192 BRIDPORT HARBOUR. 



subsoil consisted of loose sand, which is just as might be 

 expected if the river originally joined the sea at that spot. 



(d) That the boundary line of Symondsbury parish follows 

 the bed of the river from the town until it reaches the existing 

 harbour, where the line quits the stream and turns eastward 

 to the sea near the east cliff. 



During the last decade of the 1 8th century the safeguarding 

 of the coast and the undefended ports again became a cause of 

 anxiety, and it is in this connection that I would recall from an 

 undeserved obscurity a branch of our defensive forces which 

 has been rather neglected by writers on kindred topics. Of 

 the earliest Yeomanry and Volunteer corps we have many 

 details, but the companies of Sea Fencibles appear to have 

 escaped observation as far as Dorset is concerned. These 

 Fencibles comprised fishermen and others engaged on the coast 

 who were not liable to seizure by a press gang ; they were 

 enrolled for service either ashore or afloat, and between 1798 

 and 1810 their organisation formed a chain round the 

 seaboard of the United Kingdom. Among the records 

 of the Admiralty are the papers (dated 1798-1805) 

 relating to Bridport, where a company of these 

 auxiliaries was raised in conjunction with Burton, 

 Swyre, and the district. In 1798 the town and harbour sent 

 53 men to serve with the Sea Fencibles under Nicholas Ingrain, 

 their names being set out in the return, together with the 

 number of their attendances. They mustered once a week for 

 drill, receiving Is. per muster, and were armed with pikes ; 

 small sums appear in the accounts for the carriage of these 

 weapons to the harbour, where a room had been hired as an 

 armoury and office. In 1799 the contingent increased to 77 

 men and remained about that strength until 1805, when the 

 Bridport returns come to an end. Two signal towers 

 were established in the neighbourhood, one to the 

 east on Puncknoll hill under the charge of Lieut. 

 Henry Rosher, R.N., the other to the west on Golden Cap 

 under Lieut. John Twisden, R.N. The names of other officers 

 were Captains Richard Prater and Richard Turner Hancock, 



