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West Walks in Dorchester is in a prestigious position close to the centre of Town, and overlooking the Borough Gardens, whilst the road had been lined by trees ever since the Town Council removed some of the old Roman Walls and ditches to create West Walks and Bowling Alley Walks in 1740 - 1743. Properties in West Walks do appear as early as the 1851 census, but that was long before the Borough Gardens were created, where in 1851 that land was still agricultural used for cattle grazing. By the late 1850’s, the southern part of what is now the gardens was being developed as a market garden run by Samuel R. HARRIS, who lived in Borough Gardens House, which still exists - the northern part was still an area for cattle and markets. The Gardens were not created until 1895/96, designed by William Goldring, when the Council purchased Mr HARRIS’s market garden, along with four acres of land from Duchy of Cornwall. Mr HARRIS became the first Superintendent of the Gardens, and when he died in 1917, his son George John HARRIS took over, but by 1939 he was listed as a retired head gardener . The History Centre has details of the sale of five properties in West Walks, rented out on 99 year Leases by the Trustees of the Dorchester Charities ( Ref: DI/11488 ), with the auction at the King’s Arms Hotel on 8th March 1853. Lot One was a four bedroom dwelling house occupied by Mrs Letetia DAVIS, widow of Colonel DAVIS of the East India Company. Lot Two was a dwelling house and office let to a Miss PIERCE who I did not identify. It comprised three main rooms, four bedrooms plus one servant’s bedroom, a dressing room, kitchen, scullery and pantry. Lot Three was three one bedroom cottages rented to local workers - Charles PARSONS aged 27 a draper’s assistant working for Edward STEELE Draper in High West Street, Charles PURCHASE aged 31 a gardener, and James BARGE aged 29 a turnkey at Dorchester Gaol. Lot One sold to Henry LOCK, Solicitor, Superintendent Registrar and Clerk to the Burial Board, for £725 on 9th March 1853. Lots Two and Three combined sold to William BARNARD, a cooper in the town, for £850 on 18th April 1854. The cottages have long since been demolished. On stonework over the balcony on the front of West Walks House are the initials H.B. and the date 1851, showing when the House was built. The H.B. stands for Henry Barnes who, as architect, built the house for his own occupation. Henry BARNES had been born in Stour Provost, Dorset in 1816, and his father John is also listed as a Builder later a Surveyor, so may have trained Henry. Henry is already listed as an Architect in the 1841 census, aged 20, having married Jane Joyce JACOB at St Peters church on 5th April 1841. Jane died after childbirth in April 1843, and then on 25th September 1850 Henry married Theresa GARLAND - much more background about the families and both marriages can be found on the Dorchester OPC website in St Peters Marriges 1810-1850 and Holy Trinity marriages 1813-1900, Entry No. 109 on 25th Sept. 1850. Henry and Teresa had two daughters in the mid 1850’s, Mary Cicely baptised on 18th April 1855 and Teresa Mary baptised 5th November 1856. On both baptism records, Henry and Teresa are listed as “ Of West Walks “ suggesting that was where the family were living then. This though may not be the case, as it is thought Mr. BARNES let the house for a short period to Rev’d James FISHER ( 1824 - 1870 ) and his family when James was appointed Rector of Holy Trinity church to replace Rev’d William BULLER in December 1855. In the History Centre ( Ref: D-FAL/12 ) is a fascinating diary, very many type written pages long, written in 1925 by John Meade FALKNER, who was born in 1858 at Manningford Bruce, about life with his parents at West Walks House from 1860 onwards in Dorchester and Weymouth, and holidays spent at Swanage. In that he also confirms that West Walks House was built by Henry BARNES. John Meade FALKNER was later the author of the well known Dorset book “Moonfleet“. In his diary, John Meade FALKNER recounts that Henry BARNES built West Walks House to live in, but quickly found it too big for the needs of his family. John recounts that by 1859, Henry and family had moved to 38 South Street, and rented West Walks House to John’s father, Rev’d