Talk on West Dorset village life during reign Elizabeth I

The talk, Charmouth and District in Elizabethan Times, will be given by Neil Mattingly at Charmouth Village Hall in Wesley Close, Charmouth, on Friday, November 1 at 7pm.

The talk will have two parts with a half hour break in the middle for refreshments.

The first half covers life in the village of Charmouth during the reign of Queen Elizabeth (1558 – 1603) and the second half is life in the villages that surround it at that time which will include Catherston, Wootton Fitzpaine, Lyme Regis, Berne Manor and Abbotts Wootton.

1564 Survey page describing manors surrounding Charmouth (Image: Supplied) Mr Mattingly has been researching the history of Charmouth for many years and has given talks, written articles and published books on the village.

He said: "I have found a wealth of material in our local archives which has allowed me to obtain an insight into the life of the villagers over the centuries.

"It came as a revelation recently to come across in the Devon Record Office, the leather bound volume of Surveys of the many Estates in the West Country that the famous statesman, Sir William Petre had bought. I was very fortunate to find that it included Charmouth.

"I have analysed all the information that I have discovered after studying the survey and from it and other records show the village had a population of over 200 living in 40 houses along the Street.

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"A number of the houses mentioned exist today although altered over the years. The most famous of these is the Abbotts House, which in the survey is described as the “Fairest House in the Town”.

Mt Mattingly said there will be an interval for refreshments followed by the second part of the evening on the villages and estates that border Charmouth.

He said: "This is as a result of trying to make sense of the last paragraph of the Survey which reads as follows: “This manor is bounded South, the sea; East, the sea and land of the Lord Chief Justice Catlin called Berne; West, a hedge leading to an old house of John Wadham of Catherston and from there by the river Char to Charm bridge, saving that the said John Wadham has a little piece of ground lying within the same; North, lands of said Mr. Wadham and in the west part lands of Mr Williams of Dorsetshire”.

"I have spent a considerable time now attempting to understand what this paragraph meant. My researches provide a new insight into these lands and their owners in the reign of Queen Elizabeth."

Admission is free for members of Charmouth Local History Group and £3 for non-members.