Iwerne Minster is a beautiful Dorset village. I first visited Iwerne on 20-Jan-1969, the destination for one of my earliest expeditions in search of Blennerhassett family history. The vicar at the time was Rev. Rex Wells, last incumbant (1951-1977) to reside with his family in the old vicarage. He showed me the church interior and kindly permitted me to view original parish registers, then kept in the church safe.
Before we viewed the registers he told me the vicarage had been built c1833 by the Rev. William Blennerhassett and that the ghost of Rev. William was said by local people to haunt the vicarage. He had some personal experience of this, telling me that at the rear of the house was an old greenhouse or conservatory "...where the family will not go". Inside this structure was a well or water reservoir, the well fed by a natural spring that had once been the water supply for the house. Water from the well ran from of the greenhouse to form a pond in the garden, before flowing away as a stream. When himself drawing water from this well Rev. Wells had distinctly felt other hands touching his own hands, when no-one else was present. He also mentioned that his wife, on hearing any unfamiliar noise, or creaking floorboards at night, would often say "...there goes old Blennerhassett".
The well, also described as a "cellar" so presumably sunk into the ground, was open to view until c1977 when it was sealed, following the sale of the vicarage to become "Devine House", a boys' boarding house for nearby Clayesmore School. The present vicar does reside in the village but the vicarage is a modern house.
Searching the parish registers with Rev. Wells I found seven baptism entries, between 1836 and 1853, for children of Rev. William Blennerhassett and his wife Emma Sophia, these baptisms all performed by their father. We also found this record of Rev. William's burial in 1860:
Church of St.Mary the Virgin, Iwerne Minster, Dorsetshire
Register of Burials 1813-1885
|
Entry No. |
Date of burial |
Name |
Place of residence |
Occupation |
Age |
Clergyman
performing
ceremony |
|
No.535 |
May 2nd 1860 |
William Blennerhassett
Suicide,
verdict "temporary Insanity" |
Iwerne Minster |
Vicar |
59 |
C.J. Nicholl,
Curate
of Hinton St.Mary |
All burials before his own were performed by Rev. William Blennerhassett.
Hinton St. Mary is a nearby Dorset village.
Rev. Wells was interested to see this entry, he having not previously been aware of the circumstances of Rev. William's death. Having since discovered the very strange circumstances in which the Rev. William died, I do wonder if perhaps did not kill himself, but was murdered?
