Your Region Needs You

pamphlet by Chris Dawe (early 1980s)

Please note that this text is archival and does not necessarily reflect current WR opinion or policy

What is Wessex? And Who Are the West-Saxons?

Historically speaking, Wessex is the area covered by the counties of Berkshire, Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, Somerset, and Wiltshire. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, the first West-Saxon settlers arrived in A.D. 495, displacing or subduing the Celts who occupied the land. The West-Saxons were hard-working farmers, preferring village life to that of the large towns, a trend which has continued into this century, for with the exception of the Portsmouth-Southampton conurbation, there are no large cities in Wessex.

After A.D. 802, Wessex was a strong and powerful kingdom and had a basic democracy. Indeed, the Witan (a primitive parliament) had the legal power to depose the king. Serfdom was virtually unknown and the slave trade had been outlawed. The original Celtic inhabitants, though now a minority, enjoyed equal status under the law and were thus integrated into the community of Wessex.

The average West-Saxon had the protection of written laws, and under these laws, he could expect trial by jury, although the judge, usually the local reeve (an Eorl elected by the moot — a primitive local council), had the final say.

Wessex, at first troubled by its neighbours and by the rival political factions within the royal family, established a wealthy trade with the Continent, and by the end of King Egbert’s reign, all England and Wales had accepted the overlordship of Wessex. The subordinate kingdoms adopted the laws of the West-Saxons, either to supplant or supplement their own, and provided levies to fight against the Danes. Old rivalries, however, eventually allowed the Danes to conquer most of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, and for a short time even Wessex was subdued.

Most of us are aware that Alfred the Great, famous for burning cakes, emerged with an army from his hiding place at Athelney. When he wasn’t burning cakes, Alfred managed to find time to defeat a Danish army far superior in size to his own, subdue the Danish host, convert their leaders to Christianity, build up an organized system of defence which included a naval fleet, and in his spare moments, compile a comprehensive set of laws. Indeed, it was these laws, which in a much weakened form were the basis of the Magna Carta. When Athelstan came to the throne, the Dane-League was forced to accept his overlordship and his laws. He went on to create a West-Saxon empire, for the Welsh and even the Scots owed him supremacy, and he severely put down the York rebellion led by Eric Bloodaxe. Edmund Ironside died in mysterious circumstances in the year 1016, shortly after he had brought the kingdoms of England together, but even he ruled according to the laws of Alfred. Cnut’s sons were deposed and the House of Wessex restored. The last West-Saxon king to rule the English peoples was Edward the Confessor.

Why Call It “Wessex”?

When did the first West-Saxons call themselves West-Saxons? Did they ever call themselves West-Saxons? This is uncertain, for our principal historical documents, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, were collected together during the reign of Alfred the Great and were compiled from documents long since lost or destroyed. Certainly, during his reign, they regarded themselves as West-Saxons.

In the second paragraph of Alfred’s Will, he calls himself, Alfred, West-Saxon King:

“Ic Ælfred Westseaxena Cyning, mid Godes gife and mid ðisse gewitnesse.”

They certainly called their land West-Seaxe, and to this day, West-Saxons shorten or abbreviate long words; it is therefore probable that the word ‘Wessex’ had currency among the common folk long before its literary debut.

Dialect: A Cultural Image?

Under the Normans, Wessex retained its identity; just as the Anglo-Saxon dialects survived, so did the character of the people. The Normans were a minority landowning class, and within three hundred years, they had virtually lost their own identity.

Wessex remained more or less unaffected by change until the Enclosure Acts, the Industrial Revolution, and the arrival of the Steam Age.

For the first time, Wessex was exposed to an invasion that would reach into every home. The first sign was the appearance of an educated middle class; until then, a universal Anglo-Saxon dialect was spoken throughout Wessex.

“Ower Father who d’bide in Heavn,

Hallowed be thy neame, Thy kingdom cwome,

Thy will be done,

Gi’e uz Thease day ower daylie bread,

An’ vurgi‘e ower zins,

Sane’s we d’vurgi‘e

They what d’zin agen we.”

(an 18th-century extract from The Lord’s Prayer)

However, with the gradual encroachment of education in standard English, the West-Saxon dialect, which had paralleled the development of the Middle-Anglian dialect that we now call Modern English, began to disappear. It lingered on in some districts, but isolation brought about variations, until there were some nine sub-dialects in Wessex. The dialect—an obvious symbol of West-Saxon independence—has virtually disappeared.

It was not, of course, education itself that destroyed dialect, but the insistence that only standard English should be used in schools, and the contrived impression created by the newly educated middle classes that speaking dialect was a sign of ignorance.

The Case for Regionalism

The coming of the railways opened up Wessex, for the first time, to the tourist. Indeed, towns like Bournemouth were founded on the tourist trade.

Whilst tourism has become essential to the economy of the region, it has placed enormous pressure on our village-based society.

The beautiful countryside around the fast-growing seaside resorts is disappearing at an alarming rate. Visitors, especially the elderly, tend to return and settle. Whilst every community needs new blood and new ideas, there is a time when the absorption level is reached. In recent years, we have been swamped: more land is required for building, the formerly adequate health and welfare services have become overburdened, and with the traditionally low wages of our region, the money is not available for the improvements desperately required.

Many of the newcomers, who have spent their working lives contributing through rates to their home towns, now have to be looked after in their retirement by our local authorities.

