A HISTORY OF DORSET 



their living and hospitality.' It was accordingly arranged that six tenants 

 ' chosen and sworn should tread out the lands of the manor and allot how 

 much each tenant should have and so every one enclosed his land and so held 

 it till to-day.' The 'more tenants' were allowed 12 acres each, at a rent of 

 8s., and 'the lesser' 8 acres at 6s. %d. The 'horde lands' — 17 acres in ex- 

 tent — remained undivided, and were granted to several tenants at a rent of 

 lod. an acre. Iwerne Common in the north-west of the manor remained 

 open from i May until Christmas for cattle, and from Christmas to the middle 

 of March for sheep.'" 



But if the increase of sheep-farming was not an important factor in the 

 economic situation of the county in the sixteenth century, the dissolution of 

 the monasteries probably was, for though ' the myght power and strenght ' of 

 the Dorset religious houses occasionally made them harsh as landlords,"* 

 the extent of the charities and hospitalities of which they were the source 

 was enormous. The various doles from Cerne Abbey alone amounted to 

 nearly ,^35 a year,"' and at Milton the distributions in money and kind were 

 worth nearly ^(^55 in all, and included the daily maintenance of thirteen poor 

 men of Milton, each of whom received a dish of flesh or fish worth id. every 

 day, and seven loaves worth 3^., and three measures of beer worth i^d. every 

 Saturday."' In these circumstances it is scarcely surprising that the county 

 objected to the religious changes of the sixteenth century, and joined in part 

 in the western rising of 1549,"' for apart from the innovations in dogma and 

 ritual which are usually supposed to have been at the root of the trouble in 

 Devon and Cornwall, for Dorset men the Reformation created a real econo- 

 mic problem. Already overburdened with taxation, and threatened with the decay 

 of its towns and the depopulation of its country districts, its entire system of 

 charity was suddenly swept away, and some fresh scheme of poor relief became 

 necessary. The natural arrangement was a compulsory assessment for the 

 poor, and this was established by Act of Parliament in 1572. In consequence 

 of this Act the first poor rate was raised, each parish being made responsible 

 for its paupers. This was resented as an innovation, and parishes tried to save 

 themselves from a pauper population which they would have to support ; 

 hence a regular persecution of needy persons set in, which greatly accentuated 

 their misery, and was an extraordinary interference with the liberty of the 

 individual, dealing even with family ties. Andrew Ham of Lyme was 

 ordered to remove his own sister from his house under a penalty of 40^."** 

 Later, the jury presented Edward Borough, who 



keepeth a young child in his house, which is not to be harboured, and Poynter doth the like ; 

 and William Crewe keepeth his mother in his house, which is not to be harboured, and 

 Poynter doth the like ; and that John Donnet likewise harboureth his wife's sister : and 

 Mary, Mrs. Barret's servant is not removed, being often warned and commanded to depart 

 the town.'" 



In one instance a parson was called upon to give security to the overseers 

 that he would provide for a poor man, with seven children, and three 

 apprentices, should it be necessary, merely because he had allowed them to 

 come into the parish. If he refused to guarantee their support he was to 



'" Harl. MS. 71, fol. 34-9 ; also quoted in Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iv, 89. 

 "* e.g. Star Chamber Proc. Hei. VIII, i, 28-3C and Ct. of Requests, bdle. 6, No. 92. 

 '" falor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), 281. "• Ibid. 249-52. '" Cal. S. P. Dom. 1547-80, p. 19. 



"' Roberts, Soda/ Hist, of tie SoutiernCos. iSo. '" Ibid. 1 80-1. 



248 



