St Martin s Church Bryanston 1898 St Martin s Church with 1745 St Martin s (now Portman Chapel) in background to left When the 1 st Lord Portman died in 1888 his son and family continued living in Knighton House at Durweston until moving into the new Mansion on the high ground above the village (now Bryanston School) on its completion in 1894. Lord Portman then engaged E P Warren to be the architect of a new church (dedicated to the memory of his father and mother) to be built just to the south of the 1778 house which was demolished. Work started in 1896 and the drainpipe heads indicate that the new church was finished in 1898.
Pevsner's Dorset volume, in the Penguin Buildings of England series, states: "A arge church with a view to the East. The style, Decorated to Perpendicular, clearly inspired by G.F. Bodley (1827-1907). Fine, stately west tower with two twolight bell-openings each side. Inside South arcade of piers whose arches die into them. The interior has a number of calculated contrasts of South against North." The new church was built with the greensand ashlar stone from the old mansion its 120 years of weathering gave the building an instant aging. New stone used, e.g. at the cusps of the windows, can be easily identified. The floorboards from the old state rooms provided the boarding inside the roof. Statement about Insurance of Church in 1898 signed by James Forrester as a churchwarden
The Royal Coat of Arms which was fixed above the western end of the nave the old church (now the Portman Chapel) was transferred to the new church. RCHM work on the Historical Monuments of Dorset under Bryanston The Portman Chapel states: Royal Arms: Formerly over W. door of chapel and now transferred to modern church, arms as used 1714 1800, carved in wood. Sadly, the maker is not known and the end of the lion s tail is missing possibly lost when the coat of arms was moved from the old church. The Western Gazette s account of the Opening of the Church in 1898 gives a comprehensive account of everything in the Church but does not mention a coat of arms. In her diaries, Julietta Forrester, wife of Lord Portman s agent, refers to subsequent additions to the Church (both 1901) the Lady Portman memorial window in south aisle and the Forrester s own window to their son Jack and the St Martin window under the tower (April 1902), but does not mention the coat of arms. The account does tell the saga of the three different plaques erected behind the Portman family pews (the dedication to the 1st Lord) before they got the wording right: The original plaque at the opening of the new church August 1898 read: This Church is erected for the worship of God and in the memory of his Father and Mother by the son of Edward Berkeley first Baron and Viscount Portman born July 1799 died 10 th November 1888 and Emma his wife with the prayer that those who worship here may like them live and die in the Faith of Christ A new plaque was installed in October 1898 to replace the original, and read: This Church is erected for the worship of God and in the memory of his Father and Mother by William Henry Berkeley second Viscount Portman born July 9th 1799 died November 19 th 1888 and Emma his wife with the prayer that those who worship here may like them live and die in the Faith of Christ A third plaque was installed in January 1899 to replace the second. It reads: This Church is erected for the worship of God and in the memory of his Father and Mother by their eldest son William Henry Berkeley second Viscount Portman with the prayer that those who worship here may like them live and die in the Faith of Christ
Window dedicated to St Martin in the west window of the tower. Julietta Forrester discovered around 30 Romano-British graves when the groundworks for the new mansion and its carriageways were dug. In a secret ceremony with the foreman i/c of the building of the church she had the skeletons buried in the foundations close to the north door (known as the Portman entrance). The Portman pews faced south just inside the north entrance, close to which a bottle was laid with the foundation stone, recording those involved with the building of the Church. Under the window on the right of the main door is a stone recording the 1898 Church Wardens, James Forrester (Steward to the Portman Estate) and Edward Lock (of Lower Bryanston Farm). The new Church included a ring of six bells (although an eight-bell frame had been installed) which rang out for the first time in August 1898 for the opening service. Richard Adams, a carter on the Home Farm, was the first tower captain. It now replaced the old church (now Portman Chapel) as the Parish Church. A professional organist/choirmaster was appointed Albert Mallinson. He was a prolific composer of songs - mostly written for his Danish wife Anna who was a singer of international repute. They were provided with a house appropriately St Martins at the far end of Whitecliff Mill Street.
