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Dorchester Road - page 1/3

Until 1940  George Hawker, a wheelwright, worked in the yard adjacent to 879 Dorchester Road, assisted by apprentices, including Alfred White.  From the 1940’s Eddie Notley, a builder, decorator and sign writer, used the yard, followed in the 1960’s by his son-in-law John Hampton.  Although now retired Mr Hampton still uses the buildings as his workshop.

The junction of the Dorchester Road and Elwell Street was known as ‘The Royal Oak’ because of the pub of that name.  The pub was well used in its time, as it had an Assembly Room at the back, which was used for dinners, parties and dances.

There was a water trough fed by a spring at the side where steam engines filled up with water before the climb up Ridgeway and horses were able to enjoy a drink whilst their master had a pint in the pub.

In 1965 the pub closed and was purchased by the council to be demolished for road improvements, which were completed in 1970.  Drivers unfamiliar with the road were known to take an inadvertent detour to Weymouth via Elwell Street after failing to follow the main road.

The junction of the Dorchester Road and Elwell Street was known as ‘The Royal Oak’ because of the pub of that name.  The pub was well used in its time, as it had an Assembly Room at the back, which was used for dinners, parties and dances.

There was a water trough fed by a spring at the side where steam engines filled up with water before the climb up Ridgeway and horses were able to enjoy a drink whilst their master had a pint in the pub.

In 1965 the pub closed and was purchased by the council to be demolished for road improvements, which were completed in 1970.  Drivers unfamiliar with the road were known to take an inadvertent detour to Weymouth via Elwell Street after failing to follow the main road.

The ‘Pensioners’ Hut’ was erected c.1903 by public subscription ‘for the old men in Dorchester Road’.   In July 1953, at the final public meeting of the Coronation Festivities Committee, (chaired by Donald Beaton), it was decided to use the £33 remaining in the Coronation Festivities Fund to rebuild the shelter as a permanent memorial to the Coronation Year.  

The shelter was rebuilt in concrete and wood; still recognisable in 2006; tidied up after 2010 – only the seat remains.

829 Dorchester Road was the local bakery, established rather appropriately by Mr OW Baker in the 1920’s.  After the war Mr Baker’s son Richard (Dick) joined the bakery. Although modern double glazing has been installed the building still maintains its shop exterior.  The sliding doors on the side were the entrance to the bakehouse.

Probably the longest serving employee of the bakery was Eddie Carpenter.  He began work there when he left school at 14yrs in 1922 and stayed until retirement.  The working day began at 5.30am and ended at 7pm for 30/- a week.   Eddie learnt how to make bread and cakes - fruit and sponge, fancy and plain, were made on Tuesdays and Fridays.  Eddie, Ben Trevett, Jack White and Bill Squibb all took their turns in the bakery and delivering to the surrounding villages.

B Smith & Son (a Weymouth baker) took over the bakery in the late 1950’s. Shop assistants included Patricia Cave, Sally Hutchings and Pat Moore; roundsmen Eddie Carpenter, Bert Trevett and George Hopkins.  By the 1970’s the shop was trading under the umbrella of Weymouth Bakeries, although baking no longer took place on the premises.  When the bakers shop closed, it was for a time an antiques shop, then a haberdashery before becoming in 1994 Peter Read’s flower shop.  Peter moved the florists to larger premises further down the Dorchester Rd in 1998 and trading at this site stopped.

There was a workshop in the garden of 694 Dorchester Road where Mr Vallance was kept busy mending boots and shoes until the 1950’s; then in the 1960’s Johnnie Trevett sold newspapers and cigarettes there.

Dorchester Road