^2 WAREHAM : ITS ORIGIN AND HISTORY. 



fragment of fluted Koman pottery almost exactly the same as that 

 usually called ^ew Forest ware, as seen in our Museum ; also a 

 Koman quern from the same place. 



The first mention of Wareham is in the time of Alfred the 

 Great, about 876, when the Danes took the town and destroyed 

 its castle and nunnery. During the Danish invasions it was a 

 theatre of war and destruction for about a century and a-half, and 

 its fame rose from its misfortunes. This unhappy place suffered all 

 the miseries of war : the inhabitants were driven away, or plundered 

 and massacred, and the Avhole town reduced to a heap of ruins. 

 In Edward the Confessor's time — about 1042 to 1066 — as recorded 

 in Domesday Book, it had 148 houses in it ; but in William the 

 Conqueror's time there were but 70 houses standing ; afterwards 

 it reflourished and the Conqueror built a castle there. "In the 

 time of Henry II., suffering much by wars and the casualties 

 of fire, together with the sea robbing them of the haven, 

 it is almost run quite to ruin, and the soil that was in the very 

 heart of the ancient town produceth great quantities of garlic." 

 When Stephen took Wareham in 1142 he burnt the town and 

 surprised the castle. 



On Sunday, July 25th, 1762, a dreadful fire broke out amongst 

 the then thatched houses, so that in three hours two-thirds of the 

 town was reduced to a heap of ruins. In the session of Parlia- 

 ment following, an Act was passed for rebuilding the town and 

 preventing future danger by fire, &c. Thatched houses, furze, and 

 hayricks were prohibited. Several buildings in the middle of the 

 street and others projecting into it were removed, and in about 

 two years the town rose fairer than before. 



In Britton's " Beauties of England and Wales," published in 

 1803, he says : "South Bridge was. an ancient structure crossing 

 the Frome, and probably coeval with William II." He prob- 

 ably means William I., about, say 1080, when he built the 

 castle, and if a stone castle, I rather expect that he built the 

 bridge to take the stone to build the castle. This bridge was 

 doubtless the great Avant of the town of Wareham and from 



