\VEST pukBECK MEETING. Ixi. 



Confessor's time. The manor was then held by a Saxon thane 

 called Bern, and so it got the name of Barnestone. At the 

 Norman Conquest William bestowed it upon Walter de Clavile, 

 who also owned five lordships in Dorset and thirty in Devon. 

 The name only lingered on as the Christian name of collateral 

 descendants (in its spelling " Clavell"). In 1623 the manor 

 house came to William Bond, of Lutton, and passed through the 

 Yeatman family, until in the middle of last century it came into the 

 hands of his (Mr. Filliter's) grandfather, who, in 1852, sold it to 

 the Rev. Nathaniel Bond, in possession of whose family it still re- 

 mained. Part of the building dated from the reign of Edward I." 



To members versed in architecture, Barnestone Manor House 

 came as a surprise ; few, probably, were aware that there existed 

 in Dorset so perfect a specimen, so far as it goes, of domestic 

 architecture of the i3th century. A manor house of the 

 ijth century consisted of chambers in two stories, often de- 

 tached ; a kitchen, detached ; and a hall ; each with its various 

 offices. There were also capacious stables with harness- 

 rooms, which sometimes contained beds, in which guests could 

 be lodged. The whole group of buildings was surrounded by a 

 wall, often with a gate-house in it. Barnestone Manor House 

 was originally a house of this description, but of i3th century 

 date there now remain the two chambers, marked on the plan B 

 and A, a portion of the walls of the ancient hall C, and some 

 foundations, which, with the kindly aid of the present tenant, 

 throw some light on the original plan of the range of buildings. 



The oldest part of the house is the centre, showing a gable in 

 the engraving and marked B on the plan. This seems to have 

 been a chamber, with its wardrobe underneath. In the ward- 

 robe the household stuffs were kept, and the ladies did their 

 spinning and needlework. It is not now certain how the upper 

 room was reached ; there is a circular stone staircase in the 

 north-east corner lighted by a small window with an ogee head. 

 This staircase, when first built, was very narrow, but was after- 

 wards widened. At the time it was widened, it was taken down 

 completely, for the winders have not been replaced in their 



