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Whatcombe
Whatcombe maps
Historic maps of Whatcombe and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Whatcombe maps
Whatcombe photos
We have no photos of Whatcombe, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Winterborne Stickland| Milton Abbas| Winterborne Kingston| Milborne St Andrew| Hilton| Charlton Marshall| Bere Regis| Blandford Forum| Melcombe Bingham| Langton Long| Ibberton| Stourpaine| Tolpuddle| Shillingstone| Athelhampton| Okeford Fitzpaine| Puddletown| Hazelbury Bryan| Kingston| Fifehead Neville
Whatcombe area books
Displaying 1 of 18 books about Whatcombe and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Whatcombe
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Dorset memories
The Fabulous Fez Heads Entertain Whitethorn Morris
For very many years the dancers and musicians of Whitethorn Morris have performed in the streets at Wimborne Folk Festival each June and have been fascinated to see another team known as the "Fabulous Fez Heads" there.
This led for the first time, in 2007, to an invitation to join the Fig and Date Fayre at The Greyhound Inn in nearby Winterborne Kingston. A mad day of entertainment was laid on by the Fabulous Fez Heads to which the dancers and musicians from a dozen or so morris sides contributed. Whitethorn Morris were there with a full dance team plus the Whitethorn Band to join in the festivities with a colourful display of "north west morris".
The sun shone but the cold wind blew! I played my accordian with the Whitethorn Band but it was a bit of a struggle as I had missed all the weekly practices during the winter having moved from Whitethorn's home town area of Harrow to rural Devon in 2006!... Read more
Drakes of Hilton
For many generations the DRAKE family lived in the Hilton area. My gg grandfather was George DRAKE a Woodman. His son, Charles left the village and worked as a domestic coachman in the London area. My grandfather Ben, Charles' son, had three maiden cousins living in Hilton during WW2. My Uncle Kenneth had stayed with them in August 1944. During the war Fanny was the local bus driver, Julia the postmistress and Minnie a teacher. During a holiday in Dorset in 1968 my uncle had visited them again to show his sons where he had stayed. Fortunately he took a photo of Minnie and Fanny. Julia had died 1961 and was interned in Hilton Church burial ground. The other sisters died in the 1970s and are buried near their sister.
Charcters of Hilton
My husband's great-aunt was Minnie Drake, who had been the local teacher all her life, until retirement. We visited her and her sister Fanny in their thatched cottage, first of all before our marriage and later after our marriage. A small fire would burn in the hearth and the house was full of china and chairs passed down the family. When we visited for the first time I wore a long purple maxi coat. Minnie gave a wry smile and said "Is Anita the Bishop?". Little did I know that one day many years later I was to be in the first group of women priests ordained in Bristol Cathedral in March 1994. Minnie had died many years earlier but her words had a prophetic ring, but I shall be well retired before the legislation goes through to ordain women as Bishops, however, although she did not realise it it her joke had at least partly prophetic insight! My husband's memories go back to a further sister called Julia and... Read more
The Bothy, my Perfect Home.
Not quite sure when we moved from Charminster to Dewlish, but it was magical. The Bothy was the house attached to the Dewlish House kitchen gardens. Apparently it was last occupied in the war to billet American troops. The electrics were wet and a little risky, and when we first lit a fire to try and warm the place up filled the house with smoke. The chimney had been taken over by birds and nests needed to be removed to make the place warm. Water came from a well in a little area at the back of the kitchen and needed to be pumped to a tank in the roof by hand. After some training it was possible to fill the tank in about 20 mins. The walled gardens were a jungle and it took my father and me, with additional help from my sisters and mother about a year to get it into some sort of useful shape. It was a wonderful place. There were fruit trees of every sort all around... Read more
The New Hospital.
I moved to Blandford to take up a new position, at the time the extension of the hospital was near completion. The hospital was very much a community orientated place where local people were employed and cared for local members of the community. Through a hospital function, I met my current husband John, so I not only have very special work-related memories, but also have happy personal memories, thanks to the hospital.
Many A Good Memory.
Over the few years I lived in Blandford, John and I would take his parents for a drink at the Crown Hotel, lovely relaxing evenings, great atmosphere, good company, what more could you ask for. On my first Christmas in Blandford, the hospital held its Christmas dinner at the Crown Hotel, food and service were faultless and it was a great evening.
Blandford
In the 1960s we used Blandford as our main shopping town, we lived in Child Okeford six miles away. Hobbs were a good toy shop, Frisbys shoe shop, Cherrys outfitters were another must when shoppinG for clothes, indeed both Frisbys and Cherrys used to bring their vans round the villages every other week. We used to catch a Hants and Dorset bus from Steepleton Corner to visit one of the two Cinemas, and after the show there was a great Fish & Chip shop next door to one of them. Thursday was the best day to visit, it was market day and the town square was full of stalls, you could also visit Boots lending library to cHange your books.
