John Rogan wrote: > Or the Walk may be reached by the Town Bridge, Trinity Street and Hope Square > (see our plan of Weymouth) to "Look Out," a narrow road between high walls at > the end of which the beautiful wide prospect comes suddenly into view. > Continuing to the right from the Look Out, an old summer house is passed > above Newton's Cove. This is a converted bathing-machine which tradition claims > as the original one used by George III.' > > I think I remember seiing this machine at the bottom of someone's garden. Is > it still there or if not, does anyone know what became of it? > Hello John I think this might be the machine which was in Weymouth Museum (at the old Melcombe Regis School) in the 1970's. I also think it probably went over to Brewers Quay (the old Hope Square Breweries) when the museum closed. I have not checked any references so could be wrong (but am fairly sure I am right!). Hope this helps. Ray Collins Weymouth, Dorset

>Forwarded for Heather >Having problems posting to Dorset Life list as Rootsweb, AOL and Freeserve >fsmail services aren't speaking to each other at the moment! I tried to >reply to John Rogan's query "Geo III bathing machine" but it just keeps >being returned to me so wondered if you would mind forwarding it? > >If you don't mind for just this one, here's my post with John's original >edited. > > > > From : RoganGenealogy@aol.com > > To : ENG-DORSET-LIFE-L@rootsweb.com > > Subject : [DOR-LIFE] Geo III bathing machine > > I think I remember seiing this machine at the bottom of someone's > garden. Is > > it still there or if not, does anyone know what became of it? > > > > John Rogan in Wiltshire. > > > > >Hello John > >I believe it's now housed in the Timewalk at Brewers Quay, Weymouth. > >http://www.brewers-quay.co.uk/timewalk.htm > >Heather > > > > > >Thanks for you time Helen - hope all is well with you and yours and take care >Heather >Freeserve AnyTime - HALF PRICE for the first 3 months - Save £7.50 a month >www.freeserve.com/anytime Helen Jones, Weymouth, Dorset helen@melcombe.freeserve.co.uk http://www.melcombe.freeserve.co.uk

The 1933 edition of the Illustrated Guide Book for Weymouth, Portland, Dorchester and South Dorset published by Ward Lock & Co, describes the following walk. 'Below is Jubilee Walk, which serves as a path round the low cliffs towards Sandsfoot Castle. To reach this by rounding the Fort, descend to the Parade, and at the end of it walk along the beach, part of the way on a cement path and part over rocks. Or the Walk may be reached by the Town Bridge, Trinity Street and Hope Square (see our plan of Weymouth) to "Look Out," a narrow road between high walls at the end of which the beautiful wide prospect comes suddenly into view. Continuing to the right from the Look Out, an old summer house is passed above Newton's Cove. This is a converted bathing-machine which tradition claims as the original one used by George III.' I think I remember seiing this machine at the bottom of someone's garden. Is it still there or if not, does anyone know what became of it? John Rogan in Wiltshire.

Hi! I've emailed John Rogan a couple of times about a name I found in the archives of this list, but his address RoganGenealogy@aol.com is bouncing messages. The names NEEDELL and NEEDLE are both mentioned in the index; I wondered if it would be possible to get information as to where to find out further details about the deeds which mention those names. Regards Judith Gibbons Coventry, UK

Forwarded for Kim - you may see this on other lists as well. Helen >................................................ > >Hi Everyone >It's been a while since I last updated everyone on the website and there has >also been a new development that I would like to share with you. >The website currently houses photographs and/or information for 1627 schools >and there are 292 articles posted on the forum also connected to individual >schools. >As I am almost certain that everyone of you reading this email attended at >least one school, if it was one in the UK could I ask you to have a quick >look to see if it is listed and if not please drop me a line with the >details. >If your school is mentioned than I would appreciate you contacting me with >anything that you can recall from your time there, even if it is only the >name of one teacher. Anything no matter how small can often help to jog >someone else's memory. > >The new development that I have to share with you all is fantastic, well I >think so anyway :-) >I have been contacted by a company called Tempus Publishing >(www.tempus-publishing.com ), who produce books on a wide range of >historical subjects, to write books on the history of various individual >schools in the UK. >So if anyone has any ideas for a school that may be interested in taking >part or would like to write one of their own for that matter, then please >contact me. >I am also looking for anyone with a past connection to Llandaff Cathedral >School to contact me asap. >Kind Regards >Kim > >UK SCHOOLS HISTORY WEBSITE http://chrisb.4ce.co.uk/schools_site Helen Jones, Weymouth, Dorset helen@melcombe.freeserve.co.uk http://www.melcombe.freeserve.co.uk

