TE Lawrence (1888-1935) was an archaeologist, British army officer, diplomat and writer known for his role in the Middle East during the First World War, which inspired the 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia. In 1923 he moved into the cottage of Clouds Hill in the Dorset parish of Turners Puddle, where he lived until his death. He described the cottage as “an earthly paradise”.
Built in 1808, the cottage was originally a woodman’s home. Lawrence renovated it during the 1920s, but maintained its rural charm. There was no electricity, and for insulation he used asbestos lined with aluminium foil. The cottage became a salon for distinguished guests, including Thomas Hardy, Siegfried Sassoon and EM Forster.
The property is now owned by the National Trust, and Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine reader Martin Gething is one of its volunteers. He explains how he traced the house history of the cottage:
“I started volunteering at Clouds Hill in 2017, and found that quite a few visitors asked about the people who lived there before Lawrence. The National Trust didn’t have any information on that, so I began a ‘winter task’ to uncover the story of its past.
“Census records, parish records, electoral registers and the 1910 Lloyd George Domesday Survey provided plenty of names from the 1850s onwards. However, the time before this was misty.
In the 1851 census, woodman Jonathan Chilcott lived at Clouds Hill with his wife Hannah. The couple were listed in 1841, but no properties in Turners Puddle were named in the census.
“I combed through the parish registers, page by page, but none of the entries mentioned Clouds Hill. The abode “of this parish” became all too familiar to me. Clouds Hill was an agricultural labourers’ tied cottage, so there were no rent books or property sales.
“I would have to think laterally. The land around Turners Puddle was owned by the Frampton family of Moreton, whose estate papers were at Dorset History Centre in Dorchester. Could these hold the key?
“Searching through old newspaper archives, I was intrigued to find a court case from 1843 regarding the Queen vs Frampton Esq. This concerned the road running past Clouds Hill. I jumped out of my seat when I read that two of the witnesses were from Clouds Hill.
“The road was in a poor state of repair and the owner of the estate James Frampton, a magistrate himself, was accused of failing to maintain it. His argument was that it was just a farm track, and not a public highway.
“Squire Frampton called on five or six witnesses to confirm that it wasn’t a ‘proper’ road. The first witness was labourer William Hallett, aged 83, who testified that ‘he moved into the cottage in 1808 and lived there for some considerable time’. Later, during cross-examination, he revealed that ‘Mr Frampton built the cottage for me’.
“The final witness was woodman Jonathan Chilcott, who stated that ‘he had lived at Clouds Hill for the last 18 years’, which would be since 1825. William Hallett probably lived there before him from 1808 to 1825 (‘some considerable time’).
“Despite the witnesses’ testimonies, Frampton lost the case and was ordered to repair the road and pay a fine of 6s 8d. He reported in 1844 that the road was in good order, and the fine was rescinded.
“Having found the names of the tenants, I could use genealogical tools to trace their families. The Halletts and the Chilcotts were related, because William Hallett’s son Joseph married Jonathan Chilcott’s sister Ann.
“I was fascinated to discover a newspaper report about William Hallett’s death in 1844. He was aged 83, but it was a sudden death so an inquest was held. After going to church on Sunday, William retired for the night and was found dead the next morning kneeling by his bedside where he would have been saying his prayers. The verdict was that he ‘died by the visitation of God’, and this was also written on the death certificate.
“At the time of the 1841 census, Jonathan and Hannah Chilcott were sharing Clouds Hill with their son George plus John and Bethia House, who had four children. It’s hard to imagine nine people in such a tiny cottage.
“A plaque in St Nicholas’ Church in Moreton revealed that in the 17th century the Frampton family established a charitable fund to help local poor children become apprenticed. One of Jonathan Chilcott’s sons and his brother benefited from this to become apprentice tailors.
“It took 18 months of solid research to get to a stage where I could share my findings. I’ve now researched the lives of over 30 named individuals who lived in the cottage between 1808 and 1913, and created a leaflet that is available free to visitors.
“I’d love to step back in time to see what the cottage looked like before Lawrence renovated it. His spirit is said to pervade the site, and when visiting you definitely get a sense of his presence!”