Lytchett Minster
| Lytchett Minster | |
| Dorset | |
|---|---|
 Lytchett Minster Parish Church | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SY960931 |
| Location: | 50°44’9"N, 2°3’25"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Poole |
| Postcode: | BH16 |
| Dialling code: | 01202 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Dorset |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Mid Dorset and North Poole |
Lytchett Minster is a village in Dorset, around four miles north-west of Poole town centre.
The village spreads over low-lying farmland around a mile west of the Poole district of Upton, a mile and a half south-east of the village of Lytchett Matravers, and east of Organford. To the northeast are Lytchett Heath, Beacon Hill and Upton Heath; to the south-west are Gore Heath and Holton Heath. The A35 dual carriageway bypasses the village to the east and south.
History
Around Lytchett Minster are a number of manor houses, one of which now hosts the local secondary school.
South Lytchett Manor
In 1890 Baronet and MP Sir Elliott Lees bought land in Dorset and moved into South Lytchett Manor. The Manor was requisitioned in the Second World War, serving as the battery headquarters of an anti-aircraft defence regiment. After Sir John Lees' death in 1955, his heir, Sir Thomas Lees, decided to sell rather than renovate, and the Lees family moved to Post Green House, then a farmhouse on the estate[1]:34-35. It was bought by the local Council and became Lytchett Minster Secondary Modern School, now Lytchett Minster School.
Post Green
In July 1942 Lieutenant Colonel Sir Francis Younghusband, explorer and spiritual writer, suffered a stroke. He then retired to Post Green House, as a guest of Lady Madeline Lees, where he died shortly after.[2] He was buried in the village churchyard.[3]
Lady Madeline Lees and the Post Green Community
Lady Madeline Lees (née Pelly) was a passionate Christian with a desire to communicate the story of Jesus. After organizing the local school Nativity play for many years, she decided it was time to produce something that could be shown around the world. So she roped in the whole village as actors, retired actor Gerald Rawlinson as a narrator, plus extras from Poole, Upton and other villages to create two successful amateur religious films, "A Voice Crying in the Wilderness" (1958)[4] and "Messiah", released in 1960 [5] [1]:24-25 [6].
In the mid-1960s, Sir Thomas Lees and his wife, Lady Faith, started offering hospitality to people in need, accommodating up to 25 people at a time in their home and later expanding this community support using local homes they owned, to form the Post Green Community[6][1]. The Post Green Community organized camps, retreats and seminars that attracted Christians from all over Britain and abroad. It was associated with David Watson, Graham Pulkingham and the Charismatic movement, while remaining under the umbrella of the Church of England[1].
Sir Tom, realising how precious the land at Holton was, turned down a multi-million pound offer from a developer and designated it for charitable use as the East Holton Charity, renamed Holton Lee in 1992, had charitable trust status to develop an environmental and arts centre for disabled people[6]. Since 2015 the charity has been taken over by UK charity Livability.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Lytchett Minster) |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Lees, Faith; Hinton, Jeanne (1978). Love Is Our Home. London: Hodder and Stoughton. ISBN 0340232714. https://archive.org/details/loveisourhomebe00lees.
- ↑ Anon. 1942 Obituary: Sir Francis Edward Younghusband. Geographical Review 32(4):681
- ↑ Dictionary of National Biography
- ↑ A Voice Crying in the Wilderness at the Internet Movie Database
- ↑ Messiah at the Internet Movie Database
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Holton Lee History". Livability. https://www.holtonlee.org/about-us/our-heritage/the-lees-family-the-1800s-and-1900s/. Retrieved 2020-06-02.