Spetisbury | Then & Now

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Step back in time with our ‘Then and Now’ feature, where vintage postcards from the Barry Cuff Collection meet modern-day reality. Explore the past and present on the same page, and see the evolution of familiar local places. ‘Now’ images by Courtenay Hitchcock

The name of the village is Anglo-Saxon, meaning ‘the ancient earthwork frequented by the green woodpecker’ – from the Old English ‘speht’ or ‘speoht’ for woodpecker, and ‘burgh’ or ‘byrig’ for earthwork, referring to Spetisbury Rings (sometimes Crawford Castle), the Iron Age fort above the village
A fire at the village bakery demolished a row of thatched cottages in 1905. Before fire engines from Blandford and Wimborne could help, the neighbouring cottages and those across the road were also ablaze.
The village still has a quirky house numbering system, thanks to its majority 19th century landowners, the Drax family, who only numbered the buildings owned by the estate

Both of the original postcards were posted in the 1940s. The Railway Inn on the right closed in 1986 – in its heyday it was a popular spot for local railway workers (the old railway line ran parallel to the road, behind and above the row of houses on the left of the image).

Sponsored by The Museum of East Dorset

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