'When. I posted the news of Tom’s death on the Internet and chalked it on the message board at the campsite I felt this was such a significant event in the time of the Field that it had to be properly noted. It feels quite urgent to record the history of Tom’s Field, as there are so many pressures for change that the old Tom’s Field, and the origins of leisure camping, is in danger of getting lost in a welter of assessments and star ratings and the demands of the modern camper.'
This is the first page of a history of Tom's Field Campsite in Purbeck that was written some few years ago. These pages will help to show how the campsite has evolved over the years
TOM’S FIELD CAMPSITE
SO, what are the origins of Tom’s Field and what brought
it to its current status as a campsite?
Its history is contained in the
following information from respected local historian Reg Saville, of Langton
Matravers, and is an extract from the Journal of the Langton Matravers Local
History and Preservation Society, January 2008.
“The little estate known as Tom’s Field was originally part
of the huge Manor of Langeton Walleys, owned successively from 1086 by Hadiwis
de Balchelville (widow of Hugh Fitzgrip the Sheriff of Dorset who had been
killed in the Great Dorset Insurrection against King William I); the de Lacey
de Lincoln family, the heirs of Hadiwis; the le Walleys family of Stoke Gaylard
and Chickerell who gave the manor its name; the Filliol family who had married
the heiress of the le Walleys family; the Willoughby family of Nottingham who
had married the heiress of the Filliols; and Sir Christopher Hatton, Lord
Chancellor and favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, who purchased the manor from Sir
Francis Willoughby who was in financial difficulties because of a spendthrift
and recalcitrant wife.
“During the Tudor period a number of Welsh families arrived in Purbeck
in the wake of the new kings of Welsh origins. One of them, John Thomas, became
Rector of Langton Matravers in 1551. With him came his brothers who became
tenants of the western manor (then known as Langton Walshe), and had a cottage
on the north side of the village street with the usual ‘small holding’ of land
in front of the dwelling stretching southwards on the south side of the street.
The family spelt their name Tommys. Their descendants still live in Swanage,
now spelling their surname Tomes, but insisting that the correct pronunciation
is ‘Toms’. Thus the hyde or strip of land obtained the name ‘Tommys Field’,
later Tomes Field, pronounced ‘Toms Field’. The land was still being farmed as
late as the end of the Second World War, when the ancient cow-house and
rick-yard were still there at the north-east corner of the land. At some time
between 1590 and 1850 the land was alienated from the manor and by the
mid-Nineteenth Century it was in the possession of the Revd George Augustus
Frederick Hart of Arundel. In October 1866 the reverend gentleman sold the land
to George Hancock Gutch of Poole. The parchment Deed of Sale, which is very
large, measuring 29½ inches wide and much longer and extremely verbose in the
style of that age, is preserved in the Langton Matravers Museum archive. It
refers to the land It refers to the land as ‘arable,
containing two quarries, with Cart-house and Rick-yard’. It was all later sold
to William Titus Bower of Talbot cottage, and when he died it was inherited by
his son Thomas, after which newcomers could be forgiven for thinking that the
name stemmed from the owner Tom Bower. Nowadays, the northern part of the land
is a housing estate called Tom’s Field Road and the southern part is a camping
area called Tom’s Field Campsite.”
During the 19th Century there were so many families called
Bower in Langton Matravers and Worth Matravers that distinguishing forenames
had to be given to them. These included Gad, Whistler, Ivamy, Sugar, Cake,
Short, Ball, Tite, Coffin, Corben and Thorn.
Most often these names belonged to the women who had married into the Bower
family. Tom’s father was William Titus Bower but always known as Tite Bower.
The fascinating little museum in Langton Matravers, ten minutes walk from the
campsite, provides a glimpse into village life and illustrates the importance
of quarrying to the community. It is well worth a visit.
www.tomsfieldcamping.co.uk
1 comment:
In the 70s and early 80s my parents would take me to Tom’s and we’d camp for 4 weeks during the summer holidays. Tom was a wonderful character and there was more than one occasion when the campsite kids (all met at the campsite) would try and give him the wrong money for gobstoppers but he never missed it! He ran a tight ship but gave the illusion of the site being in complete chaos. There was farming debris lying about rotting which we all loved exploring. There was an elderly lady who used to help in the shop and I think she did his books as well. Tom’s father was rarely seen but I remember one day (I can see him now sitting on a stool behind the counter) Tom and his father were in animated conversation, the louder the exchange the thicker their accents got and nobody could understand a word. You don’t hear that accent now.
Tom was very savvy, nothing past him by. Back then you could come on site and pitch during the night. Late at night, every night, you’d hear the heavy footsteps of boots on the chalk paths and know that Tom was doing his walk about and if he found anything untoward, it wasn’t unheard of for him to get the pop bang tractor (campsite kids name for the very old tractor he had) out and drag cars off the site. One year he showed us round his brand new house he had built. He was thrilled but he said that he didn’t know why he had such a big house built because he had nothing to put in it! I remember him saying that once a year he’d get on his very old motorbike and go ‘up Blandford way’. Later we were told that he had some connection with America and travelled there for a holiday but I don’t know if that’s true.
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