National advertising brought 6 choirboys to board with the Mallinsons and to be trained for the Church choir at Lord Portman s expense. He also paid the fees for them to attend Milton Abbas Grammar School which had moved to Blandford in the 18 th century after the old town of Milton Abbas was flooded to make the lake there. It closed in the 1920s. The Palace Cinema was built on the site which is now occupied by and M & Co. The Mallinsons left after a few years and a choir drawn from Bryanston and Durweston villages served both churches. Rehearsing 3 times a week they were well rewarded. The boys received a new suit and new boots every year and the men were paid 1.50 per quarter. Lady Portman did not live to hear the professionally trained choir as she died in early 1899. Hers was the first memorial to be placed in the church - a stained glass window at the front of the south aisle representing Charity. The Bryanston and Durweston Church Choir about 1909 Back Row Standing left to right - Arthur James, William Docker, Rev. Frank Bate (curate), Rev. William Anderson (rector), George Domoney, R. Dowdon,? Walters Middle Row Sitting left to right - Harry Courtney, Ted Foot, Reg Painter, William Ricketts, George Essex (organist & choirmaster), Alf Winsor, Arthur Toms, Bob Renison, Alf Welstead Front Row on Ground left to right - Jim Painter, Walter Saint, Trucky Damon, Frank Courtney Note: (Docker was clerk in James Forrester s office and played leading roles in productions of Gilbert & Sullivan in Blandford. He had to marry Miss Stickland (whose father had china shop in Blandford).
The Bryanston Church Choir about 1959 Standing left to right - Eric Bond,?, Mavis Lane,?, Fred Norris (organist & choirmaster), Rev, A.J. Kendall Baker (rector), Albert Lane (verger), Philip Tory (churchwarden), Roddy Fletcher, Michael Jeans, Kenny Jeans, Stephen Back Sitting left to right -?,?,?,?,?, Veronica Wareham, Janet Lane
A memorial window in the baptistry to Jack Forrester, son of Lord Portman s agent, who was shot and killed in an ambush during the Boer War in 1901, was soon to follow (the PH on his plaque stands for Paget s Horse - please see separate article by John Tory). There was a major scandal in 1910 when Rev William Anderson, who had cared for the joint parishes since 1893, disappeared with Mrs Axford and the plate of offerings from the church, the wife of Lord Portman s coachman, who lived in one of the newly built Forrester Park Cottages (now 35 to 38 The Cliff). It is understood that they went to Canada where Anderson eked out a living as an artist. Sightings were also reported from British Colombia! There was no such scandal attached to Bertram Rosson who served as Rector of Durweston & Bryanston for 20 years from 1923. He wrote a book - The Toll of the Years - which gives a picture of the village as it moved away from its feudal past. He quotes a Bryanston woman You see, sir, we all belong to God and Lord Portman. The Memorial for the First World War includes brothers Frederick Cheney (3rd Battalion Royal Fusiliers - killed in Belgium 1915), a Portman groom, and George Cheney (2 nd Battalion York & Lancaster s - killed in Belgium 1915), previously under-coachman. Both are also on the Memorial in Stickland where their parents lived. Neither has a known grave.
James William Croft (5 th Battalion Dorsetshire Regt - died from dysentery at Gallipoli 1915) appears on Milborne St Andrew s Memorial in addition. He had grown up there before becoming a carter on the Bryanston Home Farm. He has no known grave. Harry John Mitchell (2 nd Battalion Dorsetshire Regt - died in Egypt in 1918) is buried in Ismailia War Cemetery. He had also been a carter. Samuel Reglar (5 th Battalion Dorsetshire Regt - killed in France) is buried in the Courcelette British Cemetery. He had been a cowman and lived at 6 Bryanston Village with his parents. At the end of the war and not long before he died, the 2 nd Lord Portman invited all of his employees who had served in uniform to a dinner in Bryanston House. 119 men attended. Parishioners who died in the Second World War are also commemorated on a plaque**. Able Seaman Henry George Back (killed in 1944 serving on MTB 431) and Flight Sergeant Eric Ernest Sturgeon (died in 1941 in a flying accident) are both buried at Durweston. L/Corporal Bernard Reginald Morgan of the Royal Tank Regt was killed in the Battle of El Alamein in 1942. Another plaque (made by Don Potter) in the Church commemorates Arthur George Courtney who served faithfully as verger from 1910 until his death in 1951. He was also a dedicated bell ringer and was tower captain from 1920. He drew on his 9 sons to help provide muscle. Many of his sons also sang in the choir. WWII plaque made by Don Potter By the 1970s the running costs were causing concern and it was decided to make the Portman Chapel the Parish Church again and St Martin s was declared redundant. In 1974 it was sold to Bryanston School who have taken very good care of it since then.
The 1898 organ was removed and an impressive new organ to support school worship and in addition to be used for recitals and for students to learn on was installed by Church & Co of Northumberland. Nigel Church, the head of the company, was so taken by Dorset that he opened Milton Antiques in Blandford and now lives in Bryanston village. In 1995 the School had the 6 bells overhauled and re-tuned and added two more bells (dedicated to a long serving Chairman of Governors, Geoffrey Udall, and his wife) finally to complete the frame. Outside, the grass between the two churches used to be completely covered by the 1778 house, the last surviving remnant of which is the kitchen wing half hidden behind the bushes. It contains a protected colony of greater horseshoe bats. St Martin s Church 2015