A HISTORY OF DORSET 



actively, though the close of the interior rebuilding 

 of the cathedral church of Exeter probably syn- 

 chronized with the beginning of inevitable de- 

 cline. Yet the abbey of Westminster was a 

 good customer of the Corfe merchants right 

 into the fifteenth century, and we hear of the 

 sacrist *" journeying to Purbeck and his expenses 

 amounting to fi, 55. z\d. 



After 1 400 the demand " for Purbeck marble 

 both for structural and monumental use very 

 much lessened, and alabaster grew in favour as 

 the fittest material for sculptured effigies. The 

 best quality seems to have been procured in the 

 neighbourhood of Chellaston in Derbyshire, 

 whence it was exported all over England and 

 even to the continent. But gypsum is by no 

 means confined to the midland counties. Even 

 in Dorset it occurs in the Lower Purbeck strata 

 of Durlston Bay, and though not worked commer- 

 cially at present has undoubtedly been quarried 

 in times past and even comparatively recently for 

 makingplaster of Paris. Certain entries found 

 in the Customs Accounts of Poole *- in the latter 

 half of the fifteenth century may suggest that the 

 Corfe marblers, feeling that their trade was slip- 

 ping from them, turned their attention at least 

 for a time to working in alabaster.*"^ However 

 this may be the entries are of sufficient interest 

 to be noted as a slight contribution to the history 

 of alabaster in England. The pinnace he 

 Gahriell, of Poole, of which Robert Gosselyn 

 was master, left the port carrying two ' tabylys 

 de alabastre ' value j^3. These were apparently 

 the property of William Filat. Another pin- 

 nace," the Nicholas of JVareham^ left under the 



*' Scott, Gleanings from Westm. Abbey (2nd ed.), 

 App. 259. 



"' However, it w.-is still in request for high-class 

 sepulchral work. See the contract made by John 

 Bourde of Corfe Castle, marbler, 15 May, 35 Hen. 

 V^I, to make a tomb of marble for Richard Beau- 

 champ, earl of Warwick, in the Lady Chapel on the 

 south side of St. Mary's Church at VVarwick. Slabs 

 ot good and well-coloured marble, 2 in. thick and of 

 convenient breadth, were also to be provided for 

 paving the chapel. Hutchins, op. cit. i, \i>\b. 



" P.R.O. Cust. Accts. K.R. bdle. 119, No. 16 

 (18-19 Edw. IV). 



"'^ Although the entries may suggest that one or 

 more pockets of gypsum of sufficient strength and 

 beauty for ornamental work had been discovered locally 

 and used up, yet on the other hand the alabaster 

 referred to may have been obtained from Chellaston 

 or Nottingham. Sir J. C. Robinson is of opinion that 

 the entries relate to Nottingham work brought to 

 Poole for export to France, Spain, and Portugal, 

 especially the two latter countries, with which Poole 

 had much trade. 



" About two months before this we meet with an 

 entry of a vessel entering the port wnh. alabaster. As 

 it stands alone it is just possible that the clerk who 

 made the fair copy wrote intravit in error for exivit 

 (see, however, the preceding note). It reads ' Batalla 

 vocata le Nic[hoIa5] de Wareham unde Arnulphus 



mastership of Thomas Togyll on 14 August, 

 and the Customs Accounts mention consign- 

 ments for which Richard Harres was responsible, 

 'vj tabylys de alabaster' worth £6, and a case 

 {pypa) of images worth 26j. ^d. Nearly a month 

 later (9 September) there left a skiff {scapha) 

 called the Mary of Poole, of which John Duet 

 was master, carrying 'j tabyll of alabastre' 

 value 20s. Four days later a ' batalla ' called 

 the Margaret of ' Kyhavy,' master John Wade, 

 took out another table of alabaster worth 20s. 

 Some three years after this a mutilated entry ^ 

 shows us an outgoing Poole vessel whose master 

 was William Mellett carrying twenty tables of 

 alabaster worth £26 13J. ^d. 



Marble, however, was still an article of export, 

 for the Leonard of Poole, under the mastership of 

 William Newborough, left the port late in the 

 reign of Edward IV,^' with 5 casks [doliis) of 

 marble on board valued at ^3 ioj., so that 

 John Russe, a denizen, paid thereon in subsidy 

 3;. bd. The Purbeck stone exported seems at 

 this time to have been largely for roofing pur- 

 poses. Early in the reign '* of Edward IV a 

 foreign ship with a Dutch or Flemish master 

 took out 30,000 stones called ' sclatte stones,' 

 valued at ^^4. On this he paid is. to the Cus- 

 toms as well as a subsidy of 45. Another foreign 

 ship about 20 years later *' took on board 30,000 

 ' helyng stones' worth 45;. Caen stone was 

 still occasionally imported in some quantity,'* and 

 now and again a Norman marbler settled at 

 Corfe and took out letters '' of denization. 



In the reign of Henry VIII Purbeck stone *" was 

 being used at Portchester, probably in this instance 

 for roofing purposes, but little is heard during the 

 sixteenth century of Purbeck marble, while in 

 the two following centuries Portland stone of the 

 best beds took precedence of Purbeck, though 

 both have often been used in conjunction. For 

 paving, however, a bluish stone from Purbeck 

 has always been in demand. 



The Purbeck quarriers and stone merchants 

 have long formed a close society known as the 

 ' Company of Marblers or Stone Cutters of the 

 Isle of Purbeck,' but of its exact origin and 



Marchall est m[agister] intravit 22 die Junii . . . 

 De Rogero Lane indigena pro vj pety tablys de 

 alabastre et una imagine de Virgine Maria val ^^3.' 

 Amongst the miscellaneous cargo of an entering 

 French ship in 1505 were two candlesticks, a holy 

 ivater stoup and 'j Saynt Johnis hedde,' doubtless of 

 alabaster. Cust. Accts. K.R. bdle. 120, No. 10 

 (19 & 20 Hen. VII). 



"Cust. Accts. K.R. bdle. 119, No. 18 (2z 

 Edw. IV). 



" Ibid. bdle. 1 19, No. 20. 



'■* Ibid. bdle. 119, No. 8 (6 Edw. IV). 



'■ Ibid. bdle. 120, No. 3 (3 & 4 Hen. VII). 



" Ibid. bdle. 119, No. 12, &c. 



*' Pat. 6 Edw. IV, pt. 2, m. 20. 



'» L. and P. Hen. nil, x, 780. Purbeck stone is 

 still largely exported from Swanage to Portsmouth. 



336 



