Burton Bradstock in the 1950s
An Interview with Greta Heal and
Basil Dent
Greta Heal is one of the Hawkins family, one of the oldest Village
families. Greta's father had Townsend Farm in Shadrach [A1] and her Uncle Edgar
had Shadrach Dairy Farm in Mill Street, both leased from the Pitt Rivers
Estate. Prior to taking Townsend Farm, Greta's father kept the Post Office and
Three Horseshoes pub together including doing baking in the Shoes.
ÒI lived at Townsend Farm, which was right opposite where Nancy Bushell lives. The farmhouse was where the cottage with the
black shutters is now. My father died on 10 December 1941 and this made things
hard. In 1946/7 my sister Margaret and I bought Townsend Farm and Henry Pitman
helped keep it going, but in 1948 Mum died and my sister wasn't really
interested. She emigrated to Australia in March 1959.
I married Bill in 1949. He was a Londoner, evacuated to Bridport
in the War. He stayed with the Northover and Gilbert
family and we met at one of the weekly dances in the Village Hall. In the 4Os
and 50s they had lots of Dances and Whist Drives in the Hall and Basil's Auntie
Lil, who lived in The Red House, ran the dances. They were very informal and of
course you couldn't take drink in, so the young men used to stash bottles in
Auntie Lil's garden (now Hilary Mousley's orchard).
The WI were very big in the Village then and Lady
Fielding and Miss Cottrington, who gave the money for
the Village Hall to be built, had lived at Gages with Miss Chitty as
Housekeeper. The other big house in that part of the Village was Girt (Great)
House and Mr. and Mrs. Denning lived there.
I kept the farm going as long as I could, but in 1950/51, the
Council put a Compulsory Purchase Order on it and built Chesil
Court and South Annings on it in the 1960s. Bill and I moved first to the
cottage on the end next to the Farmhouse and then we moved to Barr Lane. I
hated having to move.Ó
Basil Dent came to live in Burton Bradstock in 1956 and for many
years worked at the Garage (Cheney's) [A2| which was owned by his Uncle Albert
and Auntie Lil (Cheney) and later by his cousin Gordon Cheney. He retired in
December 1989.
ÒMy family moved North to work in 1926.
Dad eventually bought a Garage in Stockport and I worked with him. We came back
to Burton for family holidays because Mum and Auntie Lil were sisters. I only
came back to live in Burton when Uncle Albert died unexpectedly quickly in
1956.
Motor Manufacturing was picking up after the War and Uncle Albert
had just got an Austin Franchise. All Repairs and Servicing were done round the
Flax Mill and Cousin Gordon wanted to do the Mechanics and look after the
workshops there. He asked me to come down and do the admin and look after the
sales and forecourt. The Garage moved to the site it is on now in 1933, prior
to which it had a nursery specialising in violets run by Bertie
Williams. The Garage had originally been at the top of Barr Lane with the
petrol pump on the right, virtually on the corner. Aunty Lil bought the Garage
in the sale in 1958.Ó
Susan Moores compiled the following from
what Greta and Basil said in answer to the question Ô
ÒWhat was Burton Bradstock like in the 195Os?Ó
Farms
There were three (and a half) working farms in Burton Bradstock in
the 5Os. The 'half' farm was that of Rob Gale, the Village Butcher, who had 19
cows and his Dairy was in Annings Lane where houses are now. His Cowman was Stan
Parsons, Peter Parson's father, and he did the milking 365 days a year. The
cows were pastured in the field on the right at the top of Cliff Road, and
every day Stan would walk them through the Village, past the White House and
along Annings Lane [A3].
The 3 full working farms were Bishop's, Hawkins Dairy Farm and
Bunny Lenthall's. Frank Bishop [A4] kept Horses at
Shadrach Farm, which was on the left where Nancy Bushell
and the Chennells live now, and Frank lived In
Shadrach House [A5]. He ran a Riding Stables with his son Tony. Frank died in an accident in June 1957
when a tractor overturned on him while making silage and Tony took over. Tony
was into horse-racing and bought in lots of horses to ride in races.
The Hawkins Brothers ran Shadrach Dairy Farm in Mill Street. Their
cows were pastured along Bredy Lane. The Hawkins had long run a dairy
delivering milk to the Valley [A6].
Bunny Lenthall leased Manor Farm and he kept his cows in a field
at the bottom of Southover. All the cows came along the High Street at certain
times of the day and had to be kept apart.
Bunny was more famous for breeding Dorset Horn Sheep [A7]. He was
a well-known National judge and his sheep won many trophies during the 50s [A8].
He judged Dorset Horn sheep in Australia and emigrated there in the 60s, buying
thousands of acres at 6d an acre! In the 50s, Bunny also had caravans on
Freshwater and at the 1958 sale he bought the Freshwater Caravan site [A9]. He
continued leasing Manor Farm until he moved to Australia. The Estate put the
Farm up for sale and developers bought it. They took out Manor Farm and 50
acres as a unit and Jack Burt (Heather Thompson's father) bought it from the
developers in the early 60s.
Between the fork in Bredy Road to Mallinson's turning, 7 people
owned the fields. Most farms around were small and poor. If you needed a
milking cow because some of yours had died, you could swap a meadow or a horse
for a new cow and it would all be done on a handshake - Trust. This is why it
was very difficult to know who held what land when the Land Registry asked.