I see that Dorset Family History Society are now part of the FFHS/Genfair set up. This means that you can now order their publications over the internet, using a credit card. This should make things much easier and cheaper for those of you living overseas. See http://www.ffhs.org.uk and click on publications Lots more societies and small companies there as well, so with Christmas rapidly approaching, why not have a look and start dropping a few hints to your nearest and dearest, or even treat yourself. Go on - you deserve it! Somerset and Dorset FHS take credit cards on their own website so for their publications see http://www.sdfhs.org Helen Helen Jones, Weymouth, Dorset helen@melcombe.freeserve.co.uk http://www.melcombe.freeserve.co.uk

I meant to mention this before, but I have been quite ill and have not done much family history or list correspondence. There is a new Portland CD out called The Royal Manor of Portland Historic Sources" CD, produced by Ken Saunders. kvs1@compuserve.com and sold through the Somerset and Dorset FHS. I have not looked at it myself but there is a review in The Greenwood Tree which says it includes: Parish records - baps, marriages, burials from PRs and BTs Methodist Christenings and burials Memorial Inscriptions Poll Books 1841 census Documents relating to the prison, the building of the breakwater and the Ferrybridge and 'Portland Reconstructed Families" which links together families usen proven sources I think there are records from some wills as well. As I say I have not seen the CD myself so cannot give you any more precise information - for example I am not sure of the dates covered by the parish registers for example. If anyone on the list has this CD and would care to give a more detailed review, I am sure the many Portland researchers would be most grateful. The CD can be bought from Somerset and Dorset FHS for £20 including postage world wide, credit cards accepted. Contact booksales@sdfhs.fsnet.co.uk or look at the society website http://www.sdfhs.org Usual copyright restrictions apply :-) Helen Helen Jones, Weymouth, Dorset helen@melcombe.freeserve.co.uk http://www.melcombe.freeserve.co.uk

Hot on the heels of the Dorset Record Office closure, the Public Record Office at Kew will be closed from Monday 1st December until Saturday 6th December inclusive for stock taking. December does not look to be a good month for research in the UK :-) Helen Helen Jones, Weymouth, Dorset helen@melcombe.freeserve.co.uk http://www.melcombe.freeserve.co.uk

The Dorset Record Office has announced a temporary reduction in opening hours. It will be closed every Monday from 17th November until Monday 5th April (not sure if it is open Mon 5th of April or not) It will open for the following times the rest of the week: Tuesday 9.00-13.00 14.00 -17.00 Wednesday 10.00-13.00 14.00 -17.00 Thursday 9.00-13.00 14.00 -17.00 Friday 9.00-13.00 14.00 -17.00 Saturday 9.30-12.30 I assume visitors will have to leave the premises between 1300-1400 hours everyday during the lunch time closure. The RO will also close for Christmas at 1300 hours on Wednesday 24th December and re-open at 9.00 on Tuesday 6th December. If you are planning a trip to any UK Record Office, Library, Museum, Family History Centre or similar resource centre during the winter months and especially over Christmas, then I strongly recommend that you ring and check opening hours before making a wasted journey. Many places, especially those in rural areas such as parts of Dorset do curtail their opening hours at this time of the year - there are simply not enough visitors to justify opening every day! If you are subscribed to other Dorset lists then you might see this message elsewhere as I am cross posting it because the Record Office is keen that as many people as possible are aware of this! Helen Helen Jones, Weymouth, Dorset helen@melcombe.freeserve.co.uk http://www.melcombe.freeserve.co.uk

