Stinsford, Dorset

Thomas Hardy

I don't have a specific memory of anything except that my ancestor is Thomas Hardy, author and poet. I am in awe of his writing abilities and his life. I hope to find many things here about him. My search will continue and hopefully I will get a dream visit to England and see his cottage.

A Family Business

To anyone local to Dorchester this was a familiar scene day in and day out for almost 50 years. My grandfather Ben Courtney started selling 'fruit and veg' in 1947 from hand-carts on the roadside. His son Doug started in 1950 and various members of the family helped out through the week.

This picture shows my Aunt Isabel serving a... [more]

'When we were young'

‘I remember when’ - yes, I remember market day in Dorchester very well – when your picture was taken I was 10 years old, and could well have been one of the children in your picture. On Wednesdays, during school holidays Mum took my brother and I to Dorchester on the bus and we would go'‘into town’ first to do the... [more]

My Gt Grandparents lived at Hangmans Cottage

My great-grandparents lived at Hangmans Cottage sometime during the late 1800s or early 1900s. My dad Robert Mitchell was born at Friary Cottage in 1904 which is a short walk from Hangmans Cottage. He used to tell me about his time spent with his grandparents at Hangmans Cottage when he was a boy. Sadly I am not sure as to whether... [more]

As a child I lived in the estate office.

As a child I lived in the estate office in the square, my father was estate bailiff for W J Brymer for all of the war years. I remember many of the troops were billeted with us in the house, at one time we had fifteen staying in the attic. We also had two American officers with us, one was Captain... [more]

A tiny sketch by Judges 1958 found in Brisbane Charity Shop

I found a delightful pair of sketches beautifully framed 16cm x 11cm - one of the subjects was a skillfully crafted sketch of the Smith's Arms at Godmanstone - almost identically as it appears in the above photo - it was a real place.
The artist signed his/her name Judges.
The second sketch is of a Dorset cottage in Cerne Abbas... [more]

Fond Memories

My family moved to Eastbrook House in 1970 and lived there for about 11 years, I was ages 1-11 at that time so my first memories and experiences were of Eastbrook, Upwey, Dorchester and Weymouth in that order.  I drive through Upwey whenever I can on nostalgia trips and always stop outside Eastbrook to reminisce and to see what changes are... [more]

The 1st Hatch End Scouts camp at Piddletrenthide

This view is EXACTLY as I remember this lovely village where the scouts from Hatch End spent a two week summer camp in 1957.

Although I no longer recall the name of the particular farm where we set up camp, I do remember our troop carrying out a good turn for the farmer. We were asked to demolish one... [more]