Wareham
| Wareham | |
| Dorset | |
|---|---|
 Wareham Quay | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SY923873 |
| Location: | 50°41’6"N, 2°6’29"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 5,665 (8,417) |
| Post town: | Wareham |
| Postcode: | BH20 |
| Dialling code: | 01929 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Dorset |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Mid Dorset and North Poole |
Wareham is an historic market town in Dorset. The town stands on the River Frome and the River Piddle, eight miles southwest of Poole, at a strategic dry point between the rivers at the head of the Wareham Channel of Poole Harbour, and east of here the Isle of Pubeck begins.
The Frome Valley runs through an area of unresistant sand, clay and gravel rocks, and much of its valley has wide flood plains and marsh land. At its estuary the river has formed the wide shallow ria of Poole Harbour. Wareham is built on a low dry island between the marshy river plains.
To the north west of the town a large conifer plantation, Wareham Forest stretches several miles to the A35 and the southern foothills of the Dorset Downs. To the south east is Corfe Castle and the heathland that borders Poole Harbour, including Wytch Farm oil field and Studland and Godlingstone Heath Nature Reserve. About four miles to the south is a chalk ridge, the Purbeck Hills, and eight miles to the south is the English Channel.
Churches
Wareham contains several places of worship with the oldest being the to Church of England churches, both of Anglo-Saxon origin. St Mary has been substantially modified but the origins are pre-conquest.[1] The Saxon nave was demolished in 1841-2). St Martins-on-the-Walls was built around 1030 and is dedicated to Martin of Tours.
The 14th century building of Holy Trinity Church stands on the site of the Saxon chapel St Andrew's[2] and is now a tourist information centre.
- Church of England:
- St Mary's
- St Martin's
- Holy Trinity
- Independent: The Evangelical Church
- Methodist: Wareham Methodist Church
- United Reformed Church: Wareham United Reformed Church
- Roman Catholic: St Edward the Martyr
History
The town's strategic setting has made it an important settlement throughout its long history. Excavations at the nearby Bestwall site have produced evidence of transient early Mesolithic activity dating to around 9000 BC. At the same site four large Neolithic pits containing worked flint and pottery fragments dating to 3700 BCE were found. Three greenstone axeheads discovered also probably date to this period. Flint working and potting continued throughout the Bronze Age. The first house discovered dates to the mid 15th century BCE.[3]
Archaeological evidence exists of a small Roman settlement, though the current town was founded by the Saxons.[4] The Roman name is unknown, but the town is referred to as Werham in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry of 784, from Old English wer (meaning 'fish trap, a weir') and ham ('homestead') or hamm ('enclosure hemmed in by water').[5]
The town's oldest features are the town walls, ancient earth ramparts surrounding the town, likely built by Alfred the Great in the 9th century to defend the town from the Danes[6] as part of his system of burh towns. The Danes had invaded Wareham in 876, only leaving after the payment of a ransom. In 998 they attacked again, and in 1015 an invasion led by King Canute left the town in ruins.[2]
The town was a Saxon royal burial place, notably that of King Beorhtric (800 AD). Also in the town at the ancient minster church of Lady St Mary is the coffin said to be that of Edward the Martyr, dating from 978. His remains had been hastily buried there and were later taken from Wareham to Shaftesbury Abbey in north Dorset (and now lie in Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey).
By the end of the Saxon period, Wareham had become one of the most important towns in the county, to the extent that it housed two mints for the issue of Royal money.[7] The Burghal Hidage lists the town as 1,600 hides, the third largest in the realm.[6] After the conquest of England, the Normans built a castle on the banks of the River Frome, at the site now known as Castle Close. The castle was the focus of much fighting between the forces of Stephen and Matilda during the period of The Anarchy in the mid 12th century.[8] The keep was destroyed at an unknown date in the 12th or 13th century, possibly under the terms of the Treaty of Wallingford,[9] and no visible trace remains. Up until this time Wareham had been an important port; however the growth of Poole and the gradual silting of the river caused a decline in trade and by the end of the 13th century most of the foreign trade had transferred to Poole. Local trade continued to be handled at the Quay until the construction of the railway in the 19th century.[7][10]
During the Civil War, Wareham changed hands several times between the Royalists and Parliamentarians and in August 1644 was the site of a fierce battle with 2,000 Cromwellian soldiers besieging the town in the name of Parliament.[11]
After the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685, Wareham was one of a number of towns in Dorset where Judge Jeffreys held the Bloody Assizes, and after the assizes here five rebels were hanged, drawn and quartered on the West Walls, an area known as 'Bloody Bank'.[12][13] This may also have been the site of the execution of a hermit known as Peter de Pomfret who in 1213 had prophesied that before the next Ascension Day King John's rule would be over. The prophesy turned out to be incorrect, and the King decreed that Peter should be dragged through the streets of the town tied to a horse's tail and hanged together with his son.[12]
In 1762, a fire destroyed two thirds of the town, which has been rebuilt in Georgian architecture with red brick and Purbeck limestone, following the earlier street pattern. The town is divided into four quarters by the two main roads, which cross at right-angles. The mediæval almshouses escaped the fire, and some of the Georgian façades are in fact disguising earlier buildings which also survived.