At 21:19 04/11/2003 +0000, you wrote: >Hello, would anyone know of any industry that may have started up in >Gillingham around 1780'90s? I noticed that in the records it seems that >family members, Gillet,Gillot, Gillett surname, may have come to >Gillingham around that time frame. Than k you, Bess > >_________________________________________________________________ Gillingham was a centre for glove making but I think this might have been a lot later than the 1780s. In the 1770s Gillingham was a very agricultural area - hemp, fruit, veg, dairy products, corn, seeds etc but bad harvests in the early 1780s caused problems - not just in Gillingham but in the country as a whole. Jo Draper in "Dorset, The Complete Guide" said that industry did not come to this part of Dorset until the coming of the railway in the 1850s. Up until them Gillingham was just a very small country town. Was it Gillingham town they lived in or just the area? I ask because some of my lot arrived in the area to work on the Stourhead Estate at Stourton, Wiltshire around this time - but this is a little bit north of Gillingham and my families lived in the Silton/Bourton/Kilmington area. Dovecote Press publish a little book called "The Industrial Past" by Peter Stainer in their "Discover Dorset" series. I do not have this particular title myself, but you could possibly order it through inter-library loan. There is a good little Museum in Gillingham - I should have the address somewhere; I will try and find it unless someone else on the list is able to supply it sooner. They may be able to help you - but include return postage (in the form on International Reply coupons if you don't live in the UK) Happy Hunting Helen Helen Jones, Weymouth, Dorset helen@melcombe.freeserve.co.uk http://www.melcombe.freeserve.co.uk

Bess asked  <would anyone know of any industry that may have started up in Gillingham around 1780'90s?> It may have been woollen manufacturing. There is a very good article, which may be of general interest, in the Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological society Volume 59 pp 32 - 46.  It is entitled 'Dorset Industries in the Past' and was read to the Society on 3rd April 1936 by the author F C Warren There are sections on Agriculture, Salt production, Fishing, Purbeck stone, Portland stone, Ale brewing, Flax& hemp manufacture, Poole clay, Weaving, Kimmeridge shale, Buttony, Silk throwing, Ribbonmaking, Lacemaking, Haberdashery and Stocking making. Additionally there are sections on the ports of Bridport, Swanage, Lyme Regis, Poole and Weymouth. The paper concludes with a list, reproduced below, of periodical Dorset industries, as distinct from those carried on continuously such as agriculture, throughout the county such as shipping and fishing, milling, brewing, tanning, timber trades (from felling to carpentry) and rope and cordage manufacture at Bridport. The table is best viewed in full screen. CENTURY                       MANUFACTURE               WHERE           10,11, 12, 13 &14th          Salt Manufacture              Poole Harbour, Studland,                                                                               Weymouth                     13th, 14th & 15th               Marble Quarrying            Purbeck.                     15th                                  Glove making.                 Bridport.                                         Cloth manufacture           Sherborne                     16th                                 Glove making.                  Bridport.                                        Stone quarrying.               Portland and Purbeck.                                        Newfoundland trade          Poole and Weymouth.                                        Cloth manufacture            Sherborne                     17th                                 Stone quarrying                Portland and Purbeck.                                        Newfoundland trade.          Poole                                        Privateering.                     Weymouth, Poole and Lyme                                        Cloth manufacture.            Sherborne and Dorchester                                        Linen weaving.                  Bourton                                        Stained glass making.       Blandford                                        Bone lace making.            Blandford and Sherborne                                        Transport Lobsters                                        from Cornwall to London    Weymouth                                        Alum extraction.              Kimmeridge                                        Sailcloth making.             General in West Dorset                                        Button making.                Blandford and Sherborne                                        Tobacco pipe clay                                         working for London.          Poole and Corfe Districts                        18th                               Stone quarrying.               Portland and Purbeck.                                      Herring curing.                 Swanage.                                      Newfoundland trade.         Poole and Weymouth                                      Bone lace making.            Blandford.                                      Band strings.                    Blandford.                                      Articles of Straw.              Blandford.                                      Button making.                 Shaftesbury area and Sherborne.                                     Stocking making.              Wimborne, Poole and Corfe.                                     Ribbon weaving.                 Cranborne.                                     Linen weaving.                   Bourton.                                     Haberdashery.                    Sherborne.                                     Woollen manufacture          Beaminster, Bere Regis, Dorchester,                                                                             Gillingham, Lyme, Shaftesbury. Sturminster, and Wareham.                                    Sailcloth making.                Beaminster, Bridport and around.                                    Silk throwing.                     Sherborne.                                    Tobacco pipe clay and                                    China clay sent to London.   Poole and Corfe districts.                     1800 - 50                    Stone quarrying.                Portland and Purbeck.                                  Button making.                  East Dorset.                                  Stocking making.               Corfe Castle, Wimborne and Stalbridge.                                  Glove making.                    Beaminster, Bere Regis, Cerne Abbas and                                                                          Sherborne.                                  Silk throwing.                     Sherborne, Cerne Abbas, Bradford Abbas and                                                                           Dorchester.                                 Flax manufacture                Beaminster, Bridport and around,                                                                          Gillingham and Broadwindsor.                                Linen weaving.                     Bourton, Cerne, Gillingham and Silbourne.                                Linsey-wolsey.                    Bourton.                                Woollen manufacture            Sturminster, Wimborne and Lyme.                                Herring-curing.                     Swanage.                                Winning Kimmeridge coal.    Kimmeridge.                                China clay and pipe clay                                won and sent to London        Poole and Corfe districts                                Growing vegetables for                                Poole and Portsmouth.         Wareham.                                Parchment preparation.         Cerne Abbas John Rogan, in Wiltshire

