Horton North farm was at Old Down before being replaced by new farm houses and buildings Old Down was turned into five workmen’s cottages and the water was obtained from a very deep well in a well house nearby. The well had a big bucket let down through double doors. When it filled at the bottom it was brought up by two people one on each end of the double windlass.

What is now known as Greenlands or Woodlands Farm on the Haythorne Road was the dairy part of North Farms similar to Charlton. The dairy cottage still stands in the field and the buildings were opposite in the corner. When Greenlands Farm was built it was intended to be built in the field close to the Haythorn Road, but after the bricks etc had been placed there, the plans were changed and everything was moved to the present site.

Manor Farm was always known to the older people as `Woodlands House` and the farmer there, as at other farms, was looked upon in awe and was often saluted by the villagers and workmen.

There were three holdings on the Haythorne Road. The one nearest Horton was restored in the 1950s` before which one end consisted of a huge kitchen with inglenook and surrounded by six doors leading to other rooms and offices. Owing to this, the occupants used to have main meals there but light a fire in the sitting room in the afternoon and spend the evening there. Going towards Woodlands the next holding on the other side of the road was the village blacksmiths' shop and wheel binding forge.

All the farm wagons and carts were on wooden wheels surrounded by an iron bond. These bonds were made slightly smaller than the wooden  wheels. The wheel was laid on a steel bed with a hole in the middle to allow the nose of the wheel to drop into so that the wheel its self laid level on the steel plate. The bonds were laid on the ground and surrounded by dry wood and peat and fired. When the bonds were red hot they were put over the wheels. In heating this made the bonds to expand, making it possible to put over the slightly bigger wheels. When fitted, they were then doused with cold water to contract the wheels and prevent them being damaged by fire.

This smithy was also a small holding and the farmers wife was very much the boss and rationed all the food for the animals keeping it in a back bedroom and letting it down to the centres. On the other side further up, down a lane is Ivy Cottage Farm, leased and farmed by Miss Weeks and helped by Sidney Keeping.

Cross over the road again and on the common was the village pound where any straying cattle were shut up until the owner paid for their release and cost of food and fine imposed. The last person to hold this office was Job Haskell. This is one of the oldest names in the village and members of his family leased several properties between the Pound and the present Church. Job worked on the St. Giles Estate but also he was the local pig killer. Almost every cottage kept one or two pigs. They used to bring the pigs and the local shop often allowed them to have meal on tick and then their own garden vegetable supplies fatted the pigs to 150 to 200 lbs dead weight. Then Job Haskell was called in to kill and cut up one pig for the family`s use. The other pig went to pay for the meal from the shop. The pig for the family was salted for three weeks and then hung in the inglenook chimney to dry for the coming year.

Woodlands Village in 2006. Verwood is 1.5 Miles to the right of the picture.

Around Woodlands

Along the footpath from `the Pound` to Woodlands Church was, and still is, a thatched cottage where “Friday”(Charles)Wilcox  lived. He had a wonderful gift in training pigs to do almost anything he wanted. Charlie was a carter on the Shaftesbury Estate.

Next door again under a yew tree (still standing) stood a pair of thatched cottages. In one of these lived Sarah Haskell who kept a small shop in her porch where she sold half an ounce of sweets in paper cones made by herself also tobacco and cigarettes, but the 1914 war stopped this.

The other cottage was the original Methodist Chapel built by Joseph Haskell. On his death the life lease ran out and the Methodists were turned out for quite a long period until they were able to find alternative land on which to build.

Again the next house on the common was occupied by Job Haskell`s sister and her husband William Froud. On the common he tethered his shorthorn cow which us children were afraid of as, owing to teasing by older boys, it was rather bad tempered. He used to sell the milk at four old pence a quart and the children used to collect it on their way home from school. William also worked for the Lord Shaftesbury Estate in the forestry department.

Between the Pound and the crossroads in the new cottages (1912) lived Charles Miles and his wife Rosanna. He was totally blind and had to be led everywhere. Under the same  roof  lived David (Piper) Cutler who left to live in Parkstone and afterwards Charles Steel lived there. He too was a Carter on the Shaftsbury Estates also his father Tom who lived in the ‘Round House’. 

