A worthy man and a good patriot
GLIMPSED from the road running south from Dorchester, Herrings-ton looks like a delightful and symmetrical Regency Gothic house (Fig 1). In reality, however, the architectural roots of this remarkable building reach back to the Middle Ages. The place takes its name from the Heryng family, one Philip Heryng having acquired land here from the Abbot of Bindon in 1243. The first definite mention of a residence on the site occurs in 1336, when Edward III granted a descendant, Walter Heryng, exemption from various local obligations, as well as a licence to crenellate two houses at Winterborne (Herringston) and Langeton Heryng, a few miles apart to the west and north of Weymouth.
‘Battlements were the architectural mark of a noble or knightly dwelling’
Such royal licences were passports to medieval respectability. They identified the recipient as a person worthy to live in a house with battlements, the architectural mark of a noble or knightly dwelling. We know little more about Walter, however, beyond the fact that he was a prominent figure in the county, which he served as an MP. His house is