Hello List, I recently came across a document (on film) of Folke,1756. In it two of my wife's ancestors from Holnest are described as "Potters". Can anybody tell me what a potter's life was like in those days? Would they have used the local clay, or was special clay imported? Did they use a potter's wheel, or was all work moulded by hand? Would they have made tableware, storage jars, roofing tiles, or what? What sort of kiln did they use? Would the market have been local, or did it perhaps serve the whole county (It seems that there were quite a number of potters in Holnest)? And finally, were any occupational records kept? Was there perhaps a Potter's Guild? Regards to all, Charles Sankey, Johannesburg

Hello, would anyone know of any industry that may have started up in Gillingham around 1780'90s? I noticed that in the records it seems that family members, Gillet,Gillot, Gillett surname, may have come to Gillingham around that time frame. Than k you, Bess _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus&pgmarket=en-ca&RU=http%3a%2f%2fjoin.msn.com%2f%3fpage%3dmisc%2fspecialoffers%26pgmarket%3den-ca

Off topic for Dorset of course, but very few of us have interests confined to one county alone. I am therefore forwarding these two messages about closures at the Sussex and Suffolk Record Offices. If you are planning at trip to either of these offices, please read! if not, just delete! Helen SUSSEX RECORD OFFICE During the autumn, East Sussex Record Office will be moving the contents of one of its out stores at Pelham House, Lewes, to new accommodation at Newhaven. Great care will need to be taken to move what are unique and irreplaceable documents and to ensure that new location indexes are accurate. The project timetable is for the movement of documents to take place during October. Therefore, if the project does not slip: 1) No documents will be available from the Pelham House out-store from 1 October until the end of November 2) No documents will be available from other out-stores during October and November 3) Some of the services at The Maltings during October will be curtailed (e.g. the production of original documents, lunchtime closures) If the project slips, these periods of disruption will be extended. THEREFORE, we strongly recommend anyone planning to use the Record Office during October and November to contact us in advance to check on service availability before visiting. Please bear with us. > Elizabeth Hughes County Archivist > East Sussex County Council > 01273 482356 SUFFOLK RECORD OFFICE BURY ST EDMUNDS CLOSURE FOR RENEWAL OF STRONGROOM FLOOR AND MOBILE SHELVING from Monday 3rd November 2003 The Bury Record Office will close at 5pm on Saturday 1st November 2003. The existing electrically driven shelving has reached the end of its life. It will be replaced with a system that conforms to current archival standards and is more efficient. A new strongroom floor will be installed and other minor works carried out to improve the security and safety of the strongroom before we reopen in March 2004. During the building works the opportunity will be taken to sort and reorganise the archives held in the Record Office. This will mean that for the period of the closure we will need to make some changes to the services that we will be able to provide. Arrangements may be made to transfer temporarily small quantities of records from Bury to the Ipswich or Lowestoft Record Offices for customers trying to complete research to a tight deadline. Please contact Sheila Reed, Public Service Manager at Bury Record Office, to discuss your requirements by Friday 24th October. She will also be pleased to discuss any other aspects of the project including arrangements for deposits, enquiries etc. We apologise for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience. The searchroom team can be contacted on: Tel: 01284 352352 Fax: 01284 352355 e-mail bury.ro@libher.suffolkcc.gov.uk Helen Jones, Weymouth, Dorset helen@melcombe.freeserve.co.uk http://www.melcombe.freeserve.co.uk

