Bubb Hill

Walk

Evershot is the second highest village in Dorset at 175m (625ft.) above sea level, the highest being Ashmore at 210m (700ft.). It is the source of the River Frome which rises from a spring at St John’s Well, in the western end of the village. The name has a few interpretations relating to the red colour of the soil, the once large population of wild boar and the river itself. To the west is a prominent rounded summit known as West Hill which is 224 metres (735ft.) high.

A devastating fire hit the village in 1865 and destroyed eighteen buildings leaving more than a hundred people homeless. The presence of the River Frome saved the remaining settlement and not a single person died. It has since become renowned for its traditional Dorset beauty with many of the stone houses on Fore Street, with either mullion or bay windows, raised above the road by a high pavement.

The village became famous thanks to its Thomas Hardy links and has changed little since his time. He also had personal connections as his mother, Jemima Hand, was born, raised and married in neighbouring Melbury Osmond. In 1893, as a young architect, he worked on designing an extension for the Dower House (today known as Summer Lodge). Whilst here, he became a regular at the 16th century Acorn Inn (then called The Kings Arms) which once brewed its own ales using water drawn from the river. In his later years he immortalised the village in his writings, the most recognised being ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles’. Evershot became Evershead, The Kings Arms became the Sow and Acorn and Tess Cottage (as it is now known, just next the church) was where Tess stopped for refreshments on her way to Emminster (Beaminster). Despite the village being portrayed, and appearing, as a rural country village, the stunning Summer Lodge Hotel has introduced some modern day luxury.

The Three Dumb Sisters sit in the middle of a triangle junction. These stones are the oldest remains to be found in Evershot, today adapted into a bench. Local legend says that these are three sisters turned to stone for dancing on the Sabbath. For comfort, they are not alone; there are many tales of merry maidens across the country, being punished in a similar way for dancing on the sacred day. It is believed that the stones originate from a plot of land close to the village, but it is not known when, or why, they were built or moved but are most probably Bronze Age in origin. Later ancient activity includes two Roman roads which travel north from Dorchester, splitting at Frampton, and continue along the ridges to the east and west of Evershot.

Surrounding the stones are some of the houses built after the fire including Common Farmhouse on the southern side of the triangle and Swiss Cottage on the north. The private Moorfields House is hidden behind its towering trees and little stream. Although not listed, it is still an impressive building, surrounded by older brick and slate barns.

Climb up out of the village, using the road of East Hill, for just over half a mile.  Skim the edge of Evershot Plantation and once over the peak, turn left onto Blind Lane. The name derives from it leading nowhere. Here it marks the southern boundary of Melbury Park and provided a short cut up to the ridge and the old Roman Road of Long Ash Lane. The slopes on the right drop down to Holywell, the valley carved by small tributaries to the River Frome.

Pass Station Lodge, built in 1859, and curve through the trees, minding out for fallen trunks blocking the trodden path. Gradually a Holloway appears amongst to woodland to guide you up to the top of the hill. Enter a large open field and take the next right through the gateway. Turn left and stick to the boundary along the top of the field to arrive at the busy A37, otherwise known as Long Ash Lane.

To the north of Dorchester the Roman road follows the valley and aqueduct to Stratton, then splits in two. One road runs through Maiden Newton in the direction of the Fosse Way while the second, known as Long Ash Lane, heads to Lindinis (Ilchester). The ridge top route has been in use for centuries, but passes through no settlements. Instead it skims the haunting sites of Neolithic long barrows and Bronze Age burial mounds while a collection of Roman Villa sites including Rampisham, Halstock, Frampton and Wynford Eagle sit in the lower valleys. Thomas Hardy referred to its isolation in his most famous novel ‘Tess of the D’Urbervilles’ as Tess travelled alone across the landscape from Flintcombe Ash in the Blackmore Vale to Emminster (Beaminster). In his time the railways were at their peak and so road travel was rare. This now noisy route would have been similar to a hidden, overgrown bridleway in today’s landscape. Hardy clearly described it on the first page of The Woodlanders as a ‘tomb‐like stillness’ of a ‘deserted highway’.

Cross carefully over the road and through a farm gate on the opposite side. Curve to the right, then left to follow a narrow path down the hill with views now over the valley of the River Wriggle. Continue along the path as it slowly deepens onto a small Holloway, echoing its wooded twin of Blind Lane.

On arriving at a small junction on a country lane in Woolcombe, the road to the right climbs up and over the Holywell Railway tunnel. Placed on the Yeovil to Weymouth railway line, the Holywell (or Evershot) tunnel cuts through the hills that separate the River Frome, traveling south to the English Channel, from the River Yeo, travelling north to the Bristol Channel. The station, called Evershot despite actually being in Holywell, was located on the southern end of the tunnel, but was shut during the Beeching closures in 1866. The station has disappeared and the railway has been reduced to a single track.

