history of wyke

This poem was written by Mrs. M. E. Munro of Dawlish Crescent in reply to a query in the Wyke Register as to what constitutes a Wyke person. It emphasises that ....."Young and old, or large and small, Love of Wyke makes Wykeites of us all."

What is a Wyke-ite? The lady said,

Are they made or are they bred?
Do they need a family tree,
And long impressive ancestry?
Did they merely seek the sea,
or labour with the MoD.
Maybe they came from outer space,
A superior Galactic race?
(well some folk claim that UFO’s
Have been seen here…..so who knows?)
The lady asks, is there a heart
In Wyke Regis….in which part?
On these matters I’ve long pondered,
Paced the floor, and often wondered.
Now I feel the answer’s easy,
Folks of Wyke - I hope will please ‘ee.
The heart of Wyke is in each one
Who loves our streets, the beach, the sun.
Young and old, or large and small,
Love of Wyke makes Wykeites of us all.

The Formation of Chesil Beach and the Fleet; The Geology of Wyke; Wyke’s Fossils.

The Stone Age; The Bronze Age; The Iron Age; The Romans; The Saxons; Wyke and The Culliford Tree Hundred; Wyke’s Saxon Charter; The Church at Winchester; Domesday Book; Wyke Fair; The Saxon Court Leet; Account Rolls of 1242; The Black Death.

Manor Farm; Fantasy Cottage; The Armada Beacon; Sandsfoot Castle; The English Civil War.

The Ferry at Passage; The Old Road To Portland; Shipwrecks; The Great Gale; Smuggling; Fishing at Wyke.

Whitehead Torpedo Factory; Tod the Boatbuilders; Oysters in the Fleet; The Army; Some Wyke Farms

Belfield House; Wyke Social Club; Wyke House; Wyke Square; The Albert Inn; Hamilton House; Van Courtlands; High Street; The Willows; Wyke Castle; New Close Farm; Shrubbery Lane; Church Cottage & Wyke Cottage; Wyke’s Terraced Houses; Wyke Working Mens Club; Portland Road; Foords Corner; Wyke Hotel; Burgundy House; The Ferry Bridges;

Victorian Families in Wyke; Markham and Little Francis; The Beacon; Stormount; Boulton Villa and Wyke Lodge; The Court Leet Records; The Law in Wyke; The Conservation Area; Traditions and Customs; Growth of Population in Wyke; Modern Churches of Wyke; The Port Sanitary Hospital; Lanehouse Hill; Wyke’s War Memorial; The Women’s Institute; Wyke Coastguards; The First Footballers of Wyke;

The Growth of Housing - Wyke Lodge, Wyke Square, Wellworthy, Stormount, Little Francis, Church Nap and Green Lane; Industry; Traffic, Roads and The Fleet; Ferrybridge and Sandsfoot.

The name WYKE is a derivation from the Old English (Anglo Saxon) word WIC that is generally accepted as meaning "dairy farm". Wyke as a place was first mentioned in a Charter of 988 when King Ethelred II granted to one of his Ministers "....a certain part of land in the place called by the inhabitants Wyck".

It was spelt WIK in the Book of Fees of 1212. The first written recognition that Wyke was a royal possession was with the name KINGSWIC in the 1224 Account Rolls.

The Modern form of WYKE REGIS - Regis being Latin for "of the King", was first used in 1407 and can be roughly translated as meaning "the dairy farm of the King".

This History of Wyke Regis is an update of the 1988 Millennium Booklet that was produced in celebrations of one thousand years of recorded history of Wyke Regis. Any acknowledgements must therefore start by again thanking those special people that made the original Millennium Booklet possible - Mrs. Maureen Attwool, Mr. Eric Ricketts, Mr. Stuart Morris and Mr. Peter Lush (who is sadly no longer with us). Special mention must also be made of The Wyke Register, a free newspaper published monthly since 1991 by Ron Smith of Artsmith of Chesil, Portland. This newspaper has always willingly included articles about Wyke’s history that have been contributed by knowledgeable residents of Wyke. Particularly important contributions have been made by Ted McBride, Jacqueline Kane, Maurice Beare and Alf Brooks. Other valuable sources of information have been the records held in Weymouth Library, the Dorset County Records Office and Weymouth Museum.

In the chapter about Wyke’s earliest churches and All Saints Church I have drawn heavily on Claude Domoney’s scholarly book "Wyke Regis and its Church" published in 1955. Mr. Domoney was the much respected headmaster of Wyke Junior School for almost twenty years from 1933. Some of the old photographs used come from the collection of the late Mr. Eric Russell, the Founder Chairman of the Wyke Regis Protection Society. Many others have been provided over the years by residents of Wyke Regis and where possible this is acknowledged.

The first known written reference to Wyke Regis was in a Saxon Charter of 988 AD signed by King Ethelred the II of Wessex. When the modern-day residents of Wyke Regis celebrated the millennium of this Charter in July 1988 the noted Weymouth historian Eric Ricketts kindly designed the Wyke Regis Millennium Logo pictured here. Close examination of the actual Logo shows that it cleverly depict some of the major features of Wyke - All Saints Church, some old cottages, the Ferry Bridge, Wyke Castle, the old railway line, Chesil Beach and the Fleet Lagoon.

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