The Francis Frith Collection.
You are here:

Up Cerne

Up Cerne maps

Historic maps of Up Cerne and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis.   View all Up Cerne maps

Up Cerne photos

We have no photos of Up Cerne, although we do have photos of these nearby places:

Sydling St Nicholas| Godmanstone| Piddletrenthide| Leigh| White Lackington| Cattistock| Maiden Newton| Frome Vauchurch| Piddlehinton| Frampton| Evershot| Melbury Osmond| Yetminster| Hazelbury Bryan| Toller Porcorum| Kingston

Up Cerne area books

Displaying 1 of 18 books about Up Cerne and the local area.   View all books for this area

Memories of Up Cerne

No memories of Up Cerne have been shared yet - be the first!
Add your memory of Up Cerne or of a photo of Up Cerne.

Dorset memories

Easter 1962

I was one of 14 cyclists from Sussex who descended upon Cerne Abbas on Good Friday 1962, staying until Easter Monday.  We literally descended, as the route we used was to come over the hill from Piddletrenthide swooping down the narrow lane into the village.  We had left Sussex that Friday morning at about 7am and arrived in Cerne at about 7pm.  We were 8 blokes and 6 girls and we were booked in at the Old Cerne Union workhouse, then doing bed and breakfast, now in 2007 a rest home.  Torrential rain on the Saturday didn't stop us visiting Weymouth but on Sunday, when we went to Sherborne and Sturminster Newton the sun came out to allow us to don shorts for the first time that year.  But the real enjoyment came from the two evenings spent in Cerne, especially Saturday night at The Royal Oak.  In 1962 the pub bar area was much smaller than today, but we crowded in there, drinking the pub dry of draught Taunton... Read more

A Tiny Sketch by Judges 1958 Found in Brisbane Charity Shop

The Smiths Arms c1955
Enlarge photo |  More about this photo

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 the year earlier.
These sketches are a window to a place in a time long ago.

The 1st Hatch End Scouts Camp at Piddletrenthide

The Village c1955
Enlarge photo |  More about this photo


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 of the ruined outbuildings and a month or so later we received an impressive scroll from him giving us the "right to call ourselves barnstormers and to march over his land forever with flags flying and knives unsheathed". A great impression on this 11 year old!  The farmer's scroll was displayed in the Scout Hut back in Hatch End for many years as we all had such lovely memories of our two weeks in Piddletrenthide!

Leigh VC School

The village school was very small and later converted into a home, but I will always remember Mr Riley the headmaster, an ex-Policeman who drove a very flashy sportscar to school (Equipe- something on the badge?) The pupils were mainly farmers' sons and daughters and we did lots of crafts from cardboard. I remember seeing my first black person there, a student teacher from Guyana, who was very nice lady. I also remember a Mrs Hoskins and a Mrs Ball who gave me a Penny Farthing stamp on an envelope that I later lost unfortunately...probably worth a fortune today! There was also a wonderful man called Mr Goldsack who came in and taught us to grow vegetables in a little plot next to one of the buildings and it was a lot of fun. I left for secondary school in 1972 in Sherborne and I think the village school closed soon afterwards.

Emigrant Ancestor Baptised There Christmas Day 1773

St Mary's Church 1906
Enlarge photo |  More about this photo

George Coombs was born in Maiden Newton in 1773. He later took a soldier's grant of 200 acres in Ontario - where we still live.

Riversdale House, Maiden Newton

I lived here as a child of nine in 1950-1. We rented it from the owner, the delightful Sylvia Townsend Warner, author, who lived there with her partner, Valentine Ackland. The house literally stands with one wall in the river Frome. Paintings which hung about the house by "John Crask" must have had a special significance for the couple. You could sit in the library and watch the rabbits on the opposite bank and herons would sometimes come there too. There was a music room with a grand piano overlooking the river (middle of the house). In 1951 the Frome flooded, turning the house into an effective island. Today, the place looks much the same but the corrugated cladding has disappeared from the walls.

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.

© Copyright 1998-2012 Frith Content Inc. All rights reserved.