[A] BEAMINSTER is a town of very great antiquity; it is situated on a fertile spot near the banks of the small river Birt. The prebendaries of Salisbury were formerly lords of the manor, until the parliamentary commissioners (who appear to have made very free with church property) seized it, and for a time it passed into other hands, but it was only for a time: the right at length became acknowledged, and in the possession of the prebendaries of Sarum it now remains. This town has suffered much by the devastation of fire, and still more by the destructive sword of civil, or rather uncivil, warfare. Britton speaks of a record of the former being preserved in a blank leaf of an old Bible, in the possession of a gentleman of this town, which memorandum ran as follows:--"The towne of Beaminster was burnt on Palme Sunday, being the 14th day of April, and in the year of our Lord 1644. At the same time prince Maurice, being in the towne seven dayes before the fire, and there continued till the fire burnt him out of his quarters. The fire was first kindled in John Sergeant's house, in North-street; it was a musket discharged in the gable; and it was wild-fire, and the winde lying directly with the towne, the whole place was destroyed in two hours; and those goods for the most part which were saved out of the fire were carried away by the soldiers. There were seven score and four dwelling-houses, besides barns and stables, burnt." An eye-witness in Sir Thomas Fairfax's army describes it as "a place of the pitifullest spectacle that man can behold; hardly a house left not consumed by fire." Two thousand pounds were granted by the parliament to assist in re-building the town: this, with other sums, raised by the neighbouring gentry, answered the purpose. But it appears that the place was doomed to destruction, for in June, 1684, it was again consumed, and the loss is said to have amounted to L10,000.: nor did its misfortunes end here, for in the gusty month of March, in the year 1781, upwards of fifty dwelling-houses, besides barns, stables, and other buildings, were reduced to ruins in the short space of three hours. Mrs. Tucker founded a free-school here, in 1684, for the purpose of affording education to twenty of the poorest boys in the town; three or four of these boys were to be apprenticed annually, and it is necessary that one of these, at least, should become a seaman. The Rev. Mr. Samuel Hood, father of Lord Hood, was master of this school in the year 1715. The inhabitants are principally engaged in the manufacture of sail-cloth, and in the production of iron, tin, and copper ware. The work-house is a large commodious building; formerly an alms-house. _Market_, Thursday.--_Fairs_, April 4; September 19, for horses, sheep, and cattle. [Sidenote: Destroyed by fire in 1644.] [Sidenote: Burnt down in 1684, and again in 1781.]