History of the green
The Green sits on the west side of what was a larger plot, originally known as Ratcliff’s Garden. The few families with the name Ratcliff who appear in Dorset history records tend to cluster round Weymouth; but one Samuel Ratcliff was listed in the parish of Cann in 1722 among those who had to contribute to a rate for highways, so perhaps the original garden was named after him.
In the 1820s, Earl Grosvenor owned the garden, which was assessed for 2s 6d in land tax: it was occupied by John King. This seems to be the same John King as listed in the 1841 census, when he was a shop-keeper aged about 60, living in St James with Ann King aged about 65.
In the mid-1840s, the land is named as “Ratcliff’s” in the tithe records for St James; it was plot no.105, described as a garden of just over 1 acre. It was still owned by one of the Grosvenors – by then Marquis of Westminster - and still occupied by John King. The garden then covered roughly what is now the west side of the modern street called Ratcliff’s Garden, down as far as the bend; plus the land of the current Millennium Green.
On the 1900 Ordnance Survey map, the plot was shown as “allotment gardens”. More recently, a long-standing resident of St James, Helen Constantia Rolt, owned the site and administered allotments on it for local people; she placed a covenant on it, so that it could not be built on in the future. Some years after her death in 1988, her nephew Ben Sladen sold the land to the Trust, asking us to name it in her memory. Funding for the purchase came from lottery funds through the Millennium Commission, on condition that the land be held in trust for the benefit of everyone in the civil parish of Shaftesbury
This section shows some of the work that went on to bring the vision of the Millennium Green to life.
In the 1820s, Earl Grosvenor owned the garden, which was assessed for 2s 6d in land tax: it was occupied by John King. This seems to be the same John King as listed in the 1841 census, when he was a shop-keeper aged about 60, living in St James with Ann King aged about 65.
In the mid-1840s, the land is named as “Ratcliff’s” in the tithe records for St James; it was plot no.105, described as a garden of just over 1 acre. It was still owned by one of the Grosvenors – by then Marquis of Westminster - and still occupied by John King. The garden then covered roughly what is now the west side of the modern street called Ratcliff’s Garden, down as far as the bend; plus the land of the current Millennium Green.
On the 1900 Ordnance Survey map, the plot was shown as “allotment gardens”. More recently, a long-standing resident of St James, Helen Constantia Rolt, owned the site and administered allotments on it for local people; she placed a covenant on it, so that it could not be built on in the future. Some years after her death in 1988, her nephew Ben Sladen sold the land to the Trust, asking us to name it in her memory. Funding for the purchase came from lottery funds through the Millennium Commission, on condition that the land be held in trust for the benefit of everyone in the civil parish of Shaftesbury
This section shows some of the work that went on to bring the vision of the Millennium Green to life.
