A HISTORY OF DORSET 



Dutch war caused the usual drain of men to man the fleets, and the customary 

 troubles from the spoil made by privateers, but no incident of any interest 

 affecting Dorset occurred. The landing of the duke of Monmouth at 

 Lyme in June, 1685, brought the county into prominence temporarily, but 

 not in connexion with naval affairs, nor did the passage down Channel of 

 William of Orange affect the coast. After Torrington's defeat off Beachy 

 Head in 1690 there was certain expectation of invasion, and the county 

 levies crowded to the ports, but Tourville stood westward to Torbay. His 

 fleet was seen off Portland, much to the fear of Weymouth, and guns were 

 mounted at Poole. Later in the war, in 1694, the Ordnance Office sent 

 three guns to Lyme,"* but in 1690 it was remarked that the result of hos- 

 tilities with France was to destroy the trade of Poole, Lyme, and Weymouth, 

 which was chiefly with that country, and that the principal business remaining 

 was smuggling.'" Two Poole seamen, Peter Jolliffe and Wm. Thompson, 

 were awarded gold medals and chains in 1694 and 1695 for heroic conduct 

 in action against French privateers. 



The war occasioned a great increase in the Navy, and, as a necessary con- 

 sequence, more dockyards were required. Plymouth yard was founded in 

 1694, but the Admiralty desired another, which would undoubtedly have 

 been established had the national finances permitted the expenditure. In 

 1698 several officials travelled round the south coast examining the harbours 

 with a view to selecting one for the purpose, but their condemnation of 

 Dorset was unhesitating."' At Poole they found a depth of 16 ft. on the 

 bar at high water spring tides, and, saying that very few vessels ventured into 

 the harbour unless forced there, added that ' it affords nothing in our opinion 

 proper or improvable for the service of the Navy.' At Weymouth there was 

 sometimes only 3 ft. of water on the bar, which ' to add no more precludes 

 entirely.' 



There is a belief, unlikely to be well founded, that in the mediaeval 

 period lights were shown from the chapels at St. Aldhelm's Head and 

 St. Catherine, Abbotsbury. The seventeenth century saw the beginning of 

 the modern lighthouse system, in which East Anglia led the way, probably 

 by reason of the very large collier and other traffic coasting to and from 

 London. As shipping trade increased and the profits from lights became 

 greater, courtiers and others used what influence they possessed to obtain 

 patents authorizing them to put up lighthouses and collect tolls. After the 

 Restoration the competition for patents became very keen. The first appli- 

 cant for Portland, in May, 1664, was Sir John Coryton, a large speculator in 

 the business, who included it with six other stations he was anxious to light 

 for his own and the public benefit."" His petition was referred to the 

 Trinity House Corporation to report upon, and as they were jealous trade 

 rivals their answer was adverse. Coryton depended upon the influence of 

 the duke of York, who, he boasted, never denied him anything ; here he 

 overrated his own or the duke's influence and no patent was granted. The 

 matter was dropped for nearly half a century, and then Captain William 

 Holman petitioned in 1700 for a licence. This, as usual, was submitted to 

 the Trinity House, who reported that a lighthouse was needless and that if 



^' H. O. Mil. Entry Bk. iii, 216. *" Treas. Papers, 14 April, 1690 (Rep. of Customs Com.). 



'■"' S'oane MSS. 3233. "*" Hist. MUS. Com. Rep. viii, App. i, 252. 



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