> Glad to know the White Hart survives - HJS told me the Golden Lion is >now an orange-juice bar for trendy youngsters, with the trendy Beehive shop >opposite it must be perfectly......trendy! What's the Beehive shop Geoff? The Tin Cat (Golden Lion) has undergone yet another revamp - can't tell you what it's like as I have never been in the place myself. Don't think it sells much orange juice though - goes in for something a little stronger judging by the bouncers who stand by door! But the Beehive Shop? You have lost me there! Helen Helen Jones, Weymouth, Dorset helen@melcombe.freeserve.co.uk http://www.melcombe.freeserve.co.uk

Hi Geoff and Ray Thank you both for bringing to life the land of my Dorset ancestors - even if they had long left by the times that you describe. Best wishes Maureen in steamy Bundaberg, Oz ----- Original Message ----- From: "Geoffrey EVEREST" <geoffrey.everest@free.fr> To: <ENG-DORSET-LIFE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, October 01, 2003 3:45 AM Subject: Re: [DOR-LIFE] Deary me! > Hello Ray & List > > First of all thanks for taking the time & trouble of writing all that > out for me - and perhaps for a few others. Just for info, I left Weymouth > in '65, to live down here near Marseilles. I returned infrequently as long > as my parents were alive, but slowly and surely all my Dorset relatives took > the trip down Quibo Lane (sort of Boot Hill, Tombstone for the uninitiated). > My last trip to what I still consider strangely as 'home' was in '83, but > not under the best of circumstances for visiting the town. > snip

Hello Ray & List First of all thanks for taking the time & trouble of writing all that out for me - and perhaps for a few others. Just for info, I left Weymouth in '65, to live down here near Marseilles. I returned infrequently as long as my parents were alive, but slowly and surely all my Dorset relatives took the trip down Quibo Lane (sort of Boot Hill, Tombstone for the uninitiated). My last trip to what I still consider strangely as 'home' was in '83, but not under the best of circumstances for visiting the town. I went to school at the Arts Centre, played in Patience at the Alexandra Gardens, was Wendy in the Scout's show at the Sidney Hall, saw the Ritz burn down and was a dancing dervish at the Pavilion. As for playing fields, there can't be many I don't know in Dorset. Best (?) memories are of Lyme Regis Grammar where the slope was so great that one goalkeeper couldn't see the other, and Poole, which was just beside the power-station and the mud was black with coal-dust - not very good for cricket-whites! As for Weymouth Marsh, perhaps one day a local historian will deal with it in detail. It really was a marsh, and was only drained when the american troops arrived in approx. 1942/3. When we came back from Malta in 1943 we lived in Chickerell Road, with the back garden touching the american camp on the Marsh. I wasn't there yet, but my brothers remember the chocolate bars and chewing gum flying over the fence. I don't know how many hundreds of tents there were, but they all disappeared overnight a day or perhaps two before D-Day. All that was left was a mountain of tinned food - mostly corned beef of course that the early worms along the road were quick to fill up their baskets with! Between walking to St Paul's, Arts Centre and the Grammar School I must have crossed the Marsh a million times, while it was still open land, and there was only a "sort of" football pitch where Pye Hill Rovers affronted Westham Wanderers every Saturday at about 25 on each side. It sometimes finished in generalised fisticuffs, but all in good fun and black eyes were rare. Yes, I did know about the Rec'. I even lived in Garibaldi Row for a short while (putty medal for the first who finds the place - it still exists!!). I don't suppose the Terras get much support out in the wilds of Radipole Lane - admitting that it can still be considered as the outback! Glad to know the White Hart survives - HJS told me the Golden Lion is now an orange-juice bar for trendy youngsters, with the trendy Beehive shop opposite it must be perfectly......trendy! Lastly, do you remember the gasworks hooter? 8, 12, 1 and 5 o'clock the whole town worked more according to that hooter than any other time-machine! Apologies to non-Weymouthians, but like Ray it did me a lot of good to get all that off my chest, and I promise the kids will get to see the place. Geoff

