Uplyme memories
Here are memories of Uplyme and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Uplyme or a Uplyme photo.
Boarding School, Harcombe House.
In 1956 I went to Harcombe House as a boarder. Mrs Jowett was in charge of us - 52 girls. Crocket did the gardens and lived in a cottage on the lane, as did cook. Matron and the housemistress, Miss Haytor, lived in. The house cat was called Whitey - a poorly creature with scabby ears.
We walked into Lyme Regis each day to attend Lyme Regis Grammar, and back in the evenings. I'd never been so happy, especially playing in the grounds and exploring the moors which rose at the side of the house.
We had our own Guide Company, I was in Rose Patrol, were allowed to sleep under canvas on the old tennis courts when it was fine, held midnight feasts and enjoyed watching the wildlife. I can remember causing a massive stir when uncovering a nest of adders in the pile of grass cuttings from the old tennis courts. Crockett was summmonsed to 'dispatch' them and I stood, wishing that I'd not told anyone they were... Read more
One of my Many Schools
I went to Uplyme school from about 1958/59, I was about 8 years old, we lived in Combpyne and came to school by bus which we caught at Rousden. My memories of the school are three sisters by the name of Taylor, one I think was Belinda, and a girl called Ruth. I also remember two brothers Frank and Ralph I think they were from Africa. I thought the teachers were frightening at the time. I remember we were taken to someone's house in the village to watch something on television, something to do with the royal family I think. I have not been back to Uplyme or Combpyne since I left, hope to one day though. My brother also used to catch the bus but he went on to a school in Axminster. I remember one day that I left my satchel on the steps were we used to catch the bus, and it was still there when we came home, it wouldn't be nowadays. My name then was... Read more
School Days
My first school was at Uplyme. I started when I was 4 which was nearly 54 years ago now. I remember the headmaster was a Mr Denham and he lived in a house on the top of the hill opposite the Church. I remember being quite scared of him. The teacher who I also remember with great fondness was a Mrs Hurst, she was a very kind and caring lady. I also remember that at Christmas we always held the Nativity Play inside the church.
Memories of Dorset
Mid 1960's - Mid 1980's
My parents David & Valerie, and younger brother Roger Angus lived at 'Rosevine' opposite the Rectory.
The then vicar, Christopher Leach lived in the Rectory with his wife and children Godfrey and Hilary. Additionally, they charitably fostered many children, having a minimum of four guests at any given time if my memory serves me correctly, hence using many of the available bedrooms.
When the vicar moved to live elsewhere, the new owner, an insidious individual called Mr. Ryan who was very fond of dogs, had the unfortunate habit of discarding his dog waste over the hedge into the road below.
Local farmer Frank Webber used to provide much sought after weekend and holiday employment by lifting potatoes and swedes/turnips for them.
It was a wonderful place to live your childhood with the multiple benefits of having a close knit local community and no major external distractions such as traffic, pollution and crime.
You truly learnt how to live in and with the countryside, being able to run free and investigate... Read more
Growing up
I moved to Combpyne when I was 4 years old with my mum, dad, brother and sister. We lived in the house in the centre of the village called Clock House. Its garden backed on to the churchyard. I spent many happy hours on the Webbers' farm next door to the church opposite the village pond, I remember we had an old dingy at one time and had fun on the pond. I have been back a few times since leaving in the mid 70s but it has grown and lots of things have changed, but I had a wonderful happy childhood in Combpyne.
Combpyne Village Reservoir
I am a little bit unsure whether it was 1948 when my late father, the Revd Peter N Longridge, moved from Sticklpath in Barnstaple down to Combpyne. Or maybe a year or two later. The list of Rectors in the church will confirm. My memories of the village are several, and not in any particular order of importance. There was the church, of course. I recall excavations inside which revealed a very old medieval mural showing a ship on the south wall, and two coffins under the nave when electric cables were laid. And the Yew tree from which I fell at the age of 12, breaking my right leg, whose consequences I now feel at the present age of nearly 68! There was Farmer Webber and his son Frank, and we used to collect fresh milk every other day in a aluminium pail. Clotted cream almost every day. Then the clunk-clunk of the water ram which pumped beautiful tasting fresh water up to the tiny covered reservoir above the... Read more
Addendum to First Comment on Combpyne
In February 2007 I was able to revisit Combpyne church. I looked at the little St Francis carving in the chancel, and saw that the carving had suffered somewhat from woodworm. Also, I noted that my note, that I had scrawled on a card a few years earlier, was still there; but that I had incorrectly stated that my father had carved it. It should read that a tramp had carved it, and given it to my father as a thank-you for allowing him to spend the night in a shed. Perhaps someone might re-write that card! I spoke to a gentleman living next to the church, the churchwarden, and explained who I was, and we exchanged memories. I was pleased to see the Village Reservoir again, in my time there were rainbow trout living in it. My late father was also Chaplain to Allhallows School in Rousden, but that unique school, whose buildings were constructed by the 19th C Tea-Baron named Sir Henry Peake has long-since closed, leaving our... Read more
Living in Combpyne
I was 9 years old when we came to live in Combpyne, we lived at the end of the village accross the road from a farm where my father worked. The farm must have belonged to the Webbers as I remember they had a son called Giles, like the other reader said, I think his sister was called Frances. My brother and I used to walk to the other end of the village to catch the school bus. I used to go to Uplyme school and my brother went to a school in Axminster. I remember the green bus that used to come on a Friday, also many a time we would walk up that long hill to catch the train to Lyme Regis. My mother used to get eggs from a house across the road from the church. I remember going to church every Sunday, also as we didn't own a lawn mower back then my dad used to bring the black and white bull from the farm and... Read more
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