Yarcombe Primary School Pupils 1950:
|

-
Top:
Barbara Goodland, Edna Chick, Gladys Pidgeon,
Tony Doble, Marion Rich, Peter
Newman, Les Turner
- Middle: ..?.., Rita Pidgeon,
Sheila Goodland, Wendy Rich, Ann
Webster, Margaret Drew, ..?..,
Lucy Sparkes, Christine Doble,
Carole Barnard, Maureen Nichols
- Front:
Bill Shire, ... Galloway, Ray Chick,
John Laramy, ... Galloway, George
Pidgeon, Stan Spurle, A Rich,
Roger Parris
|
Yarcombe Primary School Pupils 1964-65:
|

|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Circa 1935:
Local
farmers queue at the Yarcombe Inn to
pay their land rent.

Shirley Briant's grandfather!

Gladys, Rita & George's father Sid
Pidgeon |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
Above: Fete
photograph taken around 1946.
Believed to be (left to right):
Gillian Barnard, Pamela Broad,
Barbara Salvidge, Joan Dyer and
Barbara Leach. |
|
Postcards,
perhaps from the
mid-1930s.
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|

|
|
A postcard letter from a time similar to
the above. The pencil sketch is very
finely carried out. The writing is in
blue pen, with a side note “written in
car!" The message reads:
Dear Keith,
You should try this pub sometime, the
food is terrific and our host is full of
the joys of spring i.e. Beer and poker
dice, lots of cider. We were
up with him till 2am and got as sloshed
as billie goats. We are now on the way
to Exeter
Lots of love from us both,
Tom and Sue
|
|
|
|
 |
The Yarcombe Inn tariff at the time of
"Tom and Sue's" stay (above)
|
 |

Thanks to Sue Barrass from Great
Yarmouth for this 1960 postcard
(above & left).
Reg Bullett was landlord between
1960 and 1969 at which time the
pub was owned by Brutton
Mitchell Toms, a Yeovil based
brewery late taken over by Bass
Charrington who had a Chard
Depot. Reg Bullett
was responsible for renovations
perhaps the fireplace in the old
inglenook.
|
|
|
|
|
A school
photograph taken around the time of the First
World War. The teacher (top,
right) has been identified as Edward
Scarisbrick, with his daughter
Marjorie two places away on the
second row down.
See
Ancestral Search 64 |
|
 |
 |
|
A school
photo taken in front of the
houses opposite the Yarcombe Inn
around 1916
The
girl with a bow in her hair is
Shirley Briant's mother.
See
Harding's shop in the
background. |
|
Many of the
same children as above in this
school photograph taken in 1919. |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Gathering hay
in the days before technology took
over!
Shirley's
father is central, at the rear. |
|
 |
|
|
|
The photograph
above is believed to have
been taken in the old hay barn at Underdown.
The one below is of South Waterhayne
Farm. |
|
Local sheep shearing
early in the 20th Century. |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
Pretending the
water's not cold. |
|
The
foundations of the Jubilee Hall
are laid by David Meyrick's grandmother. The Hall was opened on
Empire Day,
24th May, 1938. |
|
|
|
 |
|
This was
taken outside the Yarcombe Inn
during the first World War. |
|
The photographs above
(except the first two) were kindly
provided by Shirley Briant.

The photograph
above was supplied by Owen Newman
Owen
Newman says:
Here is a photograph of the
Yarcombe school pupils for 1919.
My mother is in it. The teacher
was called Miss Bagg and she then married
one of the Pidgeons who farmed by the river.
This teacher then taught me so she had a
good innings!
Gladys Pidgeon adds:
Miss Bagg the schoolteacher married my
uncle when he was invalided out of the navy,
they settled in Eleighwater near Chard.
She continued to teach the infant class at
Yarcombe until retirement in 1952.
All those years, no matter the weather she
cycled to work on a ‘sit up and beg’ bike.
They didn’t get a car until 1950 and she
never learnt to drive.
|
The
four postcard photographs
below were kindly supplied by Michael
Rich.
Postmarks found relate to the date of
posting so the photographs themselves could
originate even further back.
They
all date back at least 100 years!
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Above:
This is a view taken from the church
tower in or before 1908. The
school on the right (now The Belfry
Hotel) is the most prominent feature and
the light-coloured building behind the
houses in the centre of the photograph
is the old slaughterhouse.
Some of the dwellings running alongside
the school are instantly recognisable.
Note the stylish agricultural equipment
in the foreground (see extract, right). |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
The
Yarcombe Inn in or before 1904. |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Yarcombe
on a 1910 postcard photograph taken from
fields to the south. An
unusual angle, possibly showing features
(such as a large tree) which no longer
exists. See below for a
similar (possibly clearer) version. |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Another good shot of Yarcombe's one and
only shop (above), now in residential use.
The photograph was taken in 1904 or
before. |
|
|
|
|
|
The photographs
below have been kindly supplied by Steve
Horner:
|
|
|
|
|
|
An even
better photograph (below) of the shop and
proprietors, circa 1918. |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Another
version of the view from south of the
village (above). |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
A
postcard view (above) showing a landslip
(centre), believed to have been taken
from above Underdown looking east
towards the village. It
would appear that the buildings laying
to the left of the prominent tree in the
foreground may well be the church and
the centre of the village.
Frank Weeks confirms:
View from top of the
field above Oak Field at Underdown. It’s the field
to the west of a new house built on the old Doble
property. Previous owner, Richard
Routh, planted a great deal of new trees
at the top of Oak Field. There used
to be a swamp in the spinney of tall
trees at the left of the picture at the
top of the field, but I think it has all
dried up over the years. The
owners, when I worked there, just ran
cows on it and had moveable chicken
houses which though not too far to walk
to did keep the fowls far enough away
from the farmhouse gardens.
I had to walk to it to close the access
hatch every night against possible
foxes. Only ever saw one
fox. A hunt crossed the farm in full
cry but the cunning fox eluded
them. |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
An early shot (c 1920) of
Underdown |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Calways,
around 1920 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
The
Vicarage, now named The Old Vicarage,
est 1920 |
|
|
|
|
|
|