Having now acquired the Lordship of the Manor of Purse Caundle, what could one do about it? Not having through successive legislation the same legal powers and/or rights as those Lords of 100 or more years ago there was not immediately a lot to gain from it. Some Lords, though, are lucky enough to have retained for example such rights as the holding of markets, or mineral rights, from which they could derive some income. In the case of Purse Caundle all this has yet to be determined.
There is similarly, in a converse way, no obligations, except perhaps the ephemeral
noblesse oblige, - that is to say, what can one do for others?
All previous Lords of Purse Caundle seem, without exception, to have been absentee Lords. As has been explained in another Blog Posting, none of the owners or residents of the manor house down through the ages has ever been Lord of the Manor. That honour has been held by others at some distance, having stewards to hold the Manor Courts and administer the Manorial estate.
However, several of those owning and resident in the manor house have volunteered this
noblesse oblige, as seen in my Purse Caundle History.
So what could yet another absentee manorial Lord do in an endeavour to emulate them, but without their somewhat formidable financial resourses? One naturally has to act with caution, and not immediately obtain the reputation of an interfering interloper. We (my wife and I) started by attending Sunday morning church once a month, and gradually getting to know the rector and some of the villagers. We have also manged to attend most of the St Peter-tide gatherings and Harvest lunches. Having qualified to go onto the Church Electoral Roll I started attending the Annual Parochial Church Meetings, and noticed that resident parishioners were conspicuous by their absence. At the Easter 2006 Annual Meeting, because of the lack of members, I voluntered my services for the Parochial Church Council, and have been a member since.
It was noticed that the seat in the War Memorial alcove was in a somewhat dangerous condition, so with the co-operation of the Purse Caundle Parish Council a new seat was jointly funded. A donation had earlier been made to the cost of new prayer books in the church.
I early started researching for, and the collecting of details of the history of Purse Caundle. It was soon discovered that although small in size, it had a long and full history as interesting as anywhere else much larger. This is now being gradually uploaded onto other(s) of my blogs for free access and downloading. Two items of note are my discoveries of (1) the previously broken, hidden and unrecorded headstone in the churchyard; and (2) the unrecorded misplaced mass- or scratch-dial on the outer north wall of the church nave.
Although in theory the property of the Lord of the Manor, the records of Manor Courts Leet and Courts Baron are normally kept for safe-keeping at such repositories as County Record Offices. It was noticed at the Wiltshire & Swindon Record Office that a few late 17th century Purse Caundle manor court records were in a deteriorating condition, that I made a donation to allow for their conservation.
In the meanwhile some current and ex-village residents have already kindly allowed me to question them about the more recent past of Purse Caundle. I was lucky enough to be able to meet the late John Waltham, but regretfully not the late 100+ year old Mr Osmund.
Current ventures being undertaken include metal-detecting; and determining the Manor/village/parish boundary, including that of the stretch bordering on Somerset. Some boundary markers have already been noted.
As a hopeful incentive for readers to go to the blogs each month the rector now kindly includes in the monthly
Newsletter a snippet of Purse Caundle history.
As a major gesture of goodwill, and a hopeful endeavour to encourage further informtion to be forthcoming, I have now initiated a Purse Caundle History Day, for Saturday, 27th June 2009, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. centred in St Peter's church by kind permission of the rector, where there will be a multi-visual Exhibition. The Somerset & Dorset Family History Society have also expressed a wish to attend. It is hoped residents could be willing to arrange other allied events in the village at the same time. Further details will be announced as soon as known.
Labels: church mass-dial, church scratch-dial, Manor Courts, metal detecting, Parochial Church Council, Purse Caundle boundaries, Purse Caundle History Day, Purse Caundle war memorial