With land at a premium in coastal resorts and “secluded” villages, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the local population to find accommodation within their means. Even the character of our village is changing rapidly. Take as an example, Stalbridge in the Blackmore Vale.

Once, it was an important market centre, with its own rail link; it is now an isolated village surrounded by housing estates filled with car-owning commuters. The car is an absolute necessity, for despite the increased population, the bus service is practically non-existent.

The lack of overall planning for our region has resulted in roads having to cope with a volume of traffic that was not envisaged under the road improvement schemes of the early seventies. Our villages will eventually become dormitory settlements for the fast-growing towns.

Those towns that have been forced to attract industry from other areas in order to provide employment have then, as a condition of these companies moving in, been forced to find housing for the employees whom they bring with them.

With constant government cuts, village life is being systematically destroyed. Village schools, which will be needed within the decade, are being closed; the village shops are disappearing; bus services are inadequate; sub-post offices are being closed; and medical facilities are not always available.

The swamping of villages with large numbers of outsiders who cannot be integrated, the lack of social amenities, transport, and work will ensure that, within our lifetime, the village as we know it will have disappeared forever.

The media ignores the problems of Wessex, even the continual soap operas, Wessex is ignored. “Take the High Road” (Scotland), “Emmerdale Farm” (Yorkshire), “Brookside” (Merseyside), “Crossroads” (Mercia), “Coronation Street” (The North), Wales have two, one in Welsh but neither is networked. The major documentaries tell us of the plight of the Merseyside, Clydeside, and Welsh mining and steel communities, what about the Wessex farming villages and the unemployment in the countryside? It appears that nothing does or has happened south of the Thames or West of Sussex. I cannot recall a documentary about the decline of the car industry in Abingdon or the Ministry of Defence closures in Portsmouth, Christchurch or Plymouth. Television and the National Press attitudes affect the way people regard their own region, so how can the problems facing Wessex be ignored by the National media so readily?

We have some of the most beautiful countryside to be found anywhere; however, that which is not owned by the Ministry of Defence is in great danger. Threatening its very existence are the development plans for new motorways and the exploitation of natural resources, decided and supervised by the faceless mandarins, the servants of Central Government, without regard for our needs or our wishes.

For a long time, we have been regarded as the soft and wealthy south.

Wealth, in this case, must surely be a matter of opinion, an illusion created by those who wish to see it as the truth. We are not soft; we have a tradition of being determined fighters, and once every year, some of the very people who regard us as being soft and wealthy come to pay homage for just one act of defiance. They come, once a year, to Tolpuddle in Dorset. The people of Wessex had already suffered unnecessary punishment following the bread riots when thirteen men were hanged and nearly a thousand men of Wessex were deported to Australia, where over half died. Villages deprived of their men died, yet the rioters only attacked the farm machinery which kept their wages at starvation level.

We have continually paid the price of being an agricultural society.

Once, our region was self-sufficient in food produce. Now, overburdened with resettlement areas and retirement homes, we are in danger of stagnating.

Recent Government surveys have revealed that the South-West is one of the lowest-paid regions, and that housing is the most expensive in Britain outside the South-East (which includes London). The Government expects the population to continue its current rate of growth over the next twenty years, despite the fact that we have the lowest proportion of under-fives and the highest proportion of retired people in the country.

Scant industrial development and no economic policy from successive Central Governments to cope with our unique situation. Wessex is the people, West-Saxon or not, but the future of Wessex? Without regionalism?

Ask yourself, what future?

The answer lies in your own hands.

YOUR REGION NEEDS YOU!

JOIN THE WESSEX REGIONALISTS.

Wessex Awake!

WESSEX REGIONALISM: A 12-POINT PROGRAMME

The same, and no less a degree of self-government for Wessex, as should be offered to Scotland; in an attempt to establish a federal pattern for the UK as a whole.
The creation of a Wessex Regional Assembly for the direction of our internal affairs, in place of County Councils.
That the Wessex Assembly shall automatically receive a substantial proportion of all taxation revenue collected by the UK Parliament, to spend as the Wessex Assembly sees fit on regional responsibilities (e.g. employment, housing, transport, agriculture, fisheries, education, the health services, social welfare, law and order).
That the revenues from our mineral resources (including the Dorset oil) be invested in the development of alternative energy sources, and in long-term regional employment opportunities: with an idea in mind for the ultimate self-sufficiency of Wessex, in terms of energy, in municipal and essential manufacture.
The introduction of a property tax, to be paid by any house buyer who has not worked or resided in Wessex for either seven years of his or her life, or for three consecutive years over the period immediately prior to the purchase.
The control of industrial expansion in Wessex to ensure ecological protection, and sympathy with the local environment. Also the encouragement of small companies, craft industries, and community work projects, wherever they appear to be economically viable.
The promotion of Wessex as the political and economic ally of all other agricultural regions within Europe, to operate in defending common interests against their transformation by those regions which are more highly industrialised.
The planning of a Wessex-oriented transport system, to link up our principal urban centres, having been designed solely upon routes directed towards London. There should be special emphasis upon an improved system of public transport.
The support of the various Wessex art councils and Wessex tourist boards, so as to encourage the growth of a regional identity and consciousness in the presentation of our region as a cultural and holiday centre.
The conservation of all that is best in our architectural heritage, with special attention paid to our cottages and villages. Also the protection and investigation of ancient sites.
The formation of a Wessex radio and television channel.
The promotion of a Wessex identity in sporting activities, on a par with Scotland & Wales.