| Shitterton (Sitterton) |
| Shitterton is a tything, in the parish and hundred of
Bere Regis, poor law union of Wareham and Purbeck, and contain around
225 people it was once prefixed by Piddle and this embarrassed the
inhabitants of this sensitively name hamlet! But they were thankful when
the name of this was changed to Puddle by the straight laced Victorians.
Today though the country council have put up a village name plate
reading Sitterton! The name Shitterton derives from the old English 'scitere' and 'tun' which meant 'farm at the stream used as a sewer!' Shitterton Farm has always been under separate ownership from Bere Manor and it was regarded as a manor in its own right, The name had various spellings such as Chitterton, Sitterton and of course Shitterton, but it was once known as Whitelovington in the 17th century according to an entry in the old churchwardens accounts. It had been held by Richard Cerne during the 15th century and when he died in 1431 it passed to John Herring who died in 1456, but by 1591 it had been placed in the hands of the Morton Family who came from Milborne, the family of Cardinal Morton, whose descendants included the Morton Pleydells who owned it unti it became a part of the Bladen Estate in the early part of the 20th century. The Argentons and later a section of the Williams family of Herringstone leased the manor and farm in the 17th and 18th centuries but they lived in Shitterton House. The farm was run as a separate entity until 1968 and then it was annexed to Briantspuddle farm and the fine early 18th century thatched farmhouse became a separate residence.
|
