Sherborne in 1710
My investigation of the notebook from the early 18th century is becoming a fascinating little project. Modern AI is now very capable of helping me decipher this. I'm gaining very great insights into how John Dutton managed the Sherborne estate at this time.
Furthermore, some really useful nuggets are appearing. Here's example of just one page and of my AI's translation. Bear in mind that the AI has now been trained on these particular documents. Example below is one of the better pages. Some of the other pages are much harder to interpret, but AI is succeeding.
I'm finding some really useful nuggets, in particular, further confirmation that the weir at the centre of the two lakes in the middle of the village was built before 1711. I even now have the name of the mason who built or repaired the bridge on it in 1710, one "Nathan Newman". His brother, Thomas Newman, was a tenant farmer on the estate.
Once my analysis of the 1710-11 notebook has been completed, I will draw up a comprehensive table showing the archives that support the dates of the central waterfall as being before 1710 and the lower waterfall by the turbine house as being circa 1739-1740 (with pretty convincing archive references). There are no archive references that I'm aware of suggesting a build in the 19th century. Plus the logic that there's no way that that lower dam could power a mill at Windrush, as has been suggested. As you recall, we have been told by the NT that the CMP dates these dams and the bodies of water held by them to the early 19th century. I'll present the evidence that both are 18th C. You can make your mind up.
Elsewhere in the notebook, there are some fascinating little pieces here and there. For instance, John Dutton paying for a pipe and tabor to be played while a meadow is being mowed, or a fiddler, or a drummer. John Dutton also paid for the church bells to be rung in the parish churches of any of the villages that he was lord of the manor of when he arrived after a space of time. I have lots more to tell you, but I'm still working through his notebook.
On the subject of the weir in the centre of the village, but not connected with the notebook analysis, here are a couple more lovely pictures of the area around the waterfall in the past, probably early 20th century. I will leave you to draw your own conclusions as to the beauty of this site compared to how it is today. Thank you to the Sherborne Archives for their diligence in gathering these images. The Sherborne Archives have now got a remarkable collection of historical views of Sherborne, well worth looking at when they give us the opportunity. Sometimes I sense that we're losing our understanding of the landscape around Sherborne, which makes these photographs all the more important.
Finally, for those of you who might be interested in the efforts of the River Girl to conserve the rivers and brooks around the Cotswolds, I thought you might be interested in the second edition of her podcast. You can subscribe to her podcast in all the usual places. This one includes an interview with someone who you've probably come across before. If this link doesn't work, then look for "the River Girl podcast"
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3EHEQ2oFQ2uQzIqJz8kq6F?si=kGsmN3gwRTi8nwyik80bFQ
