Spetisbury
Spetisbury maps (2 available)
Map of Dorset
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Spetisbury photos (none available)
We have no photos of Spetisbury,although these nearby locations do:Spetisbury books (18 available)
Spetisbury memories
Read and share memories of Spetisbury and Dorset inspired by Frith photos
The Village Post Office Stores
My parents bought the shop in 1952 and ran it until about 1965, it was then a very busy, thriving business, which served many of the outlying vilages.
I was just 6 when we moved down from Wolverhampton and so had many happy years of village life.
Amongst my friends were Peter & Stuart Fricker whose parents ran Frickers Bakery. I only wish I could buy their bread today. It was the best.
Sid Sweatland & his wife (can't remember her name)ran the Railway Inn, with their three daughters, Sheila, Denise & Francis.
Regards to anyone still living there that remembers those days.
Contributed by Ivan Pearce
Dorset memories
Corner Shop
I used to work in the shop on the corner, there is a man standing outside the door. It was called Langer and Son. It was then a saddler, sports and shoe shop. I met my husband there in 1963. We are celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary this year so this picture brings back many memories.
A memory of Wimborne contributed by Mrs C Holloway
The Central Stores.
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
A memory of Shillingstone contributed by Timothy Jeanes
Childhood memories.
I noticed with some surprise a photo of myself aged about 12 years. I am the girl on the left with the ponytail the year being about 1960. I don't recall the boys name but it looks as if we are standing by the machine that used to print letters of the alphabet. I think it cost one old penny for 20/25 letters. There was a metal dial with a brass pointer like the hour hand on a clock and when it was pointing to the letter you required you pulled down a lever on the side (a bit like a one armed bandit) and the letters were embossed on a strip of metal.
A memory of Lyme Regis contributed by Chris Rowe
Extracts From Spetisbury & Dorset books
A walk down High West Street from Thomas Hardy’s statue will bring the visitor to the County Museum, where the novelist’s study has been faithfully recreated, complete with the pens used to write each novel.
An extract from from"Dorset Pocket Album".
The tower of the medieval St Peter’s Church, seen here on the left, dominates much of Dorchester’s High Street. The building was restored in 1856 by the local architect John Hicks, with the help of his teenage apprentice Thomas Hardy. The interior is dominated by the tomb of Denzil, Lord Holles who fought for parliament in the Civil War, but survived to become a counsellor to Charles II.
An extract from from"Dorset Pocket Album".
Hangman’s Cottage, seen here on the left, was the home of the town’s resident executioner in the 19th century. The young Thomas Hardy was shocked and fascinated by the public execution of a woman in Dorchester and was unable to dispel the image from his mind, using the scene for the climax of ‘Tess of the D’Urbervilles’.
An extract from from"Dorset Pocket Album".
Hardy designed Max Gate as his final home and wrote his greatest novels there. Many famous personalities, such as Lawrence of Arabia, came here to pay homage to the grand old man of English letters. The poet and novelist died here in 1928.
An extract from from"Dorset Pocket Album".
Thomas Hardy was born in this cottage in 1840 and wrote his first three novels whilst living there. He retained an interest in the family home until the end of his life. The National Trust acquired the house and surroundings in 1948, and it is regularly open to the public.
An extract from from"Dorset Pocket Album".