HISTORY OF MILBORNE ST ANDREW

Milborne 1916

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The Stag House

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history

The earliest written history of the village is from about 901 when King Alfred the Great bequeathed it to his son. Later his Grandson King Athelstan gave it to the Abbey at Milton. There has been a very complicated history of ownership and of the division of the parish. At one time it was made up of a number of manors and hamlets such as Milborne Abbatston, Audrueston, Churcheston, Deverel and Mamford. One or two of them had their own chapels. Again to the south, there is a site of an ancient village, traces of which can be seen today. This village was probably abandoned at the time of the Black Death in the 14th Century. The Vicar at the time, John de Chalk, died of the plague.
The most famous name associated with Milborne is the Morton Family. The most important member of the Morton family was the Cardinal Morton, Henry VIIth Chancellor. They patronized both Milborne and Bere Regis. There are a number of monuments to the family in St Andrews Church, in a sealed vault many of their ancestors were buried, including a black Jamaican servant. 
The present house is only about a quarter of the original. The interesting part been that the manor house was partly Bere Regis and partly in Milborne. The brook being the dividing line as it run under the house. The fine manor house was destroyed in 1802, the family having moved to Whatcombe in the next Parish.
The most ancient site in the Parish is Wetherby Castle, an iron aged fort with multiple defenses, enclosing an area of some 17.5 acres. 
Milborne was a coaching stop with horses changing at 'The Crown' there were other inns including the Royal Oak ( still in existence ).

 The stag ( see picture ) which can be seen in the center of the village was a gift to a Mr. Cole by Earl Drax family in gratitude for his support in a election campaign. Milborne was granted a fair by Henry III, this was stopped in 1925 because it attracted many unsavory characters.

This potted History has been taken from a book by

Peter and Biddy Matthews.

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What's in a name ?

Muleburne 934 (in a later copy of an Anglo Saxon charter), Melborne 1086 (Domesday Book), Muleburne St Andrew 1294, Milborne Seint Andrewe 1391. Named from the stream on which it stands, "mill stream" from the old English myln and burna. The addition St Andrew is from the dedication of the church to distinguishing this place from Milborne Stileham.

 

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