CHAINED BOOKS IN DORSET AND ELSEWHERE. 21 



CHURCH LIBRARIES (CHAINED AND UNCHAINED) AND 

 CHAINED BOOKS, &c., IN THE COUNTY OF DORSET. 



At GILLINGHAM is a collection of 300 books, unchained, 

 which still remain of the 619 volumes left to the vicar and 

 feoffees of the parish lands of Gillingham, in 1718, under the 

 will of Thomas Freke of Gillingham. They consist for the 

 most part of theological works, and are now at the Vicarage. 



At KINSON about 220 volumes were given to the Church 

 in 1895 by Rev. P. J. Newell, then a resident of the parish. 

 They are shelved at the west end of the Church. 



At MILTON ABBAS is one of the two Dorset Chained 

 Libraries. It consists of 66 volumes, for the most part 

 theological, which were originally kept in the vestry ; but 

 many years ago they were removed to the Vicarage, where 

 they now are. A marble tablet, in the vestry at the Abbey, 

 records the fact that John Tregonwell, Esq., who died in 1680, 

 " by his last will and testament gave all the bookes within 

 the vestry to the use of the Abbey Church for ever, as a 

 thankful acknowledgment of God's wonderful mercy in his 

 preservation when he fell from the top of this Church." 

 The incident happened when he was five years of age. 

 Accompanied by his nurse, he was on the roof of the south 

 transept, and, when her attention was otherwise engaged, 

 he clambered on to the parapet, attracted by some wild 

 flower which was growing out of the wall, and, losing his 

 balance, he fell 60 feet to the ground. The skirts of his dress 

 becoming inflated acted as a parachute and broke his fall. 

 When the nurse reached the ground, to her astonishment 

 and relief, she found the child unhurt and picking daisies.* 



But most celebrated of all the Dorset Libraries is the far- 

 famed Chained Library at WIMBORNE MINSTER. It was 

 founded by the Rev. Wm. Stone in 1686. Stone was a 

 native of Wimborne, and was born about the year 1615. 



* Proceedings of the Dorset Field Club, Vol. IV., pp. 86-87. 



