THESE old photos by Claud Hider are of the west Dorset village of Swyre, which had a boarding school and a manor.
They were taken from 1922 onwards and show the village church, its residences and views of Swyre from afar.
This coastal parish is six miles south-east from Bridport, situated in a valley beside Chesil beach and adjacent to Puncknowle on the east side and Burton Bradstock on the west.
The church of the Holy Trinity is stone built in the Early English style, largely rebuilt in 1843, though the west tower and chancel arch date from about 1400.
The majority of headstones date from the late 18th and early 19th centuries
Berwick is situated in the parish of Swyre and lies to the north of the village. It was once a manor where part of the farm lay in the chapelry of Stirthill or St. Luke's in Burton Bradstock.
READ MORE: Claud Hider images of Charmouth
Berwick House. Built in the 16th century it is the birthplace of John Russell, the first Duke of Bedford. In 1506 a vessel with the Archduke Phillip of Austria and his Spanish wife on board sought shelter in Weymouth harbour.
The couple were taken to Wolfeton House, the home of Sir Thomas Trenchard, on the outskirts of Dorchester, and word was sent to Berwick House for his nephew, John Russell, who was a Spanish speaker, to come and interpret. On a later occasion when the Archduke was visiting King Henry VIII, he mentioned to the king the service provided by John Russell and in recognition of his service he was appointed to the King’s Privy chamber.
John Russell had a distinguished career and managed to keep his head, in itself no mean feat for an advisor to the King.
He held many posts including that of Ambassador to the Pope. In 1547 he was granted the monastery of Woburn Abbey and in that same year he attended the coronation of King Edward Vl in his position of Lord High Steward of England. He was created Earl of Bedford around 1549 and died in Buckinghamshire on the 14th of March 1554.
A board school was built in Swyre in 1851 to accommodate 40 children.
In 1895 the whole parish was owned by a sole landowner, the Duke of Bedford, although none of the later Dukes resided in Dorset.
READ MORE: Old pictures of village which had its own train station
From the beginning of the 17th century Berwick House and farm have been leased to tenant farmers.
The Napier family, who held land in Swyre, Bexington and Puncknowle appear to have had an interest in Berwick between 1602 and 1641, while Mary, the daughter of Julius Squibb and wife of George Gallop inherited Berwick in 1687. George and Mary Gallop’s son George was the Sheriff of Dorset in 1745, Thomas was Captain of Portland Castle and James was Sheriff of Dorset in 1768.
Cottages in the village were built by the Duke of Bedford in the mid 1800s to replace older ones.
READ MORE: Old pictures of village with its surging stream
The soil is clay and the chief crops were wheat, barley and oats. The parish covers an area of 1081 acres and had a population of 154 persons in 1891.
With such a rich history, it is hard to believe that Arthur Mee, the editor of the 1939 edition of The King’s England, dismissed Swyre in one sentence as “a small, humble and uninteresting settlement.”
With thanks to Neil Mattingly for his digital preservation of the Claud Hider Collection and to the wonderfully informative opcdorset.org/ and dorset-ancestors.com/ websites.
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