WHILE Father Christmas has been scurrying around collating children's wish lists, the equally-industrious Dorset writer Rodney Legg has been compiling tidings from Purbeck's Christmas past.

A Purbeck Christmas (Halsgrove, £14.95) brings together a wealth of yule-tide tales - including a potted history of the author's own Purbeck links - from one of the county's most picturesque corners.

Following a tenuous tale linking the coronation of William the Conqueror on Christmas Day 1066 to Corfe Castle, the stories are more obviously rooted in Purbeck soil.

Among the more bizarre is that of Captain John Lawrence of Creech Grange who, in December 1678, reported seeing a hostile army marching across the Purbeck hills from Flower's Barrow hill fort.

With his brother and four clay-cutters, Capt Lawrence fled to Wareham to raise the alarm.

South Bridge was barricaded and scouts were sent out in search of the invading force but they found none.

Almost a century later, in 1762, there was much commotion throughout Purbeck when a Christmas star was spotted in the sky above Lulworth Castle on the first Saturday in December. Those who saw it said it cast a light as bright as the sun and was about eight times the diameter of the moon. It lasted about a minute in the sky before changing position and disappearing in smoke.

There are tales of John Mowlem's festive generosity to the poor in 1846; the Swanage riot of 1851; and the Southern Times report on the high price of coal in 1868.

Thomas Hardy's connections to Swanage are recorded alongside several poems; and Rupert Brooke's Dorset links include the time he spent partying with friends at Lulworth.

Arguably the greatest contribution Purbeck has made to the British Christmas is William Adair Pickard-Cambridge's Collection of Dorset Carols.

He collected some 39 carols from all over the country including six set down by Bloxworth parish clerk John Buttlands between 1817 and 1879, while Rodney Legg speculates he may have heard some versions of the carols from Worth Matravers quarryman William "Billy Winspit" Bower who played them on his fiddle at the Square & Compass.

There can be no doubt, however, about the blackest Christmas in recent Purbeck history. On December 19, 1943 the last of the inhabitants of Tyneham left their homes, leaving the village (and surrounding hamlets) to the military. The government decided to "depopulate" 10 miles of Purbeck countryside around Tyneham so that Lulworth Ranges could be extended to allow live-firing Sherman tanks to prepare for the invasion of France. Despite promises to the contrary, the displaced villagers were never to be allowed back home.

Rodney Legg - who spearheaded the campaign to return Tyneham to the villagers in the 1960s and 70s - makes the ironic observation that Tyneham is now one of Purbeck's busiest outdoor attractions on Christmas Day.

A Purbeck Christmas is available at local bookstores and by mail order on 01884 243242.