Bradford Abbas memories
Here are memories of Bradford Abbas and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Bradford Abbas or a Bradford Abbas photo.
Living in North Street Bradford Abbas 1960s
As a child I lived in North Street, Bradford Abbas. The name of the house then was Hilou. We were led to believe it was because our only toilet then was at the top of the very long garden. It later turned out that the cottage once belonged to two sisters called Hilary and Louisa. Since then the name has changed.
We lived on the right hand side going down the street. My dad thatched the house once and also a well in the back garden. I can remember enormous spiders coming out of the thatch and in the bedroom windows. Just before our house was one sideways to the road, called Heartsease Cottage as far as I can remember. This was the home of Evelyn Dainty who was a midwife. We kept goats and as children were often seen walking them around the village. I remember returning from school to find Miss Dainty being midwife to one of the goats who had gone into labour early. I can... Read more
Living in North Street in 2008 After The Fire in 2005
This photograph is wonderful for me to see having just moved back into Bumblebee Cottage on the far right of the picture after the catastrophic fire on 22 December 2005 that destroyed 4 cottages - Bumblebee Cottage, Hollyhocks, The Old Chapel and Virginia Cottage. My cottage looks the same from the back, the front will feel and look the same once I have replanted the front garden. Inside it is beautiful. All brand new but old at the same time. And the best news is that thanks to the intervention of English Heritage we still have four listed properties rather than four modern constructions made to look old with a bit of stone cladding but essentially constructed of breeze blocks and plastboard rather than random rubble - and all because the Loss Adjustors tried to save money for the insurers. But they were rumbled! Once again North Street looks nearly as it should. We still await the owners of The Old Chapel (where the fire started) and Hollyhocks to return.... Read more
Memories of Dorset
The Pellys of Nether Compton
In August 2006 my daughter and I visited Nether Compton in a Trace Your Ancestors search. My father, the son of an Eliza Pelly here in Lancashire, always told the tale of two brothers, Charles and Henry Pelly, who walked the length of England looking for work. They found it as Agricultural Labourers in Bury where they received 13/6 a week as opposed to 11/6 in Nether Compton. Charlie was born in 1841 and he married Eliza Garrett who was a widow named Eades at the time, 11 years older than him. The couple had 2 daughters, both of whom died very young of convulsions and whooping cough. Eliza mnust have died (I reckon) because Charlie then came north and married Betsy Greenhalgh who was the other extreme, being 15 years his junior. Family lore said they could barely understand one another because of their strong dialects. However they begot 8 children, only 4 of whom survived. So from a total of 10 only 4 grew to adulthood. As a northerner... Read more
Me Remembering My Youth
I remember when Yetminster had farms and no yuppies, I also remember when there was a garage and two schools which I went to both of in the late 1940s. We also had 2 proper pubs. I still have relatives in the village, oldest of which is 96, and some cousins. I hope someone remembers me, so long.
Evacuated
My mother and I lived in Laurel Cottage for the duration of the Second World War. I seem to remember it was next to the pub. I had a friend called Peggy. Her parents had a farm and I seem to remember it being in the village. We used to gather nuts from the hedgerows. I was 4 when we left but isn't it funny how happy memories linger. Anne
The Garage in Yetminster
Yes, the garage I remember was owned by O.C.C. Curtis...I remember the little pocket calendars my father used to receive when he filled up his green Hillman Hunter car there in the 1960s and 70s.
Family Connections.
The couple on the right pavement are my grandparents George Gray and his wife Elizabeth (nee Phippen) of Thornford.
The photo would have been taken on a Thursday because after his retirement they
always travelled to Sherborne on the once a week bus and would have been
walking back to Digby Road just before midday for the bus home. Date about right
as born 1887. He retired 1954/5.
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