Compton Abbas, Dorset

The Mount

My great aunt Emilly Still lived in the bungalow in the background and we as children spent many happy summer holidays in Fontmell Magna. She and Tom (who I never knew) are buried in the church graveyard.

I remember travelling from our home in Kent to Fontmell in the winter of 1963 during the worst snow storms in living memory... [more]

A Boarding School second to none

What a dump Iwerne Minster was to a school boy of the 60's sent from London to that boarding school in the middle of nowhere. The locals spoke in a strange unintelligible dialect, the air was sometime thick with the stink of manure, and you had to be 14 to buy beer from the off-licence at Tarrant Hinton! Now, 50+ years... [more]

Shaftesbury's bad reputation!

Shaftesbury's position high on a hilltop with only a meagre water supply meant that water had to be brought up to the town from wells at the bottom of the steep slopes, usually by horses and donkeys carrying barrels. Water sellers then went round the town's houses selling water by the bucketful. However, Shaftesbury's position at the crossroads of several main... [more]

Hovis Hill

This is the hill that appeared in the Hovis television adverts - supposedly in a northern town, but in reality in deepest Dorset! At the top it is about 700 feet above sea level. It is now the scene of the once a year Gold Hill Festival in July.

Stour Row

My family were friends of the Vowles who lived in Green Lane. We stayed with them in 1935, I have a photo of them and me as a baby. My memory is of staying with them in the war years and going to school in the village, I seem to remember carrying a plate  to school each day for my dinner.... [more]

I lived and worked here.

I lived and worked at the manor from Sept 1986 to around May 1988, if anyone remembers me and wants to get in touch please email. j.goodwin007@hotmail.co.uk

Evacuation to Hanford House in war time

My sister and I came to Hanford House with the Wimbledon High School at the beginning of the war. After a year the school returned and the owner of the house, Mrs. Lister, collected a small group of teachers and offered to keep on any children whose parents did not want their children in London. We stayed two further... [more]

Before the houses came

I remember these fields before any building was done in this part of the village.
The fields were owned by Mr Fred Bradley and Mr Harry Watts. I can remember going with Mr Watts to see if any cows had calved in the night. At the top of the field there was a large pond that in spring would be full... [more]