Dorset and the fear of the French

Lester Cowling

I used to live at West Bexington, on Chesil Beach between Abbotsbury and West Bay. Each time I took the dog for a walk, I’d pass the site of the former village church. It had been destroyed by the French during the Hundred Years’ War - a series of conflicts which actually lasted a bit more than 100 years and ended in fourteen-fifty-three. The raid on the village was one of scores on the south coast. It took place not long after we’d burnt Joan of Arc.

England and France had been intertwined since the Norman conquest. The Hundred Years War wrenched them apart. They developed their own national identities. They became foes.
In the 1500s it was felt necessary to construct Sandsfoot and Portland castles to protect shipping anchored in Portland Roads from French and Spanish raiders.

And for a while the Spanish threat eclipsed the French - the Armada and all that. The Dutch proved a bit of a pain as well.

But in 1696 the French threat was back. They scored a naval victory at the Battle of Beachy Head and fear of invasion spread along the south coast. However they failed to follow it up - except for a raid on Teignmouth. A thousand men rampaged through the port burning houses and churches.

This was the last invasion of England, but people were not to know it.

The scene was set for centuries of hostility.