Pimperne History

History

The high ground which surrounds the village is rich in antiquities consisting of the remains of some 17 barrows of the Bronze Age (nearly all of them now leveled by ploughing and only discernible from the air), an iron age settlement, several enclosures – probably of the Iron Age – and a large expanse bearing traces of Celtic fields.

The Iron Age settlement on the hill behind the church dates from 500BC, while the Long Barrow on the northern boundary of the parish is thought to be some 4000 years old. As far as we know, Pimperne’s Long Barrow has never been opened. It is thought to be the largest in the country, being some 108 metres long and 28 metres wide.

Part of the Iron Age settlement on Pimperne Down was excavated between 1960-63. Inside were found the remains of a circular timber house, 13 metres in diameter, with a baked clay hearth. A bronze finger ring, shale bracelet and a quantity of pottery were also found.

The land was farmed during Roman times as indicated by the Roman villa at Barton Hill. This villa was excavated in the 1980s and was found to have been built on the site of an earlier Iron Age settlement. A number of interesting finds are now stored at Wimborne Museum, including coins, pottery and tiles.

When the Saxons arrived the long, patient work of clearing trees from the valleys began. The old Saxon open fields lay mainly either side of the main road between Pimperne and Blandford. Two farms in the village take their names from the Saxon measurements for land, viz. Hyde Farm and Yarde Farm.

In the Domesday Book (1086) ‘Pinpre’ is recorded as having ’20 teams, 18 plough gangs and 92 males’. The Domesday Book also tells us that Pimperne was one of the manors of the ancient demesne of the Crown from which the king received a fixed rent. In terms of land, Pimperne comprised the equivalent of 5760 acres of pasture, 2400 acres of Domesday ploughland, 720 acres of wood and 8974 acres of grass.

In ancient times the Manor of Pimperne was divided into two parts. The main part was owned by the Earls of Gloucester and Hereford, from which it passed to the Earls of Ulster, the Duke of Clarence, the Earls of March and then to the Plantagenets, Dukes of York. In 1540 Henry VIII presented it to his Queen Catherine Howard and in 1543 he gave it to Queen Catherine Parr. During the reign of Elizabeth I it passed to the Ryves family.

In 1740 the manor was sold to Thomas Baker of Salisbury and, in 1767 it was bought by William Portman. This main part of the Manor of Pimperne, which covered most of the village, had remained intact for almost 1000 years. The Portman Estate was split up and sold off in 1924.

The land in the southern part of the parish belonged to the De Quincys. The parish registers records that in ancient times at the foot of Priors Lane (Chapel Lane) there was an old wall of immense thickness, doubtless the remains of the old Priory House. At the Dissolution of the monasteries the Priory of Bremer was divided and in 1543 the land was granted to Sir John Rogers of Bryanstone. In 1550 Norteford (north ford) was valued at £11. Today it is known as Nutford Farm.

The Pimperne Maze

An elaborate and well-constructed maze stood on the corner of the Higher Shaftesbury Lane, where the cemetery is now. It covered nearly an acre of ground and was formed of ridges of earth and stone about half a metre high. It was destroyed in 1730.

The Church of St Peter, Pimperne

The record of rectors starts in the 13^th century, the font from the 12^th century and the cross outside the church from about 1450. The church registers date back to 1559. Here it is recorded that in 1850 the parish consisted of 124 families. A parish census in 1850 showed a church attendance of 125 in the morning and 205 in the afternoon, with 95 at each session of the Sunday school.

Whatever the style and construction of an early Anglo-Saxon church it was replaced in the 12^th century by a stone church. By the 1870’s, however, that church was in bad condition and was taken down three years later in 1873 by the patron of the living, Lord Portman. Remnants of the Norman church survive incorporated into the new building.

Outside the church gate is the 14^th century preaching cross, erected for the use of friars, who were forbidden access to the church by the regular clergy. Its shaft was reduced in height in the 1650s by Cromwell’s Act of Parliament against ‘images’. This cross ‘had had a crucifix at the top’, and all crosses were to be cut down to the height of a man.

Charles Kingsley, of The Water Babies fame was curate for a short time in the 1840’s.

The Village School

The earliest record of a school in Pimperne suggests that there was an Infants’ School established in 1827. There were 46 pupils aged from 18 months to 6 years of age. In 1832 Lord Portman provided the building for the National school opposite the church. This was to become the Village Hall and later still a private house. The present school was opened in 1908 and consisted of three classrooms to accommodate about 60 children. A trust deed states that in 1925 Lord Portman sold the school and the land to the Salisbury Diocesan Board of Finance. The deed goes on to read:

….the Board shall hold the premises to be used for.. the celebration of divine service…for religious education…for the education of children and adults or children only of the labouring, manufacturing and other poorer classes in the parish of Pimperne.

Visit: http://www.pimperne.dorset.sch.uk/