After my posting about my spam problems last week, I have had several requests for a reference to the report I quoted. (Sorry to Dave Hills - I tried to email it to you but it bounced) Here is the link to an on line study which was one which I was referring to http://www.cdt.org/speech/spam/030319spamreport.pdf Steve has also been experimenting with two email addresses. The one he uses for mailing lists and personal mail only gets very little spam. The one he had used for static websites only such as out home page has been deluged. Helen Helen Jones, Weymouth, Dorset helen@melcombe.freeserve.co.uk http://www.melcombe.freeserve.co.uk

Geoff Everest wrote: > For my umpteenth birthday someone had the bright idea of presenting me > with "Weymouth - The Golden Years", a book of photos taken by G.Herbert and > mostly covering the years 1945-65. Which was when I was I youngster. The > photos are wonderful and bring back....well, like it was yesterday. The > commentaries are also very good, but terribly depressing. This is X Street, > demolished in '68 for road widening, this is Y House now holiday flats, and > this Tudor House was considered unfit for human consumption and so > demolished and replaced by public conveniences. > > I was happily considering taking my grandchildren, now they are of age > to almost understand, to see the places where Granfer lived, went to school, > played football/cricket or whatever. Don't think I will now. Firstly because > I don't want to see what they've done to the place, secondly because I don't > want to hear the nippers say "With all these buildings it looks just the > same as Majorca - without the sun". > Hello Geoff I think you would certainly recognise some parts of Weymouth but, like most places, changes have not all been for the good. The seafront is much the same except that they demolished the pier part of the Pier Bandstand but then had a change of mind and refurbished the buildings part to leave it as a totally out of place interuption to the sweep of the bay (bit like a gert great zit on a pretty face really!). Buildings in the town centre have had the usual changes of use and ownership but the part between St Thomas Street and the inner harbour has changed totally from the Arts Centre to West Street. I rather like the way this part has changed for the Debenhams development has created a new shopping area close enough to the Town Centre to be part of it. The White Hart sits comfortably in the square created. From St Thomas Street to the seafront the buildings remain much the same although streets like St Alban Street are much more candy floss than Archie Bowns now. Wallaces toy shop is also long gone (a real shock for some returnees - how many times have I heard "even Wallaces toy shop has gone" when chatting to someone newly returned to the town!!). What has totally changed is the harbour area. The whole lot (including Hope Square and the inner harbour) has been totally "grockelfied" (hows that for a new word?). Only the Council Offices and some Government Offices on the old gasworks site are not dedicated to the visitor trade. No more mail boats, timber boats, tomato boats, trains along Commercial Road, Cosens, commercial slipways, John Deheers etc etc etc. Only one old gasometer still stands defiantly amidst all the Majorcaesque. Long may it continue to give a good old Westham salute to the busybodies who want it moved solely because "it does not fit in". As far as playing fields are concerned, Redlands is still there as is the Marsh (at both the facilities have been improved though). Radipole Park playing field is still there (still with football pitch, swings, slide and paddling pool) and I am fairly sure Wyke playing field is too. The Westham playing fields (the ones that used to be called the Golf Links or Longcroft playing fields) are now incorporated into the golf course. I don't know where you used to play your cricket and football but I think I have covered most possibilities. The old football ground (and the Sydney Hall) have long been an Asda Store with the football club being moved out to the Wessex Stadium which in turn displaced Speedway. Happily we got Speedway back this year on a site virtually end on to where it used to be (so about 1200 locals have got their weekly entertainment back after a gap of nearly 20 years). One of the other major developments has been a retail business park on the site of the railway's old Jubilee sidings and goods yard. If you stand on Alexander Bridge you would find everything totally changed. Sadly even the old bridge itself is now under threat as it needs repair and there are health and safety concerns about trains possibly derailing and hitting the supports (I kid you not - over a hundred years of complete safety is nothing to the H&S types). The main residential areas are much the same - Downclose, Chapelhay, Lanehouse, Westham, Park District, Radipole, Broadwey, Upwey, Preston are all the same but Littlemoor and Southill have expanded considerably. The people are much the same cosmopolitan mixture of locals and immigrants, a few more dossers and winos about the place but otherwise not much changed. Anyway Geoff, thanks for giving me the chance to have a good old wallow in nostalgia - I really enjoyed writing this. I would say definitely bring the grandchildren, there is enough of the old place still around (particularly off the main grockle routes) and some of the new stuff aint so bad either. Regards Ray Collins Weymouth, Dorset