Also in the Round House lived Wesley Cutler who was the local grave digger. Next door lived Sarah Barfoot who cleaned the church and school and local washing. At one time the Round House housed four families, and it is said to have been built by the Huguenots as a linen factory when they were expelled from the low counties.

In Kings Lane on the left in a thatched cottage lived Joseph Loader a bricklayer for Lord Shaftesbury. Lower down on the right under the wood lived the Way family of four sisters. A quarter of a mile on, on the right, was the keeper’s bungalow (1910) lived in by Harry Wilcox, his sister Mrs Drake and her daughter Cis.

Back to Woodlands crossroads and turn towards St. Giles, on the right stood a thatched cottage lived in by Ernest Barfoot (brother of Sarah at the Round House) and his wife who kept the village Post Office for over 40 years. Ernie Barfoot was a painter and decorator on St.Giles Estate.

Opposite was the Estate Stables for the heavy Percheron Horses, six of which were used to pull the heavy timber carriage from the woods to the timber yards at Woodlands and St. Giles with trees to be used for building and repairs.

Next to the Post Office stands the Estate Bailiffs house and office and behind the house stood a thatched shed with a saw pit. Here trees were laid lengthways over the pit and one man stood on top and another in the pit itself and pulled the heavy pit saw up and down cutting out timber for use on the Estate. This was done by two brothers, James and William Reed, but it was discontinued about the beginning of the first war. By the side of the stables is a lane and the small farm on the right was farmed by William Hayter who also had a slaughter house buying pigs, slaughtering them and taking them to Bournemouth, together with eggs and vegetables.

At the top of the lane is a pair of cottages in one of  which lived Sidney Keeping who managed Miss Week’s farm on the Horton road. He was a staunch Liberal, a Methodist local preacher and also composed poetry.

Next door at one time lived William Lockyer and his family of five sons and four daughters. Back to the crossroads and turn left to the village. On the left are a pair of cottages built about 1912 and in one lived Mrs Kilford an estate foreman's widow and next door lived the headmistress of the school (Miss Ellis). 

Next came a hall built for the Conservative Association hoping to convert the mainly Liberal inhabitants to their party.  This was not a great success as when they held a dance or party, the young men of the village thought it great fun to use their catapults (forked weapons with rubber strings and a pouch to hold the stone) to shoot out the lights in the entrance hall. These catapults were deadly if anyone got in the way of a stone and they were mainly used for poaching game and rabbits as they made scarcely any noise only a swish. All this ceased in 1914 when the great war came, as most of the young men joined the armed forces, many never to return.

Looking over the village green stands 2 pairs of cottages built by the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury.  In the one nearest the crossroads lived John (Jack) Kerley and family, he worked in the estate timber yard at St. Giles going on a very old fashioned bike.  During the summer months he used to come back from work to his allotment and his wife had to have his tea (cooked) in time for his arrival so that no time was wasted going home.

Next door lived George Haskell (Georgey Jimmy) and his sister. He had a small holding and used his horse and van to take parties to various events. The next house housed William (Billy) Coles who worked in the gravel pits and repairing roads which caused his back to be bent almost double.  He was a class leader and worked in the Sunday school all his life.  His father lived in the same house before him and when the school come church was built he used to ring the bell calling the people to worship then leave and go and worship with the Methodists.  Under the same roof lived Jimmy Reed and family, he worked for the estate, first in the hand sawpit, afterwards cleaving piles and erecting fences and gates.

(PICTURE OF SCHOOL HOUSE)

Next came the school and school house where the teacher lived.  My first memory of school was Miss Palmer 1913. She was about 5 feet tall but us kids were scared stiff of her. She used to leave her classroom to see her dinner was cooking and when she came back there was pandemonium, which made her go mad and say “the very idea, its preposterous, its absurd”. Of course us kids never knew what these words meant but as she also didn`t mind using a ruler across your knuckles as well, we were awed until next time. In the wood at the back of the school we used to play foxhounds and in the winter the ponds froze over and were used for sliding and falling in.