With the outbreak of the First First World Warn 1914, Wareham became a garrison town with up to 7,000 soldiers living and training locally. The camp was re-located to nearby Bovington Camp in 1922.[14] The town survived the Second World War largely intact, although five houses were destroyed when a bomb dropped by a German aeroplane fell near St Martin's Church in 1942.[15]
Because of the constraints of the rivers and marshland Wareham grew little during the 20th century, while nearby towns, such as Poole, grew rapidly.
Culture
Events held in the town include the annual carnival which takes place in July with a parade, fireworks and music by the Quay.[16] A new event is the music festival held in summer, with bands playing on the Quay, the Town Hall and the town's pubs.[16] The Wareham Court Leet, one of the few remaining Court Leets in Britain, meets nightly during the last week in November.
In the church of St Martin-on-the-Walls, there is a recumbent effigy of T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) in Arab clothing, sculpted by Eric Kennington. Lawrence is buried at Moreton Churchyard where every year a quantity (decreases by one each year) of red roses are left. Near the town is Clouds Hill and Bovington army camp where Lawrence died after a motorbike accident. Wareham Town Museum, in East Street, has an interesting section on Lawrence and in 2006 produced an hour-long DVD entitled T. E. Lawrence — His Final Years in Dorset, including a reconstruction of the fatal accident. The museum also contains many artefacts on all aspects of the history of the town.
Cultural references
Thomas Hardy in his novels based the town of "Anglebury" on Wareham.[17]
Dinah Craik used the town as one of the settings in her novel Agatha's Husband (as "Kingcombe").[18]
Anglebury House - a tea house/restaurant still operating on the high street - was frequented by T E Lawrence. The seat where Lawrence regularly sat is marked by a plaque.[19][20]
Wareham is the setting for one of the "Amazing Adventures of Scary Bones the Skeleton" series of books for children by Ron Dawson, Scary Bones meets the Wacky Witches of Wareham. The book also includes a photograph of the town bridge and nearby Corfe Castle which also features in the story.
The hymn tune "Wareham" was composed by William Knapp (born at Wareham, 1698/9); Knapp composed several other hymn tunes and was parish clerk of Poole.[21]
Sport
- Football: Wareham Rangers
- Rugby: Swanage and Wareham RFU
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Wareham) |
References
- ↑ Davis 1997, p. 11
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Davis 1997, p. 15
- ↑ Ladle, Lilian; Woodward, Ann (Nov/Dec 2010). "Bestwall Quarry". British Archaeology (115). http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba115/feat2.shtml. Retrieved 2011-01-09.
- ↑ Davis 1997, p. 9
- ↑ Hill, David; Rumble, Alexander R. (1996). The defence of Wessex: the Burghal Hidage and Anglo-Saxon fortifications. Manchester University Press. pp. 107–108. ISBN 0-7190-3218-0.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Davis 1997, p. 14
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "DTC Wareham History". Wareham Town Council. http://www.wareham-tc.gov.uk/WTC_pages/wtc_history.htm. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
- ↑ Davis 1997, p. 18
- ↑ D. F. RENN. "The Keep of Wareham Castle". http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-769-1/ahds/dissemination/pdf/vol04/4_056_068.pdf. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
- ↑ Davis 1997, p. 20
- ↑ Davis 1997, p. 31
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Ladle 1986, p. 28
- ↑ Davis 1997, p. 35
- ↑ Davis 1997, pp. 85–90
- ↑ Davis 1997, p. 91
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 "About Wareham". Wareham Town Council. http://www.wareham-tc.gov.uk/WTC_pages/wtc_about.htm. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
- ↑ The Thomas Hardy journal. 17-18. Thomas Hardy Society. 2001. p. 45.
- ↑ Davis 1997, p. 51
- ↑ "T E Lawrence - Lawrence of Arabia". Dorset Guide. http://www.dorsets.co.uk/history/lawrence_of_arabia.htm. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
- ↑ Haynes, Deborah. The Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/destinations/england/article3681258.ece.
- ↑ Rowe, Lionel (c. 1960) The Churches of Wareham, Dorset; 9th ed. Gloucester: British Publishing Company; p. 19
- Pitt Rivers, Michael (1970). Dorset. London: Faber & Faber.
- Davis, Terence (1997). Wareham Gateway to Purbeck (2nd ed.). dpc. ISBN 0-948699-62-0.
- Ladle, Lilian (1986). Explore Wareham. Lady St. Mary Parochial Church Council. ISBN 0-9511365-0-X.
