The Book
about Seaborough Church
by Peter Benson
All proceeds from the sale of the Book, which
sells in the UK for £10 (postage extra - £2.50 in the UK; £7.50 worldwide),go to Seaborough Church funds. The cost to overseas
customers will be given on application. Should you wish to obtain a copy, please contact
The
Story, Associations and Transcribed Burial/Marriage/Baptism Registers (dated 1562 - 2002) of the little
Parish Church of Seaborough (St John’s) in West Dorset (was in Somerset until 1896) have been researched,
transcribed and recorded in a 160 page Book published in 2002 with the agreement of Seaborough's
Parochial Church Council. The Author, Peter Benson, has lived in Seaborough for the last thirty years and
has been, at various times, the Church's Churchwarden and Treasurer - the latter for more than
half that time.
A church building,
in one form or another, has stood on the site of the present one since 1415 when the “parcel of land”on which it now stands was gifted by
one John Golde during the reign of Henry V for the building of“a new
Church thereon”. The donor of the land was a direct descendent of
an earlier John Golde (or Gole) who distinguished himself at the Siege of Damietta in 1219 during the
5thCrusade to the Holy
Land. On his return to England, and in recognition of his service, he was granted an estate at
Seaborough in 1229 by the descendant of the Norman Knight whose forebears' military service commitment he had
been nominated to fulfil and duly discharged during the Crusade. The Church contains a rare early stone
effigy of a 13th Century Crusader which is believed to be, and almost
certainly is, that of John Golde.
The Book contains
much of interest about the tiny Hamlet of Seaborough and its past and gives the history of the little Church and
its local associations as well as, for those interested in researching their family’s roots in Somerset and
Dorset, details of the Baptisms, Marriages and Deaths/Burials recorded in its Registers from the middle of the
16th Century to 2002. Details of the many surnames, including
numerous earlier variants of many of them, that are mentioned in the Church Registers.
The many
incumbents of the Church, and its earlier predecessor, are listed in the Book and they date back to Seaborough's
first recorded priest, one Stephen, in 1244. A Schedule of graves and their positions in the Churchyard is
also included.
All proceeds from the sale of the Book, which
sells in the UK for £10 (postage extra), go to Seaborough Church funds. The cost to overseas customers
will be given on application. Should you wish to obtain a copy, please contact the Author via
E-mail at
Please note that the Author is not in a position
to answer queries relating to individual surname entries contained in the various
Registers.
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