107 
Godlingston Manor : Its History and Archaeology. 
By Mr, L. Y. C. Homer, b.a., ll.b. 
A Paper read daring the visit of the Archaeological and Photographical Sections, 
of the Society to the place, August 9th, 1913. 
H1HERE are one or two preliminary remarks I should like to 
make 'before dealing with the subject of my paper. I do not 
profess to be an Archaeologist at all ini the proper sense of the 
word, but I venture to think that the Archaeologist properly so 
called, in looking at a building like this, often falls into the error 
of paying too much attention to its actual workmanship, and not 
enough to its history. In a case like this, where we have no 
record of the exact date of any part of the building, the correct 
method seems to me to be to study carefully the history, both of 
the district and of the place and its owners, and then to deduce 
from the information thus obtained, at what period the owners 
would be likely to build, taking all the circumstances into 
consideration. 
Before dealing with the history and archaeology of this old 
place, I will ask your attention for a few minutes, while I sketch, 
very roughly the general history of the Isle of Purbeck, and 
particularly of Swanage, which will enable you to follow more 
easily my subsequent remarks. 
The Isle of Purbeck, like that of Portland, is only styled an 
island by courtesy, and no one, so far as I am aware, has ever 
been able to explain satisfactorily the reason of its being so called. 
From Saxon times till the middle of the 17th Century, the 
greater part of the Isle of Purbeck was a Royal Forest, Chase, 
or Warren, usually retained in the hands of the Crown, but 
occasionally granted to some powerful nobleman. In consequence 
of this, grants of land in the neighbourhood were, speaking 
generally, comparatively small in size, and this I think, accounts 
for the number of small Manor Houses in which the district 
abounds. Owing to the smallness of these manors, and the 
proximity of the Royal Castle of Corfe, the Manorial Courts were 
probably not as important here as in other parts of the country. 
Purbeck was formally declared to be a royal “ Forest ” by King 
John*, and thus became subject to the harsh Forest Laws, and 
though it seenns to have been disafforested in the following reign, 
it still remained to all intents and purposes a Royal Forest down 
to the middle of the 17th century. James I. was the last of our 
kings who hunted from Corfe Castle, and Forest Courts were 
held there in the years 1618 and 1625. Speaking of this subject 
the author of a Survey of the Western Counties, published in 1635, 
savs: — 
j 
In this Island doth range many goodly deer, that are 
hedged in with a surer pale than wood ; which, when they are 
