Dorset OPC

Bettiscombe

 

Dorset OPC


St Stephen's, Bettiscombe Church
© Kim Parker/Dorset OPC 2015

Bettiscombe is a secluded hamlet and civil parish on the North side of the Marshwood Vale, 4 miles to the West of Beaminster. The name means 'valley of a man called Bett' from an Old English personal name and 'cumb' for valley. Historically, the parish also included a tiny patch of land at the centre of Wootton Fitzpaine, three parishes away to the South West.

John Hicks, the Dorchester architect whose employees at that time numbered future author Thomas Hardy, rebuilt St Stephen's Church in the early perpendicular style in 1862. Some of the medieval windows were retained and the medieval tower was left almost intact. Under the stone floor-slabs of the church lie the remains of members of the Pinney family, the manorial lords who rose to prominence here after the Restoration of Charles II in 1660.

Twenty-five years later, Charles II was succeeded by his openly Catholic brother James II & VII. Any hopes dissenters had of this heralding an era of religious tolerance were soon dashed, so many in the West country threw their support behind Charles II's illegitimate son, the Duke of Monmouth, and his ill-fated uprising. One of the rebels was Azariah Pinney, son of the lord of the manor of Bettiscombe.

Azariah was condemned to death by the merciless Judge Jefferies at the Bloody Assize, but his sister paid a hefty fine to get his sentence commuted to transportation as a slave to the West Indies. After many years working on a plantation, he became a free man and eventually acquired a plantation of his own, amassing great wealth. Generations later, in the early 19th century, his descendant John Frederick Pinney sold the Nevis estates and returned to Bettiscombe with a faithful African retainer.

It is this anonymous African retainer who gives rise to one of Dorset's strangest legends - the Screaming Skull of Bettiscombe Manor. On his deathbed, the servant swore he would never rest unless his body were repatriated to his beloved Nevis and interred there. Pinney refused to pay for such an extravagant burial and instead laid him to rest in St Stephen's churchyard. Soon afterwards ghostly disturbances began and piercing screams were reported to be heard coming from the grave.

Pinney allegedly exhumed the body and took it back to the manor house, where the skull has remained until this day. It was said that if the skull were ever removed, the house would rock to its foundations, and the person responsible would die within a year. In 1963 scientists examined the skull and discovered that not only did it belong to a woman instead of a man, but she'd been dead since the Bronze Age. So much for the tales of haunting! To this day, the true story of the skull remains unknown.


Bettiscombe Church Tower
© Kim Parker/Dorset OPC 2015



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Census 1841 Census [Mari Viertal]
1851 Census [Terry Pine]
1861 Census [John Ridout]
1871 Census [Mari Viertal]
1891 Census [John Ridout]
1901 Census [Keith Searson]
Parish Registers Baptisms
1746-1812 [Beverley Roth]
1813-1844, 1845-1875, 1876-1904 [Pam Sharkey]
Marriages
1732-1921 [Kim Parker/Jon Baker]
Burials
1746-1812 [Beverley Roth]
1813-1993 [Pam Sharkey]
Trade & Postal Directories  
Other Records  
Photographs  
Monumental Inscriptions Burial Monument Inscriptions index [Brian Webber]
Maps  

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Records held at the Dorset History Centre
[Ref PE-BET]
 
Registers
Christenings 1746-1963. Marriages 1746-1808, 1814-1963. Burials 1746-1991.
Registration District
(for the purpose of civil registration births, marriages & deaths)
1 Jul 1837-31 Mar 1937: Beaminster
1 Apr 1937-31 Mar 1997: Bridport
1 Apr 1997-30 Sep 2001: West Dorset
1 Oct 2001-17 Oct 2005: South & West Dorset

 

 

 


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