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Melcombe Bingham
Melcombe Bingham photos
Displaying the first of 4 old photos of Melcombe Bingham. View all Melcombe Bingham photos
Melcombe Bingham maps
Historic maps of Melcombe Bingham and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Melcombe Bingham maps
Melcombe Bingham area books
Displaying 1 of 16 books about Melcombe Bingham and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Melcombe Bingham
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Melcombe Bingham.
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Melcombe Bingham
I am from this family - my grandmother was a Melcombe.
Melcombe Bingham Chapel
For Kelly Bingham 28th Generation Bingham
Mother's Memories
My mother Patricia Bingham visited Bingham's Melcombe probably in the 1950's and told me, her daughter, that the house was derelict and the hall was being used as a hayshed! I do hope to vist the place at some time next year, and wonder who owns it now and if possible to get in touch with the present owner. Look forward to hearing from someone sometime. Hilary Bingham White.
Dorset memories
Drakes of Hilton
For many generations the DRAKE family lived in the Hilton area. My gg grandfather was George DRAKE a Woodman. His son, Charles left the village and worked as a domestic coachman in the London area. My grandfather Ben, Charles' son, had three maiden cousins living in Hilton during WW2. My Uncle Kenneth had stayed with them in August 1944. During the war Fanny was the local bus driver, Julia the postmistress and Minnie a teacher. During a holiday in Dorset in 1968 my uncle had visited them again to show his sons where he had stayed. Fortunately he took a photo of Minnie and Fanny. Julia had died 1961 and was interned in Hilton Church burial ground. The other sisters died in the 1970s and are buried near their sister.
Charcters of Hilton
My husband's great-aunt was Minnie Drake, who had been the local teacher all her life, until retirement. We visited her and her sister Fanny in their thatched cottage, first of all before our marriage and later after our marriage. A small fire would burn in the hearth and the house was full of china and chairs passed down the family. When we visited for the first time I wore a long purple maxi coat. Minnie gave a wry smile and said "Is Anita the Bishop?". Little did I know that one day many years later I was to be in the first group of women priests ordained in Bristol Cathedral in March 1994. Minnie had died many years earlier but her words had a prophetic ring, but I shall be well retired before the legislation goes through to ordain women as Bishops, however, although she did not realise it it her joke had at least partly prophetic insight! My husband's memories go back to a further sister called Julia and... Read more
The Bothy, my Perfect Home.
Not quite sure when we moved from Charminster to Dewlish, but it was magical. The Bothy was the house attached to the Dewlish House kitchen gardens. Apparently it was last occupied in the war to billet American troops. The electrics were wet and a little risky, and when we first lit a fire to try and warm the place up filled the house with smoke. The chimney had been taken over by birds and nests needed to be removed to make the place warm. Water came from a well in a little area at the back of the kitchen and needed to be pumped to a tank in the roof by hand. After some training it was possible to fill the tank in about 20 mins. The walled gardens were a jungle and it took my father and me, with additional help from my sisters and mother about a year to get it into some sort of useful shape. It was a wonderful place. There were fruit trees of every sort all around... Read more
Memory of Mappowder, Lovelaces Copse
I have very fond memories of Mappowder. I used to come there every holiday to my uncle's farm, Lovelaces Copse, his name was Count Potoski. I had my own horse called Mahayleque. I used to go and get the milk from the farmer down the road on my horse. It was a wonderful time for me and one that I miss now that I'm 62.
