Wynford Eagle

An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 1, West. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1952.

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'Wynford Eagle', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 1, West, (London, 1952) pp. 269-270. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/dorset/vol1/pp269-270 [accessed 24 April 2024]

In this section

99 WYNFORD EAGLE (D.d.)

(O.S. 6 in. (a)XXX, S.W. (b)XXXIX, N.W. (c)XXXIX, N.E.)

Wynford Eagle is a parish 7 m. E.N.E. of Bridport. The Manor Farm is the principal monument.

Roman

c(1) Tesselated Pavement, immediately S.W. of Manor Farm, must have been discovered before 1864, when reference is made (B.A.A. Journ., XX, p. 273) to five coins, one of Nerva, one of Trajan and three of Hadrian found in a bank of earth near the Roman villa. About half the same pavement was uncovered in 1935; it had guilloche borders, foliage and a dolphin.

Ecclesiastical

c(2) Parish Church Of St. Lawrence, formerly a chapel of Toller Fratrum, stands towards the E. side of the parish. It was entirely rebuilt in 1840 but incorporates some features from the older church. The early 15th-century chancel-arch is two-centred and moulded and springs from moulded and shafted responds; the crown of the arch is modern. Reset in the W. wall is an early 12th-century tympanum (Plate 7) carved with two confronted winged monsters in a semi-circular panel; outside it is a band of imitation voussoirs with an inscription "Mahad Delegele" (de l'Egele ?) and "Alvi me feci[t]"; the inscription at the base is illegible.

Fittings—Candelabra (Plate 11): two, of brass with two tiers of six branches, 18th-century. Font: circular bowl with moulded lower edge, cylindrical stem and square chamfered base, probably 13th-century. Piscina: In chancel—against S. wall, scalloped capital with varied ornament above the scallops and square drain in top, probably 12th-century pillar-piscina.

Secular

c(3) Manor Farm, house 150 yards E.N.E. of the church, is of two storeys with attics; the walls are of local rubble with ashlar and dressings of freestone; the roofs are tiled. The house belonged to the family of Sydenham in the 16th and 17th centuries and was rebuilt about 1630. The interior has been entirely modernised and a small 17th-century building to the E. has been joined to the main house. The W. Front (Plate 206) is ashlar-faced and has a three-storeyed central porch flanked by gabled bays. The porch has an outer archway with moulded jambs, semi-circular head, imposts and key-block; the inner doorway has moulded jambs and square head; the upper storeys of the porch have each a two-light window and on the gable is a carved eagle and a stone with the date 1630. The side-bays of the front have three-light transomed windows to the ground floor, three-light windows to the first floor and two-light windows in the gables. The N. side of the house is mostly faced with alternate bands of stone and flint and on this and the other sides are several original windows. The building or cottage to the E. has also some original windows. Inside the house there are two original fireplaces with moulded jambs and four-centred heads; the one on the first floor has an overmantel (Plate 47) of two bays divided and flanked by Ionic columns; the bays have each an enriched arched panel painted with a landscape; this room is lined with original panelling and has an enriched frieze. A garden-wall running W. from the N.W. angle of the house is of alternate courses of flint and stone and has a doorway with a four-centred head.

c(4) Cottage, two tenements 200 yards S. of the church, is of one storey with attics; the walls are of flint and stone and the roofs are thatched. It was built in the 17th century and the back doorway has a solid oak frame with a triangular head.

b(5) Cottage, two tenements 350 yards S.W. of the church, is of one storey with attics; the walls are of banded flint and stone and the roofs are thatched. It was built in the 17th century.

b(6) Shatcombe Farm, house 1 m. S.W. of the church, is of two storeys; the walls are of rubble and the roofs are covered with thatch and slates. It is partly modern but incorporates a 17th-century building of L-shaped plan with a later extension on the S.W.

Earthworks

a(7) Mound, 800 yards N.W. of the church, possibly the remains of a barrow, now almost ploughed out.

b(8) Mound, 420 yards S.S.W. of the church, possibly the remains of a small long barrow (50° mag.), is oval in shape, approximately 73 ft. by 45 ft. and 3½ ft. high. The E. side has been cut into by a later track.

b(9) Lynchets, 550 to 150 yards W. of the church, form two series, the more westerly two in number and on a N.E. slope and the more easterly seven in number and running across the contours.

c(10) Celtic Field-System, on the W. slope of the hill 600 yards S.E. of the church, extending for approximately ½ mile.