swuklink: History of Milborne Port, Somerset   

Milborne Port, Somerset     OS Grid Ref: ST675188

 The County of Somerset

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POPULATION

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1901
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953
1,000
1,440
2,072
1,740
1,788
1,814
2,033
1,877
1,951
1,951
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1,630
1,546
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The ancient village is clustered around the High Street (part of the A30) which runs approximately east to west with indusrial areas and modern housing to the north and west.

By the end of the saxon era, Milborne Port had become an important settlement - certainly important enough that, during the reigns of Ethelred and Canute, it possessed a mint.

Occupation of the area before the arrival of the Saxons, even before the Roman occupation, is evidenced by the remains of a prehistoric camp just to the east of the outlying hamlet Milborne Wick.

With documentary evidence being scarce in such cases, and inferences having to be drawn from the evoltion of the name over time, and it being unlikely, indeed less likely with the passing of every year, that new documentary evidence will come to light, we will probably never know which view is correct.

The origins of the first part of the name of the village, 'Milborne', are derived from the combination of 'mill' and 'bourne' (meaning stream or torrent).

The suffix 'Port' was added after the Norman conquest and it has been assumed that this signified a town or 'burgh'. One vicar of Milborne Port, however, has suggested a Latin origin; 'porta', a gate. Perhaps the 'gateway' between Somerset and Dorset.

see also:   PORT

The Domesday Book
At the time of William the Conqueror's Domesday Survey of 1086/7, Milborne Port was recorded as a royal manor, as it had been during the time of the Confessor. It possessed six mills which paid 77 shillings and six pence and a market. 56 burgesses of the manor paid 20 shillings. The Count of Mortain and St Edward's Church also held possessions in Milborne Port.

 Medieval Milborne Port

The remains of a medieval cross stand in the centre of the village

The mills, which rightly gave the village its name, also contributed greatly to its medieval prosperity. At the time of William I's Domesday Book of 1087, no less than six watermills were recorded here along little river Gascoinge. They served the woollen, flax and hosiery industries which were the mainstay of the village's economy before the arrival of the leather industry in the guise of saddle, boot and shoe making.

The gloving industry arrived at Milborne Port on a large scale around 1810 and took the place of the already declining flax industry, an industry which had survived since before the Dark Ages, but died out completely only a few years later.

 Whitmore Bacon Ltd - The Tannery, Milborne Port
Whitmore Bacon Ltd - the Tannery (Nov 2002)

In the third millenium, the gloving industry has all but died out, save for a few tiny pockets of stubborn resistance. The leather industry which has been here for centuries is still represented by the extensive works of Whitmore Bacon Ltd, tanners, besides the river which powered the old watermills. But as the fourth year of the new millenium approached, even this vestige employing [[?????]] is threatened.

Milborne sent members to the early parliaments and in 1300 was one of only three Somerset boroughs to do so. Its right to parliamentary representation was restored in 1628 after a gap of three hundred years.

The members of parliament were elected at the Village Cross, then in the High Street.

Milborn Port's prosperity brought the status of a borough. As a borough, this small place was entitled to send two members to parliament until the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832 scrapped the 'rotten boroughs' - representation in the House of Commons which could only be envied by some large cities such as Birmingham and Sheffield.

The situation in Milborne Port was by no means extreme; Old Sarum (where the ancient see of nearby Sherborne was removed in the 11th century) earned its right to send two members to parliament when a thriving town. The hilltop soon abandoned in favour of Salisbury ('New Sarum'), its two members were sent until the passing of the 1832 Act by the handfull of cottages which remained.

Town or Village?

Milborne Port. Is it a town? Is it a village? Thousands of motorists who pass along the busy A30, of which the High Street is part, see it as just another bottleneck with some quaint houses to be negotiated as hastily as possible. Perhaps they notice the Old School and Ven House.

 The Town Hall, Milborne Port, from North Street
The Town Hall in the High Street from North Street

It possess a Town Hall, as befits its standing as a borough. It possesses a Guildhall. Yet it also possesses a 'Village Hall'. Incorporated as a borough, and as such, Milborne Port would have enjoyed rights and privileges which its townsfolk of old would have been proud of and guarded with the utmost jealously. Thus we should perhaps, rightfully, call it a town. But, straying off the High Street, the busy A30, or best taking the place in on foot, it retains very much the atmosphere of a village. Perhaps then, we should acknowledge this by calling it a village. It appears that we are left with a personal choice.


Perhaps we should be mindful of the fact that, as we read this short history, tommorow's history of Milborne Port is being made today and the actions of its townsfolk, villagers (as you will), visitors, those who just drive through it, those who's decisions impinge upon it whether at local, county, national or European level, will all shape its future.

A walk through Milborne Port, from Newtown in the west to Kingsbury's old mill will reward the explorer with much that it has to offer. For those who wish to explore the village, or browse through its many treasures, a separate page is being prepared and will be available shortly.

In the 1920s and '30s, long before the advent of supermarkets and superstores, Milbrone Port counted approximately sixty to seventy businesses and shops - and they were the life blood of the place. The village still has a very impressive variety of good quality shops and businesses - please support them whenever you can to ensure that the village remains the thriving, active and friendly place it is now. A directory of local businesses is available if you > click here < or on the 'Milborne Port Directory' of the green side-menu on any page connected with the village and click on 'Goods & Services'.


Related Pages

Medieval Milborne Port
Roads of Milborne Port   (History)

Modern Milborne Port forms a finger of Somerset which encroaches southwards into Dorset which county surrounds it on three sides. The parishes to the west (and north of Sherborne) were in Somerset until nearly the end of the 19th century when they were transferred to Dorset beacuse of the unusual provisions for relief of the poor which prevailed at the time;


Since the Poor Law of 1601, care of the destitute, aged or sick fell on the parish and was administered by the Overseers of the Poor. The parish provided 'indoor relief' within the parish workhouse. The inefficiency of each parish providing for its own poor was remedied in 1834 by the Poor Law Amendment Act which allowed parishes to join together in 'Parish Unions' to provide relief.

The poor of six Somerset parishes (Goathill, Marston Magna, Poyntington, Rimpton, Sandford Orcas and Trent) were thus sent to the workhouse in Sherborne in neighbouring Dorset under an irregular and possibly illegal arrangement. Its was inevitable that the arrangement would cause arguments, is it did towards the end of the 19th century.

The arrangement, which had been in place for some fifty years, came to the notice of the Boundary Commission in 1888 as it was working towards the Local Government Act which would replace the old Hundreds with County Councils and Rural District Councils. The Commission recommended that the six parishes should be transferred to Dorset.

Area and Boundaries Committee of Somerset agreed that the parishes of Goathill, Poyntington and Sandford Orcas should be transferred to Dorset but argued that Marston Magna, Rimpton and Trent "were well within easy distance of Yeovil and had at all times and without any inconvenience or complaint been included in the Yeovil Highway District and Yeovil Petty Sessional Division, the town being their natural town and place of business." and so should be retained in Somerset. Marston Magna and Rimpton remain in Somerset but the parishioners of Trent appealed the decision and the parish was transferred to Dorset in 1896.



SOMERSET
  Towns & Villages of Somerset
DORSET
  Towns & Villages of Dorset

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Bibliography


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Milborne Port Directory
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