West Stafford, 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]

As a child

As a child my life was with the army. Warmwell was a transit camp for some and my father was leaving the Army. We had to live there whilst he looked for work outside the army. My brother went to Dorchester Grammar, as I was much younger I went to Moreton School. Can anyone tell me if part of the house... [more]

My early life

I was born 1942. My family were farming at Snelling Farm & later moved to Waddock Farm, still on the Frampton Estate.
Because of bomb damage to the church I was christened in the village hall, which I believe is still standing.
We regularly visited the shop which was run by the Hooks family. We also swam in the river just... [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]