The Francis Frith Collection.
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Shillingstone

Shillingstone photos (10 available)

Old photo of Shillingstone

Shillingstone maps (2 available)

Old map of Shillingstone

Shillingstone books (13 available)

Shillingstone memories

Shillingstone Station

Shillingstone, Post Office and Main Road c1955

I have always been interested in trains, and Shillingstone Station gives me some great memories.
I did not enjoy the best of health when I was young so spent a lot of my childhood down at the station, even on days when my asthma was bad, in the summer months when the line was busy I would take an old camp bed down and sleep in the signal box. When the last down train to Bournemouth had gone at 9.30 the signalmen would make a drink and then it was heads down untill 3.00am when bells started to ring, which was the first excursion from the north of England on its way to Bournemouth. I would stay there untill the last ...read more here
Contributed by brian newman

The Central Stores.

Shillingstone, Post Office and Main Road c1955

My parents ran the Central Stores from 1951 to 1955, their names were Tony and Eunice Jeanes. The date of c1955 is about right as this was the year that my father and mother sold the business to Mr Dean, whose sign appears in the photograph. I was two years old when my parents took over the business and my earliest childhood memories are of life in this Dorset village. It was from these premises that at the age of four years old I was taken to the isolation hospital suffering with poliomyelitis in the outbreak of 1953. I was one of the lucky ones having no long term disability as a result of contracting the disease. ...read more here
Contributed by Timothy Jeanes

Coronation Day in Shillingstone plus other memories

Shillingstone, the Cross and Main Road c1955

I can remember Coronation Day in Shillingstone, the weather was not settled and there were showers, I can remember watching the crowning of the Queen on a TV which was in Mrs Fudge's house at the lower end of the village. In the afternoon we had a parade of fancy dress and walked to the recreation field where a fete was held, with skittles and side shows. During the evening some of the villagers went to Okeford Fitzpaine hill to look at beacons that had been lit across the Blackmore Vale.
Shillingstone folk were always ready to celebrate in style.
The parade started from the village cross, this is where as boys we would on some days buy a loaf of ...read more here
Contributed by brian newman

Dorset memories

Coronation Day in Shillingstone plus other memories

Shillingstone, the Cross and Main Road c1955

I can remember Coronation Day in Shillingstone, the weather was not settled and there were showers, I can remember watching the crowning of the Queen on a TV which was in Mrs Fudge's house at the lower end of the village. In the afternoon we had a parade of fancy dress and walked to the recreation field where a fete was held, with skittles and side shows. During the evening some of the villagers went to Okeford Fitzpaine hill to look at beacons that had been lit across the Blackmore Vale.
Shillingstone folk were always ready to celebrate in style.
The parade started from the village cross, this is where as boys we would on some days buy a loaf of ...read more here
A memory of Shillingstone contributed by brian newman

Extracts From Shillingstone & Dorset books

Shillingstone, c1955

It is said that Shillingstone sent more volunteers to the First World War than any comparably sized village in Dorset. Many of them must have yearned for the peace and safety of these quiet meadows during their absence. Twenty-five never returned.
An extract from from"Dorset Living Memories".

Shillingstone, Post Office and Main Road c1955

In Norman times this was 'Schelling's Town', for the parish belonged to the Eschelling family. The building on the left is Dean's Central Stores --a modern retail outlet for a Dorset village of half a century ago.
An extract from from"Dorset Revisited Photographic Memories".

Shillingstone, Post Office and Main Road c1955

Earlier residents of Shillingstone had taken part in the Clubmen’s Rebellion, an attempt by local people to keep the warring factions of the English Civil War out of the area. Oliver Cromwell, who considered that royalist spies were manipulating the residents, ended this interesting attempt at a peace process.
An extract from from"Dorset Living Memories".

Shillingstone, the Cross and Main Road c1955

Shillingstone remained a prosperous village for much of the 20th century thanks to the employment offered by a milk production factory and the convenient railway station. This lovely old cross was restored during that time.
An extract from from"Dorset Living Memories".

Sherborne, Ladies College 1904

Another view of the school buildings, seen from the opposite side. At this time, this site had only been occupied by the school for no more than a year.
An extract from from"Sherborne Photographic Memories".