STAFFORDSHIRE AND DORSET 59
Francis Kingston by will ISC Feb. 1778 gave to the Bailiff
` and Burgesses of Blandford Forum and their successors {Q 300,
the interest to be laid out at Christmas yearly in clothing five
poor old men and five poor old women of the parish of Blandford
Forum, etc.—Hutchins.
Damory Court, anciently a Manor, now a farm contiguous
to the east end of Blandford. The first possessor of this place
we meet with, and who perhaps gave his name to it, is Roger
Damory, who flourished early in the reign of Edward II.
Coker says it was a habitation in former ages of a branch
of the family of Damery, then of great note but now wholly
extinct, also called " Dame Mary Place."
At the east end of Blandford now (1861) stands the
remains of a large old seat, the royal arms may still be seen over
the doorway, and there are vestiges of a much greater extent
of buildings on the north—east side.
A little north of the house was a remarkable oak called
Damory Oak. In 1747 it measured 75 feet high, the branches
extended 72 feet, but many were torn off in the storm of 1703.
The trunk was I2 feet in diameter at 17 feet above the ground.
The circumference on the surface of the ground 23 feet, the
cavity at the bottom was 1 5 feet wide and 17 high and would
hold near 20 men. In the Civil War and until after the
Restoration an old man sold ale in it. It was sold, standing,
for {:14. and rooted up in 1755, the wood being only fit for
firin .
§Note says: " It was one of the largest oaks known.")
Hutchins says: " Here was a Chapel dedicated to St.
Leonard a little east from Damory House, long since dese-
crated." The east window and other well preserved details
belong to the Perpendicular Period. It is now used as a barn.
——Hutchins’ Hist., A.D. 1861. »
In 1903. There is no vestige left of Damory House and
the town of Blandford has grown on to the Damory estate,
the remainder being offered for sale in building plots. The
Damory Oak is represented by a public house of that name.
There is still a part of St. Leonard’s Chapel remaining being
built into some farm buildings and used as a barn, the hay
projecting through the mullioned windows.