Thomas Alexander FALKNER. He was born at Bath, Somerset in 1820 and in 1858 was curate at Holy Trinity church, Dorchester. In 1861 Henry BARNES was living at 38 South Street with his wife Theresa and her widowed mother Susan GARLAND, listed as the Proprietor of Houses - that she had inherited from her late husband Thomas GARLAND. In John’s diary of 1925 he recounts how, in March 1868, George FALKNER, a cousin of his father Thomas, arrived with three sons and Margaret, an Irish nurse and in the end they stayed for a whole year. About 1869, Rev’d Thomas FALKNER was appointed Curate of St Mary’s church, Melcombe Regis and the family then moved from Dorchester to St. Thomas Street, Weymouth. Henry BARNES and family then moved back to living at West Walks House. The 1871 census shows the family as Henry and Theresa, three daughters and youngest son William aged 16 to 5, Susan’s mother, plus three servants. Henry died on 1st January 1876 - his wife having died before him, late in 1871. In the 1860’s and later, West Walks House was part of a row of properties just called West Walk Terrace, but not individually named; later the name appeared about 1900 and it was given the house No. 7. Below is a photo taken about 1880. This came from The New Doctor magazine and the copy is at the History Centre ( Ref: RON/2/2/Dorchester/Build/60. They had it listed as a house in West Walks, but I had it confirmed that it was indeed a photo of the rear of West Walks House - it looks very different now after later building work. .jpg) Rear view of West Walks House taken c1880 ©By Kind Permission of Dorset History Centre 1878 by a doctor, namely Frederick Bazeley FISHER M.R.C.P. He had been born at Tiverton, Devon in July 1854, and on 2nd December 1880 had married Cecelia M. TABOR at Christ Church, Streatham Hill, Surrey. Frederick had the house enlarged, and they appear in the 1881 census living at West Walks Terrace with two cousins and two servants. A small booklet written by Frederick’s daughter Cecelia “ Thomas Hardy’s Dorchester 1888 - 1908 “ gives some further background to life in Dorchester and their life at West Walks House at that time, including the opening of the Borough Gardens in 1897. In about 1880, Dr FISHER got to know Thomas HARDY ( 1811 - 1892 ) father of Thomas HARDY ( 1840 - 1928 ) the author, then later acted as doctor to the author himself. By the time of the 1891 census at West Walks Terrace, Frederick and his wife were living there with four daughters, a Governess ( a cousin ) and three servants. Kelly’s trade directory of 1895 has Frederick living at the now numbered N0. 7 West Walks, and as a Borough magistrate, but the census of 1901 is the first time that I found the House listed as West Walks House. Frederick and Cecelia were living there with three daughters, one son and four servants, but must have moved fairly shortly afterwards, as Jury Listings for 1903 show him at Somerleigh Court. There is an Electoral Listing in 1913 for Frederick in Dorchester showing him staying at Tiverton, which is confirmed by the 1911 census, but showing a qualifying address at West Walks, Dorchester - a Leasehold property. It seems that he retained the Lease when the family moved out, and then rented out the House as a new name appeared living at West Walk House in the 1911 census, that of Rev’d Paul Edward O’Bryan METHUEN. He was born at Pimlico, Middlesex in 1842, his father Thomas Plumtre METHUEN was also a clergyman. Paul had married Henrietta Emily GAPE at St Albans, Hertfordshire in July 1882, and in the 1901 census the family of son Paul aged 14, two daughters, and three servants were living in the Rectory at Rissington Wick, Gloucestershire. Paul and Henrietta were still living at West Walks House when their son Paul died there in May 1918. Paul Thomond Gape METHEUN was their only son being born at Wyck Rissingtington, Gloucestershire on 3rd October 1886. He joined the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth in May 1901, doing very well there being made Cadet Captain and passing out 3rd in his year as a midshipman in August 1902. In November that year he joined HMS Drake, flagship to the Admiral. On being promoted to Lieutenant he moved to HMS Exeter where the ship’s company assisted with relief after the massive earthquake at Messina on 28th December 