Turn left to Woolcombe Farm. The name derives from the Saxon for ‘well’ and for ‘valley’ translating to ‘valley with a spring or stream’. It was once recorded to be a much larger settlement, even with its own chapel, but it has shrunk over time to only a farm and few cottages. Walk through the rutted landscape, scared by chalk quarries and possibly the location of both the lost settlement and chapel. When the track bends to the left, turn right into a field.

Curve around the bottom of Woolcombe Farmhouse and straight over the field to the gap at the end of the hedge opposite. With the railway running along the bottom of the field and the peak of High Stoy in the distance to the right, and the slopes of Bubb Hill rising to the left, follow the boundary below Woolcombe Folly to the corner.

Continue in the same direction over the brow to a hidden farm gate leading to a small muddy track.  Enter another open field and curve with the hedge to the left to arrive at Melbury Bubb Farm. Follow the track between the barns then around to the right circling the thatched, 18th century Bubb Down Farmhouse.

Melbury Bubb is a small hamlet nestled in the chalk hills of the Dorset Downs, watered by the Wriggle stream as it flows to the River Yeo. The first half of the name derives from the Old English ‘maele’ and ‘burh’ translating to ‘multi-coloured fortified place’, hinting at long forgotten battles. The second half is either a Saxon named Bubba who lived here prior to the Norman Conquest or a manorial addition of Bubb, referring to a long-extinct noble family who were Lords of the Manor here during the mediaeval period. Either way it distinguishes it from nearby Melbury Osmond and Melbury Sampford.

Curve with the road and turn left, then left again, into the churchyard of St Mary’s. The church is most famous for its 10th century font. It is believed to have been elaborately carved out of the column of a Saxon cross. The engravings depict a selection of beasts including a stag, a horse, a wolf, two dragons and possibly a lion, entwined by a snake. Its presence suggests that a cross once stood in the village. Services during Saxon times were conducted at these standing crosses, which often became the sites of the village church.

The church itself is of a simple design, dating back to the 15th century with the south tower and some of the window glass dated to this period. It went through a large restoration in 1854 incorporating the elements that still survive today.

In the churchyard is a broken gravestone dedicated to Thomas Baker (aka Williams). He was murdered on November 10, 1694 on Bubb Hill. Travelling home, with his two bags of golden guineas, the proceeds of his sale of corn and cattle at Dorchester Market, he was set upon by two robbers. They threw stones, knocking him from his cart to his death. His horse bolted, still attached to the cart, and the robbers escaped with nothing. Thomas was found dead the next morning and his murder was left unsolved for 7 years. In 1701 the landlord of the King’s Arms in Evershot overheard two customers fighting over money, while also discussing the killing of Thomas. He sent for assistance and the two customers were taken down to Evershot village lock-up for the night. The next day they were carted along Long Ash Lane to the county jail in Dorchester. They were convicted of Thomas’s murder and sentenced to be “taken to the tree by which they did commit wilful murder, there to be gibbeted in chains to suffer death. And we charge that none may succour them in their need and distress. And may the Lord have mercy on your souls.” Still alive they often called out to passers-by, pleading to be fed, watered or released, but their crime was well known and they were ignored. However, one old lady named Martha Spigot, who lived in the woods, unaware of their antics, felt pity and fed candles to them as it was all she had. The village soon found out and she was punished with gaol time! The scene of both their crimes and deaths is known today as Gibbets Pit while the route through the woodland is is called Murderers’ Lane.

Return to the village road and curve to the left around the Jacobean Manor House, largely rebuilt early in the 17th century. Head between the farm buildings and through the gate ahead to start the big climb up Bubb Hill. Keep right, around the quarry and old lime kiln below, to head through a boundary and out into a field. Follow the bottom path then divert left to meet the trig point. Pass it on the right and continue the climb up towards the peak. Looking north east, the views spread out over the Wriggle and Yeo valleys, in the far western corner of the Blackmore Vale, to Sherborne, dotted with trees and small patchwork fields. Down in the valley below is the hamlet of Stockwood, home to St Edwolds church, the smallest church in Dorset and one of the smallest in England. 

Enter the woodland onto Murderers’ Lane. The Bubb Hill was used as a beacon site but now the peak is hidden. Amongst the trees, right on the tip, is an ancient barrow, concealed from the world. Once free from its camouflage and capped in chalk, the barrow would have glowed in the moonlight and shone in the sunshine, visible for miles around to the ancient people.

Follow the track deeper into the trees then drop down to the right into Gibbets Pit. Thomas is said to haunt this area, where the guilty men were hung. Arriving by trotting along Murderers’ Lane, his horse’s breathing gradually getting louder as it approaches, Small lights of the lanterns appear in the trees, the light growing brighter, all in the company of creaking cart wheels, before a wind rushes by, then silence as he disappears into nowhere. That is until the groaning of condemned and pitiful prisoners begins to blow through the trees.