Hi Mike Yeah point taken on "modern conveniences!!!" but I was talking in general about the style buildings and lanes, I've just driven? Some of them today and they ain't wide enough for a bike yet alone a car, still lovely country though. The other point you rightly make is the living standards of then as opposed to now, they lived well and enjoyed it in their own way, and I think were a lot healthier than we are now, but I stand to be corrected!! Regards Pat W Bruton Somerset Researching Somerset -BEALE-KEEN-BRISTER-WILLIAMS-STOCK-HAWKEY Dorset - KEECH-DUNHAM-ACKERMAN-IRONSIDE-LEA-WALLIS-HOUNSELL-SAINT-RUSSELL-WOODSFO RD Durham - WARDELL-CHAPMAN-METHLEY Yorkshire - JEFFREY-DOBSON-DOYLE-MAUGHAN-CLIFFORD-BARKER-WADE-SWALE-ENGLAND-BECK-WAR DMAN -CARMALT -----Original Message----- From: Mike Allen [mailto:mike@g8ifu.f9.co.uk] Sent: 28 September 2003 09:38 To: ENG-DORSET-LIFE-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [DOR-LIFE] Deary me! ----- Original Message ----- From: pat.williams <pat.williams14@ukonline.co.uk> > Awgh come on, there is very little change in most of rural Dorset, tis > only place like Weymouth that have had big changes. Go out to places > like Little or Long Bredy, Swyre, Netherbury, Beaminster and the like > and they are still much as they were in Granfers day. Hi Pat Not quite the same , unless your Granfers more recent than mine . They have modern conviences like mains water & electric , and the very mixed blessing of a car . My Allen grandparents lived in a block of cottages just off Hatch Pond Road , Poole . The Council regularly tried to have them demolished as unfit for habitation , but the landlords held them off untill c 1920 when a mains water standpipe was installed at the end of the lane . Everybody was happy then ,the Council had done their bit for public health , the landlords put the rent up , and the cottagers carried on as before - paying rent as seldom as they could get away with , and using water from their (contaminated) wells , which was much softer and tasted better . In the mid 1930s the water supply was extended to the individual cottages , and mains gas arrived for lighting , cooking and heating water for laundry & baths , which must have become more frequent . Electricity & mains sewage arrived in the mid 1950s. Untill then the sanitary arrangements were an earth-closet across the lane . The contents were dug out 3-4 times a year and mixed with the compost heap for use on the large vegetable garden (hence the contaminated well) . I lived with my other grandparents , but I remember that cottage as a dingy smokey 2 up 2 down , with a dank front extension that was Kichen , Laundry , Bathroom & Cycle Shed all in one . 7 of their 8 children (born 1907/22) lived to draw their old age pensions , which leads to me taking a fairly robust view of the latest health scares . Mike Allen ==== ENG-DORSET-LIFE Mailing List ==== For old maps, see the Landmark Map site http://www.old-maps.co.uk/ ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237