Monument record MDO45460 - Medieval Town of Cranborne

(SU057133 sited to Cranborne from OS 1:10560 1963 <1>)
There is little evidence concerning the growth of Cranborne as a town; probably a settlement developed near the abbey and its successor, themselves near an important road. A 13th century enlargement of the church suggests a growing settlement, perhaps certainly the personal holding of William le Bret. Six messuages in 1283 may confirm this.
In the later 13th century Richard de Clare had a fair in the 'ville' of Cranborne, although surveys of 1296 and 1307 do not refer to any. The 1314 Inquisition calls Cranborne 'manor and borough' so it was a seigneural borough by that date. Cranborne apparently had a reeve of the market in 1330, and a borough bailiff in 1489; in the 17th century the borough appointed its own officers <2>

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey map 1:10,560, 1963 (Map). SDO18658.

<2> Penn, K J, 1980, Historic Towns in Dorset, 49 (Monograph). SWX1202.

<3> National Record of the Historic Environment, 897765 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:19PM