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King John was a nasty bit of stuff. Indeed one of his contemporaries said of him, ‘Foul as it is, Hell itself
would be defiled by the presence of John’. Such sentiments could not be said to be uncommon in his kingdom. So
when, in 1214, a local visionary fanatic by the name of Peter de Pomfret predicted that before the next Ascension
Day John’s rule would be over Peter was banged up in Corfe Castle until the fateful day had safely come and gone.
He was then dragged by horse around the town of Wareham before being hanged and quartered on the walls along with
his son.
 Peter got his predictions wrong and throughout history Wareham and its people seem to have had an uncanny
knack of betting on the losers. Historically the town has seen its share of turbulent times. Its early years are
lost in the mists of history and the story only finds more solid ground with the arrival of the Danes who, for
a century and a half, starting in 876, invaded Wareham repeatedly and today stand accused of destroying a castle
and a nunnery and generally vandalising the place until King Alfred, in a sea battle, drove their fleet onto the
rocks of Swanage.
Things got somewhat better for Wareham under the Normans but when Civil War broke out because of the bickering
between Matilda and Stephen over who should succeed Henry I Wareham, and nearby Corfe, became embroiled in it all.
Since the townsfolk showed their sympathy to Matilda when Stephen turned up with his army one day he decided to
torch the place and give a bit of general grief to the locals.
For four hundred years things were fairly quiet again in Wareham until the struggle between Charles and Parliament
turned once again to Civil War. Ever willing to back a loser the town fell into Royalist hands at first. Over the
bay in Poole - which historically seems to have got its betting right more often - had sided with Parliament and
it was from there that Captain Lay sailed up the River Frome and took the town.
Not for long though. Wareham was retaken by Colonel Ashburnham in April 1644 leaving 25 dead in the streets,
14 drowned in the Frome and 156 taken prisoner. All this ping pong occupation ended when the town was taken again
by the Parliamentarians and most of the King’s garrison were sent to Ireland - a fate worse than death.
With the end of this stage in history it was a century and a half before Wareham was to suffer its next historical
setback. On Sunday July 25th 1762 a fire broke out in the centre of the town because some careless fool had flung
some turf ashes on a dungheap. Thanks to a recent drought and a favourable wind two thirds of the town was destroyed.
Having recovered from this setback the next downer was the rebellion of the Earl of Monmouth - probably the
biggest loser of the lot. Many of the townsfolk came to support him in his Protestant cause. Six of them, after
being tried by Judge Jeffries who was famous for his severity, were executed at the North-West angle of Wareham’s
Walls - still known as Bloody Bank.
We end our history there, noting that the author of the notes we have used was despondent when he wrote in 1897,
‘The visitor to Wareham who expects to find a bustling town instinct with life is doomed to disappointment. It’s
great days were in the past, when the Northern pagan races harried the kingdom. Now it is a quiet, sleepy market
town, of small population and the visitor or casual guest, accustomed to the activity and the energy of the North
or Midlands, it seems deadly dull’.
There is something of the Peter de Pomfret in such predictions. Wareham isn't dead. It's waking up and has the
potential to be on the winning side for perhaps the first time in its history.
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