billy goats gruff

...not as bright as yesterday but a pleasant day nonetheless, which was further improved by the arrival of some much awaited news.

So, to today's story of the Billy Goats Gruff...

Our first and biggest Billy is William the Conqueror, who gave land to Roger de Moyne for his services as Sergeancy of Kitchen, whatever that may be.

By the mid 13th century, one of his descendants, and our second Billy, William le Moigne had built a manor house on the land and was granted an interesting and rare licence, by Queen Eleanor, to fortify his house without crenellations. The records that I have do not show clearly whether this was William the father or William the son, nor whether it was Henry III's wife Eleanor of Provence or Edward I's wife Eleanor of Castile that is referred to, as there is no date.

Our third Billy is William Stourton, who married the heiress Elizabeth le Moigne in 1398.

The manor is in the village of Owermoigne or Ower Moigne. The second part of the village name is obvious but the first part is a corruption of the Saxon 'Ogre' - well what did you expect from my caption - which means 'wind-gap', referring to the gap in the chalk hills that allows the wind off the sea to be felt here. Ogre became Oweres became Ower. Incidentally, the le Moigne's originated from Normandy and moine is Old French for 'monk'.

Most of what you see here is original 13th century. The house is unusual in having its hall on the first floor behind the three arched windows. A fire in 1880 caused a lot of damage. The repairs included replacing the thatched roof with slates. The Cree family purchased the estate in 1826 and still live here today. This is the oldest continually lived in residence in Dorset.

Having accounted for our Billy Goats and our Ogre, we now need a Bridge. Throughout most of its history, Moigne Court had medieval fishponds and a moat, most of which has been infilled or is dry, however archaeological investigations have revealed the piers that supported the bridge over the moat.

Owermoigne was at the centre of a brandy smuggling business that landed contraband at Ringstead Bay and hid it in the tower of St Michael's church, several of the rectors of the church were Crees.

A number of Thomas Hardy's relatives lived in Owermoigne, which he called Nether Moynton in his fiction version of Wessex. One of his amusing short stories, The Distracted Preacher, is set here and is about a Rev Stockland who unwittingly gets mixed up in the smuggling when he falls in love with a local smuggler, Lizzie Newberry.

Surprisingly, or, maybe not, Owermoigne has never had a pub...