In 1838 Allington was a small parishes, clinging to a separate existence near the town of Bridport. Hutchins in his first edition noted it contained 600 acres 50 houses and 500 inhabitants. A ‘wake’ or fair was held on 22nd July for cheese and ‘pedlary’. The editors of the third edition note that in 1790 there were 113 houses with 687 occupants. Since the rest of their entry is verbatim from the first edition it is likely they got their numbers wrong. In addition to food one of the principal products of the parish and surrounding parishes was hemp. At one time there was a lazar or leper hospital in the parish.

Martin had a strong connection with the area and was to commute the tithe in the slightly more distant [from Bridport] parishes of Symondsbury, Shipton Gorge and Burton Bradstock.

Martin’s connections with Bridport went back a long way and were almost certainly due to the Earl of Ilchester, one of whose ancestors, Wadham Strangways was killed whilst helping to repel a three hundred strong contingent of the Duke of Monmouth’s men when they landed at Lyme Regis in 1685. Martin’s first recorded work was in 1810 when he surveyed the harbour and worked on the turnpike there. He was back again measuring the harbour in 1827,

In April 1827 he was back measuring at Bridport:

as well as surveying the parish for the rector Mr Fox in connection with the tithe [see previous section].

In 1838 Henry Fox was the incumbent at Allington – a perpetual curate but the instrument of apportionment refers to him as the impropriate rector and Hutchins makes the following comment: “in the year 1840 the impropriate tithes were commuted for a rent-charge, then estimated at £190/ 10s., of which the Rev. Henry Fox is the sole owner as well as incumbent.” In other words he had no claim to the tithe by virtue of his being the incumbent; his right to them arose from the fact that at the dissolution of the monasteries a layman had purchased the land at Allington together with the right to claim the tithe.

The instrument of apportionment is the only one that I have come across where there is a composition “For every Acre of Ground customary measure sown with Hemp or Flax the sum of four shillings in lieu of tithe”. Of interest is the term “customary measure” implying that the locals still used customary acres rather than statute. Hemp and flax was of huge importance in Allington: for such a rural community [at the time] the number of farmers and agricultural workers is dwarfed by those involved in the hemp trade. The 1841 census for Allington is fascinating for the range of trades involved. We find spinners, weavers, hemp and flax combers, braiders, hackler’s, rope makers, bag rubbers [sic], bag sewers, milliners, twine cleaners, line makers, bleachers, flax dressers, shoe thread winders, dyers, spoolers, numerous dress makers as well as a lace maker, thread winder straw hat maker, spooler and a warper.

Another points of interest is that “Beasts bred for the plough or pail [sic]” were exempt from the tithe. The original and copy maps are almost identical but not quite. Although the body of both maps are orientated in exactly the same way there is a very noticeable difference in the orientation of the cartouches. That on the original map is angled at approximately 355 ° whilst that on the copy map is orientated due north.

If Compton Vallence has not altered greatly the same cannot be said for Allington. Fully a quarter of the parish has been given over to housing. On the plus side those field boundaries that have survived are the same today as on the tithe map.

Drawn at three chains to the inch there is considerable detail including turnpike toll gates, bridges, a rendering of Allington Hill [ornately named] and a structure that in the census is identified as “Hownsells” Factory. This was itself a major employer of “factory workers,” mostly women and appears to be a complex devoted to the processing of hemp and flax. Now known as North Mills several buildings still survive one of which is listed as a rope walk. Whilst the maps were drawn at 3 inches to the mile there is no evidence of construction lines on the original map and it was not given the TC seal.

The Allington commutation appears to have been accompanied by a simultaneous survey under the Parochial Assessment Act. Even though he had prepared a valuation and map in 1827 someone had decided that a new survey was to be made.

Although the commutation was completed by 1840 there are further references to Allington in the 1845 diary.

List of Commutations under the Tithe Commutation Act