The Balston Family ................................................................................................................................................................................Close

The Balston family was first recorded with John living in Bridport in 1500. His sons leased land in Chideock and Hawkehurch while his grandson, William was first to come to Martinstown in about 1560 when he leased Townfield Farm from Viscount Howard of Bindon. They are shown in a Manorial Survey of 1640 as occupying land in the village

For over 200 years the family continued to lease the land for various periods living in the northern wing of what is now Stone Cottage. The most successful seems to have been Morgan (1709-1767). He described himself as a gentleman, he was literate and wealthy. He increased the family holdings to over 1116 acres by leasing the adjoining Perkins Farm (later Grovehill Farm). He built himself a new farmhouse (Rylstone) and the barn at Pen Barn. One of his successors may well have built West End House on land within their lease as it has "RB 1787" etched in stone over the original front door.

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picture of Townfield Farm House from an estate map of Townfield Farm 1749 later known as Grove Hill Farm House, today called Rylstone

In addition to the leased land they also acquired freehold strips that are clearly shown on plans of Townfield and Perkins farms surveyed in 1763. Some properties shown on the plans are numbered to accord with schedules describing them and their owner-occupiers. The presence of this family continued in the village and once more they are shown in official records of 1798.

Clearly shown opposite the village pound is the property known today as Balston Cottage and owned by Miss Balston (probably Elizabeth born 1735 who married John Chilcott). She owned many strips of land including one called Kites Tail that adjoined the old road from West End Corner diagonally to Pen Barn. This lead to the Common lands upon which she had "a right to depasture 60 sheep and 3 cows in right of her freehold". Oliver Duke gave Balston Cottage its name when he redeveloped it in the early 1974.

While it was probably built in about 1760 it's more recent history can be traced from the particulars of sale when Lord Alington's three Dorset Estates were offered for sale by auction in 1912. It was then catalogued as Lot 22, which was let to Mr. Charles Hyde as part of his holding, most of it running north from near Rew Manor to the Bridport Road. Like all other tenants he was under notice to quit. It then comprised a double cottage occupied by Messrs Westcott and the Dairyman who each enjoyed a living room, two bedrooms and a backhouse. At the side were a cart shed and five-stall stable (now Balston Barn) and at the rear was a barn also used as the Conservative Hall.

Like most other lots it was unsold at the auction but was purchased in 1914 by Edward Duke and added to other Alington lands he had purchased (having been tenant of Grovehill Farm) to form East Farm. Mr. W.W. Westmacott is thought to have lived here until in 1926/27 when a new dairy house was built (now demolished to be replaced by the newly developed Duke’s Close).

Bill Westmacott rented a dairy of cows with the house and several fields, a usual custom at that time and since. After he moved to Rew Manor Farm the dairy unit was taken in hand and became known as West End Dairy managed by Smiths, Samways and Pashens until transferred to Grovehill when drainage and the driving of cows on the road became difficult.

The cottages had by then deteriorated to become a hay store and bullpen while the barn was used as a milkroom and tractor shed. The present day Balston Cottage was created from the barn and former cottages which were linked in a major redevelopment to provide the present accommodation. It was designed by Geoffrey Ferris who was then a Building Surveyor with Hy Duke & Son. Gerald Duke (eldest son of Oliver Duke) and his family occupied it until 1988 when it was sold to Robert and Carol Ormsby. When they left, Oliver Duke was glad of the opportunity to own it once more and he lives there today.

Elizabeth Balston in 1754 married Henry Sherren. Their second daughter Elizabeth, married Thomas Cockeram and they lived at Stottingway Manor near Weymouth. She would become the great great great great grandmother of the writer. One mystery remains as to whence came the large stone beast's eye (Oeil de Boeuf) measuring 36" x 30" built into the south facing wall of Balston Cottage. The "Manor of Winterborn" and the "Rectory of Winterborn Saint Martin" originally belonged to the Monasteries of Abbotsbury and of Cerne but had been confiscated during the Reformation and held by the Crown. They were granted by Queen Elizabeth 1 to her cousin Viscount Howard of Bindon in 1560 for thirteen hundred pounds, so it is possible that it has some ecclesiastical connection, possibly coming from one of the demolished abbeys of Abbotsbury or Bindon. It is alleged to keep off evil spirits.

Elizabeth Balston Snr.

Abridged by Gerald Duke from detail given in a Christmas card by his father, Henry (Oliver) Duke

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The French Revolution of 1789 had rocked Europe. The war had dragged on for eight years, until peace preliminaries were opened in October 1801. These culminated in the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802 and immediately many English visitors made their way across the channel to see the new France of Napoleon. Charles Sturt made the crossing during 1802, unusually by fishing boat from Poole to Le Harve. The fact that he made this unobtrusive entry into the country, un-recorded on the official lists, was later to cause suspicion go against him. He made friends among the harbour officials at Le Harve and had his yacht brought over from England by his servant, Benjamin Gilpin, on the pretext that he could do some sailing. In the early months of 1803 there was a rapid deterioration in diplomatic relations and war was declared on the 18th May. Just three days later Napoleon issued a decree that all Englishmen between the ages of eighteen and sixty years would be detained as prisoners of war. Sturt was arrested on the outskirts of Paris. The city authorities were at a loss to know what to do with arrested English civilians. Those in Paris received an order to present themselves to the military governor and register their names and then make their way to Fontainebleau. Here Sturt rented a house for about six months. During this time Sturt started to make notes and sketches on naval matters and made notes of the tides between Boulogne and Dover.

Was he at this early stage contemplating an attempt to escape or was it his professional interest as a keen yachtsman or was he an agent? At the end of December 1803 all the English had to leave for the fortress city of Verdun were Sturt rented another house.

How Sturt got on the wrong side of the General is not clear, but gradually a feud developed between the two men. Wirion got his first opportunity to harass Sturt in June 1806 when it was alleged that he was engaged in espionage activities.

The General started exhaustive enquiries to find further evidence and charged him with sending letters to the Admiralty in London. Start admitted this but said that they were for the purpose of soliciting promotion for his brother Henry, a serving naval officer and denied any involvement in spying.

He was transferred to the prison fortress at Bitche early in 1807. The French authorities used it as a punishment centre for British service prisoners who had attempted to escape. The prisoners were confined to two great underground vaults hewn out of the solid rock known as 'souterrains,' damp, almost without light and infested with rats. He was permitted to write directly to Fouche, the minister of the general police, appealing to his sense of justice on the pretext that a man of his his rank and honour would never sink so low as to spy for any government?

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