"MEET THE ANCESTORS" - ARE THEY YOURS?

Although only the most tantalizing glimpses of the original inhabitants of Broadstone after 1805 have been given by historical records, suddenly in 1847 all this changed.

For some reason, between May 30th 1847 and May 13th 1849 the Parish Register of Baptisms of the Great Canford Parish list seven children(1) and their parents from Broadstone or Broadstone Bottom. But from May 14th 1849 the name Broadstone does not appear in the registers again until July 12th 1886.

Who were these first official Broadstonians? There was Anne Hatch Lee, daughter of Francis and Harriet, who was registered on May 30th 1847 by her father who worked as a labourer.

The same is true of William White, father of Hester, who was also christened on the last day of May 1847. Richard Coxe, on the other hand, was a dairyman from Broadstone Bottom when he and his wife Lucy had their son, John, baptised on May 24th 1848. Close neighbours in Broadstone Bottom, John and Phillys Fry registered their three daughters Rebecca, Harriet and Jane the next day and the last named Broadstonian was Mary Anne daughter of George, a labourer, and Mary Chen-it registered on May 13th 1849.

A skim through subsequent years indicated that four of the five couples enlarged their families but never again were they recorded as living in Broadstone or Broadstone Bottom. Did they one and all decamp to Canford Magna or did the clerk who entered the details of baptisms revert to the old style of including this area in the parish of Canford Magna? Whatever the truth of this, it may be possible to make a conjecture as to the employer of the dairyman Richard Coxe from Broadstone Bottom.

In March and April of 1834 Charlotte, Countess Poulett (2), Dame Anne Lester, Mary Beynon and Catherine Lloyd signed away their title to the plot of land marked 515 on the Inclosure Map of 1805. This land was enclosed by what are now known as Higher Blandford Road, Fairview Road and Dunyeats Road. Lord Wimborne's territory ran along its eastern border. These ladies had inherited their land from their relative Anne Fitch of High Hall in the Parish of Wimborne Minster on May 24th 1832. Since she and most of her siblings were mentally deranged, it is likely that the property had come into the family as early as 1805 in exchange for Moxham Mead in Canford Magna.

The purchaser of the land in 1834 was James Waterman, a grocer from Poole. James did not enjoy his acquisition for long because he died in 1835 leaving it to his sons James (3), a linen draper, William, a gentleman and to Robert Dugdale Marshfield, a solicitor.

On June 25th 1864 (4) James gave his share of the property to his brother William and, interestingly, in the Indenture the land is described as being in the Great Canford parish in the County of Dorset "at a place there called Broadstone Bottom". The size of the plot is said in the document to be more or less the same as was "in the occupation of Mr Samuel Horwood and afterwards of Thomas Moody as tenants there."

What does all this mean? Places familiar to us as Brookdale Farm and the Fairview Estate now sit on land which was probably allocated in 1805 to the Fitch family and when Anne Fitch died, her heirs sold the plot to James Waterman of Poole. At some point Samuel Horwood and Thomas Moody had farmed the land as tenants but tenants of whom - a member of the Fitch family prior to 1834 or the Waterman brothers, James and William after 1835 and before 1864?

By 1864 the area had been extensively developed and comprised a dwelling house occupied by William Waterman, several other houses, outhouses, barns, stables, yards, gardens, orchards and pastureland.

if only the historical data would allow us to place Richard Coxe, the dairyman, as a tenant in one of the houses, tending the cattle which grazed the pastureland.

One thing the data does allow is that Broadstone at last has a name certainly from 1847 and probably before that. There were also more buildings by 1847 than there had been earlier, with clusters at Broadstone Bottom around the WatermanFarm, inCharborough Road, at Plainfield and at Darby's Corner. 1847 seemed to have been a watershed, as it marked the coming of the railway and the beginning of more rapid development of the village. Some of the people associated with these early days are instantly recognisable - the Watermans, Horwoods, Frenches. How thrilling it would be if families with a long history of residence in Broadstone could identify some of the characters in my story - their grandparents or their great grandparents - and provide documentary, photographic and anecdotal material to elaborate the history of this area.

This is a challenge and plea to you to search your family records.

1 Transcript of Parish Register Christenings 1801 - 1888 D.R.O.

I am indebted to Mr Colin Palmer for allowing me to use these and the following document which proved the title to plot 515

3 Indenture dated June 25th 1864

4 ibid.

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