Next down the road was a brick bungalow lived in by widow Annie Thorne and her eight children. Behind her was a workshop of Jackie Loader who repaired clocks and metal work.  He was entirely self taught and if trained, would have been a mechanical engineer.  The site of his workshop was fenced in by his grandfather, Stephen Hiskock, who built his own abode of cob walls and thatched roof. Inside, a ladder led to the upstairs but the roof was never sealed or plastered, only just thatch.  Is it any wonder so many of these old buildings were destroyed by fire.  When he took in this garden if a person could put up a fence and bank, build a chimney to his future home and have smoke coming out in 24 hours, he had squatters right to the property.  Little did Steve Hiskock and others know when the steward of the Estate offered them a feast at Horton Inn with plenty of booze for one shilling a year, they were starting to pay rent and at their death, the property would become part of the St. Giles Estate.

Behind this again was Tommy Miles cottage, us kids were afraid for our lives of him.  He was afraid his wife would overspend, so he kept everything locked in drawers carrying the keys around on his belt.  One day when he was ploughing a field, to his dismay he found the keys were missing so he had to spend hours turning back the furrows until he found them.  Tommy kept bees and Annie his wife bought a gramophone, which she was very fond of playing.  One day the bees swarmed and flew away and Tommy was in a rage because the gramophone drowned the sound of the swarming bees.  His young son laughed at him which made him angrier than ever and as he had rheumatism, when he went to chase Charlie he was unsuccessful so all he could say was  “Humbug laugh at I”. 

(PICTURE OF COUNCIL HOUSES)

All these houses are gone and were replaced in 1939 by council houses.  Next to the bungalow lived Richard Tubbs known as Dicky.  As the chimney always smoked with the door shut Dicky had several holes bored in the front door to cause more draught and so overcome the smoke problem.  He also used to shout at the top of his voice and ask us kids if we could shout louder.  We used to tease him and say he had a lot of money hoarded (some hopes considering his wage until 1915 was about fifteen shillings a week and never more than thirty shillings).  He used to shout at the top of his voice “liar, liar theest burn in hell talking like that”.  Dickey was very fond of chewing tobacco and after a while taking it out of his mouth and putting it in his hat.  He went to chapel on Sundays in his best corduroy trousers and hob nail boots and one Sunday took off his hat and went to his pew and to the delight of the lads behind him his quad of tobacco was stuck to the top of his head.  Dicky was a member of the Rechabite Friendly Society but always managed to get his contribution back.  One time he was supposed to have bad feet so he walked to Cranborne to the doctor, 6 miles there and back, collected a certificate, then walked to Chalbury, 4 miles there and back in the afternoon, to hand the certificate over to the society and get his benefit.

Before this William Froud in about 1830 bought the life lease of a former Beer House known as the “ Royal Oak ” and as his family grew up and married, one to Martin Cutler, William let them build next to Dicky Tubbs. Then another son Martin, and daughter Kerturch married Martin Loader. They built a pair of cottages below the former pub. Later William’s grandson lived in his home until it was condemned in 1908, when it reverted to the St. Giles Estate.  His name was George and his four sons were born there.  He then went next door where his uncle Martin Froud had built.  Both his father Jesse and himself were timber cutters on the St. Giles Estate.  Next door again Robert Tubbs built his house about 1830.  This was a small farm and his son Rolls Lonnen Tubbs farmed it until about 1912 when Alfred Miles (Tommy’s son) took over.  The Lonnen in Rolls Tubbs name came from his mother Charlotte Lonnen of Cranborne.  Next door again was a cottage built and lived in by Levi Cutler.  After his death Henry, their son, lived in part of the house and as the living room was not ceiled when the upstairs floor was bricked, the dust came down on the kitchen table.

