Photographs taken during a visit by Bryanston Village History Group 2015 showing the interior of the beautifully kept Portman Chapel.

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1 The Portman Chapel Until 1898, when the new church of St Martin s was built, the building (now commonly known as the Portman Chapel) was the Church for the Parish of Bryanston. Very little is known about the early medieval church at Bryanston, other than it was dedicated to St Martin* and had a Rector in the 13 th Century. John FitzRoger, in his will of 1441, ordered that his remains be buried in St Martin s Church, Bryanston. This was carried out later the same year. (There is no evidence of any Rogers burials in the current building.) Hutchins History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset (1774), included particulars of an ancient inscription on the pedestal of the font HIC JACET COR RADULPHUS S.HAM which indicated that the heart of Ralph de Stopham was buried nearby. The Stophams held the manor in the 13 th century. In the book Lost villages of Dorset a passage records a mutilated stone thought to date from the reign of Henry III and which is now in the old Church must refer to this stone with Stopham s inscription, showing that a church of some kind has been on this site for hundreds of years. The little church was probably rebuilt several times between Norman times and the 18 th Century. The Bowles map of 1659 shows a church which had been built in the 1500s. This church probably replaced an earlier one. In the diaries of Richard Symons in 1664, the interior of the 1500s church is described as having coats of arms showing the union between Sir John Rogers ( ) with Elizabeth, daughter of Willam Coutenay of Devon, and the marriage of Sir Richard Rogers ( ) to Cecilia, daughter of Andrew Luttrell of Dunster Castle (she died in 1566). Also noted, was an altar arched monument of blue marble with no clue as to what it was. The old medieval church was demolished in 1745 and the current church was built on the same site. It is not known who designed and built the new church, but it was at the time that Blandford was being rebuilt by the Bastard brothers, so they may have been responsible. The vestry was added in the 19 th century (additions made in 1875). Henry William Portman added Durweston to his Bryanston property in He pointed out to the Bishop of Bristol (in which diocese the village then lay) that, while Durweston housed 80 families, Bryanston had a mere 7 houses and 8 cottages, no parsonage nor any glebe land and that this was not sufficient to support two incumbents. He requested that the two should become a single parish with one incumbent using the existing parsonage and benefiting from the sizeable glebe at Durweston. In 1785 this consolidation was legally agreed, each village retaining its own church. Bryanston had burial rights at Durweston and eventually shared a Church of England School there. In 1950 in an unpopular re-organisation Bryanston was moved away from Durweston to be part of a benefice with Blandford St Mary. In 1973 our 1898 parish church was declared redundant. It was sold to Bryanston School and the 1745 church resumed its role as Bryanston s parish church. Four years later a new parish of Bryanston-and-Durweston centred on the church at Durweston was created. The old church was then returned to the Portman family who are responsible for its maintenance. Apart from an occasional Portman baptism, there are no services and it is not open to the public. The bell was stolen in the 1970s. Inside, the panelling is Georgian so the Portman Chapel is essentially a Georgian building. In 1957, the 8 th Viscount had the original Georgian box pews replaced, but not in the same Georgian style (the panelling and the pulpit however remain), the building was restored and electric heating installed. He was buried in the little churchyard ten years later. Surprisingly, the interior is beautifully kept.

2 Photographs taken during a visit by Bryanston Village History Group 2015 showing the interior of the beautifully kept Portman Chapel.

3 There are memorials on the walls. One of the most important is of Anne Fitch painted as the White Lady by Gainsborough and now displayed in the London offices of the Portman Estate. Memorial to Henry Portman 1763 and his wife Anne (Fitch) Portman 1783 Memorials to various members of the Portman family. Coat of arms on the top of memorial to 8 th Viscount Portman and his wife.

4 Memorial to Michael Berkeley Portman and Michael William Berkeley Portman The memorial stone for Marjorie Portman was made by Annie Singleton s father, the famous Bryanston sculptor Don Potter. Portman family Chapel, Bryanston List of burials at Orchard Portman Church, Somerset.

5 The altar area is decorated in brilliant azure and gold of the Portmans (the blue and gold colours adopted for Bryanston School). The Portmans had a faculty for a vault beneath the 1745 church to take 14 coffins. The covered entrance can be seen in the floor. When opened there are steps down and 14 Portmans are buried here. The 1 st Lord Portman took the last place in During the 1940s this vault was broken into and lead from the coffins was stolen. There had, in addition, been neglect and general deterioration in the condition of the church. Rectangle shows position of vault under the floor, with 14 Portman buried below. The Rogers family owned Bryanston for 250 years before the Portmans bought it. There are no Rogers buried in the vault of the present Portman Chapel just Portmans. They were mainly interred in their own vault below Blandford Church, some burials perhaps having being moved there from the chapel. This vault in Blandford Church was found accidentally in about the early 1950s when work was being done and there is a photograph of the Rector at the time surrounded by long dead Rogers bones. More information can be found at the website:

6 (John Tory comments: There are still some flat gravestones around the chapel though nearly all now grassed over. I do not even recall a Rogers among them from when I could read them. The Church Registers which go back to, from memory, the 1580s record many burials at Bryanston including some Rogers, but but there were no Rogers among the graves so it is possible that when the Portman Chapel was built, or when the rest of the site was cleared later in 18 th century to make way for Wyatt, any existing graveyard was wiped away. However the burial register continued to show burials of Bryanston people there for many years after 1740s. What happened to these burials is a mystery ). Note: tombstones in the grass Outside, the weather vane on the cupola shows a fox.

7 Photographs published by kind permission of the Blandford Town Museum (dates unknown) Portman Chapel. Formerly the Bryanston Parish Church Note: two gravestones in the grass

8 Portman Chapel. Formerly the Bryanston Parish Church Note: gravestone in the grass Gravestone in the Portman Chapel grounds. Mary Counsel Died 1781 Aged 66 years Gravestone in the Portman Chapel grounds. John Tomson 1765

9 Plan of the Portman Chapel References and additional information: British History online Benjamin Cox; 1986 The Story of old Bryanston and some of its Lords Ronald Good The lost villages of Dorset ISBN Dovecote Press Paperbacks Hutchins History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset 1774 (several subsequent editions were printed) *Who was St Martin? Martin was born in Hungary in 316 A.D. Lived in what is now Italy and France. As a teenager he joined the Roman army, becoming a soldier like his father. Eventually baptized into the Christian church. Founded a monastery and became Bishop of Tours (France). Died on November 8, 397 A.D. The Feast day of St. Martin is Nov. 11, the day he was buried.