 13 thatched cottages in the village, some of which retain their original curtilage. Recently some modern developments have included a smattering of thatched houses in an acknowledgement of the local vernacular architecture.

Churches

St Mary the Virgin

Church of England

The Church of England parish church of St Mary the Virgin is a quarter of a mile north-west of the modern village, on the former site of the village deserted in the 14th century. The church's west tower is 13th-century, the chancel is 14th-century and the rest of the church was rebuilt in about 1500. It is a Grade I listed building.

The west tower has six bells, the oldest of which was cast in about 1400.

Methodist

Near the middle of the village is a Methodist church, which is a member of Poole Bay Methodist Circuit.

About the village

Lytchett Matravers Primary School

Lytchett Matravers has two pubs: the Chequers Inn and the Rose and Crown.

The village has a primary school. It was enlarged and relocated in 1990.

The village hall was built in 1972, to replace the ailing Victory Hall. It has views over Poole Harbour. A small parish council office is attached.

The youth centre is just off the west end of the High Street. The village has a children's play area, recreation ground, basketball court, a skateboarding area and a scout hut for the 1st Lytchett Matravers Scouts.

Sport and recreation

• Cricket club
• Scouting movement:
  • Beavers
  • Cubs
  • Brownies
  • Scouts
  • Guides
• Army Cadet Force Detachment
• 'Youth Parish Council'

Lytchett Matravers Detachment (The Rifles), Dorset Army Cadet Force, is located opposite the Chequers Inn. The current centre was opened in September 1995, and is to this day home to a successful ACF unit.

Media and events

The monthly Parish Magazine, received by about 700 households, usually includes articles on the activities of 12 clubs and societies in the village.

For many years, the village has held a traditional carnival in June.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Lytchett Matravers)

• Lytchett Matravers Parish Council
• Lytchett Matravers Online

References

• Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Dorset, 1972 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-09598-2page 263
• Lytchett Matravers: An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 2, pages 154–157