Lulworth Cove

History

+44(0)1929 400252

Gatton
House

Main Road
West Lulworth
Dorset
BH20 5RL
England
UK

01929 400252
avril@gattonhouse.co.uk

4 Star Guest House with Silver Award

4 Star
Silver Award
Guest House

1900 BC	The Bronze Age mound on top of Hambury Hill is one of the first things you see when you approach Lulworth Cove down the main road past the army camp. When excavated in 1790 it was found to contain a skeleton over 6ft long, an urn and some round stones. A collection of bronze artefacts known as the "Lulworth Hoard" can also be found in the County Museum.
400 BC	Celtic invaders established a camp on Bindon Hill and built a fort to protect access to the Cove. The remains of the ditches are still visible today.
1st Century AD	Romans settled in Lulworth. A Roman grave was found at Newlands farm in 1983.
5th Century AD	The Anglo Saxons invaded the area and Lulworth became part of the kingdom of Wessex. Lulworth is a Saxon name meaning the "Manor or place of Lulla".
1066	The Doomsday Book created following the Norman invasion, has an entry for Lulworth and mentions the existence of 16 cottagers, 33 villains and 38 borders and serfs.
1149	A community of Cistercian monks founded Little Bindon on the east side of the Cove. A stained glass window was in the east end of the building until 1948.
1158	Robert Newburgh died. He was given the manor of Winfrith by Henry I and the parish became Winfrith Newburgh.
1172	Cistercian monks left Little Bindon and built Bindon Abbey near Wool.
1192	Eustace de Stokes lost his lands in Lulworth for siding with Prince John against his brother King Richard I.
1234	Henry III confirmed much of the land to Bindon Abbey. The first Mill of Lulleworth may have been at Arish Mell, this name being derived from "Arse Mill".
1279	William de Lulleworth died.
14th Century	A rabbit warren was established around scratchy bottom. This was continued until 1920.
1541	Bindon Abbey was dissolved and subsequently pulled down. Its lands, which included West Lulworth were given to Sir Thomas Poynings. He built a house called Mount Poynings in the field above Burngate Farm. When he died his brother inherited the land and sold it to Sir Thomas Howard, later known as Lord Howard.
mid 1500	The lands were taken from Sir Thomas Howard to become the wedding dowry of Sir Adrian Poynings widow. She married Richard Rogers of Bryanston, who subsequently became the leader of organised Piracy in Lulworth.
1577	The Admiralty charged several West Lulworth Fishermen with Smuggling.
1588	The Spanish Armada sailed up the Channel.
1601	Henry a descendant of Lord Howard inherited the land.
1604	Henry Howard started to build Lulworth Castle.
1641	The Lulworth Castle Estate was purchased by Humphrey Weld.
1678	Captain John Lawrence fled to Wareham and sent warning to London after sighting a force of several thousand armed men on the Lulworth Ranges. This Phantom Roman Army is said to haunt the Ranges.
1694	King William III gave a gold medal to Captain Joliffe for attacking a French Privateer which was forced to beach near Lulworth Cove, where the locals took the crew prisoner.
1726	Lawrence Randall, a sea captain came to live at Churchfield House. His son Thomas started the Red Lion pub, famously used by George III en-route to Weymouth.
1726	William Randall was born. He became John Barleycorn one of the central characters in O'Keeffes plays.
1773	A print of this date shows a jetty in Lulworth Cove.
1785	A large whale was washed up on the beach. It managed to swim away despite attempts to kill it. Work started on the Catholic Church on the Lulworth Estate after special permission from George III.
1794	The raising of the Dorsetshire Volunteer Rangers. This is the first record of the Army in the area.
1796	A Poor House was built at Wool to help save people from starvation and dreadful poverty.
1799	The harvest failed and some resulted to poaching and were sentenced to death for sheep stealing.
1804	A young farmers wife who spoke french claims she spoke to Napoleon Bonaparte at Lulworth Cove. It was suggested that he was examining a map to decide if the cove was a possible landing point for an invasion.
1820	William Baring MP drowned at Lulworth. He has a memorial in East Lulworth Church. The poet John Keats spent his last hours on English soil at Lulworth Cove whilst en-route to Italy.
1822	The first fisherman recorded in the village.
1824	Eight Coastguard Cottages were built in Lulworth.
1825	Thomas Randall was made constable of East Lulworth.
1829	Two Coastguard Officers were set upon and left tied up hanging headfirst from the cliffs near White Nose.
1830	Although the Dorsetshire Volunteer Rangers were disbanded after the defeat of Napoleon, they were reformed because of the unrest amongst agricultural workers.
1832	Coastguard Officer killed at Durdle Door.
1834	At around the time of the Tolpuddle Martyrs several farm workers walked to Winfrith to protest about wages. They were not deported and managed to get a pint of beer and 6d or 8d a week extra. A band of smugglers were captured at Gad Cliff while hauling their kegs of spirit up the crags.
1837	The valley to the north of Home Farm was dammed to create the lake used by Joseph Weld to test his racing yachts.
1847	Railway arrives at Wool.
1839 to 1875	Farming prospered during the Industrial Revolution. The prosperous period ended in 1875 when American grain flooded the market.
1857	The Enclosure Act converted the land from the ancient strip system to larger enclosed fields. Newlands Farm and West Down Farm were created.
1860	Village School Built.
1869	The old Church on main road West Lulworth was pulled down and the stone was used to build the Church which exits today. Thomas Hardy was involved in the building of the church. The Non Conformist Church, an iron structure was built in the same year.
1870	The new Church was consecrated by the Bishop of Salisbury.
1874	Thomas Hardy wrote Far from the Madding Crowd in which Sergeant Frank Troy left his clothes on Lulworth beach and swam out to sea.
1883	The Great Western Railway's steamer, South of Ireland, ended her Christmas Day cruise on the rocks close to the edge of Worbarrow Bay.
1886	St Marys Catholic School for infants was built.
1887	The Reverend Mr Schuster became the Vicar.
1895	Extra fire pumps for the village were asked for from the Weld Estate.
1896	The Church Clock was installed.
1900	Electric Light was installed at the Castle.
1901	Sir Claude Schuster built Gatton House.
1902	King Edward VII visited Lulworth in his yacht.
1907	An old torpedo boat was washed up at Arish Mell.
1908	Six inches of snow fell.
1909	The owner of the Lulworth Cove Hotel was asked to stop putting his rubbish over the cliff at stair hole.
1914	Outbreak of the First World War. The Reverend Mr Schuster died. His son Chris Schuster died in the first World War aged 19.
1914 to 1918	Bertrand Russell an outspoken pacifist spent most of his war years at Newlands Farm.
1917	The Army came to stay in Lulworth and land was obtained for the newly formed Tank Corp.
1918	Gunnery School formed in Lulworth. The range area was expanded and moving targets installed running on rails.
1920	A request was made for a telephone service in the village.
1921	The British Legion Was formed.
1920s	The mail was brought from Wareham by pony and cart until the 1920s.
1929	Lulworth Castle caught fire and was reduced to a gutted shell.
1936	The Lulworth Estate took over the Camp Site established on Newlands Farm.
1939	The outbreak of the Second World War. A 30 mph speed limit was requested in the village, and it still does not work!
1940	Battle of Britain. A Hurricane crash landed on Lulworth Camp. A Messer Schmitt fighter bomber force landed in Tyneham and brought the first two German prisoners of the battle.
1941	An RAF radar station was established at Brandy Bay.
1943	The MoD requisitioned Tyneham and the Heath areas.
1944	The Black Hawk a US steam freighter sank in Worbarrow Bay after being torpedoed by a U-boat.
1945	The Church of England Children's Society founded a childrens home at The Old Barn. 3000 rabbits caught on Newlands Farm.
1946	The last big shoal of mackerel to be seen coming shore along the coast.
1954	Electricity installed on Newlands Farm. Myxamatosis arrived.
1963	Blizzards caused havoc.
1970	The Bus Shelter by the War Memorial was built.
1971	The Army built the steps down to the Fossil Forest.
1974	The East Lulworth branch of the British Legion was closed.
1977	Lulworth was designated a conservation area.
1978	The Children's Home at The Old Barn was closed.
1981	Water and Electricity cut off during a severe blizzard.
1982	Youth Hostel built in School Lane.
1994	A 22 pound bomb was found buried in the thatch of the Weld Arms.
1995	Lulworth Castle restored and re-opened by English Heritage.
1999	Avril and Mike Dale moved to Gatton House.

