Sixpenny Handley
Sixpenny Handley photos (8 available)
Sixpenny Handley maps (2 available)
Map of Wiltshire
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
Personalised maps
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Sixpenny Handley books (18 available)
Sixpenny Handley memories
Read and share memories of Sixpenny Handley and Wiltshire inspired by Frith photos
Coombes of Church Farm
I believe my Great Grandparents Annie and Maurice (Frank) Coombes lived and farmed at Church Farm during the 1920s. My father Thomas (Aubrey) Coombes used to spend most of his school holidays there as a boy. This was a very happy time in his life. Long summers helping his grandfather and being spoilt by grandmother Annie.
When they gave up the farm, they moved a few doors down into The White House. Both are buried in the churchyard along with one of their sons who died as an infant.
Annie lived all her life in Sixpenny Handley where she was born, leaving only once to visit Salisbury for a day out!!
I am researching my family history, ...read more here
Contributed by Hilary Coombes
Wiltshire memories
Coombes of Church Farm
I believe my Great Grandparents Annie and Maurice (Frank) Coombes lived and farmed at Church Farm during the 1920s. My father Thomas (Aubrey) Coombes used to spend most of his school holidays there as a boy. This was a very happy time in his life. Long summers helping his grandfather and being spoilt by grandmother Annie.
When they gave up the farm, they moved a few doors down into The White House. Both are buried in the churchyard along with one of their sons who died as an infant.
Annie lived all her life in Sixpenny Handley where she was born, leaving only once to visit Salisbury for a day out!!
I am researching my family history, ...read more here
A memory of Sixpenny Handley contributed by Hilary Coombes
Cranborne 1938
I was living at Cranborne where my father was the police sergeant. At the time of a crisis, members of the government came to stay with Lord Cranborne at the manor.
The matter of security arose and it was decided a policeman should be on duty at all times as he would notice any strangers. Around the same period the massive German air ship flew over at a few 1000 feet. The Hindenberg; the largest thing I have ever seen in the sky.
A memory of Cranborne contributed by painter robert
Cranborne in the early sixties
I lived in Cranborne for two years from November 1963. My father owned the shops at the far end of the terrace in this picture and the building immediately facing, although it was derelict at that time. My sister and I were enrolled in the local secondary school that had opened two months earlier.
A memory of Cranborne contributed by Gillian Graystone
Extracts From Sixpenny Handley & Wiltshire books
Despite a 20th-century road sign which carried the name ‘6d Handley’, the Sixpenny really has nothing to do with money at all. The village got its name because in Saxon times it was part of the Hundred of Sexpena. Locals just call their home village ‘Handley’.
An extract from from"Dorset Living Memories".
This is a timeless photograph. This fine study of a horse and cart at Handley Pond portrays a rural scene that could have been observed at any period during the last several centuries. The man in the cart has recently been identified as carpenter and smallholder Alexander (‘Billy’) Day, who played the double bass in the village band.
An extract from from"Dorset Pocket Album".
This is a timeless photograph. This fine study of a horse and cart at Handley Pond portrays a rural scene that could have been observed at any period during the last thousand years.
An extract from from"Dorset Living Memories".
The bank on the
corner has become
the Midland Bank,
while across The
Square the familiar
names of Boots the
Chemists and Foyle’s
Library appear on
shop signs. Between
them the draper Albert
Hyland features a
range of blouses and
underwear in his
window display. The
centre of The Square
has become a car park.
An extract from from"Wimborne Photographic Memories".
Less than 20 years have passed since No 52472 was taken, but motor vehicles in the High Street and The Square now outnumber horse-drawn ones by nine to one. Note also that Buddens tailors shop on the corner of The Square has been demolished and replaced by the London Joint City Bank, established in 1836.
An extract from from"Wimborne Photographic Memories".