Shops
Rob Gale, Janet Guppy's uncle, was the Village Butcher. His shop
was in Grove Road. There were 3 other shops in Burton Bradstock in the 50s. The
shop in Shadrach, near the Anchor, had been an Estate Maintenance Workshop
until Mark and Janet Bell bought it in the 1958 Sale. They made it into a
Grocer's shop selling newspapers as well. Later, they sold it to Janet and
Geoff Guppy and it flourished for many years. The other shop, which sold
everything, was run by Stanley and Annie Williams, an old Village family. It
was in the High Street, in the end cottage before the Bridge. Stanley was a
bell ringer and both were part of the very large Church Choir. They had shelves
outside the shop full of fresh vegetables including Lettuce and Greens. Annie could be seen at various times of
the day beating off the cows on their way to the Milking Parlours with a large stick!
Fred Mullins ran another shop where Bridge Cottage B&B now is.
In photographs his shop can be identified by the 'Walls' sign
by the door or a sign saying 'ices' which he put on the wall opposite.
Fred also stocked books which he would sell for 6d [A10].
The Post Office was to the left of The Three Horseshoes - now part
of the Lounge Bar [A11]. There was a Bakers Oven in the Shoes and it sold mixed
goods. After the Sale the Post Office was moved to its present site because Palmers
Brewery had bought the Post Office at the Sale to extend the pub. Colonel Maddocks
bought the cottage next to the Shoes in the Sale and turned it into the Post
Office. The main Bakery was in Grove Mill (Burton Mill).
Pubs
There were 3 Pubs in the Village - The Dove [A12], The Three
Horseshoes and The Anchor Hotel [A13]. The Dove was very much a 'spit and
sawdust' pub. It had its own clientele from those living closest. Also, the
only food The Dove served, and not frequently, was Bread and Cheese but there were more takers when the landlord, Gus Wylde,
got draught Guinness which attracted the Navy from Portland! In 1956/57 a fire
destroyed the cottages opposite the Anchor Hotel [A14] and after the 1958 Sale
they were knocked down and four flats were built.
The Shoes was an Ale House. A passage went through from front to
back. There was a small Lounge Bar on the left, which didn't include the area
of the corner and the bay window, as that area was the Post Office. On the
right was the Public Bar. There was just one tiny window in the Public Bar and
in both bars you could get Pork Pies and Sandwiches. Harold Greenham
was the Landlord in the 5Os; he was up at 6am every day with all the doors and
windows wide open to let out the smoke and the smell. The Shoes was really only
one up from 'Spit and Sawdust'.
The Anchor has always been the 'Smart' Pub. It was quite up-market
and in the 5Os began calling itself a Hotel. It was very like it is now but it
had a room at the back where the Smoking Area is now. It had a Public Bar but
sold itself on its Accommodation in the Summer. From 1958, The Anchor had 6
letting rooms and offered full board.
West Bexington Manor was very smart even then. You could only get
a drink if you had food, so one sandwich was put in the middle of the table at
the beginning of the evening and woe-betide you if you ate itl
Deliveries
In addition, vans came round from which you could buy all sorts of
things. Two bakers came round - Mr. Fonsell on
Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and Roberts the Bakers on Mondays, Wednesdays
and Fridays. Two grocers, a fish man and greengrocer visited the Village and
the Co-Op came round with a mobile shop. On Mondays and Tuesdays, the Paraffin
Lorry, run by 2 men from Bridport, served the Valley. Whitemores
sent Sales Reps to the Village to get orders for family groceries and they
would be delivered to your door later. Stan Williams also had a van fitted with
separate trays for fish, meat, bread, cakes and tins and a large roof-rack full of vegetables. He delivered through the
Valley on Friday and Saturday nights after he shut the shop. Stan also took
round a 5-gallon drum of paraffin for re-fills for those who ran out; he
carried it round in the passenger seat. So much for Health and Safetyl [A15]
Building
Around Burton Bradstock, there were more open spaces. At the
beginning of the 50s, Annings Lane was a big field including what is now Lower
Townsend. It was intended to build a new School there but this never
materialised. The field was sold and the old School done up. During the 1950s,
Council properties were built in Lower Townsend and more building followed in
Annings Lane.
Beach Road was built in the 1930s but at first the only building
was North Lodge [A16] which was the Toll House for the
Beach (Joan and lan Allah's house today). All non-villagers had to pay a Toll
of 3d to get to the Beach. The Police House, where Jenny Malyon now lives, was
built just after the War so in the 1950s there was a full Police Station
allocation for the Village of one full time Police Constable. PC Robinson was
the first, followed by PC Geoff Peach who later became an Inspector in
Blandford. The 50s saw private house building in Beach Road. The first plot was
sold for £50; the last for £70,000. By 1958, there
were only 4 plots left.
Circa 1960, Peter de Savary began the
conversion of the Mill in Grove Road [A17] into Mill Cottage, and later Mill
House and four flats. The four levels of the early 19th Century Mill were
reduced to three and the Mill Wheel and associated machinery were destroyed.
Mill Cottage was sold to Mr. and Mrs. House (seen in the photograph outside
their new purchase) [A18].
In the early 1950s (c. 1952), several cottages opposite The Anchor
burned down and the four flats which are there now
were built (see photograph).
Plans to extend Cheney's Garage were drawn up in 1959 and the
extensions and workshops were added in 1960-61. The bank was dug out and the
forecourt made bigger. The petrol pumps were also replaced with more modern
ones. The Garage was modernised and the mechanical operations were moved to the
main garage, the Flax Mill then only being used for storage of cars and
caravans [A19].
Compiled by Susan Moores - May 2012