Village Fires
Bere Regis has suffered badly from fires on several occasions, the worst ones being in 1633, 1717 and 1788. Until the beginning of this century almost all the cottages in the village were thatched, and as they were closely grouped, particularly in West Street, the fire risk was high in the summer when the most serious fires seem to have occurred. These fires, together with many more minor and unrecorded ones have had a lasting effect on the appearance of the village, and account for the lack of any really old buildings, apart from the church, and for the gaps which are still apparent between the cottages in West Street.
Two early pieces of fire-fighting equipment, thought to date from about 1600 are preserved over the south door of the church in the porch. They are large iron hooks with chains attached, originally fixed to long wooden handles, and were used for stripping thatch from the roofs of cottages to form fire breaks, in an attempt to reduce the spread of the fire. The village fire engine, consisting of no more than a pump mounted on a hand cart, would also have been used on these occasions, and seems normally to have been kept in the church under the gallery at the back. It seems that a basically similar appliance was still in use in 1911, when "Mr. Marsh's premises" were burnt to the ground, causing the Vicar to remark in the parish magazine-"let us hope that some arrangement will be made by which a fire engine can be secured more quickly thanis at present possible. In these days it is almost beyond belief that any place should exist so far behind the tunes, that it relies for the extinction of fire upon water pumped, or even wound up, from a well."
A large fire occurred in 1633, and was recorded in the diary of William Whiteway of Dorchester.
1633, Aug 29. This day the town of Bere Regis was burnt, the most part of it to the ground, with great quantity of corn. The loss is valued at 20,000 pounds. The country sent them about £500 speedily to relieve their present want. Dorchester sent them in about £40.
The above account would appear to have been somewhat exaggerated, for in 1634 an order of sessions passed that the town of Bere Regis, "Lately consumed by fire," should receive £50 from the county stock, the loss due to the fire being assessed at £7,000. This order may however refer to another fire which occurred in 1634 according to an old record: -
There was a fier in Bere Regis in 1634, that distressed the inhabitants so that they sent a petishen to the King.
There was another serious fire in 171I, when 14 houses were destroyed, and a further one on 21 June, 1767.
By far the most serious was that which occurred in 1788, breaking out between 12 and 1 o'clock in the morning of the 4th June in the 'Crown' public house. In a short time the fire rapidly spread and destroyed the Vicarage and more than 40 other houses in addition to stables, barns and outbuildings. It was said that the church was several times threatened by the flames, but that the efforts of the firemen and others prevented it from being damaged. The parish registers were not so fortunate, being at the time in the Vicarage. In spite of the severity of the fire, only one death resulted from it, that of a blind man. Most of the houses were not insured, and appeals were made on behalf of those whose property had been destroyed, including a newspaper appeal by the vicar and churchwardens. A contemporary periodical described the aftermath:
The scene of distress occasioned by this terrible conflagration is far beyond description. Many of the unhappy sufferers, who could not otherwise accommodate themselves, retired almost naked to the buildings erected for the fair on Woodbury Hill, where they found temporary shelter, and were very humanely and liberally supplied with every article necessary for their immediate relief, by the inhabitants of Blandford, Wareham, and other neighbouring places.
The following account shows how the appeal fund monies were apportioned:
Collected by voluntary subscription of the county ... £1,279 19s. 4d
Paid to 39 sufferers by fire in the said town of BereRegis, in three classes, viz. to the first class, who were most distressed, and had lost their whole property, 14s. (70p) in the pound; to the second class, lls. 6d. (571p); and to the third class, 7s. 6d. (37 1/2P). ............................................................ £1,193 13s. 8d.
By advertisements, fire engines, firemen, assistantsin removing goods and quenching the fire, and otherincidental expenses ............................... £ 62 5s. 8d.
Left in the treasurer's hands, to be applied towardsbuying a new fire-engine for the said town, theold one having been burnt in the fire ..................... £ 24 Os. Od.
Total .............................................................................................£1,279 19s. 4d.
The `Crown' is referred to in the churchwarden's accounts, and was situated between numbers 88 and 89 on the north side of West Street. Before 1788 this central part of the village was very densely built up, and the area destroyed by the fire extended from just north of the church to the old vicarage (now `Summerods') in a north-south direction, and from the Royal Oak to no. 30 West Street in an east-west direction. Most of the buildings were totally destroyed and no traces of them now remain, but in those cases where destruction was not so complete rebuilding was carried out on the old foundation walling, and evidence of this may still be seen in several buildings in this area.
According to Thomas Gould's notebook 10 houses on Woodbury Hill were destroyed by fire in 1723. Another fire occurred in the village on 23 June, 1816, and on 6 April, 1887 Hyde House was totally destroyed by fire. The old mill at the west end of the village would also appear to have been at some time a victim of fire, as in an old parish magazine of 1891 it was described as "the Burnt Mill".
Fortunately, this type of fire involving a number of buildings is now an almost unheard of occurrence, due not only to a reduction in the number of thatched roofs, but to the existence of the telephone and a well equipped, efficient fire brigade. During the 1939-45 war a brigade of the auxiliary fire service was established in the village with its headquarters at Messrs. Griffins premises in North Street. After the war it became a national fire service brigade and continued to operate from the same premises until the erection of a new fire station in 1951.
© Bere Regis Village Website 2004 - Site by Chola Design
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