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Charmouth, The Queen's Armes Hotel c1960
Charmouth, The Queen's Armes Hotel c1960 Ref: c66008
Memories of Charmouth, The Queen's Armes Hotel
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Charmouth & local memories
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Charmouth, Village 1890
Ref: 27381
I was delighted to find this photograph as the Edward Archer Vince who owned the shop shown and mentionned in the text was my Great Great Grandfather and my Great Grandfather Frederick Harold Vince grew up here.....
Shared on 04 October 2007
The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II
I was about 3 years old when the present Queen was crowned. Us children went up to the manor house where they held a party outside. I remember someone with a cine camera filming the event. I have always wondered what became of that film which almost certainly showed me enjoying the party. I lived at the village post office and general store and knew everyone in the village as I used to serve in the shop from the age of about six. The post office and shop have long since gone and the vilage school has closed. They still have the village club but they never had any pubs. However, researching the village's history I have found out that Knapp Farm was origially a coaching inn called The old Knapp Inn. That closed in 1910. I used to play in that farm house with the farmer's daughter Kay Huxter. I was alway's puzzled as to why they had two separate staircases in that house and a bay window which had a built-in seat (just like in many pubs). It was only 50 years later I found out the coaching inn connection. There were postcards showing Wootton Fitzpaine in the 1950s. I don't have any but I did use to sell them in our shop, my parents commissioned a firm to print them.
Shared on 04 May 2009
Lyme Regis, Broad Street c1905
Ref: l121001
Though tis Dorset, I thought twere Devon
When I was a child, I lived at Axminster. My favourite seaside resort was Lyme Regis, about 6 miles away from home. Even though I was told, on countless occasions, that Lyme lay in Dorset, I would not accept that fact and insisted it was a Devonshire resort. It was MY seaside town, and I lived in Devon - therefore Lyme Regis was in Devon - that's infant child logic for you. Before I could cycle, we used to travel to Lyme by 'Lyme Billy', a little steam engine that ran from Axminster to Lyme, then we had to walk down Broad Street before reaching the beach. Now, Broad Street would have been better named Steep Street. It was a long and very steep hill that led down from the station to the beach. It was the climb back up that made my little legs ache, but the trudge down that made many an elderly knee creak - so I'm told. That will not have changed, I'm sure. When I was old enough and free to cycle wherever my fancy took me, Lyme Regis was one of my many 'must-visit' resorts. The cycle ride down the hill was both scary and exhilarating. I'm not sure how many rubber brake blocks I ruined on those jaunts. Whenever I see pictures of Lyme Regis, I always remember first, that hill and the thrill of the ride down, the wonderful fresh smell of salty sea air, and the wind in my hair, not to mention the gruelling journey back up the hill.
Shared on 13 January 2010
Lyme Regis, Harbour 1890
Ref: 27359
I remember the houses on the right as being very crooked! Presumably the land movement had shifted the foundations and cracked the walls, but both of them survived and were inhabited - the owners had repaired the damage without straightening the buildings, so they were really strange! As time passed the 'uphill' house was demolished, but the other one lasted longer.
Shared on 24 March 2009
Lyme Regis, Marine Parade c1955
Ref: L121243
The photo caption for this in the book states that there were girders and wires and mines on Lyme beach during the war. My father Gilbert Atterbury was Town Clerk from the mid thirties until the late fifties and fought the War Office to keep Lyme beach open as tourism was all it had. As far as I know it was the only Dorset beach without giant concrete block tank traps seen in Seaton etc.,
Shared on 22 January 2009