Curve to the left, then straight ahead, staying on the same track for approximately 400 metres along the edge of the hill. As the track drops briefly, divert off to the right, being careful not to miss it as the grassed terrain hides between the trees. Head down its faint terrace, across a badger ridden landscape, then veer off to the right to a wooden gate onto a layby, meeting the A37 for the second time. Cross straight over, passing a little milestone buried in the curb and join the drive to Hazel Farm. Merge straight onto the bridleway, hidden in the trees on the corner. Cut through the woods to emerge out into an open field with views over the estate of Melbury Sampford, set deep within its landscaped deer park.

The deer park originates from the 15th century with later decorative gardens, lodges and lakes added. It is believed the park boundary today matches that which originates to the early period. Prior to 1500 the estate was in the ownership of the Brounings who built the original manor house and church of St Mary in the village of Melbury Turbeville. The estate was then acquired by Henry Strangeway, having married William Brouning’s widow, and has been owned, landscaped and managed by sixteen generations of the Strangways family since. Henry died in 1504 and his son, Giles, took over, who was Henry VIII’s Dorset Commissioner for the Dissolution of the Monasteries (a busy role involving Abbotsbury, Cerne Abbas, Sherborne, Tarrant Crawford, Abbots Wootton, Shaftesbury and Bindon, amongst many others). He rebuilt the manor and introduced the deer park, resulting in the destruction of Melbury Turbeville (known as Melbury Sampford today).

In 1627 Sir John Strangeways, having inherited the estate in 1596, was imprisoned for not paying a loan demanded by King Charles I to cover costs of the Spanish War. Whilst in prison the Civil War broke out and the house was occupied by Royalist forces causing a huge amount of damage. The house became neglected and the deer park was dismantled. Upon release, John returned to Melbury and planted three oaks in a triangle near the Deer Keepers Lodge to celebrate his freedom.

In 1675 the estate passed to Thomas Strangways (1643-1715) who in 1692 embellished the drive from Long Ash Lane, building a 10 arched bridge and lining the route with elm. He also rearranged and created a number of rides in the park; this was common practice of the time, as seen at Wardour and Encombe, in order to show off their landscape designs while also exercising their horses in the beauty of their own estates. Thomas had no sons so the estate was passed to his daughter Susanna, who had married Thomas Horner (1688-1726) of Mells Park, Somerset. They also had no sons passing the estate to their only daughter Elizabeth in 1758.

Drop down the hill onto a track, deeper into Melbury Park. The true story of Elizabeth, Susannah and Thomas was immortalised in Thomas Hardy’s The First Countess of Wessex, typically filled with love, loss and tragedy. However, it does have a happy ending – a rarity for Hardy!  In short, Susanna arranged the marriage for Elizabeth, then only 13, to Stephen Fox, who was 26 years older. Elizabeth was interested in another man, who turned out to be a shallow character. The unconditional love and care Fox gave her, without any expectation, won her over. Thomas did not approve of the arrangement, but it went ahead anyway, in 1735, against his wishes. Despite the letters that went public insinuating Fox was a homosexual (Hardy left that bit out) the marriage was a happy one and produced nine children. In 1756, Fox was anointed as the Earl of Ilchester, a title that still has influence over the Dorset landscape today.

The following Earls of Ilchester continued to upgrade, embellish and extend the park. Bridges were moved, rides were redesigned, woodlands planted and the Fourth Earl, William Thomas Fox-Strangways (1795-1865), a noted diplomat and botanist, introduced exotic plant species. In 1899, the estate appeared in Country Life magazine, celebrating the house and gardens. The house and deer park were occupied by American forces during the Second World War but was returned to the family after D-Day and restored by Lady Theresa Agnew, the daughter of the seventh Earl, in the 1960’s. Since then efforts have been made to conserve the park but have occasionally been scuppered by severe storms.

Today the house is in the ownership of the Honourable Mrs Charlotte Townshend, who inherited it from her mother, Theresa Fox-Strangways (Viscountess Galway) in 1989, after both her brothers died in accidents. Her own life echoes Thomas Hardy’s tales of love, loss and heartbreak while she socialises with royalty and the countryside elite. It is estimated that the family owns around 11,327 acres of land today including parts of Chesil Beach and Abbotsbury Swannery, making them one of the richest landowners in Dorset. Mrs Townshend is therefore the only person in Britain to own swans, other than King Charles III. She takes this role seriously too as she followed the ancient family tradition of laying her new-born son (her only child) on a swan’s nest.

Skim past Hazel Wood down into the valley and cross over a stream. At the junction, where a small lodge once sat, turn left, while the track to the right valley leads to Lucerne Lake. Climb up the hill crossing the old ride to Station Lodge, known as Stavordale Avenue (the name a subsidiary title of the Earl of Ilchester) to reach the peak. Drop down the other side and curve with the track to the left to return to Evershot, the Dumb Sisters and your vehicle.