            About 200 yards down on the south side of the road is probably the last cob building built in Woodlands and it was built as two cottages.  Later Fredrick Tubbs who managed the nursery near the “Round House” had a family of four daughters and eight sons so the two cottages were made into one.  They lost 2 sons, Bert and Harry, in the first war.  About 3/4 mile down the lane in front of this house stood a keepers cottage in the middle of Woodlands Park .  Next door to the Chapel lived Freddie Miller and his wife Fermy, he worked on the Estate and being crippled he spent most of his time tarring buildings and fences so the naughty boys called him Freddie Tarpot.  On the other side of the road was a small holding worked by James Potter.  His father Richard, farmed it before him and was known for his quaint remarks.  He had one field smothered in weeds so he told a friend that he and Herbie Bacon had been and ploughed the field out of sight.  Another time someone asked Dickie if he could help him carry his hay.  He replied I can come if it rains but if it`s fine I want to carry my own.

Richard had a new horse van built and went to collect it at Charles Sevior at Horton but didn’t take his purse.  Charles would not let him take the van so he went round to see Charles wife and borrowed the money from her.

Up the lane by the side of this holding stood the second Methodist Chapel in Woodlands built after the one behind the Round House was taken away.  When the third chapel was built the 2nd was turned into a dwelling in which lived Albert Tubbs and family. Their youngest son Walter known as Skinner was a bit of a problem.  When we were kids at school we were terrified of him jumping out from behind bushes in weird clothes.  When the foxhounds were about, he would climb a tree and shout at the top of his voice (and sign he had seen the fox) but when they arrived he was in a shed watching them and laughing to himself at having made fools of them.  When he came out of the army after the first war he bought a new bicycle in Wimborne.  On the way home one of the chaps with him said when they got to a duck pond “ bet you wouldn’t ride your bike into that pond Skinner”.  “Wouldn’t I” he replied and rode right into the pond and fell off in the mud.

Opposite stood a pair of cob and thatched cottages in the first lived Mr. Turnell and family, he was a retired sailor who sailed under sail when he first went to sea.  Next door lived William Reed and family.  For several years he worked on the Estate but later worked in the brickyard by Verwood Station.  A public footpath runs in front of these cottages called “Pieces”.

In the 2nd cottage Eliza Ann Wilcox, an elderly widow. Afterwards Herbie Wilcox a retired butler who had a lovely tenor voice. The next holding along was occupied by Bartimeas Haskell who was very upset if anyone touched anything belonging to him or even trod on his land.  This is the cottage where the Methodists held a 24 hour prayer meeting and only drank water when their chapel behind the Round House was taken away.  They prayed that the steward who took away the chapel would have a change of heart, or be removed.  Within a short time he died suddenly in Ireland and his brother who took over said “Let the Methodists have their chapel or they will pray us all to death”.

Next door again stood a very small cob and thatched cottage occupied by Alfred Loader.  Alfred was the father of Jackie near the school and he had a small holding and also worked on farms part time.  He was in great demand for building cattle sheds, the walls being upright stakes intertwined with gorse, the roof being thatched.  They were very popular with farmers because everything grew on their own farms and so the only outward cost was less than £1.00 a week labour costs and the animals were loath to damage the prickly walls.

Again next door lived Jackie and Jane Dowland.  When I knew them they lived a very secluded life, Jackie doing a few odd jobs such as beating for game at the big game shoots or helping thrashing corn or just scrounging any odd potatoes, corn etc he could find.  When going out, his sister would always shout “John,  John, here you got your sack”.  Older people said as a young man Jackie was a proper dandy wth silk hat and walking stick when he went courting Sarah Haskell near the Round House.  Jane I was told was a lady’s maid and travelled all over the continent but literally her dress consisted of a black blouse and a hessian sack for and aft as a skirt.  They were both struck down with pneumonia and died within a day or two of each other.  After their death, neighbours burned all their belongings among it was at least one book “1st Edition Hutchins History of Dorset” which the local doctor knew they had and he told someone he would have paid £25.00 for it and this was 50 years ago.  They were both buried in paupers graves in Wimborne Cemetery.

Following the path through the Pieces over a wooden bridge we come to a gravelled lane now known as Whitmoor Lane.  On our right was a thatched cottage holding occupied by Ewart Tubbs he himself  being self employed in the woods making sheep hurdles and pens for thatching etc and on the opposite side of the lane was another holding occupied by his father, Lewis Tubbs who followed the same occupation as his son, both helping on farms during the summer season.