The recent history of Milton Abbey and the village of Milton Abbas are inextricably linked by the deeds of an 18th century landowner. This man was Joseph Damer, who later became Lord Milton, Earl of Dorchester. An unpopular landlord, Damer was regarded as selfish and unscrupulous. Horace Walpole described him as excessively proud and arrogant, the only basis for this being his great wealth and his marriage to the Duke of Dorset's daughter.
The original town of Milton was set on the southern side of the abbey. As part of his grand plan for his estate, Damer resolved to erase the town from his back door and rehouse its people in a new village out of sight and a mile away.
Although all the powers lay in the hands of Lord Milton, many of the villages resisted, and it took 20 years for him to realise his ambition. The town's grammar school also proved a problem for Damer. In order to have it removed a Parliamentary Bill was required, but the resourceful Damer succeeded in achieving this at only his second attempt. It seems that his chief complaint was the behaviour of the boys who stole his apples, threw bricks down his chimneys and engaged in cockfighting. One of the ringleaders of this unruly group is said to have been Thomas Masterman Hardy, later Lord Nelson's Flag Captain.
Milton Abbey comprised two main buildings, the Abbey Church and the Abbey House. The beautiful Abbey Church dates from the 14th and 15th centuries (although legend has it that the original church was founded by King Athelstan in AD 934 after he had a vision that he would defeat the Danes in a coming battle). In 1309 the original wooden abbey was struck by lightning and destroyed in the resulting fire. In 1331 building began on the present Abbey Church and continued up to the Dissolution in 1539.
The Abbey buildings were granted to Sir John Tregonwell by Henry VIII. The rebuilding of the church was never completed, prevented it is thought, by plague. In 1752 Joseph Damer bought the estates from the Tregonwell family. He demolished all the monastic buildings, except for Abbot's Hall, which was incorporated into the new building.
One of the most outstanding architects of the 18th century, Sir William Chambers, was commissioned to design the new Milton Abbey mansion. True to form, Milton quarrelled with Chambers over the payment of fees and replaced him with James Wyatt, who completed the work. The mansion is now used as a school, but is open to the public during school holidays.
On the hill to the east of the Abbey buildings stands St Catherine's Chapel, which was originally erected by Athelstan. Although 100 grassed steps lead up to it, these are now closed to the public and the chapel can be reached by road.
The only surviving dwelling of the old town is the delightful 15th century Green Walk Cottage, close to the grass steps. Its lone survival serves as a poignant reminder of the extent of Damer's selfish vandalism.
On seeing Milton Abbas today, it is hard to believe that it was able to accommodate all of the families uprooted from the original town. It must be remembered, however, that this process took 20 years to engineer and that many people will have moved out of the district during that time.
The village was designed to cater for the basic needs of the villagers and the provision included a church and vicarage, a brewery and inn, a blacksmith's forge, a bakery, a dairy and almshouses. Most of the cottages in the new village are in identical pairs on either side of the road, thatched and white rendered. They are equally spaced and lie back from the road behind large, well tended and regular lawns. In the centre of the village stands the brick and flint almshouses (charity houses) opposite the 18th century church of St James.