Fishing Boat in Lulworth Cove

Lulworth history has been closely related to fishing and before that smuggling and piracy.

There used to be 15 fishermen at Lulworth, in particular the Miller and Williams families. Norman and Joe Miller are the last two remaining.

The catch, primarily Lobster, used to be collected by the Wareham Fishmongers. Failing that, the fishermen carried their catch to Weymouth on their backs.

It was difficult to make a living from fishing and in winter months most of the fishermen were rabbit catchers.

All of the Miller family were smugglers before the Crimean War. Another way to supplement their income and much appreciated by the local gentry and landowners.

Thatched Cottages

Tourists have been visiting Lulworth Cove for centuries, the earliest recorded visitor dating back to the 16th Century, at which time most of the cottages would have been for the farm workers employed by the Weld family of Lulworth Castle.

Lulworth Cove

Tours to the coast became fashionable towards the end of the 18th Century after King George III started to visit Weymouth, stopping en-route at the Red Lion in West Lulworth, now Churchfield House.

It was popular amongst georgian gentlemen to go seagull shooting to supplement their evening meal.

I am pleased to report that this is no longer necessary.

The Dolls House

The Dolls House is thought to have been shipped from Canada in 1860. In the 1920s and 1930s it was home to Jimmy Charles the fisherman and his wife.

Coast Guard Cottages

The row of 8 Coast Guard Cottages were built in 1824. They provided accommodation for the Customs and Excise men in Lulworth Cove.

Lulworth Castle

Henry Howard started to build Lulworth Castle in 1604.

The Lulworth Estate was purchased by Humphrey Weld in 1641 and has remained with the Weld family to this day.