BRIDPORT HARBOUR. 177 



the existence of a link between the borough and the maritime 

 district outside its confines. 



An interval now confronts me, as to which I can only 

 say that no tidings of the recovery and progress of the harbour 

 have come under my notice, although we may anticipate 

 that one or more previously untapped sources of information 

 will, in the future, throw a bridge across the gap. 



It is not until late in the reign of Henry VIII. that I regain 

 the trail and find an incident to be chronicled. In the year 

 1543 the King had ordered a return to be prepared of the 

 ships and sailors in Dorset, and a certificate by Hugh Pawlet 

 includes the names of the seafaring members of the community 

 at a date which is earlier than the first entries in the surviving 

 parish registers. 



" Burtporte Thomas Knyght of Shepton hathe a balanger of 

 xvin. tonns, well appareld. 



" Maryners and fysshers. 



" William Bokerell. John Poynt. John Cornysshe. 



" John Downe. John Somer. Thomas Sengleman. 



" John Furley. Thomas Robyns. Cornelyus Hobull. 



" John Warram. Robert Parker. John Dyer. 



" Thomas Hoper. William Downe. 



(Henry VIII. Letters and Papers, 1543. No. 547.) 



Only one vessel, a species of barge, is here mentioned as be- 

 longing to the harbour, but the same certificate, under the 

 heading of Lyme, states that Robert Hazard of Burtporte 

 owned a ship of 40 tons. 



Lyme Regis, under the Tudors, was also distressed by the 

 inroads of the sea, and, like Bridport, it received in 1535 direct 

 pecuniary assistance from the Crown, in the shape of 

 an annuity of 20 charged for ten years upon the Customs 

 revenue of Poole, which subsidy was still being paid in the 

 year 1619. Notwithstanding this help, Nicholas Wadham 

 reports to the Government that the poor men of Lyme had 

 petitioned him concerning the Cobb and the expenses incurred, 

 saying that they had pawned the cross and other jewels of 



