came and went

...the short South Winterborne river gives its name to a series of beautiful villages and hamlets, some extant and some long since destroyed, as it courses its way from its source just west of Winterbourne Abbas to where it flows into the river Frome just east of West Stafford.

One such is the village of Winterborne Came. Calling this settlement a village does somewhat stretch the imagination - in fact, even hamlet would suggest more in the way of a community than the church, farm and huge estate that we see today. However, immediately west of the great house, lie the remains of St Germain's Church and the medieval village of Winterborne Farringdon.

The name Came is a corruption of Caen as a charter of Richard I states that Winterborne Came was given by William the Conqueror to the Abbey of St Stephen of Caen. When the alien priories were dissolved, Came and Frampton Priory (of which it was a part) were given to the College of St Stephen in Westminster. The parish records show that there was a period in the late 14th century when the place was known as Winterborne Hundyngton or Winterborne Houndyngton - as is so often the case with these old records, name are spelled in several different ways within the same document.

During Edward VI's reign, the Manor of Winterborne Came was granted to William, Earl of Pembroke. In 1561, it was handed to John Meller, whose successors held it until the beginning of the 18th century. The Mellers must either have been Parliamentarians or petitioned to retain their estates because Sir John Meller is recorded as holding the estate in 1645. He is also recorded as owning a farm at Winterborne Faringdon, indicating that that village was still in existence at that time.

The Mellers sold the Manor to the Damer family from Ireland. Joseph Damer died in 1736 whereupon it passed to his son, George who died without issue, passing the estate to Joseph's brother, John. It was John Damer who built the present Came House as the family seat in 1754. In 1865, it was in the possession of Lionel Seymour W. Dawson Damer, M.P. Today, it is owned by a descendent who goes by the wonderful name of Rags MacGregor.

The large but separate building to the left of the main house is the service block, which is connected to the main building by way of a tunnel. Osborne House on the Isle of Wight has a similar set up.

I will probably do a mini-series on the buildings and environs of the South Winterborne river...