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Charlton Horethorne
Charlton Horethorne photos
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Charlton Horethorne maps
Historic maps of Charlton Horethorne and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Charlton Horethorne maps
Charlton Horethorne area books
Displaying 1 of 11 books about Charlton Horethorne and the local area. View all books for this area
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Memories of Charlton Horethorne
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Dorset memories
Wartime Ven House
About 1940, at 9 years old, my private school, Willingdon College, was evacuated from Eastbourne to Ven House. It was a most magnificent building, built in the 1700s and pretty unsuitable for a boys' school. I remember fine carved doors and fireplaces, an impressive enormous entrance hall with ceiling paintings which we used as a Dining Hall, beautiful glass chandeliers, the arms of one of which I broke while fooling about, with dire consequences. During the early years many of us slept in basement dormitories which had buzzing machines supposedly to introduce ozone into the air. There is a fine terrace at the back which was weeded as a punishment. A river with a small pool which was great in the summer. There is also a path to a small entrance on to the main road where we had liaisons with the village girls, this led to violent threats from the village boys and some jeering when we marched to church on Sundays. In 1945 the school moved to Kent.... Read more
Ven House
The entrance to Ven House had two phoenix on the gates, I believe we adopted the phoenix to our college badge. We were evacuated from Eastbourne during the Second World War, as a molotove cocktail bomb burnt down the building. We were sheltering in a dug out in the school grounds. Virtually overnight a convoy of charabancs took us to Milbourne Port and Ven House. Opposite Ven House was a hill we called Babylon. We used to semaphore from the roof of Ven House to the top of the hill in our school Scout movement. A stream ran throughout the grounds, also under the verandah leading to the gardens and lily pond where we assembled each day for roll call. There was an orangery at the end of the verandah. The grounds had a vast collection of trees and shrubs imported by Sir Hubert Medlycott, the owner of Ven House. Mr Cottingham was our principal, till he stepped down for a Welsh ex-army officer who took over. Rugby was introduced... Read more
Former Landlord
Whilst doing our family history, we discover that the Andrews family were former proprietors of The Kings Head in Milborne Port. His name was Frederick James Andrews and his wife Annie. His son, Frederick Elisha Andrews married my Great Aunt, Stella and he went on to manage a small brewery near York. In the 1890s Frederick Elisha was a boarder at nearby Gillingham Grammar School.
Willingdon College
My parents evacuated me to Ven House around 1941. I was 11 years old. My memories of the school are many. The brook that ran under Ven House entrance and the dares to go through it, the poor food, playing football on the pitch with the cow patties. I remember the dog fights of our Spitfires in the Battle of Britain. It was so long ago, but I do have fond and, sometimes, pretty rotten memories of it. If there is someone who may remember me, I would love to correspond with them. My home is now in Sydney, Australia. I do a lot of International travel and would like to meet up with some old school mates.
My Birthplace
My grandparents, Frank and Amy Hazzard, lived in Templecombe in Somerset. They lived in Lilly Lane Farm and then later in Yew Tree House. My grandfather, Frank Hazzard, was a farmer. He was blind, but was one of only three blind bellringers in the country. He was also a very good carpenter and I can still remember visiting him in his workshop with the wonderful smell of wood shavings. I still have a box that he made for me. My grandmother's maiden name was Foreman. I was born Gillian Mary Owen in Templecombe Hospital on 8th November 1946.
Wartime Evacuee
I was evacuated from Dagenham during the war with my sisters Joyce and Pat. They lived with the schoolmaster Mr Pearce, whilst I lived with Mr & Mrs Norris Tinylogs, Lily Lane. I remember working with Mr Frank Hazzard during my spare time, who was a wonderful man. Our time in Templecombe was made happy and memorable by the villagers who looked after us all.
Birth Place
My birthday, a very cold day 10th December 1944. My mother had been in a horse and cart delivering milk to the area around Wincanton when the cart turned over into a ditch, this started premature labour and she was taken to Templecombe as the nearest hospital. My mother Phylis Cruickshank had been living at Bitwood Farm, Charlton Musgrove, my father, Donald Stuart Cruickshank, a seaman recently demobbed, was working as a chef at a local hotel.
This information is mainly drawn from my birth certificate and my memory of various stories told by the family over the years.
I would welcome any information, however small, to fill in the many blanks.
My mother divorced my father in 1960 and burnt all records of their time together, I did not know how important this was in my own history, or I would have asked so many more questions when she was alive.
This period seems to have produced so many 'secrets' which today we would regard as commonplace.
I... Read more