1908 which killed between 100,000 and 200,000 people. In gratitude, he and fellow officers were awarded the Messina medal by the King of Italy. He served on HMS Queen at the Battle of Dardanelles and on HMS Agincourt in the Battle of Jutland, later then serving on HMS Hercules in the Grand Fleet early in 1918. By then he was a Lt. Commander and came home to Dorchester on leave. He was taken ill and was diagnosed with typhoid fever and died at West Walks House on 26th May 1918. Their son’s death may have been the trigger for his parents to decide to move ? The History Centre hold an auction brochure from Thomas Coombs and Co. on behalf of F.B. Fisher ( Ref: D-COO/J/102 ) for the sale of the Lease of West Walks House with vacant possession dated 16th May 1919. The House is described as having 9 bedrooms, 3 reception rooms, a billiard room, plus other supporting rooms, stabling for two horses and garage, a conservatory/vinery, tennis lawn and gardens. But it may not have sold - see below. When Paul METHEUN Snr. died on the 4th December 1920 they were living at Linden Avenue. Sometime then, Norah E. M. UTTERSON moved into West Walks House as she appears in Kelly’s trade directory in 1920, and the 1921 census living there with her niece Patricia UTTERSON aged 6. Norah came from a military family, being born at Quebec, Canada in 1864 whilst her father Archibald Hammond UTTERSON ( 1836 - 1912 ) was serving there. In the 1911 census he was listed as a Major General in the Army. Norah’s stay in Dorchester was quite short as, by 1925, Electoral Registers have her living in Kensington in London. It seems Dr Frederick B. FISHER and family then move back into West Walks House as Kelly’s trade directory 1927, and Medical Registers confirm he was living there until 1934, when they moved to “ Lime Tree “ in Princes Street. Frederick died there on 13th March 1940. Kelly’s trade directory for 1935 then lists Dr. Thomas Russell STEVENS M.R.C.S. living at West Walks House, and on 29th December 1935 he married Enid S. DAVIS in Dorchester. Medical Registers for 1943 still have Thomas at West Walks House, when he was working in practice with Dr. Edward W. MANN. At some point Dr. STEVENS left West Walks House and moved to “ Woodland “ in Coburg Road, where he was living when he died in 1964. From 1953 Roland F.J. BROWN, his wife Ruth Margery and six of his children were living at the House. He was born in 1905, son of Frederick BROWN a head teacher who died young in 1913 aged just 42. In the 1939 pre was census Roland was living in Kent listed as Her Majesty’s Inspector but the rest I cannot read. His first wife Thelma SMITH had died in 1938, and in 1942 he had married Ruth Margery Dawe at Bromley, Kent. In 1969 plans were lodged by Roland and Ruth, completed by 1971, for the original West Walks House No. 7 to be divided into two properties, with No 7 at the rear and No. 8 at the front. In addition, at the rear of the main house, the old stables block was converted to a house, now “ The Old Stables “ No. 9 West Walks. No. 8 was occupied from 1971 to 1976 by Roland F.J. BROWN and his wife Ruth. Roland F.J. BROWN died on 4th February 1976, and his probate records that he was living at West Walks House when he died. Ruth BROWN then moved into No. 9 The Old Stables at the rear. In 1976, No. 8 was then sold to Meiler Berwyn JONES, born in Monmouthshire in May 1911, and his wife Muriel Elizabeth Margaret nee COLLINS who lived there until Meiler died on 12th December 1991, and in 1992, No. 8 was sold to the present owners. No. 7 was in 1976 occupied by Dr. Brian Ellis GILLIVER. He had been born at Ibstock, Derbyshire on 3rd February 1934, and married Ann Hodgson in Kent in 1960. His probate confirms that he was still living at West Walks House on 2nd April 1994 when he died. A tenancy agreement dated 4th May 1970 held at the History Centre ( Ref: D-876/6/2 suggests that Roger Neville Russ PEERS, Curator of Dorset Museum, was living then at West Walks House, but I have been unable to confirm this. With thanks : Dorchester Remembers the Great War by Brian Bates Also much help from current owners of No. 8 West Walks House. Thomas Hardy’s Dorchester 1888 - 1908 by Miss C. M. Fisher - copies at Dorset History Centre and Libraries West. Richard Smith - orchidgrower@btinternet.com 12. 10. 2024 |