kent in dorset

...apologies for late blips, brief comments and limited replies but things are very, very busy following the festivities of Christmas and New Year.

Today was a really pleasant day with several spells of wintry sunshine. Unfortunately, I only had a few minutes in which to capture today's Historic Purbeck Buildings image, so we stopped on the back to Swanage with the intention of getting some shots of Scholes Manor. Disappointingly, it turned out to be another property that is not viewable from any public thoroughfare.

Not far from Scholes is the beautiful farm of Blashenwell that sits on a track between Corfe Castle and Kingston. The farm is made up of innumerable buildings, including a listed barn, listed dairy house, and the listed manor style farmhouse itself. The massive barn was an example of progressiveness as it contained state-of-the-art farm machinery all of which was driven by a waterwheel that can still be seen but no longer works. Of today's images, I liked this one the best. Obviously, it is not of the farm or any of the impressive listed buildings but, with Corfe Castle in the distance and the beautiful farm pond and willow tree, it shows what a lovely position it occupies in front of Corfe Common.

The farm was one of many belonging to the Encombe Estate and, during Georgian and much of Victorian times, was farmed by members of the Kent family. The Kents were a large and successful family in this part of Purbeck, employing many local people in their various businesses. My local history sources show a Reuben Kent born c1675 , through whose parish records I can trace forward to Charles Kent born 1801. The 1841 census shows that Charles was farming Blashenwell at that time and that a 15 year old Olivia Scott was living with the family. Three years later, Charles married Olivia and they had five children. Sadly, Olivia died in 1854 aged 32 and Charles married Mary Withere. This union provided six more children. It is not known exactly when Charles passed away but, in the 1881 census, he was recorded as being blind.

Charles' sister Emma, married the naval captain George Biddlecombe who was made C.B. for his role as master of the Baltic fleet. He was knighted by the queen at Windsor Castle in 1873. Sir George established a trust for the benefit of the poor of Kingston, which continued in existence until 1995.

Another busy day tomorrow. No idea what I will be blipping...