Book review - The Book of Bere Regis (1978)

Author: Fred P. Pitfield - Publisher: Dorset Publishing Company - Pages: 124
Size: 13.25 in (340mm) x 8.75 in (248mm) Reprinted: 1996

This work consists of 29 chapters dealing with subjects from the geology of the area, through summaries of the oldest documents that still survive, to a large section on all of the old numbered houses in Bere Regis.

All illustrations and maps have been drawn by the author, with the clarity one would expect from an architect. There are 298 illustrations including detailed drawings of the church, the village schools, chapels, bridges and many other features.

Other chapters include those on King John's house and the subsequent family of the Turbervilles who ruled over the village for five hundred years. Also dealt with is Woodbury Hill Fair, the vicars, the village accounts of the churchwardens, serious fires, village tax returns and charities. There are also sections on trades, public houses, notes from a villager’s diary from the eighteenth century, and details of archaeological finds which show occupation of the area goes back thousands of years.
£20 (plus £2 P&P)

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Book review - Bere Regis; Past and Present (2006)

Author: John Pitfield and Rodney Legg - Publisher: Halsgrove - Pages: 160
Size: 12 in (305mm) x 8.6 in (218mm)

The book is divided into ten sections, but all articles are presented in a time-line fashion, so that the story of the village flows from the earliest entry of Neolithic finds and burial places to the village Garden Party in 2006.

This written journey takes the reader through pre-history to modern history via Roman invasion, the Middle Ages, then conquest by the Normans. Bere Regis became a much more important place in 1202 when King John ordered the royal house to be enlarged to become a palace for him to stay when on hunting trips in the area. This huge building was taken over by the Turberville family who survived for 500 years as Lords of the Manor. The Drax family took over the estate in the 18th Century, and they still own it today.

More modern history, follows periods dominated by long European wars, then by a more modern section where some of the older residents of the village will have definite memories. Finally, the story is brought right up to date with details of the expansion of the village following the building of the bypass in 1982. These include sporting events, both hot and cold weather, accidents, village events and where possible, interesting trivia. Illustrated throughout with 286 photographs and 17 drawings.
£20 (plus £2 P&P)

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Bere Regis; Baptisms, Marriages & Burials (1586 to 1786)

Author: John Pitfield - Publisher: Privately Printed - Pages: 83
Size: 11.7 in (297mm) x 8.3 in (210mm)

This booklet presents almost half of all the parish registers for Bere Regis that still exist. The story of the Bere Regis records are summarised below, and show them being subject to two major fires in the village.

     Pre-1486           Destroyed by fire when the church burnt down in 1486.

    1486 - 1586       Registers burnt in the fire of Bere Regis on 4 June 1788.

    1586 - 1786       Originals destroyed in fire, but copies lodged at the Diocesan

                                House at Salisbury and transcribed, longhand, by Frederick

                                Pitfield in the 1970s. Computerised in 2006.

    1787 - present   Records lodged at the Dorset County Record Office, Dorchester.

This booklet contains the computerised records of baptisms, marriages and burials between 1586 and 1786, which begin during the tenure of vicar David Woodnot, who was vicar between 1575 and 1592.
£12.50 (plus £2 P&P)

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